Brent Graef clinic notes

bit · Brent Graef clinic notes

I'm sharing some of my friend, Mat's clinic notes on the Brent Graef yahoo group as per his wife suggestion. Here's I think the second post, and I'll also post all the notes.
Morning Session, Ground work
1) Had us circle horse, looked for softness in body, curved inward. One eye looking in, if shoulder was pushing in then push energy out to curve shoulder out. Important to go around with the horse in order to see him, feel him, watch his body and see if you have his mind. One hand is lead hand, other is supporting. Important to offer a feel, then support with energy. Worked on different gaits and transitions. Important to quit (your energy) when they make a change. Keep hands neutral when they make the change you want.

Deb wrote:

We also worked on a lot of transitions at the walk. From creepy crawly to a good, and fast wolk and every thing in between. Kris, can you please relate what Brent said about the importance of learning to lead your horse with...shoot can't remember the word he used. Want to say excellance, but I don't think that's it. Horse should be following your lead, your energy, your focus, should be WITH you, not you dragging him along and/or you not having his mind. His focus should be on you.

Hi Deb.
Patti is right... "quality" is the word you are looking for here. Leading with quality relates to so many other things being done with quality. Trailer loading, tying, picking up the feet, pushing, good rides... nearly everything you do with your horse is affected by leading with quality.
So many horses just follow the person instead of following the feel presented down the lead rope. Probably because we as people don't offer much of a feel for the horse to follow.
I think I'd change the word "focus" in your notes to the word "intent". Too often when folks ask me "where should my focus be"... they are looking to stare at something and ignore everything else. They'll stare at the hip, the front foot, the neck, or stare off into the distance and lose the mental connection with their horse.
If you can get your horse to feel your intent, a lot of good things will shape up for you. Of course, that means we as humans will have to actually think!

For the horse,
Brent
www.BrentGraef.com

bit

Brent Graef Clinic – August 6-8. 2010
Day 1
Morning Session, Ground work
1) Had us circle horse, looked for softness in body, curved inward. One eye looking in, if shoulder was pushing in then push energy out to curve shoulder out. Important to go around with the horse in order to see him, feel him, watch his body and see if you have his mind. One hand is lead hand, other is supporting. Important to offer a feel, then support with energy. Worked on different gaits and transitions. Important to quit (your energy) when they make a change. Keep hands neutral when they make the change you want.
2) Moved hindquarters over, looking for back leg to cross over. Switch lead rope to other hand and walk towards hindquarters. Don’t let front leg get stuck, tap on knee if necessary to keep front feet moving. Quit when they do it right. Important to keep movement going.
3) Leading horse in straight lines, go a steady speed, don’t drag the horse and don’t wait for him if he slows or slow down. See how light can you offer to make him go.
4) Backing, hand held upside down on halter knot or buckle. Support with other hand. Stay out to one side and won’t get kicked, bit or stepped on. Brent stressed several times how important it is to back up your horse often.
Other points discussed in morning session:
• Protect your space, blocking. Horse crowding you is him not wanting to do what you want. Hit on halter knot to keep nose away or move hand towards eye (no-one likes getting poked in the eye!). If horse is crowding, meet them half way with a block so they know where the line is.
• Think about the three easy things they can do and the three hard things (where there is brace). Start with the easy but then mix them up. Soon the hard will become easy then you will have to find other new hard things to work on. Don’t drill over and over. (2+2=4 right!) If you know the horse gets bored quickly then keep things interesting.
• Reward for slightest try but then reward for a little more try, and a little more try etc.
• Think about each exercise and what the purpose is for each, i.e. make horse soft, subtle, getting his mind, getting in rhythm with his feet.

Afternoon Session – Riding
1) Had everyone feel what was happening as each foot was leaving the ground. Movement of the barrel was key on the hind feet. What is happening right before the foot comes off the ground. We can control the foot once it leaves the ground. (There not his feet or your feet but OUR feet) On front end pay attention to the topline of the neck behind the poll for clue when front feet leave the ground.
2) Introduction to speeding up, feel for the hind feet and get in rhythm with them, slightly squeeze before foot comes off the ground to lengthen stride, used for faster walks and trots. To slow, focus on front legs, slowly come to a stop, don’t stop abruptly on front end.
3) Lift up front leg on circle, get horse to bend neck without moving body or backing up. All he needs to do is give you his eye, doesn’t have to put his head in your lap. Approximately straight line between your eye, your hand and his eye, don’t let hand cross over withers, basically straight back.
4) Had us ride in straight line at walk and trot. Importance in riding straight and stopping straight. Find your balance in the middle. Work on finesses. Exaggeration teaches brace. Pay attention to what your hands are doing.
5) Rode S’s along the wall to work on getting soft on circles. Feeling for the feet.
6) Olympic circles, going left and right. Look out beyond horse, not in center of circle. Prepare horse ahead of time.
7) Practiced leg yield while walking. Inside eye should be looking where you came from. Moving away from side you are asking to bend.
Other discussion items:
Never pet someone’s horse without permission. Causally petting them can cause them to be dull and unresponsive. When you do touch them or pet them, have meaning in it. Brent was very adamant about never touching someone’s horse while they were riding. It takes the horses focus away from the rider.
Make the right thing obvious, not just easy.
Day 2
Morning Session – Groundwork
1) Started day with looking for quality of leading (horses were saddled). Snappy departure was not necessary, main idea was quality, are they following your feel. Leading is important for many reasons. Trailer loading, standing, stopping, transitions.
2) Focused more on quality of circling. Looking for bend and softness in their body. “Ride with them in the circle” don’t just stand there.
3) Exercise on moving the hindquarters. Walk through the hindquarters, bring front end past you, don’t push the nose until it passes your nose, otherwise it just causes the horse to back up. Put slack in the rope. They should follow the slack . Again remember to put feel in the lead rope and support with your other hand. Get them soft on both sides. Where is the brace?
4) Same exercise riding. Push hindquarters over and turn front end through.
Brent gave a demonstration on saddling a young horse that had only been saddled once. Horses feet were sore so he didn’t ride him. Also included notes on Kelsy’s ride with her horse.
• Look for signs of worry, bottom lip sucked back. Watch and feel for brace. DON’T let them shut down and freeze up. Keep their feet, and minds, moving when introducing something new. Don’t desensitize, you want them to be sensitive.
• Use flag where rider’s head would be, legs, hands. See the rider out of both eyes. Flag where parts of saddle will be going as well.
• Again, looking or quality of movement. Same exercises as we had been doing in class, leading, circles, backing, bending, moving hindquarters. Keep them from crowding space.
• You want them to hunt for you, pay attention, hunt for me for the answers, do not run through me.
• When horse bends it tightens the saddle, good for young horses to have that feel on the ground so it doesn’t surprise them when riding.
• Don’t want them to run from the flag, but offer them a feel, then support with flag.
• Asking them to give up their defenses is huge. (lifting feet, etc) When they give it up, give it right back to them. Trust me with your life and I’ll trust you with mine (on your back).
• No place for anger or frustration in horsemanship. Brent really epitomized this idea. He never once was upset or rattled even when a horse was bucking and acting crazy he always kept his cool and his sense of humor.
• When they make a change you make a change.
• Brent ran his lariat around horses barrel (where saddle would go) around back leg. Around saddlehorn, simulating throwing weight of rider off to one side. Again, hunt for the answer through me when something goes wrong. Look for the answer; hunt what the lead rope means.
Day 3
Riding almost all day.
Horses are good therapy but they’re not our therapist. Don’t bring your baggage when you are with your horse.
Four ways to move hindquarters:
1. Draw rein back slightly
2. Rein and leg
3. Leg only
4. Bend nose around, hold and wait.
Circle and starburst exercises. Both for the purpose of getting horse soft and subtle. Pay attention to the feet.
Circle in a box. Ride deep in the corners, helps bend the horse, ride in smaller and smaller circles. Same exercise as riding around a cone. Keep the same distance when moving around it. Some horses do better around a cone than a box. Really helps them get subtle.
Box corner exercise. Turn at right angles. Front end then back end.
Lots of riding exercises all day. Side passing, transitions, asking for the right lead is all about feeling for the feet and asking at the right time. Smooth transitions are important going from one gait to the next. Ask politely.
How many speeds do you have in each gait? Use the feel for the feet to lengthen their stride and shorten it. Really makes you focus on their feet.

jackspark

Thanks, wish I could have been there. Hope he comes back, this would be great for Gem and me.

cheerios

Thanks for the notes, bit, I am enjoying reading through them.