This weekend I participated in the Tami Masters clinic hosted at Cottingham Farm on Bainbridge Island, WA. This clinic was my first time riding with Tami, so I was very excited to hear what she had to say. The first day, I learned a "true bend," and that opened my brain to many exercises I'm ecstatic to try at home. The first day was a lot of grid work and gymnastics to get us thinking about placing our horses and where they place their feet. This exercise helped me think about the technicality of the placement of my horse and utilize the space between jumps. After a successful first day, Danner retired with a bucketful of grain and lots of pets.
Second day, we have a course set up outside with a mix of combinations, lines, and bending lines. Also, including my favorite jump, a plank with the cover of jaws painted on it. Now the argument "the jump is going to eat me" is relevant. Anyways, we warm up over a quiet one stride with a halt at either end, an excellent warm-up to get the horses and us thinking of settling after a jump and going very straight. We worked on a lot of tighter turns and making sure our horses had a real bend. We ended on jumping three spooky jumps: the shark jump, a stand-alone a-frame, and a brick wall. Danner was such a good boy this weekend, and I'd like to thank Tami Masters, Stephanie Garrard, and Tenille Icard for such a successful weekend.