Thanks to Candy Phillips who added Walking Horse classes to the Heartland Summer Event Morgan show, several Walking Horses were shown June 19-20 at the Wright County Fairgrounds in Howard Lake. Wonderful weather, warm-hearted people, beautiful horses, and accommodating facilities made for an enjoyable show experience.
Plus, the judge really gave each class substantial time in the ring, no matter how large or small the class.
By Jennifer Klitzke
Breaking through the Proctor fog was the sunny smile and personalized teaching of F.O.S.H. Clinician Bucky Sparks. He brought along some new tools to share from his training toolbox. This marked Bucky’s sixth consecutive 2,000-mile trip to Minnesota. He imparted wisdom to riders and auditors who had traveled from all corners of Minnesota and Wisconsin for the clinic held June 4-7, 2010 in Proctor, MN.
Bucky’s toolbox is filled with effective training techniques geared to B.L.E.S.S. the horse. B.L.E.S.S. stands for balance, looseness, engagement, softness, and soundness. In fact, everything Bucky teaches, he applies to the horses he trains and shows. You’ll see him successfully showing barefoot (the horse that is) and in a snaffle bridle.
This year, we saw dramatic transformations in many returning horses. Ones that had paced are now solid in their flat walks. Horses that had started the canter last year worked on softness and balance through simple changes and counter canter. Other horses that have mastered the basics worked on improving collection and engagement through lateral exercises like shoulder-in, haunches-in, and leg yielding.
One of Bucky’s new tools introduced this year was “breaking it down” which helps a young horse stay focused and not “take two steps of stupid,” as Bucky says.
Breaking it down redirects the attention of the horse away from doing something dangerous to listening to the rider. It is also effective for horses that have developed a habit of bracing in the neck and poll. Breaking it down applies a tug and release of one rein with some leg pressure as the horse moves forward. It redirects the horse to relaxation when they realize there is nothing to brace against.
For more about Bucky Sparks, visit www.blessyourhorse.com.
Larry’s horse meets him at the gate, looking at him with soft brown eyes. His horse has learned to trust him and enjoy his role as a dance partner.
It hasn’t always been this way though. Larry had been hard to beat in the show ring. He was a consecutive national champion, but the cost to win came at the expense of the horse: harsh bits that created pain avoidance and other unnatural gadgets and shoeing that sacrificed the horse’s comfort. His horse wasn’t a teammate or a dance partner; his horse was an object to build his success.
The nagging thoughts of losing in the show ring after being introduced to classical dressage training brought Larry to a cross roads in what had become a successful riding career. Would he continue to win at the expense of the horse’s comfort and happiness or would Larry find a new way to make a living and enjoy the trust and collaboration a dance partner brings?
Larry took another look into those soft brown eyes and his heart melted. There was no going back to harsh training methods just to produce his success. Thanks to Larry’s choice, he is imparting his classical dressage training methods to people around the country, teaching horses to be relaxed, in balance, comfortable and safer on the trail and at home. Larry’s techniques and training methodology put the horse’s well being before human agenda. And they put the joy into riding for both the horse and the rider.
Clinic with Larry Whitesell, May 2010
I took my six-year-old Walking horse Gift of Freedom to a gaited dressage clinic with Larry Whitesell. He is an amazing horseman of classical dressage and has decades of experience training gaited horses.
Larry has a marvelous training theory: pressure and release to teach relaxation, balance and forwardness to the bit. His methods model that of classical French dressage and he continually takes lessons with FEI level dressage instructors.
In all my years of taking dressage lessons and attending clinics, I have never heard dressage taught with practicality from the horse’s perspective. Larry becomes the best rider he can be to meet the horse’s needs vs. training the horse to do what he wants and meet his agenda. He uses every moment with the horse to build trust and relaxation through balance. The better this is communicated the more the horse relies on the rider as the trusted leader to keep him safe vs. the horse taking matters into its own hands through fight, flight and evasions. Each ride becomes a beautiful dance.
Since I am also working with a three-year-old Arabian Fareed, Larry gave me pointers on breaking a horse to ride. He starts a young horse in a snaffle bit and works them in hand to eliminate braces in the poll, neck, and shoulder through teaching a horse how to relax through pressure and release. Larry spends three days with desensitization training. Then he introduces one-rein stops, disengagement of the hindquarters, and shoulder-in to teach the horse how to move forward onto the bit in a relaxed and balanced frame. Larry also works a young horse on a lunge line using side reins for two weeks. After this work is complete, he begins work in the saddle. What Larry teaches from the ground directly translates to his aids when he begins work in the saddle.
Conditions at the MWHA Early Bird Show matched that to the 2010 Kentucky Derby. Rain and SNOW fell from the skies prior to the show held at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 8,2010. During the show we had a mix of sleet, rain, sun, clouds, and wind. If you can show in these conditions, you can ride through anything!
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No indoor arena? Plan B: Riding through the snowy landscape during the long winter months has been another great way to keep my naturally gaited Walking horse in shape for the show season. It is also the most breathtaking way enjoy the winter wonderland. (Even my lovely husband thinks so!)
Video: Walkin’ in Wonderland on a Naturally Gaited Horse
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
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