November 8-23, 2013, Oklahoma City

November 8, 2012

Nutrena Ride the Pattern Clinic Sneak Peek

You don't have to miss the Nutrena Ride the Pattern/Rail clinics at the 2012 AQHA World Show.

By Christine Hamilton
The American Quarter Horse Journal

Great advice from top AQHA Professional Horsemen made for full stands during all of the Nutrena Ride the Rail/Pattern clinics at the 2012 AQHA World Championship Show. The clinics were free to all comers.

But if you happened to miss any of them or you want to hear them again, you can get all of the 2012 World Show clinics on one DVD for $29.99, with the proceeds going to the AQHA Professional Horsemen’s Crisis Fund. The DVD will offer:

• Equitation over fences – Linda Crothers and Cindy Reddish
• Showmanship – Jackie Krshka
• Horsemanship – Brad Jewett
• Western pleasure – Bob Kail
• Trail – Terry Cross
• Hunter under saddle – Karen Graham

(Watch the Journal’s video for a sneak peak of Bob’s clinic on western pleasure.)

The Journal sat in on the clinics, picking up lessons for the regular “Borrow a Trainer” feature. The first appeared in the November Journal, using some of the clinic that Charlie Cole gave on western riding pattern No. 2 at the Built Ford Tough AQHYA World Championship Show.

Here’s a little of what we heard:

BOB KAIL, Scottsdale, Arizona
“The extended jog shows that the horse has the ability to extend his stride in a natural way, but it’s not a speed contest to see who can go faster. It should be a partial increase in speed and we want to see the horse reach with his legs, with his front end and his back end, and see the rider be able to ask that horse to go. I want to be able to put my hand out there and push him, make him trot right up there, and then I want him to be able to come back.”

JACKIE KRSHKA, Yukon, Oklahoma
“(On showmanship shank length) I think every person is different and every horse is different. Angela has a horse that is 16.2, so his head is in a different place than a 15.1 (hand) horse, so that dictates some variability in what length of shank she would choose. I think it really becomes what’s appropriate for you, your horse, and how he responds to a chain. As a judge, if you give me a good length of chain, you better be able to do the whole pattern without having to get a hold (move your hand) and telling me that he’s not responding.”

BRAD JEWETT, New Braunfels, Texas
“When I look at a pattern, I let (my riders) tell me, ‘What do you think is the soft part of this pattern and what do you think is the hard part?’ (By ‘hard,’ I mean) the I-want-to-see-grit part of this pattern, not that it’s hard to perform, but hard like I need to show a little grit. To me, with 100 and something horses in this arena, you’ve got to separate yourself a little bit. That doesn’t mean you go and ask for more trot than you can get, it might not be that your horse can do very well at the extended trot. (But you ask) ‘What is my horse going to do well?’ That’s where I really want to make my horse and let myself shine."

LINDA CROTHERS, Mocksville, North Carolina
“You have to think step down on that stirrup, it’s not shoving your heels down. I see a lot of riders just shove that heel down and when you do that, you’ve got no leg on your horse. Your legs don’t naturally do that. But if you put weight on your heel, your heel will go down and in turn, it lets everything slide down into my leg, and you can get ahold of your horse (with your leg).  If I shove the heel down (my leg straightens out and) I tip back. If I pinch with my knee, I go forward. It is (all about) weight distribution: Stay down (with your leg) and around the center of your horse.

CINDY REDDISH, Palm City, Florida
“When I have my students do a bending line, they’re going to angle this fence lightly so that the line is perfectly straight. You angle this fence slightly, ride deeper into the corner, and then slightly angle the second fence, that way there’s no lead change. It just makes a smoother ride; you don’t have to turn your horse.”