The Minnesota Horse Expo: Day One

I've been attending the Minnesota Horse Expo since I was a little girl. Almost every year, I would skip school (with parental permission of course), my mom would take the day off work, and we would go to the expo. 

Stacy Westfall was at the expo the first year I attended. I stood in line to get her autograph and a picture. Ironically, I had no clue who she was. It wasn't until years later I watched her bridleless reining freestyle on Roxy. If you haven't seen that freestyle you absolutely must. Stop reading and go look it up now. I believe it was that freestyle that sparked my dream to perform or compete without tack. Someday.

The year I bought Gambler the Parellis were at the expo. I was ecstatic because Parelli introduced me to horse training years before I had a horse to try it on. The timing was perfect; I needed a refresher. Watching the demonstrations gave me the boost of confidence I needed to believe I could actually train horses. I bought my Parelli 12' lead rope at the expo that year, on sale for $15! For anyone who is wondering, the 12' lead is listed on the website at $46.60. No matter what you think about Pat Parelli and his Natural Horsemanship, I would recommend his equipment. His halters and ropes are the highest quality I have found. 

Parelli halter and the same lead rope I bought so many years ago.

This year, I was thrilled to discover that Warwick Schiller, a trainer I have been following on Youtube, would be at the expo. His short video clips are full of information and refreshing training philosophies. He had a clinic the day before the expo which I would have loved to audit, but sadly couldn't since I had college classes that day. 

I don't have fascinating photos to share for two reasons. First, I was using my phone and the arena was dimly lit. Second, Schiller didn't do shocking, impressive things for me to photograph. He spent most of the time just standing, talking to the audience about why he wasn't doing anything. 

If you check out his YouTube channel here (I recommend that you do) you can hear his training in his own words. The basic idea is recently Schiller made a discovery. He found that horses go through the motions of obedience, while being mentally disconnected, because their trainers don't acknowledge the horses's mental state. When horses spook, trainers usually tell them to move their feet and move on. The horse learns to say "I'm fine" instead of being honest with its body language. This creates a horse who seems "fine" and suddenly exhibits naughty or even dangerous behavior out of nowhere. 

Schiller pointed out that none of the horses that were brought to him in the arena were in the right mindset to be trained. If he tried to teach them while they were overwhelmed by the lights, noise, and environment, they might go through the motions, but they would not be mentally connected.

Like I said earlier, Schiller recently made this change in his training methods. He is new to this concept; still in the exploration stage of his journey. This was apparent as he struggled to explain the concepts in a way his audience could understand. His presentations have room for improvement, but I would keep an eye on this clinician. His open mind, love of horses, and humility will serve him well as he continues to learn and explore. He is exactly the kind of influence I want to surround myself with. 

Some highlights/useful tips I picked up from Warwick Schiller:

• The importance of timing when you release pressure. If you release when a horse spooks/rears you are training it to repeat that behavior.
• When a horse is clingy on the ground, it will be insecure when you are in the saddle. 
• When a horse crowds you with their shoulder while looking away at spooky things, it is treating you like its mom.
• Make sure the horse is in the right mental state for fixing things.
• Slow down and be boring. 
• Wait for the horse to enter the parasympathetic nervous system. When a horse is in the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) its mouth is clamped shut and it can't open it. The flow of saliva to the stomach is also stopped, which can cause ulcers.
• When a horse is blinking and it's nostrils and muzzle are twitching, it is switching to the parasympathetic nervous system.
• If a horse is freaking out and running around you, don't try to hold it close. Let it move freely and when it hits the end of the lead, disengage the hindquarters. This asks the horse to mentally connect to you. 
• If it is too dangerous to let a horse run around you, sit on the fence and use it to create a half-circle. 
• Fence also works to discourage a clingy horse from being too close. 
• A horse can face you without giving you its attention - know the difference. 
• Passive leadership: The idea that you can be a leader and still give the horse autonomy to make decisions. 
• Just hold your space and listen.
• Don't tell a story about a horse's behavior
• Anxiety is real to the horse - even if what they are anxious about isn't a real threat.

There is a lot there to unpack. I'll bring a lot of it up again when I write about how I use it with Avalon, but you should check out Warwick Schiller himself. My favorite thing about Schiller's teaching is that it applies to everyday life as much as horse training. I need to apply the principles of slowing down, breathing, and being an active listener to every area of my life.

I also watched a demonstration by Julie Goodnight. I didn't find the presentation interesting, but I picked up pointers about equitation. My equitation is horrible, so pointers are a must. 

• The farther forward your hands are, the clearer your aids.
• It is good to round your lower back but bad to hunch your entire back.
• Don't lean!
• When you look down you bring your horse heavier on the forehand. 

At one point, she dismounted the horse she was riding to demonstrate something and the horse shook its reins off. Something inside of me dies when I see a horse with its reins on the ground. My anxiety grew when the horse clearly didn't know how to ground tie and kept trying to walk off. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when she mounted again.

There is a sizeable 4-H tack sale at the expo where I found some treasures, but I'll make a separate haul post another day.