Welland Workshop 20 November 2016

We had a super workshop at Welland today. Thanks to the dedicated attendees who put up with the cold and still managed to stay cheerful and enthusiastic. Sam Pettigrew baked the most wonderful lemon drizzle cake and she and Jo Lewington hosted beautifully – so thank you for making it a great day again!
After the theory session Jo and Sherman had a first lesson in liberty training together. The objective of the session was really to have a look at where they are today, with a view to preparing for her grade 1 evaluation – to observe what is working and what needs improvement.
We then had a look at Des’ liberty training, which Jo has already done more work on, and his transitions were very lovely and sharp and he offered some lovely LFS circles and a spontaneous half pass! His work in hand is much improved since last time, he is getting more accustomed to Jo using two reins and when she asked for a little more connection Des shaped himself up into an absolutely super shoulder fore. A tantalising glimpse of what is to come – a sensitive, talented horse with a lot to offer.
Lu Luan Crawford Crawford brought her gorgeous Icelandic mare, Bjort, for their first ever ST lesson. Bjort took it all very much in her stride, and Lu’s previous good experience with working with horses from the ground was obvious, as well as her good feel on the rein and timing in the release. Bjort is very supple and keeping her very fluid point of mass back and evenly distributed over both front legs was the challenge for Lu in the standstill exercises. They made fast progress with the LFS circles, and with just a little practise Bjort will be showing some nice self-carriage. It will be fascinating to see how this responsive young horse progresses with Straightness Training and it will be super to see her perform the tölt with the 6 keys in place.