Beyond Feel: A Leslie Desmond Trainers Clinic By Katelyn Kent No two Leslie Desmond clinics are alike, because she makes it a point to consider the individual s needs as well as group goals. In this instance, our group was comprised of 11 horsemanship coaches and trainers from wideranging backgrounds and from as far away as the UK. Clinic hosts Mike and Kelly Barnham, owners of 4 Points Ranch, extended a warm welcome to attendees and auditors alike. In order to get better acquainted with her students prior to our clinic, Leslie required each participant to send her a general outline that Leslie Desmond at 4 Points Ranch in Aguanga,Califonia.Photo by Adriaan Jacobs included a review of past experience and qualifications, both short- and long-term goals, expectations of the clinic, and a bare-bones self-assessment. While this is not as formal as a resume nor as informal as a chat on the phone, Leslie considers this quasi-bio and qualifying review an important part of an apprentice s learning process. AT THE CLINIC Over the course of our five-day, concentrated clinic, we focused on groundwork, hobbling our horses, practicing trailer loading, and galloping our horses through the mountains. Not surprisingly, Leslie still had enough energy to start a playful 4-year-old colt. Feel, the language of the horse, was the basis for everything we did. Release Under Leslie s tutelage, we refined our skills in using release instead of pressure and release to work with our horses. This idea is confusing to many people, even experienced horsemen/women. About pressure and release, Leslie said, There is no shortage of information about the subject of pressure and release. These days you can find coaching, clinics, books, and videos. If you have gotten good at this then you already know how to release a horse you are already half way there. If you think about what the word release means, you might think about catching and releasing a fish or releasing a flock of birds. Just let the horse go. I let him go when I am finished riding him. I take his halter off and put him out in the pasture. I have just released him. However, if you are on him, the release I am talking about has to do with not kicking and not pulling. It has to do with releasing. To release him to go, simply open your leg. You are going to open your leg to kick him anyway, so just open your leg.
It is important to understand that you will wait for him to go. You might have to do whatever it takes to get him to go the first couple of times, but after that, you just release him. Show him what you mean by releasing him in the direction you want him to go. Show him the way. Offer him an opening. Do not just box him in. Instead of pulling, squeezing or pushing on the horse, put some float in the rein and open your leg to the direction you would like him to go. Give him some space to move into. The counterpart to pressure is release. It just depends on how much emphasis you want to put on which part. When speaking to the group, Leslie often used the word release in conjunction with float or slack in the rein. She said, This whole idea of release made a lot of sense to Bill Dorrance, with whom Leslie co-wrote the book True Horsemanship Through Feel. As he got older, he was not really in a position to make horses do things anymore, so it is just an evolution of the understanding of feel. Fear Leslie intermittently brought up the subject of fear throughout the week. We took those occasions to look at it from several different perspectives. We examined ways to recognize and identify fear in our students, in horses, and in ourselves. Fear is a very powerful motivator. It affects how people live and what they do or don t do. For example, while riding, your student gets stiff and begins to pitch forward in the saddle. He or she is looking at the ground or the horse s head. Could you tell the difference between poor riding posture and fear in that student? Galloping Galloping was an essential part of our discussion and riding time. We learned the significance of being able to gallop a horse over any terrain or conditions with strength, balance, calmness, sureness and safety. It is no accident that the paragraph on fear precedes the words on galloping. Fear pops up at the most inopportune times. We examined what happens if you are galloping your horse and you are not completely sure of what you are doing. Horses can do some amazing things when they lose confidence in their rider or vice-versa or when a rider throws the horse off balance. Leslie strongly encourages all of her students to strengthen their galloping skills. Lisa Popowich is working on her galloping skills.photo by Adriaan Jacobs
Hobbling Leslie wanted us to be very clear about why a person would include hobbling as part of a horse s training process. She said, I teach all of my horses to hobble so that they relax and learn to think clearly when their feet are confined. Otherwise, the flight response will tear a horse to pieces if he catches his leg on a wire fence, in a tree root, gets cast in his stall, and so on. Aside from that, if you happen to spend much time in the southwest, trees are scarce in some of these places. There are few if any places to tie a horse. Hobbling can be useful as an alternative to tying. He can still graze. Since he is already quite comfortable with something around his legs, it reminds the horse he is to stay put. Another benefit to hobbling, Leslie added, is that your hoof care professionals will not have a struggle every time they ask for a foot. It will be offered for the asking and weigh little or nothing. That is nice if you are bent over under horses all day to make your daily wages. Gail Hazer is learning why and how to properly teach a horse to hobble.photo by Adriaan Jacobs Trailer Loading Trailer loading seems to be a subject that never gets old. However, in Leslie s clinic, I found some of the ideas quite new. There is nothing that gets us into more trouble with a horse than stuffing him into a trailer. Leslie said in her matter of fact way, I had years of struggle at the back end of a trailer before I understood that the first thing I had to teach him was how to unload. How can you teach him to unload when he has not gotten in yet? There are ways to approximate the trailer experience maybe by just backing through a gate or going through a narrow entranceway. You could also make change in texture or footing by going from a dirt driveway to a concrete floor or from ice to snow or dirt to water. Anytime you are changing where a horse needs to place a foot may bring up reactions that often are similar to the way a horse would respond if he were told it was time to get in the trailer. Riding Skills We gave attention to improving our feel in every moment of the clinic, but one of the real highlights for me came when Leslie gave us some one-on-one time, where she provided helpful pointers about our own riding. No one is perfect in the saddle, but we as trainers, spend so much time helping others, that we often do not get the constructive criticism we need.
Presentation Skills The evenings provided a different experience. Everyone enjoyed great food and lively conversation and had a chance to relax and enjoy the California Mountains and wine country. Each night we enhanced our learning by watching student presentations. These talks provided valuable information about various aspects of horses and horserelated livelihoods. Included in our discussions were some common problems and issues that trainers may encounter in their day-to-day businesses. Leslie does not miss the chance to help her students refine their professional presentation by working on how to best emphasize their skills as trainers and coaches, and highlight areas of specialization or expertise. She said, Those horse poor bumper stickers are not decorating cars in 50 states for no reason. Yod Neal listens to an evening presentation. In addition to getting some good information, students had the opportunity to practice and improve their public speaking skills.photo by Adriaan Jacobs She added, I want the people I work with to be accountable, self-respecting and goal oriented. Poverty or barely making it is not something to be ashamed of, as many people can truly not avoid this situation at some point in life. Nevertheless, associating a career in horses with the false belief that it must go hand in hand with an inevitable struggle for recognition and poor economy cannot be part of the vision.
Leslie has a lot for us to look forward to in the future. She is working on a print version of her recent audio book, Horse Handling and Riding Through Feel, and a new DVD series that will be for beginners, intermediate/ advanced riders, and trainers. There will be 12 hours in a 6-pak that has a lot for horse lovers and professionals of all levels. She plans to continue her work with trainers in the US and abroad. You can find more information about Leslie Desmond as well as special events and clinic schedules on her website, www. lesliedesmond.com About the author: Katelyn Kent is a Horsemanship trainer and riding coach in Denver, Colorado. She uses the horses language of feel as a basis for all of her work and is in the process of incorporating the technique of Mindfulness in coaching her students. Learn more by contacting Katelyn at: Katelyn001@aol.com or visit her new website (February launch), www.katelynkent.net Katelyn Kent