Have you ever wondered how you could put a little more sparkle into your tests?
Perhaps you feel your horse needs you to continually nag and niggle at them to put more effort in?
Or maybe you find you are treading a fine line between impulsion and explosion?
Maybe you’d just like to feel that you both have a smile on your face as you school!
To discover how to make dressage more rewarding, for both you and your horse, sign up for this workshop with Dr Helen Spence. From getting a square halt every time, through to developing lateral work in hand and beginning piaffe and passage, this will be of interest to dressage riders of all levels. Discover just how important relaxation is to the scales of training.
Helen will talk about how simple issues like management styles and feeding can impact on behaviour. More importantly, she will explain and demonstrate just how important it is to train in a way that the horse finds truly rewarding. This will include, but not be limited to, an introduction to training with a clicker and food (known by some as clicker training!).
This workshop will be hosted by Claire Sedgeman at her yard near Dromore, on Saturday 12th September from 10am to 5pm. Cost for the day is £40 and places are limited so please book early! To book your space please contact Helen by email info@helenspencehorsesense.co.uk or phone 07773 157428.
Dr Helen Spence has a degree in Psychology and a PhD in the field of horse behaviour and welfare. She has been in business since 2003 as an equine behaviour and training consultant and over that time has taught workshops for everyone from happy hackers to professional trainers, has lectured in horse behaviour to postgraduate level, and is recognised as an expert in the field. http://www.helenspencehorsesense.co.uk
Clicker Happy Horse... Horse Sense with Helen Spence 
This fascinating day reinforced for me the importance of overturning a lifelong belief in dominating the horse (in the nicest possible way of course) and really understanding the negative power of NO NO NO, well demonstrated in the exercise where a human “horse” attempted to carry out the human trainer’s wishes without really understanding what was required. The second exercise showed the power of silent behaviour, i. e. not giving any cue but really praising and approving the least attempt of the “horse” in the right direction. The “horse” involved explained how she felt an almost physical set of walls around her in the negative experience and how much freer she felt in the positive. It was really useful to see how Helen understood each actual horse and his problems and how she addressed these with the rider working to help the horse.
I wouldn’t have missed it for anything and hope there will be further instalments. I have used the principles learned there and they are helping me and my horse. Thank you, Helen.
Thank you Deirdre :-). Isn’t it fascinating to hear the feedback from the trainee about how it feels to be trained with the different approaches. I’m glad you enjoyed it!