Amazing Results

[Wally]

How many times have you had a computer game, you play it and make reasonable progress and then progress is slow and frustrating and you seem to get nowhere and take a long time doing it. Then someone finds you a cheat mode or book of how to solve the puzzles, the light dawns and the game becomes clear and a pleasure to play.

Well I have nearly finished reading Heather's book, it is as if I have been given the book of puzzle solutions or the cheat mode. The results from the horses have been amazing.

I rode one of our 'dyed in the wool' trekking horses today and used him as guinea pig. This horse has had no formal schooling, he is a trekking horse, he will follow nose to tail all day if you let him. Just for something to do tried Heather's turning techniques using just pelvis and weight. To my amazement he went from one side of the track to the other without me so much as touching my reins, they were washing lines. I was so amazed that a completely uneducated horse reacted so well, he is accustomed to carrying complete passengers.

This system really does work.

Heather we really do need you to do a course up here. I will write to you once the indoor school is finished.

[Heather]

HI Wally,

I am SO glad that the book is helping you, particularly as you are so isolated up there. Rest assured,I have long wanted to visit your lovely part of the world, as long as it is summer!

I know that when I first learned these aids from Desi Lorent, and went home and tried them out on every school/livery or my own horse that could carrryme, none of whom had been trained even slightly classically, and like your trekking pony, every last one of them responded instantly , as if saying' Thank goodness, she's learnt at last!'

This is what convinced me totally that I had to relearn almost everything that I knew. But, that relearning process was much simpler than I expected. It was all so logical that I had no difficulty taking it on board, and what was so good, it WORKED!!!!!



Heather

[Mossy]

Amen to that Wally and Heather. I tried weight and hip turns on a 20 something riding school plod who I was riding, Hubby was on Moss and we decided that we did actually want to see something of each other and have fun. "Plod" promptly shed twenty years and was going great. Yes she was tired towards the end of two hours and I hopped off and led her but she enjoyed herself. - Hubby's comment to her owner, when he saw I was leading, when asked who was tired was "Well what do you expect they are both old ladies"?!!
The cheek of it!
Jesting apart your book is a breath of fresh air.

[Edited by Mossy on 7th Oct 2000 at 08:07 PM]

[Wally]

All I can say is Wow!

It it So simple, the second you tip your pelvis your leg automatically comes into play in such a natural way, whay had I never really noticed this before. As Heather says in her book why was I so blind?

I must have been very boring company on the ride as I was subtly practicing one hip then the other, I laugh now when I think what I must have looked like on that ride, totally absorbed in pratting about with my backside.

[Heather]

Not nearly as funny as some members of an audience at one of my demos in Staffordshire a few years ago. There hadn't been enough rooom in the gallery so some folks were leaning out of the windows of the restaurant into the indoor school. I was talking about the seat aids to slow down and collect the horse- you know in my book- pinch your bum muscles together and the upper thighs. Apparently about 30 bums went 'pinch' in unison! When I explained the unilateral use of the seat muscles when asking the horse for piaffe or passage, the bums went pinch left, pinch right in a Mexican wave of buttocks, with thier owners being completely obnlivious to what they, or the spectators standing next to them were doing!!! Wish I could have seen it myself!



Heather