Clinic Update: Nashville

Nashville has earned the reputation of being very amiable to new riders and able to be put into a clinic or taken on a trail ride by someone she’s just met. For this past Joel Conner clinic, we were able to let volunteer rider Scott get on her the day before the clinic and easily fit into the class without trouble. LOVE this mare’s willing attitude and it was a treat that she enjoyed working with Scott. We look forward to him continuing to ride.

The week following the clinic Nashville went out on a few trail rides through the park to help the uneasy horses with their first trail rides. She is a steady leader when needed, follows without worry and comforts the uneasy horses with her steady calm presence. She does not become tight or bothered when the others act up or get nervous. She is truly a gem on the trail and READY to find a family looking for a great partner!

Scott shared with us his experience getting to know Nashville:

She went very easily in a unified circle and did great bending and yielding hind quarter and front quarter. Clearly, she has had a lot of work there. When I bent her while mounted, she was very sensitive to bending both left and right. She was very sensitive to yielding her hindquarters. She can get better but I felt she tried and understands what is being asked. I think she can reach more with her hind. She struggled a bit with the front quarter yield but that also may have been me trying to get our time down when I was asking for her to yield her front quarter. We got better between Friday and Sunday.

She seems to be drawn to the gate when in the arena, so I will work on getting her to work when she is at the gate and letting her rest when she goes away from the gate. That seems to affect her anytime we were walking or trotting in a circle. On Friday she was cutting corners, moving off the wall, and not very responsive to my “feel.” I think by Sunday we had an improvement there and she stayed on the wall and yielded to my leg and stayed in the corners on each turn.

I felt great being able to get Nashville into a soft feel at the walk, trot, and lope. I had to work at my release and need to improve there. When asked, she goes to a trot and lopes easily. At times she can be “dull” so I will work at getting her more responsive to my “feel” so she goes easily. I also noticed that when she was working in the arena her disposition changed. She was listening to me. At times I messed up and asked too much or did not give to her and then she got braced, but that was my fault. I’ll keep working at that. Overall, a great three-day clinic for us!