Level 2 Refinement Clinic - Day 2

Funny how for weeks post-clinic, little bits and pieces pop into your mind! I have been busy writing things down, in order to refer back to notes over the long, long winter ahead!

Day 2 began similar to Day 1 - with an online session. Ron offered some assistance with Tido's yo-yo game. Tido has the "to" part down pat, but when asking for the "from" (or away) part, he backs away crooked - always taking a step to his left. As a goal for Level 2 is to demand more and better of our partnership, I asked Ron for some suggestions on perfecting our yo-yo. As always with Ron - I was left shaking my head and muttering to myself "why didn't I think of that?". Ron suggested I practice yo-yo next to a wall or fence. After some dealing with a mild right brained reaction by Tido, sure enough he backed away nice and straight. Ironically, whenever yo-yo came into effect throughout the rest of the clinic, whether against a wall or otherwise, he backed away straight. Boy does he learn fast!!!

Next was a session of playtime during extreme chaos. A large circle of auditors and clinic participants was formed. Two at a time, participants would play with circle game over a barrel while the others waved things
 in the air, shook rattlesnake-sounding hulahoops, threw balls etc. etc. Amazing!! The horses were well behaved and quite confident during such chaos. Tido needed some time to process, so I opted to have him just concentrate on standing still during the noisy sessions. His cirlce over a barrel is still a work in progress and I felt that it would have been unfair to ask him to attempt it with the extra "scaries" going on.
Returning into the arena after lunch - I lifted the yellow rope divider and asked Tido to walk under. With Ron's guidance, it didn't take Tido long to realize that the rope wasn't electric and his trust in me was obvious as he strolled under.
The afternoon began with the riding portion. Our usual saddling & mounting with savvy and 5 minutes of standing quietly demonstrating lateral flexion on each side went off without any incident. Ron then demonstrated the cloverleaf pattern, stressing the importance of it to both shorten right-brained horses and extend left-brain horses. While it appeared straight forward - we all soon discovered how difficult it really was! Definitely one to add to the list of practice patterns. Looking forward to the day when I can ride it brideless and flawless!!
Ron's last teaching of the day was the back-up using the carrot stick. This task was a real mental challenge for me which seemed impossible at the outset!! But even Tido was taking 2-3 steps in reverse with just the suggestion of the carrot sticks!
After putting our horses out for some R&R, we rejoined Ron in the arena for a ridden demonstration of the Drop-to-Trot transitions that we simulated the day before. Ron makes everything look so easy! It was wonderful to watch the horse's movement in response to Ron.
Thanks Ron for another great clinic and enough tasks to keep us busy for the winter!!