Went to a Pirelli Clinic up at a local ranch run by Sandy Parker where we spent the day getting Pirelli's level one down.#ed_op#br#ed_cl#
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On the second day, we had this interesting little insident. We're
practicing latteral flexion and releasing the hind quarters and/or
leading them out of latteral flexion forward. This is sort of a
prelude to a safety drill, but what we had didn't turn out to be a
drill.#ed_op#br#ed_cl#
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I'm on a gorgeous ten year old mare named Dusty who is about fifty
times smarter than I am. My friend Toni is on her four year old
mare Beautiful. She's in the corner of the covered arena where
the wall ends and the open side begins bunched in with three other
horses and me about ten or so yards down the rail...#ed_op#br#ed_cl#
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Now, Madison is this adorable little girl (who I know from a Horse Camp
that was held last year at our place) and she's wearing this bright red
ponch that flaps gracefully whenever the wind blows or, as she was now,
skipping around the corner quite close to the arena...#ed_op#br#ed_cl#
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Beautiful saw her appear, and spooked. The three horses around
her spooked, Dusty sees this wall of horses coming at her, she spooks...#ed_op#br#ed_cl#
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Now we have a five horse stampede and Sandy Parker's screaming from the sidelines "LATERAL FLEXION! LATTERAL FLEXION!!!"#ed_op#br#ed_cl#
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Every one of us bent the horses to a woah. On Dusty, well, Dusty
gets the credit. On Beautiful, Toni, who has no more experience
than I do in the saddle (which ain't much) bends to a woah and the
whole situation is diffused as if it never happened...#ed_op#br#ed_cl#
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While none of us would have planned this, we were all glad it
happened. We came away from the experience with a whole lot more
confidence in our abilities to keep a wreck from happening. I
think it's probalby the most valuable lesson I've had so far.#ed_op#br#ed_cl#