I worked with Nashville for all 3 days of this recent Joel Conner clinic. Every time I ride this horse I like her more and more! During the groundwork portion I focused on getting her to have a better expression. She often pins her ears when asked to do something and Joel helped me work on my energy level and timing to get a change in her. By the end of the session she had a much more pleasant expression and I felt like we made good progress.
Since the last clinic, Nashville and I have been working on getting her to be more punctual. She is now more responsive to my seat for upward transitions, but we still had a little more work to do in this area. I have been simultaneously working on getting a more pleasant expression under saddle. This is a balance for me between getting more “go” while also keeping her relatively content about doing it. Going forward I’ll be working to fine tune upward and downward transitions; more energy going upward into the trot and lope, coming back down after a few good strides, and maintaining punctuality with both.
Every time I participate in a clinic I get more and more insight into how I can improve my horsemanship. Nashville has been a fun partner to experience this with.
Below, photos of volunteer Phoebe riding Nashville:
