LEE SMITH HORSEMANSHIP CLINIC REPORT

LEE SMITH HORSEMANSHIP CLINIC REPORT

DAY 1

Jenny Jackson of Horsemanship First has hosted many clinicians from all around the world and I asked her at one of my clinics earlier this year who was the best clinician she had hosted and without any hesitation she said “Lee Smith”. Jenny described Lee as a beautiful person and incredible teacher for both people and horses and she recommended that if I got the chance I should come and see her for her Perth November clinic…so I made sure I am here!

Lee Smith lives on a cattle and quarter horse ranch in Arizona and has been conducting clinics and demonstrations around the world since 1991. Lee spent a lot of time with Ray Hunt and is dedicated to sharing Ray’s philosophy of working with horses and she certainly does that really well. When I was researching Lee I found an interview with her from the 2013 Las Vegas Legends of Legacy event that showcases horsemanship that was advocated by Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt, there is this cool excerpt from her interview where she explains how Ray Hunt influences her teachings:

“Those sayings—that cowboy logic—will help you find the answers. When you’re working with a horse, and you ask him which one of these does he need, they’re in there! The answers that you need are in those sayings or those philosophies. Those riddles that I thought were difficult to learn now are the cornerstones of what I do” (http://eclectic-horseman.com/legacy-of-legends-2013/).

That quote really resonates with me because I remember when I first got introduced to Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance and even Buck Branaman - that is exactly how I saw their words – riddles that went way over my head!

Anyway, here are a few quotes and concepts from Lee from today, many are quotes from Ray Hunt but many her own thoughts:

• Work where you and your horse are at today and not what you could do yesterday, last week or last year

• If the horse can get away from the pressure applied to it, then that is SENSITISING the horse – if the horse cannot get away from the pressure applied, then that is DESENSITISING the horse….this is when Lee was discussing how many people accidently desensitise their horses to their legs or bit etc by nagging or keeping the pressure on when the horse has actually performed what has asked and how this dulls the horses responses.

• When riding you have to put in front of your mind the good things that will happen and don’t put in the front of your mind the thing you are worried about because if you do the horse will do what you are worried about. By putting the good thought in your head gives the horse the best message but having what you are concerned about in the back of your mind means you are prepared if things do go pear shaped. Therefore, ride with positive thoughts and with courage.

• You can only get so far training horses if all you can resort to is getting firmer, it is more effective to get them feeling better. But sometimes you do have to show a horse what you want – it is how you present it that matters.

• You should train in a way that means you outgrow your tools (whips, flags etc.) so one day you don’t ever need to back up what your ask.

• With the horse it is not a partnership where you both make decisions, it is one where you lead and the horse follows but you listen and act on their feedback - you have to be a good CEO.

• Movements you train should look natural because it is horse performing the movement and it is not being forced.

• Don’t look down at your horse – look up WHERE you are directing the horse, by looking at them you are asking them where they want to go! And if you haven’t given them proper direction then you don’t have the right to criticise them.

• It comes easy for us to make war with the horse, you have to learn how to make peace.

• Listen to the horse’s idea – you want to walk and he wants to trot, don’t just trot….if he wants to move you decide how he will move, so if he wants to trot, you work on turn arounds or something else that you decide.

• Encourage what you want and discourage what you don’t – but don’t insist.

Lee also spent a lot of time getting people in tune with the footfalls of the horse and how much more effective it was to apply cues when it is timed with the footfalls. I expect I will be reporting more on this over the next few days!

Anyway, that is just the tip of the iceberg of ideas from today and this doesn’t really do justice to the pearls of wisdom conveyed by Lee today but it was a great day and it was nice to be able to listen, watch and play with my horse as I enjoyed being a clinic participant!

DAY 2

My clinic experience today can be summarised by one of the quotes Lee said today - The feeling in your body sets the horse's body and how WHAT you are doing to the horse impacts the horse...for me today was all about concentrating on being super conscious of everything you are doing to the horse, when you are doing it, how you are doing it and when you release.

Today I discovered that by being more aware of my horses movement underneath me that I could make corrections to my horses attention and focus way earlier than I was previously had been doing (which I already thought was pretty early but nope it can be earlier!) PLUS holding that correction until I got softness instead of just a physical correction of movement or attention had a way more profound impact and my horse got super soft and super connected between my reins.

Today the concept of "soft feel" was introduced. Note that a soft feel is a SOFT feel, NOT a soft LOOK. For this you have to be soft, not ridged...you got to be soft, you have to present soft, wait until the horse softens and release and build on this. I really liked how Lee described the purpose and application of a soft feel....its when you pick up the reins and the horse just melts into that connection with no resistance....Lee describes it as "making a phone call to your horse"...where once you made that call you had a better line for communication to an idea like a transition or a lateral movement. It is like "making a call" because after you pick up on a horse it makes you much closer to the horse than if you are on a loose rein...so the connection is closer and easier for your hands to send a message down the reins for the horse to respond to. Because the connection is "soft" the horse is already in a more conducive state to take on board your ideas and respond, instead of the opposite and being resistant and bracy. So you work on getting this nice soft resistant-brace-free response from your horse to the reins and then you start doing something with that nice soft connection eg. for instance today we worked on nice transitions between halt, walk, trot etc plus some lateral movement (leg yield/side pass) off and towards the fence.

Other cool quotes from today include:

• Its more about what the horse is thinking than what he is doing.

• Its about the HORSE...not about YOUR costume (whether your a western rider, dressage rider...what you wear, what saddle you have on etc.)

• If you desensitise the horse to your reins and the bit, he will only run through your aids!

• Tips for sitting trot - focus on the UP movement to sit to a bigger trot and focus on the DOWN movement to make the trot slower and to do a downward transitions (I can report this worked REALLY well!).

• Steer with your core - Lee demonstrated this, she rode her horse, sitting up in the saddle with her arms by her side, elbows bent with her forearm in line with the horses mouth. As Lee says "ride like a queen"! But when she turned, she turned from her core - so she turned her shoulders and torso WHERE she wanted to go and it was this action that took her hands...hence her horse turned without Lee looking like she had actually done something. Lee explained that so many people ask the horse to turn one way while they were turned another....again another lesson to look where you are riding and THINK what your body is actually doing!

• Ride the WHOLE horse - mind, body and spirit - I think people get the body idea as they can see what the horse is doing but I think people miss the mind of the horse and although I thought I had this pretty well worked out Lee has shown me in 2 days that there is an even deeper appreciation as well as a greater awareness to pick up on the body as well. Hopefully I will learn more about spirit over the next few days and report.

• People have opinions - horses have the facts! This is cool and so true, people have opinions about what they are doing but the horse is giving you the facts on how well you are really doing what you think you are doing!

• Horses do what they do from the way YOU present it!

Well that was Day 2, I will report again tomorrow.......Big thanks to Katrin Kuenstler and Desi for taking notes for me while I rode!

DAY 3

Lee started today with a good saying:

“There is no win or lose, there is only win or LEARN”

And how in learning how to work with horses making mistakes, failing and stuffing up are part of the deal and it is important to embrace this.

Today I took away from the clinic two very important lessons about trouble in a horse, or when a horse experiences discomfort and what to do about it.

The first lesson was very direct, what to do if something scares or worries a horse suddenly, such a bird flying out of a bush? Lee sat on the mounting block with a flag tool a little way from the fence and got everyone to walk past and just as the horse walked through the space Lee would move the flag tool that would trigger the horse to get a small fright and shoot forward. Lee’s advice was to deal with the reaction by being very specific with your rein action and not just shut the horse down by pulling back but by opening the rein by pointing with your inside hand to the source of trouble (i.e. Lee with her flag) that frightened the horse and by doing so caused the horse to face up to the source of trouble. Lee explained that allowing horses to face up to the source of trouble was very beneficial and could deescalate the worry in the horse a lot more effectively than bending the horse around so that the source of trouble was directly behind the horse which can easily escalate the fear and trigger further escape behaviours and cause the horse to run away. It worked a treat and before long my horse had grown in confidence over random flags appearing and I could walk and trot past the flag popping up or even flagging in front of him and keep his focus on me. It was great and I will definitely be taking this on board and remembering to take the one rein out to shut a horse down by “pointing to the trouble” and getting the horse to face up to what caused the concern!

The next lesson is one that has been ongoing in the clinic but Lee has been adding more detail to the concept as the days have gone by and that is the trouble that WE can put in a horse by the way we pick up the reins, grip and kick with our legs, sit on them and how we time our aids and the dramatic impact these things have on how the horse FEELS. Think about it – imagine if you had someone sitting on your shoulders hanging off centre, asking you to turn one way but off balancing you, asking and insisting you do something when your body isn’t ready to do something and how that would make YOU feel. I will definitely be walking away from this clinic with even a greater determination to develop consistency in my body, I will increase my awareness of my horses foot falls so I can time my aids in time with THEM to eliminate as much discomfort and awkwardness within them.

My horse has had some of the softest moments this clinic with Lee in my ear making me conscious, aware and thoughtful of his foot falls and if I am balanced in the saddle and turning my body to turn the horse instead of just using my hand. In 3 days I am using less overall pressure to turn, to upward and downward transition and the softer and more responsive he has become.

.As Lee said – “if you open the right door, it will just happen”…and it does…you set the horse’s mind and its body up and it can just happen because it is easier for the horse to UNDERSTAND and more NATURAL for them to perform!

Lee also discussed the importance of videoing yourself working your horse as she says “sure, share good photos but bad photos are valuable too”! We need to examine our performance critically to see what we are doing wrong and become aware of what we are doing so we can fix it. Lee says the most powerful learning experiences she has helping people is when she videos them working their horse and then heading into a classroom to watch the footage so that people can SEE what they are doing and then working with the horse to fix the problems the person is now more aware of!

Finally, some great Lee quotes and concepts for today:

“You don’t have to be in a hurry, pushing and pulling to get things to happen with your horse – just be conscious of YOUR body”

“See the life in a horse (i.e the energy/tension) as coming from us and into them”

“Feel the horse, think and prepare”

“Make sure you have taught the horse what he needs to know for what you want him to do”

“Feel the feet – be in time to change the direction, move the shoulders, transition up and think about how much better that feels to have someone communicate with you in balance”

And the best for last….think of this next time your horse is not being difficult…..I am determine never to forget this important thought:

“If a horse is getting more upset then you are doing it wrong – your troubling them over what you want them to get good at”!!

DAY 4

This is a short video of me and my horse Saxon riding around with Lee Smith’s words in my head (see comments for video) . I am looking up WHERE I am riding, not looking down at Saxon’s neck….I am “looking UP and riding FORWARD”. I am thinking about the rhythm of his gait and letting that rhythm through my body and I am focusing on the UP in the trot and all gaits. I am keeping myself soft to set him up to being soft and if he tenses or braces I do something about that until he gets soft again.

As you can hear in the video I am following Lee’s direction: “Without changing your reins see if you can make a lateral movement away from the fence….focus on the open side (the side you want to move towards)…not the pushing side (the side you apply your leg)…pretty soon the horse will come across when you open the outside of the body”.

This is a great example of what the whole objective is…you want to set the horse up to operate on the smallest of communication from you because that’s fair to horse. Who would you rather work for the person that yells at you constantly and pulls and pushes you around or the person that speaks to you quietly, or doesn’t even have to say something you know what they are thinking – the person you like working for….the great boss, that really good CEO?

Horses that don’t have to endure discomfort and calmer more confident horses that perform better and the term used to describe this objective of how you want to be able to communicate and guide your horse is called “following feel” a term that can seem abstract but it really does fit perfectly for type of connection you want to exist between you and the horse….you don’t want a horse responding from aid to aid or cue to cue….you want that horse following where you are looking, been tuned into the change of rhythm in your body as you change your focus on the up of the gait to the down of the gait and transition down….as you increase the life and energy in your body they pick up on that and increase their life and energy to increase speed or increase effort…..as you open shift your weight slightly or open a side of their body they seamlessly follow….so the conversation is CONTINUOUS, the focus and attention is continuous….that is the insight that Lee Smith left me with.

Now the thing is this doesn’t just happen you have to TEACH this way of working together to a horse! If you get on a horse that doesn’t know or has spent a life time braced and protecting itself against riders hands and legs and lack of balance it is not going to do much at all when you “open the outside of the horse”…it isn’t going to do a nice lateral movement across….it will not know that means anything….it will not even be able to detect it because it is focused on protecting itself and dealing with the mental and physical discomfort it is enduring. So you have to go through a teaching process for this! Lee explained what you have to do to start this change…to become the good CEO and start teaching the horse to follow the feel:

“Pay attention to what your horse is telling you – what works and what doesn’t. It WILL tell you what to FIX”

Therefore, what does the horse say when you pick up the rein….do they bend softly to it or do they brace and push against it or just ignore it? What happens when you put your legs on the horse? Does the horse move off or do they ignore it, pin their ears to it? These basic things are your starting point because taking notice of those responses is the horse talking back to you and letting you know exactly what needs to be fixed before you move any further. Then Lee went on:

“Pay attention to what might be getting in the way…or what YOU are doing that might be getting in the way”

Therefore, this isn’t just about what the horse knows and fixing the horse…the horse has just been responding to YOU and the way YOU do things…hence, get really aware of HOW you pick up that rein, put on that leg, sit in the saddle, follow their rhythm, where you looking and how balanced you are…..you have to fix yourself to fix your horse!

Here are some more quotes and concepts from Lee to think about in regards to this:

• “Get what you want and move on” – improve a response and move on, don’t drill as Lee said, she might practice something a hundred times but not all at once. If you keep asking a horse to do something repetitive they will turn off and stop thinking or think they must be doing it wrong and feel all unsuccessful about what you are asking them to do…you must keep the horse in a thinking state, therefore move on and do something else and come back to it later and practice it some more.

• “Don’t worry about the horse doing the wrong thing” – they are allowed to do the wrong thing but if you worry about them doing the wrong thing all the time they will stop trying or get worried about being wrong and get anxious.

• To balance the horse you need to ride all the variations of the gaits – you have to ride slow and you have to ride fast. Horses that are just ridden fast can’t ride slow and horses that are only ridden slow get worried about riding fast to get the horse mentally balanced and confident you need to ride all speeds.

I had a great time at the clinic and feel really privileged to ride and work with Lee Smith. She is a kind and encouraging teacher and exceptional horsewoman that although she is recovering from a hip replacement she rides really well and she has phenomenal rope skills on the ground with impeccable timing…that was really cool to watch and hopefully one day I will be that good!

But there is one final thing to say….if you have read from the start of my blog from Day 1 you would recall how I had asked Jenny Jackson who the best clinician she has met from all the clinics she has hosted and without hesitation she said Lee Smith….well my response was “who is HE” because I just assumed that Lee was a man and to be honest that has really bugged that I just automatically assumed Lee was a horse-MAN. It made me wonder how many other people had done the same as me and how many times that unconscious assumption that the best horse trainers are men has impacted Lee’s life. It might not have ever impacted her because she is without a doubt the mightiest horse person I have ever seen in real life…..I saw Lee get and hold a horse’s focus from 70 metres away!… but it makes me ponder about how we hold great horse-MEN up on pedestals but where are the great horse-WOMEN? I just hope that after you read this blog you never forget the name Lee Smith because she belongs up there too and if you get a chance to ever go and meet her do it because you will not only get an insight into her mentor Ray Hunt, you will get to see a woman who can bring out the best in people by being as kind and thoughtful to them as she is with horses.