Kathleen Lindley clinic
Half way between Glasgow and Edinburgh, take an obscure and easily missed turning to the left. A short way along turn left again; the road gets smaller and eventually runs out of tarmac. Along here a way take a right - and in the middle of somewhere, you find an indoor school ! And in the indoor school - Kathleen Lindley and a bunch of like-minded people.
It's November and its either raining or windy or cold, or all 3. You really do have to be committed to spend 3 days in an indoor school in the middle of somewhere. I had the choice - I made that choice for Rosie as well. Although Fi has been sound, she has also been going quite nicely and behaving well. Whereas Rosie - well Rosie is like the little girl with the curl. When she's good she is a dream. But when she is not good, it is a different question entirely. The things she does when she is not good are things we have been working on and improving since she came to us (3 years ago). But the improvement has been slow. My hope for the clinic was that we would either have some kind of breakthrough, or to speed up the rate of change (improvement).
Rosie had not been away from home since she came to us 3 years ago. So it would be an adventure from that point of view as well. A fellow attendee had kindly agreed to put both of us up. Rosie found it all slightly worrying. She was away from our host's horses and called to them when they went out of sight (e.g. to have their breakfast). She lost her appetite a bit, and didn't seem to be drinking much. I made up some water with molasses in at the clinic venue to try and tempt her (it helped to get her to drink).
I'd arranged day turn out so that she didn't just have to be in or tied to a trailer all day. She was in a 5 acre field - but on the first day did not venture further than the edge of the hardcore by the gate. A free-range shetland finally tempted her further afield on the second day - but she still stayed quite close to the gate.
The second morning the trailer was right next to the turn out yard for my host's horses and this was enough to distract Rosie from loading. Kathleen helped by backing me up but it took a good 15 mins to load. (It always seems like forever at the time ). I loaded her myself at the end of the day, and was just persistent and calm. The next morning I went out early to load, but needed a hand to load from my host (she led, I backed up behind Rosie). And coming home from the venue on the last day I also needed a helping hand from an innocent bystander, despite having hooked the partition back (as well as having the top door at the front open for extra light etc).
More details about the sessions themselves to follow. But we're both back at home now and I need to make sure that the progress we made stays with us.
I do wonder whether there should be a code of conduct for spectators at clinics tho. I had more than one wander up to me to offer well-intentioned "advice". (If someone says "just some constructive feedback" - run away, fast !). I did my best to respond in a calm seertive manner, but did feel I had not done anything to prevent them from doing the same to some other poor soul. I paid quite a lot of money for Kathleen's advice - and nothing at all for theirs !
It's November and its either raining or windy or cold, or all 3. You really do have to be committed to spend 3 days in an indoor school in the middle of somewhere. I had the choice - I made that choice for Rosie as well. Although Fi has been sound, she has also been going quite nicely and behaving well. Whereas Rosie - well Rosie is like the little girl with the curl. When she's good she is a dream. But when she is not good, it is a different question entirely. The things she does when she is not good are things we have been working on and improving since she came to us (3 years ago). But the improvement has been slow. My hope for the clinic was that we would either have some kind of breakthrough, or to speed up the rate of change (improvement).
Rosie had not been away from home since she came to us 3 years ago. So it would be an adventure from that point of view as well. A fellow attendee had kindly agreed to put both of us up. Rosie found it all slightly worrying. She was away from our host's horses and called to them when they went out of sight (e.g. to have their breakfast). She lost her appetite a bit, and didn't seem to be drinking much. I made up some water with molasses in at the clinic venue to try and tempt her (it helped to get her to drink).
I'd arranged day turn out so that she didn't just have to be in or tied to a trailer all day. She was in a 5 acre field - but on the first day did not venture further than the edge of the hardcore by the gate. A free-range shetland finally tempted her further afield on the second day - but she still stayed quite close to the gate.
The second morning the trailer was right next to the turn out yard for my host's horses and this was enough to distract Rosie from loading. Kathleen helped by backing me up but it took a good 15 mins to load. (It always seems like forever at the time ). I loaded her myself at the end of the day, and was just persistent and calm. The next morning I went out early to load, but needed a hand to load from my host (she led, I backed up behind Rosie). And coming home from the venue on the last day I also needed a helping hand from an innocent bystander, despite having hooked the partition back (as well as having the top door at the front open for extra light etc).
More details about the sessions themselves to follow. But we're both back at home now and I need to make sure that the progress we made stays with us.
I do wonder whether there should be a code of conduct for spectators at clinics tho. I had more than one wander up to me to offer well-intentioned "advice". (If someone says "just some constructive feedback" - run away, fast !). I did my best to respond in a calm seertive manner, but did feel I had not done anything to prevent them from doing the same to some other poor soul. I paid quite a lot of money for Kathleen's advice - and nothing at all for theirs !
Labels: Kathleen Lindley
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