Karen O'Connor Clinic

So, as you may have gathered from the title, I did in fact make it to the Karen O'Connor clinic this past weekend (yes I'm very late on this post...we just won't talk about that). Spoiler alert, it was amazing.

Epic water shot
(I've always wanted one of these)

Day one was SJ work. We were in the BN group, and Banner was wonderfully bored with everything we did.

Karen honed in really quickly on what everyone needed to work on, and we were no exception. Her first, and biggest note for me was that I need to get the impulsion from Banner sooner, but be a better manager, because he can quickly go from impulsion to impulsive. 

Banner and I only did each exercise once, which can easily feel like you got overlooked, but I know from watching Karen several other times, that if you only do it one time, that means you did it right. I felt like we got some good notes and work, and I honestly felt awfully proud & happy that she didn't feel the need to drill us through the exercises.

Karen was just as amazing to ride with as I always thought she would be, and she actually was way less scary than I feared. As long as you take her advice and notes and work on them, she really won't yell at you (too much) and is fairly complimentary as long as you just take her advice. The only people I saw truly get drilled through an exercise, or yelled at, were the people that kept doing it the same way and expecting different results. Once they took her advice, all of a sudden, things changed and she would give them a break!

Day two was CROSS COUNTRY, which is obviously the best. And Banner agrees wholeheartedly. This was only the 3rd time I have personally ridden him on XC, but he is just super straightforward to ride out there that I felt extremely confident!

Karen had been so impressed with us on Day 1, that she told Trainer to move me up to the Novice group. Trainer told me that Karen was worried I hadn't gotten "enough" the day before, and wanted to challenge me. I felt extremely honored at the compliment! I had mentioned to Karen that Banner and I were a fairly new partnership, but he is the horse I want to take up the levels, I want her to challenge me, and I was thrilled that she heard me and thought we were good enough to move up.

She started the day off having us all work on sending our horses forward, and bringing them back in the canter. I found that Banner's improved fitness level was really obvious to me when we worked this. He finally feels strong enough to maintain an uphill balance in a forward gallop. I love how responsive he is as well! My body weight was able to adjust him super easily, before I even had to worry about slowing him down with the bit. He is a very sensitive ride and I love that about him! Fun fact: Banner rides in a nathe in all 3 phases!

Next, we got to do the fun stuff. Jump the jumps!! We ended up jumping  a couple of the biggest fences that we have done as a pair, and Banner didn't even so much as bat an eye! His confidence definitely helped make me more confident as well.

It was also the first time I've done down banks with him (although I'm fairly sure he has done them before), and we crushed it!! We even did down banks into water, which is the first time I have ever done that! Banner was completely unphased by every single thing I asked of him! He only had 1 time that he got a lil annoyed at me for making a poor decision on a take off and he threw a lil baby buck afterwards, but I totally deserved it! I apologized profusely to him for my poor riding there, but he never holds a grudge which is so amazing!

We had a lot of fun ending the day playing in the water. Also, I've always desperately wanted an epic water photo, and just never been able to get it, but this weekend delivered in surplus!!

All in all, Karen was incredible to ride with, and I will definitely be riding with her again!! She has an impressive ability to quickly and easily hone in on exactly what you need to work on to improve and she pushes you hard to get there! Her training style is tough, so if you don't have some thick skin, she may not be the clinician for you, but for me, it was just the kind of training I was looking for.

Also, I took notes all weekend of some of my favorite phrases and things she said, so I will drop some of those below!!

• A half halt is not asking for half of a halt, its asking for a half for half of the time.
• [That horse] is gonna get some religion this morning.
• You've got a little bit of an anger management look in your eye.
• I know you're strong. Big deal. So am I.
• Be gentle [with the bit]. Its not punishment, its language.
• It's never what you thought you did, it's what [the horse] heard you do.
• Go back to the lineup and think about your sins for a moment.
• There's two kinds of pressure. Rhythmic pressure and steady pressure.
• Your horse is what you make it [behaviorally].
• Sometimes you talk louder thinking that the volume is the problem, when really its the connection that is bad.
• You're not going to die out here, but I might kill you if you don't get better!
• You put on a poker face, except the horse doesn't play poker!
• Make a plan. Then make a plan to keep the plan.
• We want the horse to have impulsion, not to be impulsive.
• You will never see a good stride when [the horse] is hollow.