I didn't take notes, so I only have impressions to share.

I spent the week getting up in the wee hours to muck and feed, then
driving 4 - 5 hours a day in order to sit in a cold, clammy indoor
huddled under blankets with water dripping on my head, shivering,
chilled to the bone, drinking coffee and eating crusty donuts,
catching a nasty cold/flu thing that's going to cost me two weeks of
pay in addition to the week I canceled in order to go to the clinic.
And it was worth it, and I'd do it again.

I am pretty much jaded.  Most demos and clinics have me inwardly
rolling my eyes, biting my tongue, muttering under my breath and
walking away shaking my head at the near-universal lack of basic
competence in the horse world.  I think this may be the first time I
didn't disagree with a single thing that came out of the clinician's
mouth, or a single thing he did with the horse or rider.  Even the
biomechanics were spot on.

(snip)

He spent a lot of time developing feel, so that the rider could
experience a higher level of softness and connection, to the point
where one person spent most of her session on the ground, holding one
end of the reins while he held the other.  That teaching method is
nothing new, but the quality of the feel he was putting across is a
very different sort of connection.  He wants you to create a profound
connection through your soft body and your soft hands and relaxed
mind, to the horse's soft jaw and poll and body, so that when you
gently sway, he sways too, and your thought becomes his action.  You
connect, and you become one.

So, some of the basic things that lingered in my mind...

The past is in the past - leave it there and go forward with what you
have now.

Focus on what you want rather than trying to fix what's wrong.  Giving
power to the thing that you don't want just keeps it coming back.

Don't wait for the horse to do something wrong and then correct it -
catch the thought and re-direct it.

Softness and lightness are two different things.

Release when the horse softens his mind, rather than when he softens
physically/mechanically.

Meet the brace with softness, and he cannot brace.  If he is bracing,
you are bracing.

Redirect rather than resist.

How you breathe, when you breathe, how you coordinate your breath with
your riding.

Coordinating change of direction with footfalls - ask as the foot
leaves the ground, not when it is planted.

Redirect the feet rather than the shoulder when the horse "falls in."

Changing gaits involves a change in rhythm, not in speed or tempo.  To
do a transition, put the change in rhythm into your body, add an aid
as backup if needed.

Create the connection, embody the feeling of what you want, and go
together.

I haven't done him justice, but I'm sure Mark would be pleased with
the try. :)

Nancy

I didn't take notes, so I only have impressions to share.

I spent the week getting up in the wee hours to muck and feed, then
driving 4 - 5 hours a day in order to sit in a cold, clammy indoor
huddled under blankets with water dripping on my head, shivering,
chilled to the bone, drinking coffee and eating crusty donuts,
catching a nasty cold/flu thing that's going to cost me two weeks of
pay in addition to the week I canceled in order to go to the clinic.
And it was worth it, and I'd do it again.

I am pretty much jaded.  Most demos and clinics have me inwardly
rolling my eyes, biting my tongue, muttering under my breath and
walking away shaking my head at the near-universal lack of basic
competence in the horse world.  I think this may be the first time I
didn't disagree with a single thing that came out of the clinician's
mouth, or a single thing he did with the horse or rider.  Even the
biomechanics were spot on.

Many clinicians can take a horse/rider combination, separate them, hop
on the horse and work through a problem, then show the rider how to
follow his footprints.  But Mark took some very average riders aboard
typical backyard, unschooled things, and transformed them as one.

One combination in particular was a fairly ham-fisted, rigid rider who
knew everything and suffered from verbal diarrhea, aboard a very
worried, braced from nose to tail, totally inverted, hind end swinging
to and fro, butt ugly horse whose best use was probably compost.  Day
one, they started to soften at a walk.  Day two, they were soft and
round at two gaits and starting to soften at the canter.  And the
rider was beginning to let go of blaming the horse, and the horse
became beautiful.

There were some lovely horses and riders too.  And they went from
riding skillfully to riding without conscious aids - finding the feel
of the thing they wanted and putting that feel into their bodies so
that their thoughts became the horses' actions.

He spent a lot of time developing feel, so that the rider could
experience a higher level of softness and connection, to the point
where one person spent most of her session on the ground, holding one
end of the reins while he held the other.  That teaching method is
nothing new, but the quality of the feel he was putting across is a
very different sort of connection.  He wants you to create a profound
connection through your soft body and your soft hands and relaxed
mind, to the horse's soft jaw and poll and body, so that when you
gently sway, he sways too, and your thought becomes his action.  You
connect, and you become one.

So, some of the basic things that lingered in my mind...

The past is in the past - leave it there and go forward with what you
have now.

Focus on what you want rather than trying to fix what's wrong.  Giving
power to the thing that you don't want just keeps it coming back.

Don't wait for the horse to do something wrong and then correct it -
catch the thought and re-direct it.

Softness and lightness are two different things.

Release when the horse softens his mind, rather than when he softens
physically/mechanically.

Meet the brace with softness, and he cannot brace.  If he is bracing,
you are bracing.

Redirect rather than resist.

How you breathe, when you breathe, how you coordinate your breath with
your riding.

Coordinating change of direction with footfalls - ask as the foot
leaves the ground, not when it is planted.

Redirect the feet rather than the shoulder when the horse "falls in."

Changing gaits involves a change in rhythm, not in speed or tempo.  To
do a transition, put the change in rhythm into your body, add an aid
as backup if needed.

Create the connection, embody the feeling of what you want, and go
together.

I haven't done him justice, but I'm sure Mark would be pleased with
the try. :)

Nancy

Redirect the feet rather than the shoulder when the horse "falls in."

... and the horse became beautiful.

Redirect the feet rather than the shoulder when the horse "falls in."

Can you talk a little more about this?

Nancy DeMarco <nancyd.... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
... and the horse became beautiful.

And that's EVERYTHING.

I've seen this same transformation at several of his clinics.  It's
always inspiring to see how much can change in just a few short sessions

Congrats on the herculean effort to get there and really looking forward to
your reports on how you make what you have learned work with the Lous !!

I think the thing that was the most valuable to *me*, now, was seeing
some less talented riders doing lovely work with average horses.  I
used to be a gifted rider.  Now I'm pretty average, and I wasn't sure
I could become good again.  This gives me hope. :)

OK - it's more than hope.  It's more like confirmation, combined with
a plan of action.

I've signed up to ride in July...

Nancy

And it was worth it, and I'd do it again.

and the horse
became beautiful.

He spent a lot of time developing feel, so that the rider could
experience a higher level of softness and connection, to the point
where one person spent most of her session on the ground, holding one
end of the reins while he held the other. That teaching method is
nothing new, but the quality of the feel he was putting across is a
very different sort of connection. He wants you to create a profound
connection through your soft body and your soft hands and relaxed
mind, to the horse's soft jaw and poll and body, so that when you
gently sway, he sways too, and your thought becomes his action. You
connect, and you become one.

So, some of the basic things that lingered in my mind...

The past is in the past - leave it there and go forward with what you
have now.

Focus on what you want rather than trying to fix what's wrong. Giving
power to the thing that you don't want just keeps it coming back.

I haven't done him justice, but I'm sure Mark would be pleased with
the try.

Nancy DeMarco <nancyd.... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
... and the horse became beautiful.

And that's EVERYTHING.

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to Equine Affaire. Mark Rashid has 6
hours of clinics scheduled.

could work with. That he abandoned his colt starting clinics because
he felt it didn't best serve the colts (or their people) revealed to
me that he was a thinking horseman. We all make mistakes and