29 Oct, 2020
Geelong July Clinic
Friday 19th July had Jason and I driving through Melbourne peak hour traffic bound for our first clinic at Lethbridge Equestrian Centre, Lethbridge. Lethbridge being about a 20-minute drive out of Geelong.
With my laptop on my knee and Jason driving we were able to brainstorm new ideas for future clinics as well. 😊
This particular clinic we were commencing on the Friday evening due to us having a close family friends’ birthday on the Saturday evening in which we wanted to return home to Emerald for.
Jason being our resident qualified chef prepared a lovely cauliflower and lentil soup which we had with Turkish bread, prior to that we supplied cheese, dips and crackers with a tasty Pinot Gris.
We had a small group or riders, Cassie, Racheal, Jess and Denise and all bar one were able to join us for the evening, we also had 1 enthusiastic spectator 😊 We did our introductions where the riders got to know Jason and I a little better and we then got some insight into our participants.
The presentation I gave this evening was on the Legerete Training scale and the HUGE asset it plays in understanding the logical way we can train our horses.
The evening finished on a on a great note with everyone looking forward to the next day.
Bright and early Saturday morning we started with Jason’s thought-provoking mindset session, this is always great for us and gives all the riders the opportunity to discuss their techniques.
Because this clinic ran a little differently, we went onto the Cavesson work and a group discussion on the benefits of understanding the asymmetries of each horse and how we can aid them in maintaining a better posture, both immobile and in locomotion.
The afternoon had all the riders doing their own warm-up going over the techniques from the morning then onto a private lesson each, either with Jason or myself. The day ended with a group of happy faces.
As Jason and I left for the day for our drive back to Emerald there was talk of cocktails, dinner and dancing!!!
After a lovely birthday dinner with Erica, friends and family we rose early for the return trip to Lethbridge. This morning we commenced with my bio-mechanics presentation “Joining the Dots” it’s always interesting to hear the feedback as the riders more and more develop the understanding on how the equine body needs to work to carry us with comfort and ultimate longevity.
The second part of the morning we had another group session this time with the Education of the Mouth process, these being a wonderful string of exercises where we cue the horses’ mouth to different rein aids enabling us to be more fine-tuned under saddle.
After lunch, once again the riders had their private lessons, this time for the first time two of the riders chose to stay with the teacher they had on the first day…. This is always a possibility for all the riders, it is often good as sometimes consolidation with a single thought process is necessary.
We once again had a wonderful time with the Geelong group of girls and are very much looking forward to our next clinic with them on the 7th & 8th December.
Until next time.
Jason & Leanne
