Well, over the past month I have managed to catch up on a lot of office work – this is stuff that I sort of hide from, ignore and turn a blind eye to, until the office, calendar and website scream at me for attention. I never seem to be able to see the desk-top and often wonder what is this desk made of, wood, metal or melamine? Then all is revealed, and it looks nice and orderly for a short time until I’m back into flat out work mode and everything piles up again.
Each year I host some of the girls from Albany who come to have a few days intensive training, and a few weeks ago this happened once again. It’s great fun for all of us – for the girls it’s the excitement of packing up and making the 4-5 hour drive, as they come in a mini-convoy, and for spending exclusive time with their horses and friends.
Each day they have private lessons in the morning and then later in the day we do a video review of parts of their lessons. Usually they go out for a few hours’ around midday and return to have their second lesson as a group in the afternoon to consolidate what they have learnt in the morning.
Evenings are spend together having nibbles, great discussions, dinner, a drink or two and big doses of laughter.
We decided on this visit to leave one afternoon session as the horses were tired, and instead went for a brain-refreshing trail ride in the forest that surrounds my home. OK so we did get wet, but it was just gorgeous, with the smell of the forest and the views over the countryside as the mist cleared from the hills and valleys.
I have to say I look forward to these weekend stays as much as the riders, it’s a great way to get a lot of good training in, with repetitions clocked up in both the horse and the rider in a short space of time. It’s also an excellent time to have in-depth discussions about issues the rider’s may be struggling with, and the with rider’s supporting each other. In this intensive training there is a lot of wrapping myelin around the nerves each time you do a movement or even think about the movement, which allows the messages to be sent quicker from the brain to the muscles and body parts.
Contact me if you have a few riders who would be interested in getting a small group together to do the residential stays. You can also find more details on prices and sleeping arrangements on the website under Learning Opportunities.
Our first of three Lateral clinics was held at Margaret River and with the worry of rain on my mind I managed to get this clinic booked into the Yalambi Farm Stud new indoor arena. Well, this ended up being a great decision, as it did rain, but we all stayed dry and enjoyed the beautiful arena and surrounds. I’ve also booked it for next month’s clinic, as the riders really enjoyed it. 
The Lateral clinic went really well, with day one going into detail on the rider’s seat and aids in lateral movements and day 2 covering the detail within the horse and how to uncover and fix ‘blocks’ the horse may be having. Both days have a workshop for all the riders at midday and a short video feedback of the riders doing the movements so they can see what is happening.
Our next Lateral Clinic is in Oakford is also going to be in a indoor at Oakford Equine Hospital on 20-21 July. I am also available on the Friday 19th July at Oakford for Private lessons. All booking is via the website www.annmontgomery.com.au
Happy Riding.
Dates for July:
19th Private lessons Oakford.
20-21st Oakford Lateral Clinic
27-28th Margaret River Yalambi clinic.
August
4th Stoneville
7-12th Darwin NT
16th (Fri PM) Oakford
17th Oakford
19th (Mon) Murray ARC
24-25th Albany Lateral Clinic.
31-1st Baldivis ARC