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From www.bridleandbit.com Reining
The Northeast Reining Horse Association hosted a clinic with Brent Wright at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts on March 5th and 6th. As keeping with his fabulous organizational skills, Dan Stratton has again out done himself with an impeccably run event. Dan and our always present Cathy Nevitt kept the event on time and organized throughout the weekend. In attendance were riders of all ages and abilities. All total there were 23 riders and 50 auditors for the weekend. There were riders from most of the New England states as well as New York and Quebec. Brent covered each maneuver, spending a good part of the morning teaching each rider how to guide their horse in perfect circles, and showing how to correct a horse when he falls in or out of their circle. Riders then moved on to rollbacks, by working with the horse’s hips, moving the horse back to sit on his hocks, and bending his neck and head. The afternoon was spent working on spins, fencing, and stops. With the spins, Brent explained how to enter correctly, gain momentum, and come to a snappy stop. Each rider started by fencing quietly, without contact to their reins, to allow their horse to make a mistake, and then correct it. Once the horse showed that he would wait on the cue from his rider, and lope straight, Brent had each rider build speed incrementally, but controlled, and keep the horse in the correct frame for a stop. To wrap up the day, Brent offered to have riders run a pattern, to see how they would school their horse. Each pattern was judged by NERHA President Craig Sutter, and Brent offered feedback on what each rider should work on to improve. Michelle Robertson rode her horse JR Commander Kid on Saturday. She describes Brent as “clear and concise.” She states that he was “patient and kind with each of us” and that he offered a great amount of attention to each rider and horse. Brent took the time to not only demonstrate each exercise he was teaching, but he would then have each rider repeat the exercise to demonstrate their understanding of the skill being taught. Brent went so far as to take the time to ride many of the students horses as to get a better understanding of the horse’s individual needs. One of the highlights for the weekend was Alex Denton on his 13 hand reining pony. Alex and his pony reined with the best of them and even showed the adults a thing or two. Also present were a few trick horses that we did not know we had in the NERHA. Brent Described the Northeast members as “Really nice people, I enjoyed it a lot.” Brent says that Sunday was a bit busy with 14 riders but it was a good group of people. He would like to wish all of the Northeast attendees and auditors a great show season. The NERHA would like to thank Brent Wright for taking the time to come north and share his knowledge of reining. We especially appreciate your kindness and teaching style. We too wish you a GREAT show season in 2005. Thanks again to all that contributed to making this an outstanding clinic. www.bridleandbit.com |
