Did anyone go? How was it? Were there positive methods of horsemanship about or lots of gadgets for novel ways of negatively reinforcing unwanted behaviour?
Any newcomers (ie professionals with stalls) with websites worth checking out?
I'd hoped to attend but couldn't in the end so would love to hear about it.
Didn't get there. I was thinking about going but ended up collecting the new dog. Not sure if my friend went, I'll ask her. It was kind of a bit far away from me otherwise I probably would have made more of an effort.
I went on the Friday. There were lots of "alternative" health stands, e.g. shiatsu, McTimmony, Osteopathy, Chiropractic, various saddles, massage pads, feeds, worm counts, barefoot trimming etc. Nothing much about training although Becky Chapman did a very good clicker demo at Your Horse Live last Friday. Shame she wasn't at Towerlands as I think that is reasonably near her.
The demos were interesting. There was a painted horse with the skeleton painted on one side and the muscles on the other. Gillian someone I think! Very pretty but I could see the muscles better on the horse that wasn't painted and the guy lunging the horse over the jump wasn't great at it!
Lucinda McAlpine was there. She talked about how her horses lived out rugless and shoeless, and still competed at high levels. The horses were loose in the arena while she talked and they did some great trotting pole work all on their own, just for fun and because they could. When she was ready for them she called them in and they walked over to her to be tacked up. Her older horse looked like an ordinary nag as he was wandering around the arena but as soon as she got on board he grew several inches and looked amazing.
Dave Deptford was there with his quarter horse and did a nice demo, showing softness and very subtle aids. A dog trainer then came in with his collie and they did a bit of synchronised work with horse and dog, backwards, sideways and forwards. Very cute.
It was a good day out with quite a bit to see. The catering at Towerlands was absolutely hopeless though. I assume the Friday was the quietest day and they were unable to cope then. Hate to think what it must have been like on Sat and Sunday.
Now I didn't think the Becky demo at YL on Friday was good as I really don't think it showed how useful the clicker can be under saddle, which was shame as there were loads of Parelli peeps about.
I did admire Becky for not starting a horse to the clicker in a demo, and I thought the Sarah Kreutzer demo excellent and may have made those who use -ve reinforcement think about how they train?
I guess I liked Becky's clicker demo as the horse that was being worked had similar motivation issues to one I ride, so I could really relate to what the rider was saying and what a difference the use of the clicker can make.