PNH "Future of Training" - Solihull

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Anyone else going to this ?

I'm still fixing flights, hotels etc so may still not make it, but just curious....

[Crystal Fire]

Yep - looking forward to seeing Stormy the Zorse!

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finally got flights, car and somewhere to stay. Likelihood of finding one person in such a large crowd is pretty low I guess, but perhaps we can compare views afterwards ?

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2 days packed with information. It would be interesting to see some feedback done on observers as I would expect that there were about as many different levels of understanding as there were people there !

For example, they started each day the same way I've seen them start shows before, with a handful of people and horses all playing in the same arena. All very impressive and I could hear various comments, and people were getting applause etc. But, mindful of some of the recent comments about demos were some of the horses did not look so comfortable or happy, I looked a bit closer this time.

You CAN see differences - some of the people would play the friendly game everytime (or almost so) there horse did something good. i.e. the horse got to rest and got a little rub. These horses tended to be the ones looking keen and relaxed. But some of the people seemed to just keep doing exercise after exercise, without every actually "saying" (whether words or touch) that the horses was doing good. And these were the horses more likely to look less relaxed and less comfortable.

Then I got to wondering why - after all, most of these people were level 2 or 3 or above. I did wonder whether it was partly a cultural thing - as there were a variety of nationalities involved. Maybe its less acceptable to say 'good' in, for example, a germanic culture ? It did not seem to be a gender thing.

Anyway, I'm going to write some of it up, so may well post bits and pieces if anyone's interested.

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picture of stormy the zorse with andy....

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and silke valentin with one of her friesans.