After the break, Clinton told us that we would be loping on a loose rein. You could hold on to the saddle horn... but you were not to steer or otherwise touch the reins. He had 3 people go at a time. I was in the second batch that went. I was really nervous because my horse is an old roping horse and likes to go fast. Clinton asked if anyone wanted one of his assistants to ride their horse for them first. I nearly went for it, but I didn't chicken out... However, once we got going our horses had to negotiate around 17 other horses. It was pretty scary and I think I said that out loud, because he asked me again if I wanted someone to ride my horse. I really started thinking about it then, but hung on. Just when he was going to ask us to stop the Gray really started moving. I knew from experience if I just yanked him into a one rein stop that he would stop on a dime. I was afraid I might get launched. You know that about "an object in motion stays in motion...." So since I was on the other side of the arena, I cheated a little, slowed him down first and then stopped him. I did it!! Faced another fear. It was interesting to watch all the other folks lope on theirs. Some did opt out, but most didn't.
We took a short ten minute break when all had had a chance to ride. When we got back, they had made a line about 15 feet away from the fence all the way around the arena. We were to trot or lope, but this time we were aloud to use one hand on the rein. What they wanted us to do was to teach the horse to ride the fence. We were to keep them between the line and the fence. If they strayed over the line we were to over correct and steer them straight to the fence and then let them go on. We were to wait until they committed to the mistake and then correct them. That is a good part of his philosophy. He doesn't want us to nag the horse, or not allow them to err... He feels they learn better and faster. This was a more comfortable exercise for me because we could choose to trot or lope... and we could slow them down if they would go too fast...
Quite a day... horses and humans were exhausted.. We were supposed to know feed or water for awhile, but we were trying to get home so I could attend the Mayfield Christmas. The gal in the stall next to us, overheard our dilemma and offered to feed and water later for us. That was great, so we hopped into the truck and took off. The Mayfield gathering was wonderful... great attendance. I had another whole generation to teach "Who's got a beard that's long and white.... " to. Definitely worth driving two hours to get to. I kind of slipped out early because Reba was picking me up at 5:30 in the morning!
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