Volunteer Phoebe has been working with Cali and took her into the recent Joel Conner clinic. Here is an update on how things are going:
From the Joel clinic:
The Joel Conner clinic in November was excellent! I got the gift of working with Cali Jane. She is smart, responsive, willing to please as soon as she understood what was being asked of her. Attending the foundations classes helped prepare me to communicate better with her, and for me, the best part of the clinic was when Joel showed me how to position my shoulders in order to have her feel comfortable trotting next to me. I love that he explains how the lessons taught now, will be utilized later in the horse training & development. Priceless lessons.
From after the clinic:
I worked with Cali yesterday for an hour or so — it wasn’t raining so we were outside arena mostly after a good brushing & picking all 4 hooves. Nice change up. She gives me her fronts fairly easy — she is hesitant about giving me her backs, but after a couple attempts she gave them. She is doing so much better moving into a trot & staying with me if she is on my right, not so much when she is on my left, so we worked on that, changing speeds, side passing, unified circle — she did good despite the distraction of the nearby horses. Then we went into the arena, I have been having the flag with me, but rarely using it cause she is so sensitive to that pressure, but after Friday & yesterday, she is beginning to stand calmly while I pet her with it. She still startles & needs to move at times but overall is much calmer with it.
