At New Dawn Appaloosas, we
believe in and have been using for several years now, training methods
taught by John Lyons. All our horses are handled and trained using
this credible program laid out in John Lyon's books and manuals.
Back in early 2005, one of our boarders attended a clinic where John
Lyons was demonstrating his methods. She was so impressed with him
that she came home with one of his training manuals. But once back
at the barn, she wasn't sure how to proceed. Another friend had
purchased a manual looking for help training her own horses but hadn't
yet put it to full use. That was the beginning of our "John Lyons
Study Group". Now with 9 members , not including our
youngest at 5 years old, we meet once a week, year round, to read
and discuss lessons from the manuals, watch a DVD or work with our
project horses.
We have all worked through the Round Pen exercises with a horse,
learning how difficult it can be to back up and walk at the same time
8>)). We all experienced the "high" from getting the correct
response from our "old" horse when we're teaching a new exercise.
Our group's latest project involves 4 young candidates who are being
worked through the Riding Manual, lesson by lesson. We do not move
on to the next lesson until all horses have accomplished the previous
one and we are seeing how differently horses can learn. Each horse
is slightly different in their reaction to our cues, as our cues are
different from person to person. Each horse is worked by each
member once through the sessions. And we discuss how they have
progressed at the end.
Here's our 4 candidates:
We will be continuing on
with these four youngsters, however if you're looking for a nicely
started horse, you should give them consideration!
Here's one of our members on her newly acquired
horse, "Dixie". Jenn was "green, green" when it
came to horse knowledge but had the desire to learn. She joined
our group and is very proud to say that she's now training her own
horse. And what a great job she's doing with the support of our JL
group.
Some members of our study
group traveled to Montreal in May 2006 to take in a clinic with Josh Lyons
and went to Ohio this April to attend Equine Affaire
where we saw John Lyons. We meet him at his booth and had him sign some
hats we had made up for our group. We also explained our group (as
best we could!) to him and he thought it was a wonderful idea......and
then he mentioned Colorado. Suddenly, we're talking of taking a
trip to attend a 2007 clinic with him at his training center.
However, as we investigated that possibility, one of our members
found out that Josh was putting on a 3 day riding clinic in Rochester, NY
in September, 2006.
After lots of deliberation and discussion, our decision was made and we committed to attending the 3 day Advanced
Performance Riding Clinic with Josh Lyons in Rochester NY. We left
home with 4 horses in tow on Thursday morning, arriving leisurely at our
destination around 4 PM. Now all we had to do was wait anxiously
for the clinic to begin!
We can't begin to
explain everything we learn, experienced and enjoyed about this clinic!
It's best summed up by saying if you ever get a chance to attend a
clinic with Josh Lyons - DO IT!!
Now our group is looking at continuing on with the riding exercises on
one day as well as completing the training on our three remaining
"victims" in riding manual group on another day. We have also
booked a private clinic with Josh for 2007! More on that one later
8>))
BIG NEWS
We are now hosting a 3
day riding clinic with
Josh Lyons on September
21, 22, 23, 2007
So for all you who have been following our group's progress and want to
find out the what and why of it all, plan to attend! All the
horse/rider spots have been booked but there's room for a limited number
of spectators.
Spectator Fees - $25/day in advance
$30/day at the gate
3 Day pass $60 in advance only
Email for information and to order
tickets
