Ride with Confidence

I was shocked, amazed, surprised and ecstatic on Saturday night when Chris Irwin presented me with the very first Gold Level Coach & Trainer certificate in his Train the Trainer program.    I have been studying the Irwin Method of Horsemanshp for about 6 or 7 years now.  I was double certified Silver in the fall of 2004.  At the time, the program was new and there were only 3 categories - Bronze, Silver and Gold.  Since Chris is “the master” and the definition of a Gold Trainer at the time, we all thought that Silver was as high as any of us would ever go in the program.  Then, as the program grew, 2 additional categories were added - Platinum and Diamond.  So, we all thought that maybe, one day, some of us would move up the ranks.  That was 2 years ago and no Trainers in the Training Program had achieved more than Silver. 

In the meantime, I sold my ribbon business so that I could focus full-time on working with horses and coaching riders again.  I became the Ontario Region Coordinator for Chris’ company, Horsepower Productions, and have been assisting Chris at all of the events in Ontario this year.  I spent the winter and spring focusing on training horses & getting more time in the saddle than I’ve had in years.  And, I guess all my hard work has paid off.   I’ve achieved Gold Level Certification as a trainer in the Irwin Method of Horsemanship.  Words just can’t express what an honour this achievement is.

Thanks to all the horses and people who have been apart of this journey.

Read the article recently published in The Orangeville Citizen …. http://highpointfarm.homestead.com/Articles.html

  Ride with Confidence!

www.highpointfarm.homestead.com

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over & over again & expecting different results.”  Albert Einstein

This quote should be posted in every riding barn in the country.  How many times have you heard coaches giving the same instructions over and over to the same student on the same horse and continuing to get the same result?  For example, the horse that counterbends through a corner or spooky part of the arena.  The coach instructs the student to “get him off your inside leg.  Kick him.”  Often, a whip and/or spurs are used to back up the leg.  The result … a counterbent, unbalanced, inverted, stressed horse and a frustrated rider (and, probably, a frustrated coach, too).  Using this example, lets look at why the horse is counterbent to begin with.

As a prey animal, the horse’s main goal today is to remain alive until tomorrow.  His safety & security are paramount.  His natural instinct is to moveshis body away from perceived danger.  Who knows what danger lurks in the long grass beside the riding ring or behind the standards stored in the corner.  He certainly doesn’t.  As he counterbends his body to move away from the “danger”, the person on his back is pushing and kicking and “biting” him pushing him into the danger.  Very scary & stressful to the horse.  Over and over the rider tries the same technique.  More and more the horse is convinced that corner is a bad place to be.  It just feels bad to him with all the stress being created in his body and, therefore, in his mind.

 Lets try a different scenario.  The horse counterbends at the scary corner.  The rider takes that counterbend and leg yields the horse through the corner.  The horse perceives the rider to be taking him away from danger.  This behaviour is much better aligned to his need for safety and security.  Each time his rider helps him move through the scary corner while keeping his body in a relaxed frame (level headed and balanced), the horse feels better.  Until, finally, he feels relaxed and safe enough to allow the rider to take him through the corner with the true bend.  Through this simple exercise - by trying something different - the rider has built trust with his horse.  Or, you can continue following the other training method - over and over again.  But, we all know where that leads!

Ride with Confidence!

www.highpointfarm.homestead.com