On To the Next Phase
17. Nov, 2009 
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The California Tellington TTouch Training for Horses is finished… and new adventures begin tomorrow.
Tonight I pack to prepare for a super-seekrit mystery side trip. I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed to blog about it for a while, but if I’m given permission, you’ll be the first to know.
This has been a fantastic week of horses and people (all women, it turned out) at Skyhorse Ranch in Sonoma County, California. The range of types of horses we got to work with and their needs was broad and fascinating. I fell in love with a young gentleman sporthorse named Kai, whom I look forward to telling you all about in a later post.
We also had the pleasure of working with Octango, the Grand Prix mount of dressage star Barbi Breen-Gurley, who is so engaging and eager to learn, even at this stage in her illustrious career. I’ve never gotten my mitts on so nice a horse before, or had the privilege of seeing so talented a partnership in action, all without force, dominance or over-collection or overflexion. Octango is as sound mentally and emotionally as he is physcially. What a thrill!
At times I felt as if I’d spent the entire week running backward in deep footing with a videocam in my hands (watch those cavaletti!). But this is not true. Though my primary role was to observe, I did a lot of bodywork and groundwork (the teachers will tell you, “not enough!”), and was able to get in touch with horses again on a more intimate level than I have since I was hurt about a year ago.
When I saw the first horse I was afraid I would burst into tears for wanting to bury my face in his neck and breathe him in. That’s how much I have missed horses. Being the “official witness” in this training also meant I got to sneak in secret nuzzles and whispered chats while the others were working. Horses just love conspiratorial affection.
I saw some amazing transformations in horses again at this training–things you would think impossible if you haven’t seen the ground and body work of TTouch. After seeing this work again this year, I now wonder how other clinicians film those “before and after” bits in their videos. What is the interval between the “before” and “after?” How many takes were required? I got some interesting video showing striking changes in behavior and carriage that occurred in just a couple of hours. Sometimes in a couple of minutes. No special effects, no lungeing, no coercion.
It was nice to be reminded in a concrete way that what I have been talking about on this blog actually does occur, sometimes with surprising speed an grace. Many horses went back to their paddocks after a morning or afternoon session with expressions of calm satisfaction on their faces to match those of their people.
So far, all good news from Virginia: things go well for my daughter.
I’d better go pack, because tomorrow I have to leave my beloved Caroline’s place in Sonoma for more learning, more fun and then a return to my badly-missed pets!
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Great and informative post. Sounds like the way horses SHOULD be treated. I look forward to hearing the rest of the story. By the way, did you solve the license fiasco? Glad to hear that things are going well in Virginia.
Hi Lori
I MAY have what I need to get around TSA but then again I may not only extra time at the airport will tell. Plus patience, which is in short supply at the moment.
What was so great about this training–and something I want to address further–was how each horse was truly seen, sometimes for the very first time, for who they are rather than what they can’t do or what they do wrong. The change in a horse once s/he is viewed in this open-hearted way is amazing.
Kim, I am so excited for you! Sounds like a fantastic and much needed adventure. Glad things are going well in VA for your girl!
Michelle
This has been the most amazing time. I spoke at length last night with my daughter for the first time since she moved to VA and you should have heard all her adventures. She is finally living the “large” life she always wanted.
I could leap in the air and spin like a dolphin with gratitude.