I spent the
weekend of 2 & 3 September spectating the long-awaited (planned since the spring) David Lichmann 5* Parelli instructor's clinic which
brilliantly for me was held just 40' drive away. It was extremely well
organised, a private event hosted by Ludovic Fournet, our local NH man, who has
a huge following in France and does clinics all over, so people came from all
corners of France to attend. Super ambiance and such a friendly fun gathering of
like minded horse folk and plenty of shared meals, aperos with quiche etc.
followed by a sit down meal with a huge paella on the Saturday evening, with
live music!
Ludovic does a lot of liberty work with his horses, and this being David's speciality, they "met" on internet, resulting in David coming to France to do the clinic, with the theme of his DVDs : Liberty Beyond the Round Pen. The participants with horses were mixed levels so some time was spent on problem solving and basics; there were some beautiful horses and it was all interesting to watch.
The exercises about balancing drive and draw with emphasis on the latter will be useful to try at home as
they complement what I did with Jo here in June and will give me some different techniques
to play with, such as the Boomerang, and the Game of Two Eyes which develops connection and draw online in preparation for liberty, and the Sideways Squeeze Ballet, which included a very useful trick for changing stick hands.
I met up with some old friends and made some new, it was a brilliant week-end, now to settle down and use some of the things I have learned this summer!
