Black Horse Equestrian Clinics
with Susie Solomon-Mabe

I know I am very sensitive to many things, and so I assume my horses are too.
The tasks are not to de-program them and make them insensitive to what you wish to teach them but to heighten their thinking so they become acutely aware of everything, and yet at the same time they maintain the balance of listening to the rider because they are now confident that the rider is doing what will be good for them.

Horses will drop their head if they are relaxed and feel like they are safe. Asking them to do it when they are worried is not fair.
I think they buck not out of pleasant feelings but out of fear and clothing that is ill-fitting.

All creatures work better with a plan.
Layering new information into the plan will only work if the animal is already functioning with what has been introduced.
If it is introduced incorrectly then you cannot really blame anyone but yourself, can you?
There will never be too much time spent on education for the horse or for the rider.
Become a sensitive rider and your horse will learn to understand your weight aids and your responses and you will become a team.

AS WISE TRAINERS SAY....

*LESS IS MORE
*IF IT DOES NOT WORK IN 1 HOUR TODAY....HEAD TO THE SHOWERS AND TRY AGAIN TOMORROW.
*DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO
*TREAT YOUR HORSE AS YOU WISH TO BE TREATED

First, I lunged them all together for 30 minutes with just their halters.
The round pen is a 60 foot normal size and I try to use one gender when I work like this. All the horses and one mule are mares.
They work on turns and trot and halt on the spot and work over cataleptics as they warm up.
Then I remove one horse to be cleaned, saddled and bridled and then lunged all again for 15 minutes.
Then I take another and repeated the saddle and bridle and lunging until all 4 were in tack.
By now they are working and have foam and lovely trots going and are in sync with each other.
I call them by name and I request them to walk to me, and one by one they come to me as I stand on the mounting block.

They get a a treat and a pat and hug.
They look at me as if they are saying, "me, me, me!" .

At this point I mount one of them and ride in and out of the other 2 horses ( and mule) and do turns on haunches and nice quiet rein backs and halts and some leg yielding at the walk. One of the horses is under saddle with me for a yr and leaving me soon to start showing and being a real horse for her owner, and she is a right on pleasure to ride and play with.

Two of the others were started by me 2 years ago and live with their owners. They have had one full year off due to their owners having no time, and schedules that conflict and surgeries... etc, so these two girls have been fat and lazy and couch potato's. The mule came to a colt starting clinic I had on April 12th, and just stayed.

She broke several ties and halters and was so out of place mentally that she just worried all weekend.
After each horse has worked on what I want to do they are removed from the round pen and unsaddled and left to stand and relax.

I ride Princess Raindrop, the smallest and alpha mare of the group. She must think she is an elephant as she never backs down and will always want to do it first at feed time and riding and bathing and thinks no one else exists but her!
For 14.2 hands , this little Morgan is a hoot.

The mustang, a mare named Bordeaux, is second to be ridden and she has always been a sensitive one. I wanted her to use that sensitivity to rely on me and to become more aware and look for me to guide her and then she could see we would not get into trouble.
She is grand and will be just such fun this summer for her owner. Oh, and she wears a muzzle in the barn because she is a beaver and hates being in and so she eats her way out of the barn.

Third to be ridden is Abacus Starry Night, a 4 yr-old Friesian x qh cross who looks more like an Andalusian than a lot of purebreds I seel.
She is light and sparkly and she glides around and loves the attention she is getting from me.
She canters to halts to roll backs and she is on the money. Jim, her owner will have a blast this summer too.

Now there is one left, Moly T Brown, the mule.

A true 16.1 hands, she is long-legged and flat-assed. Her body has a lot of definition now and she is muscled up and eats a lot of food. She has learned to stand at the mounting block and at the tie post and never to back up or flip or fall or leave. Giant black eyes watch me with amusement now, instead of worry and concern for her own safety.

She loves cookies and so on every part of her routine I conform to her sensitive nature and reward her.
The pad goes on, a cookie goes in, the saddle goes on, a cookie goes in.

A nd so she concentrates on that instead of the saddle coming at her - or her being girthed up or the dreaded bridle.
She now walks with confidence tot he mounting block and I get on.
She waits until both feet are in the stirrups and off we go walking and a little trot and turning and working and moving over and moving moving moving.

When i dismount I do it at the block and she has to line herself up so I can simply step off and onto the block as I did when I mounted.
Well done!
Rewards are for these wonderful students.