Working Horse Clinic and Demonstration II, by Lisa Abraham
On the dates of October 2nd and 3rd, Larry Westmoreland and myself put on the second Working Horse Clinic and Demonstration, at the West Wind Training Center, in Tickfaw, LA. Just like our first one in May, it was a huge success. In May, Larry very generally discussed and demonstrated the steps involved in training a horse to work a cow. He started with a young mare, the beautiful Anisa Gamal (Amiin+// X Bint Gamal)), who was recently purchased by Deni Grissette, and put her in a ring with cows for the first time. Several more steps later, he ended with the master himself, Amiin+// (Ibn Morafic X Ajibah). We went from seeing that very first ah-ha moment in Anisa Gamal's eye as she realized what was being asked of her, to the working cow ability of a national champion.
This second clinic was the next stepping stone in our understanding of this sport and how we can apply some of the ideas to our own horses at home. Featured at this clinic was the nationally known and respected, Alice Smith, of Bent Tree Arabians. Alice started the clinic with an in-depth discussion and demonstration of bits themselves, teaching a horse how to accept a bit and starting horses up to the point of using long lines. Most special and unique about Alice's method was how she taught us how to use a bit from the perspective of the horse. We grouped into pairs, one person being the horse (bit and all) and one person being the rider. The person who was the horse actually held the bit in front between 2 fingers demonstrating how little pressure is necessary for the horse to understand the communication.
Alice's demonstration seg-wayed directly into Larry taking the next step and getting on the horse. Larry demonstrated the various movements that applied specifically to this working cow horse sport, but also to the well being of the horse in general. To further illustrate, Larry did an exercise with the horse in which he was following a flag that was running horizontally, back and forth, in front of him. This helped to teach the horse that there was a target and how to, in pursuit of the target, turn efficiently, from the back end. An excellent exercise before actually entering the ring with cows.
While the first clinic taught us from the perspective of the horse, this second clinic focused more on the proper riding of a working cow horse. So various riders at various levels of skill rode while being critiqued by Larry. Like the horses in the previous clinic, there were some riders who were learning for the first time, others with some experience, others with lots of experience but in different disciplines and then finally there was Larry himself. Teaching from this perspective gave us valuable insight into the strategy and mental dexterity required of the rider. One thing we all learned--this is one exciting sport!!
Thank you Larry for another great clinic! Thank you Gigi Westmoreland for all the great food and laughs--you really made it fun! Thank you especially to Victoria Brussard, owner of Ektibar (Amiin+// X Bint Bint Atteyah), to Deni Grissette, owner of Anisa Gamal (Amiin+// X Bint Gamal) and of course to Summer Bergeron, owner of internationally known stallion Amiin+// for sharing your talented horses with us, for allowing us to learn as you were being critiqued, and most importantly, for being examples of Egyptian Arabian owners who invest in the careers of your horses.
