VIDEO OF KINNA

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It is said that it is good to widen one’s horizons, so the first weekend in May I widened mine by participating in a gaited horse clinic at the Willow Run Training Centre in Ridgeville, in the midst of wine country (always helpful when going to any clinic) near Niagara Falls. The clinic was hosted by the Central CanadaPaso Fino Horse Association, and they had brought in a clinician/trainer from Ohio: Mary Rizo-Patron. She has a strong dressage background, and has been training Paso Finos for over 20 years. The clinic was open to all gaited breeds, and besides the obvious majority of Pasos there were two Rocky Mountain horses and yours truly.

I had my doubt as to the overall usefulness of the clinic to Madame’s and my particular issues, but I figured that - worst case scenario – I’d finally be doing something new and exciting without the comfort of the ‘herd’ with me. This in itself would make a great learning opportunity for Kinna and me, because it included loading and trailering by myself, and trying to remember to bring everything necessary to survive a couple of days in a strange stable.

The weather was gorgeous (just the right amount of pure sunshine and a strong wind to guarantee sunburns all around), and by now I also knew most of the participants either from the gaited horse fun show last year, or a couple of other combined events I had been to during the last few months. Let’s face it, we are all the same: fun-loving middle-aged people who are horse crazy and want to find a way to better communicate with our various mounts while (hopefully) smoothly hacking around the countryside.

The clinic was set up similarly to centred riding or dressage weekends, in that Mary spent time one-on-one with every participant while everybody else watched and listened. We had all been encouraged before by Bob Darling, a breeder of Paso Finos and the immediate organizer of the event, to write down specific issues or things we wanted to work on, and so everybody was handed index cards to be filled with problem areas and concerns needing attention. Most of us arrived early on Friday, settled in the horses and went for a bite to eat while trying to fit our ‘problem areas’ onto these itsy, bitsy index cards, and talk horses.

Priorities are important, so after our late lunch/early dinner, we went for a wine tasting, checked into the hotel, and then went back to the training centre for a ride. The ring we were going to use for the lessons left a lot to be desired, but the farm had a huge Standardbred track out the back that had excellent footing and was just too good to pass by. I went out there ahead of everybody else and Kinna felt I was taking her away from her new best friends and did not approve. But although she complained loudly and wanted to speed up to get back to the path leading to the stables quickly, she did not do anything beyond that. Phhhhf!

Saturday started with a fight with the rented sound system. Since Mary was in the ring with the rider, the amplified sound was mostly meant as a benefit to the audience and to overcome the constant wind. The system worked on and off all through the weekend, but what worked consistently was Mary speaking louder and addressing the audience directly when making a point.

We all took turns in the ring, and for about an hour each Mary assessed our horse’s conformation and gait ability and our riding style, while keeping an eye on the areas we wanted to work on. Amongst other things, I had put down Kinna’s ongoing ADD problems, as well as – I guess – my own, since I always lose track of the fact that I lost track of my horse’s attention. And of course, as we are trying to address this problem, my horse is not bothered by the ring, the audience or Mary, stands still and pays attention to me. I guess I was the constant in an otherwise unknown environment, so Madame decided to cooperate.

I left that first lesson with mixed feelings about why it had been useful for me to bring a horse, rather than just come and audit, but decided to keep an open mind and take from it what I could. All of us spent a lovely social evening together, and on Sunday morning we were ready to do it all again. I had taken Kinna on the track every day, and by this third day she was not fazed at all any longer.

This lesson we worked on my new project of speed changes. We did what we do these days to generate enough of what the Paso people call ‘brio’ or spirit to speed up and keep it all together on a higher level, and then Mary asked to ride Kinna. She had ridden most of the other horses and I was eager to watch her ride mine. She tried a few things in the ring and then we took the whole thing to the track. Oh, what a blast. We got some really nice short stretches of extension out of the pony, and I think everybody else had a great time watching. Even a relatively untrained Icelandic is faster than a Paso Fino, and most people just can’t help loving the speed and flying mane. Kinna did well and she went back to the group as if she owned the place.

I have to say that I got a lot out of watching everybody else ride, how the individual horses moved and how ‘issues’ were addressed. Deep down a horse is a horse and a gaited horse is a gaited horse, no matter what head gear, bit or saddle is being used. I saw trot and I saw pace, there was trotty tölt/gait (excuse me, ‘troja’) and there was pacey tölt/gait (we thought of coming up with a fancy Spanish name for that one, too, but did not get around to it), there were rolls and hops, and there was pure tölt/gait. And there was immense improvement when the rider changed body position or attitude. So all in all, the clinic was useful, because we all strive for clear beat extension in a good frame. When three feet on the ground still make for a good ‘corto’, whereas we would no longer call it tölt but walk, those are small variations among the breeds. Gymnastics that will make a Paso gait properly will do the same for a Kentucky Mountain Horse or an Icelandic, and exercises that will keep a Columbian horse’s attention, will also work on one from Iceland. Guess what happens when a somewhat nervous Paso rider sits forward of vertical and looks down at her horse: right, he speeds up and his gait gets mushy. When she leans back and opens her chest, she relaxes, her horse relaxes and the gait becomes clear. Does this sound familiar to anybody?

Mary had a great way to show us our mistakes in a funny and positive way that still made sense. She explained what each horse was doing and her overall impression of it, and how to use that information to make each ride safer and more enjoyable, and to improve gait. Did I get subtle hints as to how to tweak my tölt into a super gait that will win in Ottawa (ahem…)? No, but that would be asking a bit much of a two-day clinic that is open to all breeds. What I did get were more pointers for my ever-increasing repertoire of things to do when the pony doesn’t quite do what I thought I asked of her. I also hung out with a group of really nice people and that is always a good way to spend a weekend.

By the way, I found out that Bob uses his Paso for team penning, just so he can show the versatility of the breed. He has a great time with it, too, and I thought that would be something our Iceys could do just as well. Is anybody game?

Christiane Söffner
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