Whitney - Huges

Harry Whitney Clinic – Melbourne, Australia (March 2000). By Kirstie Hughes

Harry Whitney is a horseman. It is as simple as that. I will not label him in any way, although, others may say he teaches “natural horsemanship”. I sat in on the Harry Whitney clinic in 1999 and vowed that if he came again I would take my own horse. So when the occasion presented itself I jumped at the offer. After the initial elation of getting a place in a coveted Harry Whitney clinic it was with trepidation that I fronted up on day one with my trusting companion. This trusting companion was Macha, a seven year old Irish sport horse mare. Macha is a quiet, sensible horse with a stubborn, lazy streak. She has the attitude of why do something if you don’t really have to and she (meaning me the owner) doesn’t really mean it. With the crowd on one side and Harry on the other it was then that we readied ourselves for the following three days. Something that will stick in my mind forever and what I will write about first is the reason why full-length leather chaps exist when working with horses. No, it is not what you are thinking- in the name of fashion of course you look the part with the chaps and hat. But it is more practical than that. Let me explain.

Do what you need to do to get a change. That was the answer to my question. Harry demonstrated this with Macha in her groundwork. The walk to trot transition was the problem. She would do it, not a pretty sight I’ll admit with her ears back and tail swishing, but this change would not happen when I first asked. Harry showed me just what to do to get a change, this involved “getting big” if she would not change when I first asked. “Getting big” was becoming more animated, for example, slapping the lead on your leg to make a noise. This is where the, umm, problem/discovery arose. I had jeans on and the leather on the end of the lead doesn’t make a great noise on denim, even though I tried. However, me “getting big” without noise was enough to get a transition when I wanted which was the required end result. Now the reason for the full-length leather chaps- to avoid the bruises associated with “getting big” in groundwork. I am pleased to say now that I don’t need to get big, well not as often, to get a change now and will, therefore, not need to buy full length chaps. Enough of the groundwork, now on with the riding.

I had been discovering “the art of leg yielding” while riding at home and it was this that I firstly chose to focus on. “Always start with the basics.” This was the first comment. “How does she know what you want if she doesn’t know the basics?”

From a halt get her to yield her hindquarters by lifting my hand up with the rein to bend her neck and waiting until she steps across and over with her back legs. Do this in the walk, when the hindquarter yields hold the same rein out from the neck to bring the forehand over and then walk off. The focus should be on fluid smooth movements. After practicing this it was now on to the actual leg yielding. I was having problems keeping her straight/parallel to the wall. When doing a leg yield to the right her hindquarters dragged behind. By holding up the rein and asking her hindquarters to step over I could straighten her and the same applied to the forehand. This was practised both ways and it was great to see what the reins could do to affect the feet.

I then mentioned to Harry that now she wouldn’t stop straight (a necessity for a dressage test), she kept on try to leg yield. His comment, accompanied by a smile was- “Oh no, we broke her!” The method for fixing the broken part was variety – don’t keep on doing the same thing over and over, work on something different then go back to the leg yielding. It is easy to realise this now while I am typing but at the time you are trying to do and think about so many things; What are the reins doing? Is your left leg doing the right movement? All at once the simple thoughts usually escape and you think complex—what was it that Harry said, “Start with the basics”, this should apply to thinking about any type of problem.

Next up on the “What to work on” list was Complex transitions –halt to trot/trot to halt and walk to canter/canter to walk. The dressage tests I am coming across now have these transitions and I have not yet done any work on this. When I told Harry about these transitions he asked about a halt to canter to which I just smiled. Me? A halt to canter on that furry pony? Interesting thought. But first, focusing on the halt/trot and trot/halt transitions. I did a few transitions with Harry watching. The answer, of course, get bigger if I didn’t get the change I wanted. So I set off with that knowledge and got bigger, much to the disgust of Macha who I think was shocked into the first halt/trot transition. With upward transitions you had to “put life” into your body to initiate the transition. Now the trot/halt posed a bigger problem. It could be done, but there wasn’t any softness; she was leaning on your hands. The solution, if she did not halt soft back her up until she did soften. With the downward transitions you should “take the life out” of your body. Now with all the putting and taking of life we both started to tire but gradually these transitions improved, enough I think for a passing mark in a dressage test (I live in hope).

Now the greatest challenge a halt/canter transition. Well I prepared myself for the transition by grabbing onto some mane and aimed to get bigger (kicking). It worked. We played around with all these transitions-eg halt/trot/halt/backup/trot.

And then I heard Harry say, “Next time you back up after the trot/halt transition just halt don’t immediately trot off. She may start to anticipate.” I did this and it was the darnedest thing, after the halt/back up she gave a little jump forward as if to say “Trot again”. I nearly fell off laughing and Harry just smiled. So she had started to anticipate. Playing again the transitions were now all mixed up- no chance of anticipation.

Macha also had the opportunity of having Harry ride her. It took me a while to sum up the courage to ask him and I did in a round about way- I asked him is he could demonstrate a question I had asked. Which got the reply I’m sure you can do it. So the subtle way didn’t work. It came to the direct approach, can you ride her for me. Well this was a sight to behold. I had to lower the stirrup leathers on the all purpose saddle approximately 10 holes. You just had to be there, all I can say is that it reminded me of a “Thelwell” pony. She looked like a Shetland, she is around 15.2-15.3hh and Harry’s feet were still nearly touching the ground (well, this is a slight exaggeration). If he had wanted to tap his toes together underneath her stomach I think it would have been possible. We were lucky enough to take photographs to remember this occasion; the furry pony and the man with the cowboy hat and chaps. It was great to see Harry working Macha as I am the only one that rides her and you can’t tell from up on her back what she look likes. Harry proceeded to do leg yielding up the centre line (changing direction every few strides) and complex transitions. And I sat there watching. Then came the “its all about timing you should be able to place the feet anywhere.” eg left front foot to the left or to the right etc. With that he proceeded to show the placement of the feet and also a pretty good turn on the quarters, which I had been playing at throughout the clinic. So I’m pleased to say that she scrubs up all right under saddle, I’m just hoping she looks just as good with me in the saddle.

A “pizza night” at Ross’ provided an opportunity for a light heart discussion on the merits of balance and straightness. This discussion was not about horses, which was a surprise, but I think it may relate to horses (doesn’t everything). Ross had a

balance board, which consisted of a round piece of board attached to a wooden ball.

The aim was to stand on the board with the ball touching the ground and balance. Sounds easy, well it kept us amused for some time. Now what did we gain from this- to balance you needed to stay upright and relatively straight; be over your centre of gravity and be able to absorb the movements with your knees while trying to keep your upper body still so you did not overbalance. Aha, my mind wanders to jumping and dressage lessons. Now you know you have really learnt something when you can apply a balance board to horse riding and understand the concept. In the leg yielding I had a bad habit of clamping my leg to her side to ask her to yield away from my leg which would cause my hip and shoulder to sag. By tapping my leg, instead of clamping, I could sit up straight over the horse and, therefore, keep in balance. If only we could have started with clinic with a lesson on the balance board.

Another highlight of the clinic occurred in another group. Harry was demonstrating some groundwork techniques and the owner asked what he did to make the horse do that (sorry I can’t remember what they were working on). The reply was that he “whispered” to the horse and of course this answer came with a smile.

So what did I take home from the clinic; bruises (which fade) and a sense of finally understanding, to some degree, the movements that I had been trying to do at home (which I hope will never fade- it helps if you write it down). I’d like to thank Ross Jacobs for the great job in organising the clinic and for persuading Harry to come back to Australia this year.

And most of all I would like to thank Harry for his patience and understanding. And Harry if you happen to read this, when you come over next time Marina, Xandria, Nic and I will have mastered the balance board on one leg (maybe while juggling!).