Walter Zettl Clinic November 2011 in Houghton, NY

My computer died, so I have no pictures of Walter & Heide Zettl and me.  But...

Here is a link to parts of a recent lesson with Walter Zettl.  I had not ridden this horse before my lessons with him, so please be kind!  The horse is E.T.,  a 20 plus year old schoolmaster who has taken a few riders to their gold medals.  I was very honored to be given the privilege to ride him and learn on him with Walter.  When I look at videos of myself, I see just how much I have to go to be where I want to be.  I am encouraged at where I've come from, but very aware of how so very much more I have to relearn and learn.  I tend to be critical of my every mistake and it makes me want to ride much better with each ride.  (I call it my "dork" position... and ask each of my coaches to help me get the "dork look" out of my riding, lol!)  The better position I can have and the more accurate I can be with my cues, the better we can dance together as partners. It's come a long way - but, wowza, it has a long ways to go!  Hope you enjoy :)  Thank you ET for the ride, JoAnne for the loan, and Walter for the lesson!

Well, it looks like it's time for an update here!   The horse pictured above was my Radical.  Oh how I miss that boy.

2011 ended with a bang.  Ha, in more ways than one.  I trained with Missy and Jessica Ransehousen for a couple of weeks in September, there was an awesome clinic by Robert Dover in Gladstone, NY,  I took a lesson from Walter Zettl courtesy of Challenged Athletes foundation, I audited another clinic given by Walter Zettl, started rehabbing Classic Star,  finally got to clinic with Karen Rolhf at Michelle Donlick's of Avalo Farm (I've been wanting to for years now), started learning how to make horse hair bracelets, fell off a friend's horse, and did a whole lot of resting and recuperating.  I hope to resume riding this week!

I'm in fundraiser mode now, hoping to make it to Del Mar.  I was registered to compete in FL these last three weeks of January, but was unable to find a horse.  I even had Hope Hand and a few others scouting for a horse for me and did not hear back from any of them of finding one either before the entry deadline.  So I had to withdraw.  I'm hoping for better luck for California!

Fundraisers:
Horse Hair Bracelets!  For a donation of $30, you get a horse hair bracelet made with hair from your horse (if you wish).

Colleen Kelly is coming to town.  For those of you who don't know her, she is an expert in rider biomechanics.  For those of you who know ME, you know that is a big interest of mine, especially with all the compensating I have to do just to live through a day, much less ride!  She also has hooked up with Pat and Linda Parelli - which is a huge plus.  I regularly toot the horn of natural horsemanship and believe it goes such a long way to develop that relationship we all want.  You can find out more about Colleen Kelly here.
SHE WILL BE HERE FOR A LECTURE ON FRIDAY, FEB 10 AND A CLINIC ON SATURDAY, FEB 11!
If you are interested, give me a ring - or comment on this entry form.  I'll get back to you with more information.
Also, I'll be posting a whole post about the up coming clinic once we get the details ironed out!

The road to 2012 has been varied and quite bumpy.  But my nose is still pointed in that direction.  Stay tuned!