Civilian and Police DeSpook Clinic Review
September 20th and 21st, 2008
Taught by Bill Richey, Director of National Mounted Police Services, Inc. of Mobile, Alabama.
Experience a Mounted Police Training School and Train with a Mounted Police Officer!
Training Clinic for Civilians and Their Show or Trail Horses
So, you have a great horse. The day is a wonderful day for the show or a trail ride and you know you could have a great time, maybe even win, if only your horse would just settle down. It seems your horse always gets excited and nervous on show/event day and looks for any reason to spook. you're all too familiar with that jumpy, spooky, can't stand still, can't get a grip day, that you have come to expect.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE IS A CURE
Think about it this way, if Arabs, Thoroughbreds, Warm-bloods, Quarter Horses, Appaloosas, Paints and any other kind of horse can be trained to be police horses, there is no reason your horse can't be taught the same things. the fact is training a horse to be "spook proof" is just another training method. Like all other training methods, it requires a working knowledge of techniques used by, in our case, police training. And, like all training, with enough practice your horse will learn to trust you and "go forward" through whatever you tell him/her to go through with little or no resistance.
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Review by Susan Adrian:
Saturday started with a class power point presentation on the sight of the horse in regards to seeing and spooking. Then we proceeded out to the roundpen where Bill Richey showed us a bit about the sight of a horse in regards to your body language and where you need to be standing in order to control your horses' movements. Three horses were used in the demonstration. We then headed back to the powerpoint presentation and learned a bit about mounted drill work. After lunch we saddled up and went into the arena where we learned to ride in formation and do drills. Bill taught us basic horsemanship in regards to working a crowd and learning to work with other horses. Bill then started putting obstacles out. First we walked over a tarp, then a flat bridge, then a bridge with one end up and finally the teeter totter bridge! Then he started hanging the tarps. My horse personally did not want to go through the hanging tarps at all, it took getting off and leading her through them over and over again. There were horses that didn't mind the hanging tarps at all but the tarps on the ground really upset them. Each rider in the clinic was calm but determined that their horse would eventually get over their fears and do each obstacle. Bill then set up smoke bombs, siren lights, popping sound then orange thick smoke and siren noises! Again I got off of my horse since I wasn't sure how she would react. I am glad I did since she ran a 180 degree turn around me to run away! For the most part though all the horses acted normally with some fear but Bill said because they were in a herd situation and we did a lot of mounted drill work in the beginning that none of them got too excited. Bill had us go over the obstacles in tandem as well!
Sunday started with drill exercises again. We did a lot of "drill maneuvering" for practice in the mornings to get us "trained" to look up or over or wherever we were going instead of down at the ground or at our horse. Bill then added a few more obstacles to the course. By the time he was done adding obstacles we were going over and through tarps and bridges within a 75' path all while heading towards a vehicle with lights and siren going full blast. We then learned how to do a vehicle extraction and practiced it with a truck going with lights and sirens. We worked it in line coming at it, going alongside the truck, turn and the truck would move forward and we would escort it. This was called vehicle extraction drills. We then went outside to a field with the truck's lights and sirens going. Then after we did that a bunch of times, Bill lit the smoke bombs. Fun stuff! The clinic was a major confidence booster to all who attended it. There were some horses I didn't think would ever go over or through each obstacle but by the end of the clinic I was truly amazed that each horse did just that! This clinic was appropriate for most levels of riding abilities .
Check out the clinic photos by clicking the link button to the left!
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Testimonials:
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Susan,
thank you so much for organizing the clinic this weekend. It was a blast and has given me much more confidence when I really needed it! I am attaching a photo of Cynder for the website. Will we be able to get copies of some of the photos from the clinic?
Nina Thompson
Comments from Nina's real estate blog: This past weekend I literally stepped outside the box. I participated in a mounted police training session with my 3 yr. old horse Diego. I am NOT a daredevil at all. This was an activity that was FAR outside my zone of comfort. It was liberating and thrilling to realize that I am much more capable than I thought. This was more than a horse lesson. It was a life lesson. Sometimes you need to shake it up a bit and reach outside your comfort zone. Open yourself to a new experience.
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Susan,
I wanted to say Thank You for putting on a great clinic! It was fun and I really enjoyed myself.
Larissa Cox
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