Kate Little Clinic, Part 1

A couple of months ago, while I was laying in bed, I got a text from Kate Little (you may also know her from her long-neglected blog, Incidents of Guidance) that made me sit bolt upright with excitement. "I've been invited to teach a clinic [exciting part censored, hopefully Kate shares this story herself], and I've never taught a clinic before. Would your barn be willing to have me out so that I could practice teaching people I don't see every day?"

I could not have been more excited. For her, for this big step on her career journey, and for the validation that the world is hungry for her theories and her teaching. For my barn, who never gets regular instruction. For me, for getting to see my friend in person. And for our horses, because man do the horses benefit from the things in Kate's head.

There is no one quite like Kate in the horse world, and I am a bit desperate for her teaching and training framework to come out to a broader audience. The cornerstone of Kate's teaching, both in the saddle and on the ground, is that communication with the horse should be a two-way street. Too often, equestrians turn communication into a one way street. Do this, stand here, do that, don't do that. Respond as quickly as my human reflexes want you to.

But what happens when you stop to listen? What happens when the horse feels heard? What happens if you take the time to learn how horses process information, and you use that to slow your aids down, but in so doing, speed your progress up?

In a sentence, this is what happens. On the first ride ever. Spoiler alert, that will have to be its own post.

Lest you think this is off-the-deep-end natural horsemanship with no practical application in sport, it's not. Kate teaches a damn good Dressage and jumping lesson, and has students at or approaching the upper levels of both sports. That's the point. This two way street serves everyone.

And who can forget the way a few virtual lessons last winter with Kate completely transformed Pyro's relationship with me? He went from being a horse I did not trust at all, to one that I do, and even the way he looked at me changed.

I could go on and on about how good Kate was. How well she explains things, no matter your skill level. How she makes you feel like you, yes you, can do it, no matter what "it" is. And how deftly she taught people she had never taught before. It was awe-inspiring, how much progress we all made this weekend. I will probably never stop trying to convince her to move back to the Midwest, lol.

Deb and Ivan took two groundwork and two riding lessons. Ivan is generally such a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, but if you watch the subtleties of how he interacts with Deb, you can tell he generally ignores her as a leader and does what he wants, moves her out of his space. Seeing him train a curious and respectful ear on Deb was magical. Also, Deb is a lifelong horse woman, but this was only her 9th lesson ever!

 

This is Kate pretending to be a cow that Ivan and Deb had to cut for some reason, lol

 

Yes, I can't make her wear a helmet. She's an incredibly youthful 70 years old, she can do whatever she wants.

 

Leah and Pyro continued the "advanced leading" (it's so much cooler than it sounds) that they started in online lessons with Kate, and they also worked on self-carriage and giving Pyro opportunities to be responsible for himself.

Pyro learning haunches in in-hand with Kate.

 

Baby self-carriage!

 

My mom!!! took a lesson with Connor. I gave it to her as a surprise early birthday present. She was so nervous, Connor was feeding off of her and wouldn't stand still for the first part of the lesson, but she ended up really enjoying it.

 

 

Poor Magnum. He's a saintly 17 year old Thoroughbred that has been used in countless H/J lessons over the years, and has everyone, including his owner and part leaser, convinced that he cannot possibly lift his back and use himself correctly. Kate got on and uh, yeah...it's not anything physical. But after a lesson with Kate, he had completely changed for both of them.

Magnum and his owner, Tricia, my college suitemate

 

Magnum and his part-leaser, who evented through Training as a kid but at this point hadn't had a lesson in 20 years!

Connor got ridden by Mary on Saturday and his part-leaser Sandra on Sunday. I was afraid a hole would be ripped in the space/time/horse continuum by getting Kate and Mary together. They are SO similar in their cerebral approach to horsemanship and their relentless curiosity and desire to learn. Connor was kind of a spicy twit both days, but as always, in a safe and fun way.

Connor was CONVINCED he couldn't possibly do anything except plow around on his forehand at 90mph until basically this moment when Mary finally got his number.

 

Sandra's first lesson in over 3 years! And probably her first time jumping in nearly as long.

 

 

 

Lisa even got in on the fun, bringing yearling Castleberrys Arabella and 9 year old broodmare Castleberrys Ffair Lady. Kate herself did a lot of work with Arabella, and it was fascinating to see the kind of timing and tempo she was capable of. To watch her work with the horses is just pure poetry.

 

 

Lisa brought Ffair Lady for my college roommate Christina to work with.

Lisa and Arabella having a respectful two-way discussion about leading.

Finally, I didn't get to see much of Leah's lessons with Missy because I was running around grabbing lunch and doing other clinic organizer things, but can we talk about how cute the faithfully following dog is? Aaaaadorable.

 

I couldn't have been happier with the way the weekend went. It was fun and relaxed, but it was also serious and educational. It's the kind of thing I wish I could provide for everyone more often, but because I can't, that just means everyone else was that much more grateful for Kate's time.