|
Analogy of a first timers clinic
A year’s worth of dreaming and planning came to fruition over the weekend of August 17th and 18th, 2002. Nine friends joined in to participate in The Sault Ste. Marie Icelandic Horse Clinic, and dozens of others came out to watch the fun and also help cook, clean, and organize this event.
All nine participants learned techniques to improve their Icelandic Horse’s collection, carriage, responsiveness and willingness. Gudmar Petursson, the clinician, more than lived up to his reputation as a very well organized and experienced instructor. He was very clear with his advice, and was precise with his words regarding how he wanted to see the horses ridden, and what he expected out of the horses and the participating riders.
All of the participants arrived by late Friday evening. Some of the participants got a head start, taking private lessons with Gudmar on Friday afternoon. He rode a few of the horses to determine where they needed the most work, and gave advice accordingly. It was particularly rewarding to watch Hope Ellis ride her beautiful gelding, Kvittur. This was the first opportunity for Hope to get him out in public since bringing him over to the U.S. over a year ago. After recovering from a coffin bone fracture and various other bad turns of events, what a glorifying sight it was to watch her beautiful, healthy chestnut gelding dance around the arena.
We officially started the clinic on Saturday morning after a group breakfast set up at the barn. Gudmar went over some sound theories of horses and how to properly ride them. He presented hand-outs with areas to take notes on while he spoke of how a horse thinks, why he reacts the way he does, and how to properly ride a horse. Although soft spoken, Gudmar has a way of captivating his audience with his engaging Icelandic accent and quick intelligent words, which were both showcased while speaking of his tried and true methods of horsemanship.
After absorbing the information on paper, we were ready to apply it to real life by saddling our horses up and starting the group lessons in the indoor arena. Gudmar then instructed us on how to get more responsiveness out of our horses when asking to move forward and stop, to respond to leg pressure, work on collection and how to ride with a light seat (allowing the horse to round his back). He continued instructing and teaching his successful methods of training with two 1 ½ hour group lessons in the morning and again in the afternoon.
The highlight of Saturday night was watching Emily Gregg, a petite 8 year old girl take a private lesson with Gudmar on Osp, the horse that she had leased for the summer. Both horse and rider did very well with Gudmar that evening gaining confidence in each other. But the most exciting moment was yet to come. Gudmar then brought out a five-gaited black mare that he has for sale, and proceeded to put Emm’s little western saddle on her. We watched in amazement as Emm zipped around the indoor arena in a very fast tolt, with an enormous smile plastered across her face. What a sight to see! A tiny kid on a high stepping, fast moving horse just cruising around the arena like she’d done it a thousand times before. She received a big round of applause after dismounting and reluctantly handing the reins back to Gudmar.
We started Sunday morning out with a delicious pancake breakfast, beautiful blue skies and a comfortable temperature of 65 degrees. We took advantage of the beautiful weather by riding in the large outdoor arena. Gudmar continued teaching us how to properly ask for quicker responses out of our horses, and expanded upon his previous lessons in working with collection, suppleness and showing us how to ask our horses to lighten up in the front and work off of their hind ends. Amy Shelangoskie’s horse, Lauga, really gave us a good show on how light she is in front. Lauga decided that she had enough collection and suppleness training and proceeded to show us a beautiful rendition of the “Hi Ho Silver, and Away!” rearing act. Amy, being the excellent rider that she is, rode through it without even a hair falling out of place.
It was a sad moment watching Gudmar and his assistant, Agnar, drive away with their three horses on Sunday night. We had such a wonderful time with them, and we all sincerely enjoyed the opportunity to discuss different issues within the Icelandic Horse community with such well-spoken Icelanders as Gudmar and Agnar. Thankfully, we were able to get a good group picture with the guys, along with some big laughs at some of Bonnie Borgerson’s wonderful poses that she struck for the camera. Bonnie sure knows how to lighten a somber mood!
We awoke on Monday morning, the day of the long awaited ride on Lake Superior, with cold, cloudy and rainy weather. But after watching the weather forecast, we found that sunny skies and warm weather were in store from about 10:00 a.m. throughout the rest of the day, THANKFULLY! We could see the blue skies in the distance and decided to load the horses up and drive out to the chosen spot. What excellent timing the weather had! By the time we reached Lake Superior, the weather cleared to a beautiful hue of blue, and the temperature shot up to around 75 degrees. We had the perfect weather in store for this long planned ride!
The only snag we hit all weekend was finding the pathway down to the beach waterlogged from the previous evening’s storms. All of the horses bravely shimmied down a small, steep dip to an awaiting mucky stream, waded through the stream and then struggled back up the other side of the small dip, and through a few feet of woods. Tim Haynes’ horse, Ljufur, showed what a brave steed he is by taking the lead and showing all of the horses how to get through that muck filled stream. What a team those two are. As we passed through the woods, the beautiful expanse of beachfront opened up in front of us, and we found ourselves with about a mile of beachfront with nothing but woods, beach and water in front of ourselves.
The horses weren’t sure what to make of the little waves lapping at the shoreline at first, and a few of them stared and snorted at the water. But as soon as they were asked to walk along the water’s edge, they all readily agreed and walked on without fear. A few of them were also unsure about crossing a small, shallow sandy stream that flowed into Lake Superior, as I’m sure that they thought it to be a section of quicksand, ready to swallow them whole. But after a little prodding, they all waded through the cold stream water. We rode for about a mile down the beach before encountering an expanse of un-navigatable rocky shoreline, so we turned back around and headed back down the way we had come. We all enjoyed a bit of tolting down the beach, and some of us galloped for a short time.
Then came the fun part of the ride, the water!
Many of the horses and riders enjoyed their first exhilerating experience of what it feels like to swim together. We started out with just a few of the horses wading in, not further than their knees. We quickly found that Julie McKenzie’s horse, Kjarkur, not only enjoyed the water, but actually seemed to have the desire to go further and further out into Lake Superior! I think he saw Canada in the horizon and decided that discovering a new country might be fun. He absolutely loved swimming, and the enormous smile on Julie’s face showed how much she enjoyed this new experience with Kjarkur. We followed Julie and her trusty steed out onto the shallow sandbars that rose up from the clear bottom of Lake Superior. We had to swim through a few deep spots to hit some of the sandbars, but the horses had no major problems swimming out to them. The “ground crew” (those without horses) were able to take some beautiful photos of the horses and riders in the water and on the beach, marking this almost magical moment with lasting proof to show friends and family, and we were able to prove that Lake Superior DOES actually warm up to a tepid swimming temperature in the summer!
In conclusion, everyone involved enjoyed this event as a time to bond with each other and their horses, to enjoy good food accompanied with great conversation. We were also able to enjoy some of the beautiful surroundings that the Upper Peninsula keeps secret, except to those who have had the chance to explore it and share those places with others. The companionship of old friends was renewed, and the opportunity to meet some wonderful new folks (Bea and Sue!) was taken by those who attended this event. We all left this event with a more in-depth understanding of how to get the most from our horses, with some exciting memories, and with renewed and new friendships with each other. That’s what an Icelandic Horse clinic is all about. |
