Clinics and Snow Storms

Greetings!

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks! I’ve only been home for six nights this whole month, with trips to OH, SC, WY and KS. The fact that I’ve only managed to ride my horse once so far this month doesn’t seem as bad when I look at it like that. If the weather holds, I may get a ride in today too!

The big snowstorm that hit Denver last week caused me a lot of headache and stress with two cancelled flights and the fear I might not make it to a clinic. I’ve never missed a clinic and the thought of what I would do if I couldn’t make it was enough to keep me up all night and travel with a stress-headache the next day. But, as luck would have it, I was able to standby for the next flight and made it to Topeka just in time for the book signing and rider’s reception! It was held at a fantastic Western Lifestyle store in Topeka, http://royfreywestern.com/ and we all had a great time shopping before getting to know each other during the excellent dinner.

Last week, I had a CHA Instructor Certification clinic at Central Wyoming College in Riverton. It was a very easy clinic with qualified and enthusiastic participants, all of whom received a certification at a level they were happy with. I’ve done a lot of CHA clinics over the years—back when I was the Program Director, I did as many as seven one year! http://www.cha-ahse.org/cert1.htm#process  But now, because of the demands on my schedule, I can only do one a year. I enjoy going up to WY and working with the dedicated students there. As a bonus, I get to spend the week with two dear friends, Polly and Patti, my colleagues in this endeavor. Even the 7” of wet heavy snow we got on Thursday wasn’t enough to dampen our spirits (thank god for heated indoors).

But the snow did wreak havoc on my travel, but I made it to my clinic in Topeka nonetheless and we had a great clinic! There was a nice variety of riders, horses and issues to work on all weekend, and everyone had success. I love the variety I get in clinics—dressage, hunt seat, gaited horses; cutters, trail riders and mounted shooters; novices and experienced hands; well-broke horses and ones that need work. The more variety the better for me, because it challenges my teaching. The days went so fast, I could  hardly believe when I looked at the clock on Sunday afternoon and saw we had run out of time.

This weekend I am headed to Richmond VA for another clinic tour stop. I am looking forward to the clinic and hope that I’ll meet some interesting horses. Then it’s on to TN next week for the AQHA QuarterFest. http://www.aqha.com/quarterfest  I am excited about that event—not only because I’ll get to see a lot of friends and colleagues I haven’t seen in a while, but also because it is shaping up to be a very cool and power-packed event! Go check it out online and come if you can.

Now, I’d better get some work done so that I can squeeze a ride in this afternoon, before I leave town again.

Enjoy the ride!

Julie

For training tips from Julie, visit the Training Library at http://juliegoodnight.com/q&a.php and check out her online store--full of training tools and DVDs-- at http://juliegoodnight.com/products.html

2009 South Carolina Horse Master Shoot

Greetings!

It’s been a busy week and I can hardly wait to get home to see my husband, the pups and the horses and sleep in my own bed. I hope to spend the entire day tomorrow in my PJs, slounging around the house and doing absolutely nothing. Each morning this week, when the 5:30a alarm went off, I thought about how great Saturday would be.

My film crew and I all converged in Savannah GA on Monday and made the 90 minute trek up to the SC coast, to a small private island called Fripp Island, where our accommodations for the week were. It is always good to have everyone together again—Heidi, the producer; Steve, videographer extraordinaire; Cheryl, wardrobe; Lucy and “T”, assistant trainers; and Carolyn, facilitator and “craft services” (she takes care of our meals and personal needs). We were also joined for this shoot by Jackie, who we hope will become part of our permanent crew, as key grip (the grips do anything and everything, taking care of loose ends and helping Heidi keep track of what has been filmed, the time codes and what needs to be done).

It was very cool to be staying on the resort island, just off the beach, but frankly, we worked sun-up to sun-down and never had any time to enjoy the amenities. That’s sort of the story of my life. I go a lot of really cool places but rarely have time to sight-see or relax. But it still beats never going there to begin with.

We were filming at Camelot Farms; a boarding, lesson and trail ride facility, just a 15 minute drive from the island (they have an awesome beach ride). Our hosts, Anne and Mark Kennedy, were unbelievably warm and welcoming and their beautiful farm, in the SC “low country” provided a beautiful back drop for taping the show. They catered to our every need—right down to golf carts for the crew and a private trailer for me to change clothes in (which I do about 6-8 times a day during a shoot). It wasn’t a typical Hollywood trailer, but a living quarters horse trailers—right up my alley.

This is the area of SC where much of “Forest Gump” was filmed and, in fact, the farm was located on the same road where the famous “Run Forest, run” scene took place. With beautiful live oak trees, draped in Spanish moss, palmetto and salt-water marshes, we were always oohing and awing over the scenery. As we drove back and forth from the island, we passed a dock for shrimp boats that was quite reminiscent of the movie.

As usual, we filmed six episodes in three days—Tue-Wed-Thu. Tuesday was the hardest day—weather wise. It was unseasonably cold (high about 52 degrees) and with high winds. We were all very cold the whole day, but since our schedule is so tight, we just had to work through it. So much for all the cute summery outfits I had—I wore my heavy coat the whole time. A soak in a hot bath back at the house never felt so good. Wednesday was hard too since that is definitely our “hump day” and it turned out to be cold as well. On Wednesday, we finish three episodes and start three more. We start filming at the very first ray of sunshine and we tape until the light is completely gone. It’s an arduous day and one that I am always glad to see come to an end.

On Thursdays, all we have to do is end three episodes and then pick up miscellaneous stuff like commercials, voice-overs and background footage. Ending an episode is pretty easy—it’s only a 3-4 minute segment where I just follow-up after the person has practiced and give them a few things to work on in the future.

The toughest part of each episode is the beginning. First we film the “before” footage and that is where we figure out what exactly the show will be on. There’s not enough time in each episode to cover all of the issues, so we have to really narrow it down. Also, often the episode ends up being on a totally different topic than what we thought, based on the owner’s application. For one thing, often the problem is not really what the owner complained about, but something more fundamental that must be corrected before the real complaint can be addressed. And often, we cannot get the horse to display the “problem” behavior on demand. There’s something uncanny about a horse’s ability to be good when you say he’s bad and visa-versa. So we definitely have to roll with the punches.

I think we got some really good episodes this week. We had a Rocky Mountain horse that needed to learn a pivot on the haunches to show successfully in Western Pleasure (not an easy feat in a gaited horse); and a rescued Thoroughbred that needed reconditioning after his bout with near starvation. Plus a young TB-Trakhener cross that was spoiled and rude and had learned to rip the line away and run-off while being longed. Then there was another TB that had no real behavioral problems but was a lazy horse and was not performing well enough to show in Dressage, as his owner aspired to. And yet another TB, fresh off the track, that was ready to start a new career as a Hunter and the owner needed to develop a plan for starting him over fences. Finally, we had a QH mare that was throwing her head and running through the bridle—that turned out to be a bitting issue and once we changed bits and I did a little bit of schooling on her, she made a dramatic change.

All in all, it was a very successful week. We all worked really hard but there is always a satisfaction in completion and a job well-done. Thursday night, our hosts organized a “wrap” party at a nearby restaurant and a good time was had by all. In keeping with the southern culture, we had roasted pig, collards greens and baked beans; the food was great and the company even better. Waking up one more time at 5:30, we were on the way to the airport by 6:30a eastern and with a little luck, I’ll be home by 6:00p mountain. It’s been a long 10 days and I am ready to be home.

All the best,

Julie

For training tips from Julie, visit the Training Library at http://juliegoodnight.com/q&a.php and check out her online store--full of training tools and DVDs-- at http://juliegoodnight.com/products.html

A Busy Weekend

Greetings!

Well, it was a whirlwind weekend in Columbus OH at Equine Affaire, one of the biggest and best horse expos in the country. I stayed busy every moment from 9:00a when the show opened each day until about 8:00p—making for an exhausting but very fun four days. On top of my regular presentations, appearances in sponsor’s booths and visiting with people in my booth, I also judged the Extreme Cowboy Race. I was pleasantly surprised that there were overall higher quality entries in this race, compared to the one I judged in CA, but the best horses were not as good as the winner in CA.

As always, there were several entries that left me wondering, “what the heck were they thinking when they entered this race?” A few riders couldn’t even get their horses to go around the arena, let alone over the obstacles. But I have to say, about half of the 36 competitors were pretty impressive. There were some that didn’t make the finals that I thought were pretty darn good. On Sunday, there was an exciting finish, with a tie for first place and a subsequent run-off. The horse I thought would win sort of had a melt-down in the run-off, leaving a grade gelding with a 57 y/o amateur female rider to win. He was a steady-Eddie horse and she rode the race methodically—no showing off (as the other top riders did—which ended up getting them in trouble), just finishing the course correctly and working incredibly consistently. There’s a lesson to be learned there: correct and consistent will usually beat style and flash.

I was really fortunate this weekend to be able to ride a couple really cool horses—both of whom competed in the ECR. The first horse was a 17 hh Friesian stallion from Texas, named Valour. He was a surreal horse—absolutely gorgeous and a blast to ride. He was WAY bigger than any Friesian I’ve worked with before at 1700+ pounds. In spite of that, he was fairly light and responsive and moved quite well off my legs. But after an hour of sitting on that wide horse, my hips were killing me! I guess I am getting old. The presentation was on “Control & Authority with Your Horse,” and it was a really fun clinic. I had one horse that was too fast, two that were too slow and one young horse that just needed more training. We worked through specific issues on each horse and also just talked about some general principles regarding leadership, authority and disciplining horses.

Yesterday, in my last presentation for the weekend on “Mastering Flying Lead Changes,” I got to ride the QH stallion that tied for first place in the ECR. He was a gorgeous hunk of horse flesh; a big bull-doggie horse that was very athletic and really well trained by a guy from MI named Kelly LeBlanc. He was a little on-the-muscle after all the excitement of the race, but he still worked well for me. He was late arriving because of the run-off and I was well into my 90 minute presentation when I got on him. Having never ridden him before (in fact, Kelly told me I am only the 3^rd person to ever ride him), I told the audience if he missed my cue for the lead change it was probably my fault since we hadn’t had time to get to know each other. But remarkably, he picked up the lead change perfectly every time. I love a horse that makes me look good!

I saw a lot of old friends over the weekend and met many new ones too. Had dinner each night with colleagues and overall it was an excellent weekend. Now I am here in the Washington Dulles airport, waiting on my flight to Savannah GA. We’ll be filming 6 new episodes of Horse Master this week, on a private island on the SC coast. It’s going to be a busy week for me and fortunately I’ll be home this weekend, to catch up on some sleep before I head out to clinics next week in WY and KS.

Don’t forget there are brand new episodes of Horse Master playing this week. I’ve already gotten many comments on last week’s episode on trailer loading—hopefully you caught it. If not, it will air again in six weeks. Also you can now purchase individual episodes, after they have aired.

Until next time,

Julie

For training tips from Julie, visit the Training Library at http://juliegoodnight.com/q&a.php and check out her online store--full of training tools and DVDs-- at http://juliegoodnight.com/products.html

Trailer Loading

Good Day!

I’m up in the air, on my way to Columbus OH for Equine Affaire. Only had to drive through a minor snow storm to get to the airport today. With only a two-day turnaround this week and leaving on two back-to-back trips (from OH to SC to film the TV show), it was a very hectic two days. So now it is nice to be on a plane, high above it all, listening to Andrea Bocelli on my headphones with plenty of time to kick back and catch up on my writing.

I am excited about the new episodes of Horse Master that begin airing this week. Starting today, the first of six episodes we shot in Arizona in January will air—a new episode for each of the next six weeks. I was really happy with all the episodes at the AZ shoot, but I think this week’s show, on trailer loading, was definitely the best of this shoot. There’s a teaser for it on my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/juliegoodnight (we’re not allowed to show the entire episode) and as a result, this is the first episode that we’ve taken orders for—before it even airs.

This episode features a Thoroughbred gelding who won’t load in a trailer. He’s learned all sorts of nasty tricks to avoid the trailer, including rearing up, ripping his nose around and running straight away from you, leaving you dirt skiing in his wake—at least for as long as you can hang on. He was definitely a difficult horse, but not surprisingly, once his nasty tactics were proven ineffective, he gave it up and loaded up like a well-seasoned road warrior. Surprisingly, this didn’t take very long and almost all the training time shows on the edited episode (we might have cut 5 minutes at the most).

We knew from the horse’s history that she had owned the horse for a couple years and had made numerous attempts to train the horse to load, but to no avail (translated: the horse has had much success in NOT getting in the trailer). Being a part of the show meant she had to trailer the horse from Tucson to Phoenix—no easy feat. Before the trip, her vet came out and tranquilized the horse to the point that they could shove him into the trailer with little resistance. Of course, that’s easier said that done (picture shoving a 20# bag of beans into a mailbox). The only thing worse than a wild and fighting horse is a doped-up wild and fighting horse; and, needless to say, trailering a doped up hose is not an ideal scenario because his balance and coordination are grossly affected.

The horse arrived a day early and stood around in a stall waiting for his lesson in loading. As usual, we started the filming by getting the “before” footage—an attempt to capture on film the essence of the problem. Long before the gelding got near the trailer, as the owner led him toward the trailer, he was already displaying avoidance techniques by stopping, balking and turning his nose away. Watching her try to load him confirmed my suspicions of the typical mistakes that had been made to get the horse in this state to begin with. The horse was disobedient (stopping, going and turning whenever he felt like it); as she approached the trailer he stopped, backed up, turned right, backed up, turned left, jerked his head, stomped his feet and repeated until she gave up in frustration and led him away from the trailer to “ make another run at it.” Classically, with trailer loading troubles, she was rewarding his disobedience and giving him approval every time she led him away from the trailer. Needless to say, since he had so much success with his antics before (remember, all he wanted was to be taken away from the trailer—even if only for a moment) he would repeat the same antics each time she turned him back to the trailer.

Clearly the answer was to prove to the horse that turning away and backing up were not options and in fact, the only option, once presented to the trailer, was for him to walk forward onto it. It’s not hard for a horse to figure out the right answer when you eliminate all the other options. But when we escalated the pressure on him, he brought his antics to a whole new level and first ran off from the owner, then from my assistant, and then I had to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with him.

We did not know ahead of time that the horse had learned to throw his weight around and get his handler into an impossible position to stop him—as he high-tailed it back to the barn. I am not sure if you’ve ever had a horse that has figured this move out— fortunately, it is not that common. But when a horse learns that all he has to do is get his neck pointed straight away form you and he can pretty much drag you anywhere, you’ve got a real problem on your hands. Mules are sometimes born with this talent.

In order to gain control of the horse, I had to put a chain on his nose (in addition to the rope halter and long training lead), so that I stood a pea-picking chance to leverage his nose around when he made his move. He got away from me once (after having gotten away from two other handlers and running straight back to his stall twice) but soon I managed to check him and stop him dead in his tracks a couple times. When a horse learns to make this kind of move, the important thing is that you never let him straighten his neck. As long as you can keep his neck slightly bent toward you, you can stop him.

You’ll see on the show that after I stopped him once hard and he figured out he wasn’t going to be able to make that move, things changed quickly with this horse. Although we started with the owner leading him, then my assistant trainer and then me at the helm, once the horse was convinced that he couldn’t run off, he couldn’t turn right or left (because I wouldn’t let him turn his nose) and he couldn’t back-up (because my assistant would flag him hard when he stepped back and scare him into moving forward), he actually made up his mind quite quickly that going forward into the trailer seemed to be the best option.

Once in, he received a handful of tasty grain and a pet on the neck as a reward, was required to stand and settle, then we backed him out slowly (another problem he had was blowing out backwards once he did load); then we loaded him again. We probably loaded him twenty times with him almost trotting into the trailer, drawn to it like a pig to sh**. Once he got it, he got it.

The next day, the horse was to be transported back to Tucson via commercial carrier. I was anxious to hear how the horse would load into a different trailer, with different handlers. I was absolutely thrilled to hear that he walked right onto the trailer with no hesitation. I think the owner totally understood the mistakes she had made and you can see on the show that she started handling her horse with a new awareness almost instantly. He was a smart horse—therein lies the problem—he had learned the wrong thing.

As usual, as these new episodes begin airing this week, we are headed to SC for our next shoot. We’ll all converge on the SC coast, just north of Savannah GA, on Monday and we’ll film six new episodes in three days. It’s an incredible grind, but fun. We’ve got some good horses and riders lined up and one thing I’ve learned about the TV show is that there will certainly be some surprises, when it comes to what we will be filming and what problems we’ll be solving. That’s the great thing about horses—they always keep you guessing!

Until next time,

Julie

For training tips from Julie, visit the Training Library at http://juliegoodnight.com/q&a.php and check out her online store--full of training tools and DVDs-- at http://juliegoodnight.com/products.html