Blogger Meet-Up and Mark Rashid Horsemanship Clinic

 

This past weekend was very busy, but lots of fun!

On Friday several fellow bloggers met up in Albuquerque to enjoy New Mexican food and Margaritas, and lots of laughter.

From left to right: Don and Justina from New Mexico’s Morning Bray Farm, Winter’s niece, Valerie from New Mexico’s Fantastyk Voyage, Winter (Breathe) from Texas’ Horse Centric, and me(in the middle).

Winter drove in to New Mexico, all the way from Texas, to participate, with her horse Smokey, in a three day horsemanship clinic in Santa Fe taught by the skilled Aikido second degree black belt student, talented singer, writer and horse trainer Mark Rashid.

(Mark Rashid and Winter (Breathe))

I won’t bother going into too many details about Mark Rashid and his clinics because there are others, like Kate of A Year with Horses Blog who has attended a few of his clinics, too and has some excellent first hand experiences within 16 special posts (find them listed on the side of her blog, under Mark Rashid Clinics 2009-2010).

(Winter (Breathe) and Val (Fantastyk Voyager))

You can also check into my friends’ Dan and Betty's Blog, as they were there all three days and took lots of notes.

(From left to right: Me, Dan, Betty and Val. Dan and Betty live in New Mexico and own an Icelandic gelding and a Rocky Mountain Gaited mare. Val, my neighbor friend, owns three Arabians and an Appy/Arab/Paint gelding.)

And of course, please check out Winter’s (Breathe’s) blog Horse Centric. She just got home yesterday and posted about her experience with one word: Transformative. She also promises to write more once she’s able to gather her thoughts and experiences into more words.

(Winter and I trying to get warm….BBrrrrr! It was so cold and windy! Yeah, I know I look like a Cowgirl Aunt Jemima. lol!)

What I must say about Mark Rashid is he is one of the best horse trainers and and rider educators I’ve ever seen or read about. He’s one of the old school cowboys, a lot like the late Ray Hunt. I was most impressed with Mark’s calm, quiet, always patient, and encouraging demeanor and his ability to read a horse and a rider just by spending a few minutes with them. I found him to be charming and helpful and always willing to share personal stories and clever humor to draw us in while teaching in a ‘thinking sort of way’.

(Me and Mark Rashid)

One of the things he is able to do while riding, impressed many of us auditors and students alike. Mark encouraged us all to connect with the horse on a deeper mental level, without using any physical aids, except our mind and energy. He showed us that it’s possible to stop or move your horse forward without using any leg, hand, voice or rein aids…just your mind and ‘inner mechanism’. It was amazing to observe Mark teaching one of his students how to accomplish this connection and actually see it working between the rider and her horse. 

I also appreciated Mark’s reluctance to pressure anyone to use or buy any products or training tools, even though he has written at least 7 books, and uses a particular bit called a Rockin' S Snaffle. He didn’t advertise or endorse anything nor did he have a sales table or employees to sell anything. Even when asked about the music he’s produced and if we could listen to some of it, he didn’t think he’d be able to find a CD to play. His wife, Crissy travels with Mark, but she’s busy working with the students that Mark’s not working one-on-one with at the time. She’s a talented horse trainer in her own right, riding since she was 2 years old.

(Crissy, behind Winter and Smokey, wearing full leather chaps and riding the Bay Arabian)

As for Mark Rashid, I liked his simple answers to some of the questions asked, too. When asked by an auditor what Mark thought of Martingales, he simply answered, “I don’t use them”. He never told the auditor that he should never use them, but when asked to explain further, after being asked if Martingales and tie-downs we’re a good training tool, even if only used temporarily, Mark said that he felt that they we’re a quick fix, that didn’t really fix anything at all, and were more like a bandaid. And in the end, their use could even lead to more problems later on.

(Mark Rashid instructing Winter on lowering Smokey’s headset for more relaxation and focus)

I was mostly there, though, to support and encourage Winter and her new horse Smokey, who is just a 4 year old gelding. She and I have been traveling similar horse journeys since we began reading each other’s blogs a few years ago. I’m on my second horse and she’s now on her third after we’ve both had some frustrating experiences with our first horses. It’s been exciting to see her grow and change all this time and even more exciting to watch how well she and her new horse work together and communicate. I think she’s finally found her equine soul mate and I’m so happy for her!

Here are some of my favorite photos I took of the two of them, along with Mark Rashid, during the clinic.

On the day I was there, Mark was instructing Winter to work on keeping Smokey’s headset lower and more relaxed because he tends to keep his head high and on alert, which Mark said can cause him to be less focused on her and lead to nervous and spooky behavior. It was exciting to see Winter working with Smokey and helping him let go and becoming more relaxed.

After the morning session was over, our hosts invited everyone to convene to the indoor arena to enjoy a delicious homemade lunch of spaghetti, meatballs and garlic bread, along with pies, cakes, and cookies for dessert.

After filling up our bellies and warming up with hot tea, it was then time for the afternoon session to begin.

To Be Continued……….