Clinic Wrap-Up: Riding With Confidence with Dr. Jenny Susser

Dr. Jenny sharing her knowledge

The clinic this weekend was phenomenal, and I'm so glad I saved for months to be able to do both days this time around. Sticking around for Day 2 really helped cement what we learned the first day, and being able to see improvement in the other horses and riders was really exciting. I learned SO much and took so many notes that I'm going to be doing separate posts on some of the Big Ideas that Dr. Jenny focused on in addition to this overview. Lots of good stuff coming!

There were two over-arching themes that Dr. Jenny centered on this weekend: Positive Thought, and Considering the Horse. Although each horse and rider team worked on something different, these two ideas were central to what we all learned during the clinic.

Riding is such a mental sport! Our thoughts, the way we perceive ourselves as riders, our anxiety, and the way we approach challenges have a massive impact on our success. If we think negatively, tell ourselves "don't", attempt perfection (and fall short!), or focus on the "what-ifs", we hamper our ability to ride effectively, learn, and grow.

Dr. Jenny also placed a great emphasis on considering the way our horses think and feel about what we are asking them to do. Not in a "Pookie doesn't LIKE TO" sort of way, but in a way that asks if our horses are receiving the Comfort and Safety they seek and need to feel successful. One of my absolute favorite parts of the weekend was watching young riders between the ages of 10 and 13 learn to consider their horses and become partners instead of passengers. Very cool stuff!

Day 1 of the clinic dawned cold and grey, and the sun never quite made an appearance. We set up shop in a slightly rolling grass field, since the arena at the farm is currently under construction. Being "outside" on terrain that wasn't perfectly flat was a challenge in itself for several of the riders, and pushed us all just a little bit outside of our comfort zones. Since Dino and I were scheduled to ride last, the wonderful Aimee provided his very own 2.5 acre paddock to hang out in all day so he wouldn't be stuck in a stall. My pony was in heaven and thought that this was the best field trip we've ever taken!

Bundled in coolers and horse blankets, we listened to Dr. Jenny's lecture about how learning occurs before the first rider got started. (More on this in another post!) I loved being able to watch all of the other participants hash out their struggles with Dr. Jenny. Their issues varied hugely from fear and anxiety in riders, to tension in horses, to simple communication gaps. I had seen the majority of the partnerships in the clinic in June, and was astounded at the improvement I saw in them already. The increase in confidence, relaxation, and fitness in all of the pairs was HUGE!

Our session began before I even got on my pony. After taking Dino on a hand walk around the riding area to check things out and get him a little more focused, I took him over to the mounting block, tightened my girth, and went to mount up. Dr. Jenny stopped me right there. Dino was completely unaware that I was getting ready to get on. He was checking out the cows across the street, the Kamikaze barn cats running around everywhere, some guy in a golf cart, the horses in the field, and was basically focused on everything but me. Dr. Jenny instructed me not to get on until Dino was focused on me and mentally ready to start working, so she had me "lunge" him around me while standing on the mounting block and ask him to park next to it and stand quietly until he didn't go to walk off as soon as I made a move to get on his back. It took a few minutes, but my pony eventually settled in, focused, and stood very nicely for me to mount up. Success! I'll be employing this method at home for sure, since Dino tends to just march off when I'm halfway on him. Not exactly safe.

My main goal for the clinic was to learn new and more effective tools for when Dino says "no," which occurs on a daily basis in varying degrees. Thankfully, he was a total snot! The last time Dr. Jenny had seen him he was in a fabulous mood and pretty pumped up about being in a new place, but on Saturday he was a little grouchy about having his paddock time cut short, and was basically behaving like his usual sluggish self. I could NOT get him to move off my leg for the life of me, and using my stick and spurs just offended him and made him suck back more. We made a rather embarrassing failed attempt at the canter before Dr. Jenny pulled us into the center of the riding area to have a chat. Her plan for us was to start to work on making Dino more responsive and sharpen up his go button. I was SO excited to hear that; a sharper response to my forward cues was exactly what I needed, and would fix a multitude of problems for Dino and I. But when she told me how we were going to accomplish that, I admit I was a little skeptical.

"My name is Dino, and this is my grouchy face"

Dr. Jenny laid out a plan for me to use my aids in increasing intensity until Dino responded, which is a well-known and much-used training method that I had employed before, admittedly with little success since I was still having problems getting my pony forward. The one difference in Dr. Jenny's approach was that instead of sticking him with my spurs or whacking him behind my leg with my crop to reinforce my "go" aids, she wanted me to tap him on the shoulder.

Um, what?

The "crop on the shoulder" thing totally goes against everything I've ever been taught since day 1 of riding. I have been reprimanded for using a crop on the shoulder, told time and time again that it's not an effective forward aid, and basically been taught that it's a totally useless thing to do.

But when Dr. Jenny explained her reasoning, it started to sound like a plan so crazy it just might work. She told us that when horses try to hurt each other in a herd setting, they aim for the flank and belly; so when you use your crop behind your leg, some horses can see that as overly-aggressive and take serious offense. Wow, did that sound familiar. On the other hand, when horses play, they aim for the shoulder area. Using a whip on the shoulder isn't aggressive, it's just annoying, so instead of reacting defensively, a horse will try to figure out how to make you stop annoying it. I KNEW for so long that I needed a more respectful way to reinforce my forward aids, but the only tools I had weren't working. This "crop on the shoulder" thing had potential.

"I decline to participate today."

We started at the halt. Dr. Jenny had me think about the lightest aid I'd like him to respond to, and use it to ask Dino to walk off. I lifted his back with my seat and closed my calf on him gently, using the part of my leg right below the knee instead of my heel. He was pretty darn responsive at the walk, surprisingly. So we moved on to a more forward walk. Pretty good there, too. Going from walk to trot I used the same super-light forward aids, and got zero response. Dr. Jenny had me ask a little harder. No dice. Time for the crop! I tapped him on the shoulder. Nothing. A little harder. Nope. No trot. I whacked him. We had a trot! We practiced this several times in both directions and after only about 4 or 5 tries I had Dino trotting off using a super-light seat aid. The canter took a little more effort, but after several hard whacks on the shoulder, Dino capitulated and cantered for me. We ended with a gorgeous, instantaneous left-lead canter depart off of just my super-light leg and seat aid and quit there.

Just like magic!

I HAVE A MAGIC GO BUTTON NOW. It's fantastic. I couldn't WAIT to ride on Sunday to put it to use again.

We ended the day with a delicious and fabulously fun dinner with Dr. Jenny, Aimee, and the rest of the adult riders. If you're in the Mount Laurel, NJ area, check out the Iron Hill Brewery for some great food and craft beer! The one thing this group knows how to do is laugh - they are some of the funniest people I've ever met! After dinner Michael and I collapsed into bed at the hotel and got a great night's sleep before Day 2.

Sunday morning was brisk and sunny, and the schedule was packed full. We had an awesome morning lecture about setting goals and what it takes to improve in our sport. Expect another post about this soon!

"I have goals. They involve napping in this sunbeam."

I was really excited to ride on Sunday, and started off by giving Dino another hand-walk before getting on, and purposefully taking my time at the mounting block and waiting for him to get on the same page with me before I swung onto his back. It took about half as much time as it did on Saturday, and he stood like a statue for me. Good pony!

In short, Dino was a SUPERSTAR. He was forward, he was happy, he was focused, he was responsive, and he was moving off of my super-light forward aids! I did not ONCE put my spur in him, and I only had to use the crop on his shoulder a few times. Apparently sleeping on Saturday's lesson was all it took for him to totally own this new mode of communication. His canter transitions were INSTANT from the very first time I asked. He hand galloped up the hill without me having to spur him! It was outrageous. I was grinning ear-to-ear and shouting "GOOD BOY!" and patting my pony like there's no tomorrow. Dino warmed up quickly even in the brisk, windy weather and was leg yeilding and moving in a perfect shoulder-fore right from the start without me having to fight him for it. He felt respected, safe, comfortable, and confident. We were communicating, and it was awesome.

Things were going fantastically, so we even got a chance to jump. I told Dr. Jenny I wanted to trot the crossrail a couple times to get a read on how Dino was feeling about jumping that day, and then move on to the 2' outside line if that went well. No need to jack the fences up to hone our communication skills. I trotted him up to the little X and Dino BLASTED over it like it was a 3' oxer, which received some astonishment from Dr. Jenny and the rest of the crowd! I explained that he likes to jump. We did the crossrail one or two more times, and then rode around to the outside line. Dino backed off a little bit at the first fence, which was filled with hay bales, but I was so focused on keeping him straight, balanced, and appropriately forward that I just sent him over and down the line. We did it one more time and made the excellent decision to trot the hay jump instead of pushing for an unbalanced canter when he broke stride a few steps out, and finished the line in style. Dr. Jenny said that as long as I focus on the facts of communication, straightness, and quality of gait, we will have no problem jumping. Going back to those basics is going to help us more than anything. We wrapped up the ride working with Aimee a little bit on me not sitting up before Dino's back feet hit the ground on the landing side. It's a bad habit I've struggled with for years, so it was nice to have some input on that. I was thrilled with our Day 2 session!

BOING

And of course, we have homework! I need to make an equipment change in the spur department. My little nubby Tom Thumb spurs are more irritating than effective, so Dr. Jenny recommended trying something longer, and using them more judiciously rather than nagging with the nubbies. That I can do. A big part of our homework is going to be making the sharpening of Dino's go button an every day, every ride thing. We're going to have ups and downs, but to really make this stick I need to be consistent and work at it on a daily basis. I'm also going to work on solidifying his "stand still" skills for mounting using the technique we learned over the weekend. As far as jumping goes, our main take-home idea was not to sacrifice quality for quantity. If the canter isn't quality, don't go to the jump. A super basic idea, but an important one. And I'm going to set up some bounces to work on staying up out of the saddle until my pony has landed completely on the other side of the jump. I think some video work will help with that, too.

I love the Riding With Confidence clinics for so many reasons, but one of the biggest is the community that they create. It's incredible and unusual for a group of riders of such different ages, abilities, and backgrounds to come together to learn and support each other. I've never encountered so much encouragement and such an uplifting environment as I have at these clinics! For the second time I've come away not only with new knowledge, but with new friends.

Please check out Dr. Jenny's website and make the effort to go to one of her clinics if she's in your area! You won't regret it, I promise. She is incredibly knowledgable, compassionate, funny, honest, and sincerely wants to improve people and horses for the better.

Stay tuned for several more detailed posts on some of the topics we covered over the weekend!