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On Saturday, April 28, fifteen fox trotters and their owners plus a herd
of auditors gathered at D & D Fox Trotters' new arena to participate
or watch a Natural Horsemanship clinic. The clinic took place in
the beautiful countryside around Ava at Diane and Dallas Hudson's
beautiful home and facility. The clinic was organized by Anita
Rolfe with just a little help from some of her friends! Most of
the auditors and participants knew each other either from the Internet
Fox Trotter listserver or in person, so it was like a huge family
gathering. One of the main things about family gatherings is the
great amount of food that is offered, and the lunch hour for this
workshop was not disappointing. People on the Internet fox trotter
list server had been excited for weeks by Mona Dollarhide's offer to
bring her, now famous, rum cake.
Pat Harris made special embroidered T-shirts for each participant and
the instructor. The design included a fox trotter horse along with
the date, place and name of the workshop. These T-shirts will be
prized forever by all the lucky owners.
Jenny Vaught, an endorsed Parelli Natural Horsemanship Instructor,
taught the Level 1 Beginning Workshop. She is also a Parelli
certified young horse starter. Jenny teaches both horses and
people at her full service stable, Pine Dell Farm, southeast of Kansas
City, Missouri. A great deal of learning occurred…by both horses
and people. Susan Engle and Karen Moulis (Jenny's mother and also
an instructor at Pine Dell Farm) walked around and helped the
participants during the workshop. Pine Dell Farm phone number is
816-540-3566 for both people and horse training.
Natural Horsemanship is a system to teach people how to communicate
through understanding and psychology rather than force, fear and
intimidation. It considers the horse's point of view. It
means no need for artificial aids of restraint. It teaches you to
be a 'natural' with horses. Pat has set this up on the same
principle as Judo…with the belts. There are progressive levels,
a colored "rope" to signify what level each person is, and
tests that are submitted in person in front of an instructor or by video
tape sent to an instructor. In this manner, a person advances from
the very basics of knowledge and safety about horses up to the most
complex and difficult tasks a human can ask of a horse.
Understanding horse psychology is a big key to becoming skillful.
When you understand that survival, comfort and play are important to
horses (and in that order), and you learn to read their body language,
understand their games and needs and play those games with them, you get
to enter a very special zone. The Horseman's zone. It's a
level of savvy which is so rare in the horse world, but a savvy that's
unmistakable in students of Parelli Natural Horse-Man-Ship.
A very special demonstration was given on Friday night by Jenny with
Velvet, a Missouri Fox Trotter owned by Susan Engle. Susan is
working on attaining Level 3 with Velvet and Velvet is an "advanced
horse" in this program. Jenny played the ground games with
Velvet cumulating in Velvet jumping over a barrel on her path to
Jenny. Velvet was at liberty. Jenny rode Velvet bridleless
and Velvet performed her foxtrot flawlessly with nothing on her head.
Jenny also had Velvet sidepass over two barrels shoved together...again
without anything on her head. Jenny then bridled Velvet while
mounted and proceeded to ride around the arena performing some intricate
maneuvers generally seen in dressage arenas. The demonstration was
very impressive and enjoyed by the large crowd. We have just
learned that Jenny has been given permission by Pat Parelli to take
Velvet to Equitana. Pat and his students give two programs per day
in front of 700-1000 people per session. Jenny will be using
Velvet during some, if not all of the sessions.
Those participating in the clinic were as follows: Heidi Pollen, Ava,
Mo; Pat Anderson, Estacada, Or; Judy Casper, Cabool, Mo; Kathy Doman,
Rogersville, Mo; Liz and Joe James, Greenfield, In; Jennifer West; Diane
and Dallas Hudson, Ava, Mo; Ken Kemp, Alta Vista, Ks; Ann Kolaz,
Springfield, Il; Anita Rolfe, Mansfield, Mo; Carole Sharp, Taylor, Mo;
Sue Steggal, Ava, Mo; Sandy Streweski, Billings, Mo; Karen Thompson,
Galena, Mo. Some of the auditors were Marshall and Lee Yates,
George Caspar, Elmer and Suzanne Scott, Mona Dollarhide and members of
her family, Jo Hubner, Elaine Graham, Ava, Mo; Pete Rolfe, Mansfield,
Mo; Cathy & Bill Lansdown, Ava, Mo; and Kim Stewart, Galena, Mo.
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