BURGHLEY PONY CLUB
Demonstration
25th July 2007
STAMFORD

I wake up to find a beautiful sunny day, the weather is on our side as it's been raining all week and forecast for rain tomorrow. Today I use the car and trailer as the Pony club is supplying most of the props that we need which, means less for me to load up and unload and I prefer driving the trailer to the horsebox.
It takes me 1 ½ hrs to reach the venue to a lovely welcome. The pony club officials (not sure what they call themselves) are very friendly and already I feel comfortable around them. Once again all is on hold until I have a lovely cup of coffee. Then Nicola (The pony club official) shows me the area we can use for the demonstration and it's more than big enough. I see a bloke erecting 5 or 6 tripods with speakers and I am told this is for the PA system and the music. Moira arrives and we both take the trailers nearer the allocated area. I bring Kyle out to let him graze while I start setting up the posts and fencing.
I think I am gonna run out of posts but nope I have brought just enough. Moira then reverses her trailer to the fencing so that we can do trailer loading.

All the props are placed around the edge of the arena so that we can use the space in the middle. What are we gonna do there. Ah ha we have a surprise. Nicola has asked if we can start at 12.30pm instead of 1pm as arranged. I smile and say... No problem... Thing is I forgot to tell Moira until 12.20pm... Oh err!! And I am usually so organised. Catherine has turned up with her mum Hoppy and dad Peter and Lucy who helped at Milton Keynes has come to help us.Moira and I start playing with the horses and Hoppy checks out the PA system. Wow it is loud and clear. Perfect. I check my watch and its 12.50pm so it looks like we'll be starting at 1pm after all.
Suddenly I hear the PA strike up. "The demonstration will begin in 10 min" suddenly all these kids sprung out of dark corners, long grass, from behind trailers horseboxes and horses. so many. Once settled Hoppy begins with her intro.. this time its just Kyle and Chance all day as Catherine couldn't bring Jayne and Capella is still lame.

The music starts and Moira and I spring into the arena with an active and energetic trot. Our horses are alert, ready for fun and raring to go. We decided to merge session 1 and 2 together and shorten the time to 20 min rather than 30min.We played every game and used every prop in as many ways as possible, trailer loading and liberty. The wow factor was at fever pitch, the music blared out great hits and Hoppy kept the information flowing perfectly. Moira and I decided to play back to back with teh cirlcing game. "Okay Dawn shall we go left first" says Moira.. "Yep Okay" I reply then promptly send Kyle right Oop's.... I recollect Kyle and we try again and this time I get it right. We then continued doing our own thing and I was pleasently pleased when Kyle did everything I asked of him. Kyle was a gent allowing me to first kneel on his quarters and swing the Savvy Stick and string.

Then I thought should I.? I haven't done this for a long long time.what will he do. ? I trust Kyle completely and go for it. Steadily I stand up, Kyle relaxes and drops his hip, oop's nearly went as I wobbled but managed to stay put. Chance was like a mighty gladiator with the gentleness of a warm breeze making light of everything Moira asked and showign waht a great guy he is. Moira asked and Chance said yes. the unison of horse and human was evident to see. best of all Kyle and Chance seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were. Were they matching our energy and enthusiasm? I think they were. Rarely did we use more than phase I even at liberty. We were enjoying this demo just as much as everyone else.

Session 2
This was another lesson with Catherine but this time Chance took over from Jayne. I again disappeared to saddle up but at least this time I could see what was happening. The crowd looked intrigued and watched what was being asked. The lesson showed the basic principles we use and Hoppy explained how these principles are used and applied as your training progresses. Catherine played with Chance and again didn't hide not that Moira was gonna let her. Catherine asked and then Chance decided to eat the long lush grass. No what are you going to do Catherine. using her savvy and not getting flustered Catherine got Chance's attention and coped brilliantly. During this session Lucy was a great help in clearing half the props ready for the riding session.

Session 3
This was the riding session, I give a little talk about the preparation to saddling, mounting and riding, it was also expressed that what ever we demonstrate it is not to be copied without the correct training as we have spent years to get to the stage we are at.

So with 20 min to ride we have more time to prepare the horses and give a better demonstration of what we can do. I rode in my hackamore and saddle at first and made sure Kyle was settled and happy to go along with what I asked. Can he flex both left and right, yield the forehand and the quarters, back up and go sideways. Okay now I can ride.. I steadily progress to riding with the hackamore, to the Carrot stick and finally to the Savvy String. I then ask Lucy to take off the hackamore and now my trust is fully with Kyle. Will he try to canter faster than I want like yesterday? What will he do?

I need not have worried, Kyle not only wowed the crowd but he wowed me as well, how many Oh Boy moments is this little guy gonna give me. The highlight was when riding with only the savvy string he went straight into the trailer then backed out when asked perfectly straight.
So much was covered in the riding with both me and Moira showing squeeze, riding the tarp, jumping, backing up, sideways etc, and only once did I cut off Moira... sorry Moira.Hoppy kept up with us the whole time which couldn't have been easy as she had nothing to read from and went with what ever it was we did.
The music came to a stop and our demo was over, it was great fun and being outdoors made a huge difference. Nicola came over and her words were "That just blew me away". She and the others had no idea of Natural Horsemanship and we were pleased that we could show them another way of having a good relationship with your horse. We answered questions and soon it was time to pack up and head off home.

What a blast these two days have been and it also increased our savvy and learning.
Thanks to everyone who helped out and thank you Hoppy, Moira and Catherine and most of all a huge huge thanks to Kyle, Chance and Jayne.

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