Dave Minteer Clinic

Hello all! A few weeks back I atttended a clinic buy a well known trainer in this area named Dave Minteer. Dave had trained, started, and delt with problem horses for a number of years. He is and offical John Lyons certified trainer and uses his techniques directly in  his training. For those of you who don't know who John Lyons, he is a natural horseman along the lines of Parelli and Clinton Anderson. This fall I will be interning with Dave in hopes to learn more about training horses and his ways, as that is the career path I hope to follow!
      Anyways back to the clinic, there were about 15 horses many of them being young and inexperienced. We had considered taking Simon to the clinic but in the end decided not to. The clinic began with ground work working the horses over tarps, bridges, desensitizing with little peices of tarps tied to dressage whips and more. The afternoon was the riding. They then worked on riding over the bridges and tarps, picking up flags and carrying them, and riding through pool noodles on standards which was quite intresting to watch! :P I only got a little portion of the clinic on video but thought I would share it anyways. So after the clinic I decided to take some of the idea's and techniques I learned and work Simon through them. After all, he is the type of horse that thinks the wind may eat him one day! Needless to say he was AMAZING! we worked over the tarps and improving his ground manners. I also worked on him being patient at the mounting block. This is a common issue with off the track thoroghbreds because jockey's often mount while the horse is walking to the track! So I began by asking him to stand where the mountting block was placed, not moving the mounting block to where he was, making him move to the proper place next to the mounting block. once we had that mastered I began to ask him for his attention while standing there. In our arena we have a sliding door at one end and each of the horses spook at it every time they go in the arena... I couldn't tell you exactly why, but they do. So especially for Simon I needed his attention on me and not on the door. After we mastered that I began slowly putting weight on his back and making him stand. Eventually I hung over his back, and then mounted. After mounting I still made him stand until I was ready to go. I worked on this maybe 3 or 4 seprate times and now he's perfect! Ocassionally, (on particularly scary days:p) he needs a refresher but then remebers his job! I can't tell you how much doing ground work has improved him and our relationship together. He understands that when I ask for his attention he needs to give it to me instead of peering at the scary door, or whatever monster is in the arena at the moment. Here's a little video I put together of the clinic stuff and me working with Simon at home. Also the "Then" portion of the video was a day, about a year ago, when I tried to ride Simon across a tarp with some water on it. Long story made short it took us nearly 2 hrs to get him to touch it. But anyways here it is:

Another little trick I learned from the clinic was the use of rope halters. I always thought they were just something westenr people used, because there horses were always calm:P but I learned that these halters are made to put different pressure points on the horses face. I bought one for Simon and what a difference! I pull and he listens! I haven't compleatly switched him over to a rope halter though becuase I truly believe he still needs a chain over his nose while being turned out  some days, but the rope halter has been a great training tool for in the arena!

Well im off to the barn! Have a blessed week! :)