Well, what can I say? The round pen session was great. We got a smorgasbord (sp?) since the original "star for the night" couldn't make it. It ended up being a comfortably cool evening after such a hot day. Tony showed us a little bit of everything using the horses he had on hand, and answered a lot of great questions. First he demonstrated some basic round penning with Ricky, a friend's horse that lives on the property. Then we got to see him work with Chris' beautiful baby Fresian who is still uncut and just full of himself. That horse would just as soon sit on your head, and has no fear of you, so it was interesting to see Tony put him in his place with love, language and leadership. He worked on turning him to the outside first, and we commented how that was different from what a lot of other natural horsemanship trainers do. Tony explained that in his experience, if he could get the horse to turn away from him and face the fence, he could gain control of his shoulders without the danger of the horse moving forward and trying to plow him over, strike at or bite him. He agreed that it isn't what most other people teach, but he has his reasons for doing it this way (prior bad experiences doing it the other way around), and he feels it's more effective.
Then we got to see the "finished product" when he brought his own horse, Black, out to demonstrate what can be accomplished through hard work and dedication and our favorite word--consistency. It was very inspiring, and I can't wait to do this stuff with my horse.
The thing I love about Tony's demonstrations is that he never comes across as "look at me, see what I can do". He never talks down to anybody and there are truly no stupid questions. He just makes you want to be able to do it, too. And more importantly, he gives us the tools to do it ourselves, and encourages us to strive for it.
Thanks, Tony, for an informative, entertaining session.
The best part was when Ricky (the horse) "stole" Tony's pocket knife right out of his pocket. Better luck next time, Ricky!
Maren
Maren