Horses: Listening and Learning (ok, and silliness)

This morning we started class at a local ranch where we were warmly welcomed. It was a beautiful day, and we walked down to one of their pastures for the 7 horses that we worked on, in pairs. The goal of the class was to use our hands to listen to what the horse's body was saying. Here is a picture of me listening to Boogie, and one of Kimi listening to Leo. I was amazed by the relaxation responses from the horses, even just as we started to put our hands lightly on them and just "be". The "softness" in their eyes looks very much like the expression on someone's face who is very relaxed. We needed to keep their attention, and watching their ears was one way to assess if they were paying attention to us as we were working.

We were all working in a round pen, 14 students, 7 horses, 3 faculty, and Tessa the school mascot (actually Sara and Michael's Pug x Chihuaua). Here is a shot of Laura working on Baroness, Michael staying hydrated while sharing some tips, and Tessa staying cool in the shade!

After lunch, we had our first formal Anatomy class. It was an opportunity for me to start making more concrete connections between the Regional Anatomy from CCMH and equine anatomy. The primary focus of this course is on "anatomy as it relates to movement" so we are not going to be comprehensive, but will be learning the 80 most relelvant muscles in the horse's body.

I have to admit that I prefer active learning, so when an opportunity arose for volunteers to demonstrate the footfall sequences for each of the primary gaits of the horse (walk, trot, canter and gallop) I raised my hand. It was much easier performing the gaits with two people (one person's feet representing the front legs and the other person's feet representing the hind legs). But, by this time in the day, I also thought I would try to demonstrate the gallop myself, to get the full-value of the opportunity. Needless to say, perhaps it had more of a humor-factor than an learning factor.

After class and dinner, my classmates and I went to a Western clothing store. I was interested in looking at some boots, and it was a fun adventure. We have a few photos to document the experience -- and I have a pair of boots that I am going to wear inside until I am sure that I want to keep them. Jessica was very helpful, especially when it came to frank opinions and taking off a boot; Heidi tried out a swagger with a pair of boots (video footage recorded live, is not currently uploading -- I'll try to add it later). See if you can find the other photo that was taken as part of our shopping expedition - consider it a little added "Where's Waldo?" fun.