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.
One of our group's project involved 4 young candidates who were
worked through the Riding Manual, lesson by lesson. We did not
move on to the next lesson until all horses had accomplished the
previous one and we saw how differently horses can learn. Each horse
was slightly different in their reaction to our cues, as our cues are
different from person to person. Each horse was worked by each
member once through the sessions. And we discussed how they had
progressed at the end.
Here's our 4 candidates:
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!
Our group continues to
work with the horses, though with Wendy being away so much of the 2007 year getting her
Certification, we did not get together as often. All our members
are now working on their own horse, whether it be a youngster or a
mature horse learning new skills, we still continue to be amazed at what
we can learn and teach our own horses. If you would like to
experience it for yourself, be sure to visit Wendy's new website where
she offers clinics, demos, lessons and even weekend retreats!
Kinder Horsemanship
Our story continues to move along.........we
survived another absence of Wendy for the summer of 2008, while she
attended the Accreditation program with Josh Lyons in Quebec. Now
that she is home to stay for awhile, we get together on Wednesdays
and now ride Sunday mornings too. Our group has welcomed new
members and had a few other move away but we still enjoy our time
together with the horses. We hosted a Symposium in early 2009 with
Josh where he started one of our group member's young mare. We
also have apparently won the notoriety of providing the best (worst)
trailer loading horse for Josh to work with. Thanks Claire for
bringing your problem child to our symposium. While our efforts to
pull together a 5 Day Performance clinic didn't work out, we will
continue to bring Josh to Ontario as much as we can, just so you can
have the opportunity to see, learn and experience what we've been doing
for several years now. Stay tuned for more of our JL group news to
come......
