| Riding Camp - June, 2006 at Picabo Ranch |
| Busy lives are making commitments to activities like a summer camp harder and harder to make and keep, but for those who showed up in Picabo in June, the effort was worth the while. Horses and people had a good, if hot, time. |
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| Kristina set up for maximum comfort. In the mornings, we used her place as a rendezvous spot to get organized. Caryl pitched her tent just down the way and their horses were close at hand. |
Caryl led a daily yoga session to help us all stretch, flex and center. This has been a popular addition to camp, providing a mix of personal time with horse time. Lisa, a Pilates instructor, and Marcia, a body worker with a neuro-net specialty, made for some helpful information exchanges. |
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| We were so grateful to have the indoor arena so we could stay out of the sun. It was still hot, but we could at least do groundwork exercises, ride and do bodywork in the shade. Here, Caryl practices bending Wings and asking him to engage his inside hind leg to strengthen his ability to develop self-carriage. |
Ellie provided a demonstration on how effective clicker training can be with a horse that throws its head when being bridled. By targeting the fuzzy noseband, she actually puts her head through the reins herself! |
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| Jazspur has conformation issues that make him inclined to throw his head up and travel with a hollow back. Here, Linda is rotating her body and using her legs in a rhythmic fashion to encourage him to engage his hind legs, stretch through his body and lower his head by telescoping his neck. It's a lot of work for both of them. |
And it can be done! Through patience and perseverance, Linda has Jazspur traveling in a relaxed way with his head down. Note the loose rein. This is an example of the application of the groundwork exercise we saw Caryl and Wings doing in Picture #3. Under saddle the horse seeks self-carriage. |
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| After any kind of work, all of the horses enjoy energy release bodywork in the form of Jin Shin. All campers learned releases for neck, shoulder, back and hip. |
Our second day at camp was spiced up by an impromptu cattle drive. All of the heifers were brought in, separated from their calves (a dusty and noisy process) and then shipped out to open range where they would be reunited. We adjusted our schedule accordingly and moved to the house for yoga. |
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| Dust and heat drove us all to Silver Creek for a picnic lunch and to cool off. The mosquitoes drove us back to the ranch without delay. |
Kristina brings Red to a halt without pulling on his mouth and revels in the excitement of the experience. |
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| While Kristina is practicing on Red, Stephanie provides some R & R and energy releases for Justine. |
Lisa finds neutral pelvis and discovers how to buoy her body in motion with the horse's movement. |