Lori helped Butterscotch get introduced to horsemanship in our recent Horsemanship clinic. Here is what she had to say about working with this smart senior mare:
Butter came to SAFE about a month ago. She’s a sweet girl but didn’t understand much about horsemanship. I took Butter into the Friday and Saturday classes of the Joel Conner clinic. In Friday’s class, we worked on the unified circle, yielding the hindquarters, and backing up. Because Butter is an older girl, I started slow. I was very pleased with how quickly she picked up on the “feel”. Backing, following, and stopping right in time with me. She was stiff going to the right and was pretty slow, without a lot of life. Joel helped us to create more life and get out. I was so happy with our progress that day.
Deep in discussion…
On Saturday, Butter seemed pretty stiff again. She started right out with an amazing “feel” and even was so I tune that when I would just reach out for her lead rope she was already backing. So soft!!! The yielding hindquarters seemed to have set back a bit and we had to work through it again until she was able to do it with more life. Yielding the hind quarters came pretty easy to her and she did it with ease. We then worked on leading and transitions. She nailed all of these with an amazing “feel”. Joel’s even commented on the life she showed when trotting off.
I could not be more pleased with this sweet girl. She has so much give, try, and feel. She is incredibly smart and picks up on new things right away. I think her stiffness restricted her a bit but she was able to work through it. What a lovely girl she is!
