Repeat

By Jane Zubia of SatinGaits.com

I enjoy reconnecting with repeat clients because it gives me a chance to see how much the horse and rider have advanced. I was especially happy to see this particular pair again because I had felt in the first session we were just scratching the surface before the session ended. I was disappointed because I felt I needed more time to really make a change in the horse so the rider could feel the difference. I was also concerned the rider hadn’t understood enough to continue progressing without an experienced person’s guidance. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted when these two showed up many months later at another clinic.

I saw instantly the rider had understood what I had told her. Her horse used to move stiff shouldered which caused him to be very choppy. Now he used his shoulders with greater movement and relaxation enabling him to stride out better with more impulsion. His extremely slow walk had become faster and smoother and he had stopped his little jig. In the past his faster gait had been a rough pace and this too was smoothing out due to a more collected frame. These were all huge changes for this horse. I was ecstatic!

The rider told me she had come back again to learn more. During this second session we were able to encourage her horse to have more impulsion in the walk and the horse’s shoulders and front legs extended forward even better than before. How did the rider do this? By keeping him in a certain frame and not letting his head position vary from what seemed to be correct for him to do a flat foot walk. He was also showing steady improvement in his faster gait and not pacing as often because again the rider was conscious she needed to keep a certain frame and head position. I could see this horse was finally realizing he was a gaited horse and liking the new way he was moving out. The rider was still trail riding with friends who rode non-gaited horses but she was working on her flat foot walk while riding with them and her faster gait when she could.

I got the opportunity to tell this rider how glad I was to see her again and she had done a wonderful job. I expressed to her that because of our limited time in the first session, my concern had been that I had confused or discouraged her. By her returning, I saw how well she had understood and been able to carry on by herself. I have now seen her for a third time and again have been very pleased with her progress. Her horse has a very nice extended flat foot walk and is coming to his fox trot with a little head shake. This third session we worked more on trying to get her horse to be more consistent in his fox trot. I am hoping I will see this horse and rider team in the future. I look forward to seeing how far they have progressed since the last time I saw them.

I want to encourage riders to do repeat lessons or clinics with any instructors they enjoy. It gives riders another opportunity to learn more about their gaited horse and what he is capable of doing. It also gives them a chance to show their progress to the instructor. The instructor has another occasion to help improve the rider’s skills and awareness besides getting feed back from seeing the progress. Don’t be embarrassed if you feel you haven’t made much progress. I, myself, did a repeat session with a wonderful horseman. We went over the same things we had done before because I still felt unsure of my skill level and my ability to grasp the true meaning behind his instruction. Everything became clearer this second time and my progress amazed me. I was more confident to carry on by myself, which I did. I went way beyond what I had even envisioned I could accomplish.

Many times it takes a repeat session to really cement the rider’s understanding so she can communicate to her horse effectively.