Students tell their stories....

9 Days with the wonderful
Steve Byrnes

by Lee Woodland

Wow what a journey… I did say it would be a special journey for Spirit and I, and I wasn’t wrong about that. I do hope others will tell of their experiences and what they got out of the 9 days, so I will just write about what my own personal journey was about… When I first booked into the Colt Start, I really wondered if I would be up for it and if I wasn’t taking on more then I could chew. I don’t profess to be the bravest chick on the block, but I am so very very keen to learn more and to experience new things.

I asked Steve what I needed to have in place with Spirit before I come to the course.. he just said to get him floating well… so that is what I did. I worked on getting him to lead (yep he was a little wild, had only had absolute minimal handling), worked on teaching him to tie up, picking up front feet and friendly with the back ones. I took him for walks with me and the dogs, as you only had to sneeze and Spirit would get real bracey. We spent weeks working on float loading. One of the things I have become very aware of when handling Spirit, is that he doesn’t blink much or lick his lips.. If he wasn’t feeling confident then he would just shut down, he would stand there with a glazed look and if you didn’t know better you would think, wow he is standing so quietly on the float. It took me ages to get him to lick and chew and start to blink while standing on the float…. In the end I backed him on there and that seemed to help immensely.

Well we drove to Braidwood and Spirit travelled so well, he ate two biscuits of hay and when I stopped I gave him and Mate a bucket of water, Spirit really enjoyed a good drink, so that was nice to see. The journey took about 7.5 hours, so quite a long trip for them both. We arrived safely at the beautiful Exeter Farm and were shown to our yards. I won’t go into detail about everyday, cause I would have to write a book…but I will touch on the experiences I had with both Spirit and Mate.

Colt Starting was in the mornings and the first morning saw us all get to know each other and see each other’s horses. Spirit was nervous, well that made two of us. I very quickly realised that my horse needed a good leader and I would just have to become the best actress I could be and pretend that I was confident and that there was really nothing to worry about….trying to be there for my horse was huge!

Daniel had brought along a Colt who discovered what it meant to be a colt so Steve started doing separate morning sessions with Daniel and the colt. This I think was great for the rest of us… we could watch Daniel and think about what we would then be doing with our own young horses.
Spirit really found it hard to stand still and I was starting to freak thinking mmm everyone else is progressing so much quicker, but Steve reassured me that I was just moving at the pace that Spirit needed me too.. It took quite a few days for Spirit to accept me up there bareback, at times I felt
my patience going and then I would look up and see the fear in Spirit and that would make me take stock and think it will take as long as it takes… Steve and I had spoken about whether or not I would be able to ride Spirit. In the end there was no question, I was certainly not ready or able to ride him. This is when my savour Camilla Davidson stepped in and she did the riding, and a mighty fine job she did. Spirit needed someone that really knew what they were doing so that he could gain confidence from that. Cam certainly helped Spirit with his confidence. Was it hard to let someone else step in? Yep, I would be lying if I did not say that I really wanted to be the one to ride Spirit.
But after a few tears and really digging deep, I thought, you know if I was to ride Spirit it is all about my ego….but if I was to let my ego go and think what is truly best for the horse, then Camilla riding Spirit was the best option.

Cam had a few scary moments on Spirit, moments that I am sure could have turned very ugly with the wrong person on board. So I guess if you are thinking of attending a Colt Start, my biggest piece of advice is-
• Trust your teacher 100%
• Let your ego go and do what is right for you and the horse.
• Don’t go with any preconceived ideas about what you think you should be doing by the end of the course.
Enjoy the journey!

Moving right along to the Horsemanship classes- 4 days of Intermediate and 4 days of Advanced.
I had Mate for these afternoon classes, and I really enjoyed spending that many days with him.
Steve focused on a few tasks, I really appreciated this, he made sure we got it! Rather then going home trying to remember what you did on the first day, we repeated the tasks each day…you really noticed a huge change in all of the horses as each day went by. Legs, legs, legs, I truly learnt how to get more effective with my legs. Riding with a stick or string, you tend to fill in, eventually somewhere in your training you have to move your horse from High School to College and start riding without the
stick or string, you need to get your legs to be effective. Steve certainly brought it home to me that if I can get effective with my legs then everything else just follows.

I am looking forward to doing more courses with Steve, he is coming to Newcastle in April and I can’t wait to learn more!!!

Thanks so much to Steve for sharing your knowledge, being so supportive and encouraging.
Spirit, Mate and I look forward to continuing on our horsemanship journey.

A huge thanks to Kate & Owen for letting as use there beautiful Exeter Farm. I remember driving in the driveway and there is a sign, “ Access to Excellence”...I smiled all the way up the drive:)

I did my Own stunts
@ Steve Byrnes
Horsemanship Clinic
Braidwood 2007

by Heidi Guenther

For me a camp always begins with the agony of indecision, will I wont I? Finally the pros outweigh the cons, the decision to go is made and the anticipation sets in.

Pretty soon the countdown of months turns to weeks then it’s only a few sleeps till the camp starts. Excitement and trepidation builds. Will Phoenix cope with the horsemanship course? Have I given him a good enough start? Who is this guy Steve Byrnes? What is he like? The myriad of questions run round and round in my mind creating a heady mix of emotions.

The frenzy of packing and trying to remember everything for such a long camp finally finishes as the day arrives….. NO more sleeps! The truck is chockus, so is the float, its time to load up!

The deep thrum of the diesel engine warming up equates to the sound of fun and adventure in my book. Phoenix jammed his head into the halter seeming to catch my excitement. We walked towards the float and I read the words I’d had painted on the front and whisper to him Come on Mate ….. “Let’s Go”

I smiled as he eagerly loaded into the float.

New memories are about to be created.

Exeter Farm put on her Glad Rags. As always it was immaculately presented, eyes that have seen only brown of the drought were in for an added treat,recent rain has decked her out in luscious green as far as the eye could see. Let’s hope the positive start continues.

Kate and Camilla welcomed us and a short discussion ensued as to where to yard Phoenix (known for his over, under and through Houdini acts).

Soon cries welcoming old friends and introductions to new ones created a congenial hum. Everywhere people were busy; those camping racing to beat the blossoming purple-black clouds and threatening thunder that was crashing all around. The atmosphere simply purred with the sound of excited and happy folk.

The group gathered in the Savvy Shed for the first of many absolutely scrumptious meals. People had come from as far away as France Tamworth & Dubbo to attend this course.

Our hosts Owen and Kate Gwinn officially welcomed the group to the 2007 Steve Byrnes Horsemanship Camp and then introduced us to Steve, our Clinician for the next nine days. From the outset it was obvious that we were in good hands, it wasn’t long before I relaxed and was enjoying Steve’s interesting introduction. I was confident we were in Good Hands.

Glistening with shimmering dew we were greeted with a breathtaking dawn.

At 9am we gathered for the first of the morning colt starting sessions. From the outset it was obvious that this guy with a gentle winning smile had a lovely way with both the human and the horses under his care.

It quickly became apparent that the young poddied stud that was being started at the camp was somewhat of a handful. This young fellas mind was definitely fixated on his hormones and he was determined to “have his way” any way he could!!!

Recognizing the challenge at hand Steve developed “Plan B”.

Every morning prior to the colt start class in the ensuing days Steve, The Stud and Daniel (his handler) were to provide the rest of those lucky enough to be present with a riveting display of knowledge, horsemanship and savvy. Respect, feel, timing, balance and knowledge all needed to be 100% there at all times. This young blood was a graphic lesson in just how savvy you need to be to deal with a stallion. Daniel (our clinics “token bloke”) and Steve worked brilliantly together!

Day 8 saw them off on their first canter out in the paddock……Daniel’s smile had enough candle power to light Sydney for the night!!!!

Watching the starting of young horses over 9 half days under the watchful eye of Steve Byrnes was a fantastic experience. Steve’s experience and knowledge of the horse shone through from the outset.

The horses to be started ranged from ones that had already had a reasonable amount of handling, to a nervous youngster with only enough previous human input to get it leading and loading to come to the camp. With the time frame at hand the horses and handlers were given plenty of time to move through the learning process in an unhurried and relaxed manner.

The group was small enough to allow for plenty of time to provide individualized help for each and every person. There was a diverse range of breeds horses present which included Quarter horses, Arab X, Andalusian X, Appalossa, Morgan, and Belgian/QH cross. An interesting mix! Along with the breed types came the personality types; flighty, sensitive, introverted, bold, horny and everything in between. The human contingent of this group also presented a mixed bag of experience, confidence, age groups and knowledge. There were also a couple of experienced volunteers who provided some back up which ensured the youngsters got the best possible start.

Throughout the 9 days Steve’s expert guidance developed the confidence of both horses and humans. A myriad of useful techniques presented in a logical progression culminated in all the youngsters being ridden out on a couple of trail rides towards the end of the camp. It was lovely to watch confident young horses returning with humans aboard glowing with pride.

The afternoons were set aside for the Horsemanship classes. A small amount of groundwork preceded the first few days riding. How would your horse respond to being caught in a fence, can they yield to a feel, can they follow a feel from their front and back legs? Do you think your horse is better of for this exercise? On the second day responding to a couple of requests from participants Steve included some hobbling lessons, which were backed up on the following couple of days. I think it was Phoenix’s favorite exercise of the camp….. responding as if he had been given a hit of morphine…..ahhhh time to relax!!!!!!!! Having been ready for fireworks I was thrilled with his reaction!! Perfect presentation presents pretty picturesque possibilities…..Thanks Steve!!!!

Steve spoke eloquently on the subject of “Knowing what You want to do with your horse”

He encouraged us to identify what we felt was important for our horses to know. Once that is established choose a small number of things to teach your horse and teach those things really, really well!!!!!! That set the tone of the horsemanship side of the camp and the colt starting echoed these sentiments…….or was it the other way around???????.

Start as you mean to continue was a phrase that came to my mind!

There is no point teaching a youngster to do XYZ when you are going to do EFG with it for the rest of its life. Present the required skill to the horse, at the level the horse is a, from the outset and build from there…….

Pretty darn good advice!

Of course the camp was full of “darn good advice” and should you wish to learn all of them then you’d best visit Steve’s Website and book yourself onto a course…..Take it from me …you can skip past all the “will I’s and wont I’s” that I indulged in prior to this camp and just know that you will be in bloody good hands!

The days flew by; we ate like Kings and Queens at dinner time……Thanks to Missy and her catering team!!! No matter how many miles we walked there was no way we were going to go home a belt hole smaller, the food was just tooooooo good!!

We learnt about many things; encouraging brisk lively walking, teaching the horse to rock back on the Hindquarter to step the front end through, hindquarter yields at a walk, sideways on a circle, keeping our hands in neutral, taking the reliance of the rein and carrot stick away and focusing on asking with our calf muscle, teaching the horse to take the responsibility for keeping its nose/body tipped in the direction required.

An informative evening session on snaffles, shank bitsand hackamores with the humans getting to really feel what each did in the horses mouth was an amazing and worthwhile experience. The skill sets presented were all interrelated and were built on as the camp progressed.

Even the weather helped progress our horses, they learnt to stand calmly as nearly every afternoon we experienced the build up of some awesome storms, loud grumbling, clapping thunder, lightening, winds and downpours. We soon learnt to turn up with our oilskins lashed to our saddles and to leave our campsites battened down in the afternoons.

All of a sudden the Intermediate Horsemanship Course drew to a close with a lovely group trail ride around a pretty part of Exeter Farm. Phoenix got to see running water for the first time in his 4 years of life. Gee where did that time go??? Early the next morning sad farewells were made as those not continuing loaded up and headed home.

The Colt start continued on day 5 in with the afternoon providing a welcomed bit of down time. Some people arrived to partake in the Advanced Course and those of us who got to stay from the Intermediate Course thanked our lucky stars that we were staying on.

The Advanced course followed on from where the previous course left off. Steve helped us lay the foundations for roll backs, spins, canter pirouettes. Emphasis was placed on using our legs as our primary communication tool, not our hands. We used our calf muscles not our heels! Another biggy was that we became increasingly conscious of keeping our hands in neutral and if we did pick them up to return them to the neutral position ASAP.

Exercises included (but were not confined to) backing in a circle, riding around a barrel keeping the horses body on the circle at all gaits including the stop. Picking up the correct lead, or keeping the horse in a counter canter. We learnt how to help our horses travel in the direction of our focus, either on straight lines and circles. We even learnt how to get our horses to do “The Elephant Walk”.

Knowing when to quit; when to keep asking and when to simply give your horse some time out and go out on a trail ride, all entered into the equation. We also saw how effective rewarding the horses thought was as a teaching tool. Then the camp was over. The improvements made by both humans and horses were a graphic testament to how well Steve managed to share his knowledge with us.

At the end of the camp Steve presented us all with a Baseball Cap which read.
“I did my own stunts
@ Steve Byrnes
Horsemanship Clinic
Braidwood 2007”

I am sure that I can speak for every person who was lucky enough to attend the camp in extending a BIG THANK YOU to our hosts Kate and Owen Gwinn, their crew of helpers, and to Missy and her wonderful team of caterers.
And Finally A HUGE THANKYOU to our wonderful clinician Steve Byrnes whose teaching skills enabled us to Be Our Very Best.

back to the top

Steve Byrne three day clinic Raymond Terrace

by Simonne Shepherd

When a woman who thinks camping is staying in a five
star hotel is willing to put up a tent in a paddock in which to sleep in for three nights – it must be a special event! The event was Steve Byrne’s three day horsemanship clinic.

Held at the RDA centre north of Raymond Terrace (a fantastic facility), the clinic comprised two classes per day – intermediate and advanced. Being a ‘weekend rider’ I chose the intermediate for my pony buddy Amber and I - whilst my clinic partner in crime, Debra Dawson, participated in the advanced with her gorgeous horse Joe.

Steve has a relaxed teaching style, a highlight of which is the ridden components of the clinic being taught by Steve from horseback. It was a great advantage to be able to watch him ‘demo’ all of the ridden exercises before attempting to undertake them ourselves.

We worked through a variety of exercises on the ground and in the saddle, the main theme of the clinic being ‘teaching your horse to follow a feel’. Steve made the observation that quite often we spend most of our time in our groundwork ‘driving’ our horses. By teaching them to follow a feel on the ground in a multitude of exercises, we can quickly improve our results in the saddle using this technique. On two occasions over the weekend the importance of having horses who follow a feel came home to us. The first when Amber became tangled in her lead rope while tied to the float, the second when Joe got a hind foot caught in the belly strap of his rug. Both times the horses remained calm and yielded to the pressure until we ‘rescued’ them.

Other lessons learnt included “slow and right beats fast and wrong”, build on small tries and successes before trying to do the ‘big’ things at faster paces and most importantly, the only problem my horse has is me! Truly, whenever something was not going ‘right’ it was always because of the way I was presenting it to my horse. Lack of, or poor, communication on my part. Steve showed us how to improve our communication both on the ground and in the saddle.

These valuable lessons made me happy to sleep in my tent in the paddock, safe in the knowledge that I’d swapped five star accommodation for five star horsemanship.

Happy trails.

horse

Steve Byrne Horse Course - Raymond Terrace

By Edward Gray

On the crisp morning of Friday the 13th campers arose from a very cold night at the Raymond Terrace R.D.A. By 9am the intermediate class were ready in the indoor arena, they got under way with the great Steve Byrne as their instructor. After an educational class everyone had lunch and the advanced class started riding as Steve got us to focus on using our ‘legs’. We did backing in circles, elephant walk and a little work on our soft feel. That night we all had pizza and told stories around our excellent tea and coffee table (thanks to Lee).

The next day the intermediate class was eventful and informative. In the afternoon class we were again reminded of our ‘legs’ and we started to do some roll backs and some of us even got some very nice elephant walk/trot. Steve also taught us how to start doing spins and the controlled confusion game which aims at getting your horse to move off your ‘legs’ and asking questions.

On the last day after the intermediate class had finished using their ‘legs’, the advanced class moved into the outside arena. We did more roll backs, our spins were improving and some of us were really enjoying our lateral work. Towards the end of the class Steve quietly went out and wowed us all with spins, canter lead changes every 4 strides, beautiful trot side pass and much more. As we sat there mesmerised by his incredible display- he pointed out that we had been learning the foundations for that over the weekend - So long as we use our …….. ‘legs’.

So, many thanks to Lee for arranging the course and many more thanks to Steve for a great course (and his advice on our ‘legs’).

horse

STEVE BYRNE
Cutting Manoeuvres for Dummies.
Raymond Terrace
by Trish Madden

Ok, so that wasn’t really the theme of the course but it was what it felt like. Steve sat there on his cuttin’ horse and showed us how it was done then broke it down into little achievable steps for us.

Steve is one very savvy, experienced teacher. His focus is in the cutting world where he is competing but it seems he never lets his aims get in the way of his principles. His horses are light, responsive and oh so well trained. Steve was based for several years at La Cense, Montana where the various horses for the Parelli organisation were started. He brings this experience of so many horses to the fore in teaching students how to get the best from their own horses.

So…there I was on my fat Arab surrounded by quarter horses who have butts like elephants and they are smoothly turning, reining back and rolling back following Steve’s instructions and I am struggling to get one balanced, smooth step backwards from Sage aka ‘Podge’ (thank goodness for Mel with her 16.2 hh Thoroughbred who had similar challenges). Yep, emotionally challenging as always. Still and all, it was worth it. Why? Well, because Sage has always struggled with that whole move backwards thing and over the years we have had various instructors who have also struggled to teach it to him. He would drag (and I mean DRAAAAAAGGGGG) his front legs and hollow his back and clearly have no idea how he was supposed to go. And I’m talking on line and under saddle. I would point out all the other horses and tell him ‘watch this’ but nooooo, he just never seemed to truly get the hang of it. Some said to get tougher and physically force the move, others told me to be patient and he would work it out. Well, it has been six years now and it was still on the wrong side of pretty. But I never gave up hope that I would find an answer. And here came Steve with more answers to my questions and more knowledge that I can use to build on.

You know some male instructors are very ‘handy/physical’ when it comes to teaching but Steve is more of the quiet, calming, influencing type. His instructions were step by step, clearly demonstrated on his horses (show offs, all of them) then we were sent off to try them. Ok, so Sage is still unable to do the spins, roll backs or fast manoeuvres like some of the other participants but for the first time ever he got the idea of how to move his weight back and step across in front and to do it LIGHTLY. Honestly, I can’t begin to tell you what a difference this course made. I can see that if I put this program into practice he will be lighter and more balanced. He will never be a force in the cutting/reining world but it will mean I can do more with what I have.

So, what did we learn? Firstly, get the leg to mean something. Be effective here and ensure you get a reaction. One leg for turns and two for gas. Secondly, teach your horse to follow his nose, in turns this means that he has to be light and move his shoulders over (hellooo…Sage, still taking notes here??). Then once you have this, teach him to step over lightly when the rein gives the lead and the leg provides support. We learned how to do this moving forward and backward. Don’t over train in the turns or else your horse will start to over anticipate. As always, slow and right beats fast and wrong. Yep, my slower was soooo much slower than everyone else but hey, with time I will be like Lee and able to do it all (got you there, Lee!).

Oh and one final point. The course was held at the RDA at Raymond Terrace outside Newcastle and what a fabulous venue it was! The facilities are top notch, even to mirrors in the indoor arena, and a great outdoor arena. And all managed by the lovely Melissa who was so welcoming and supportive to being invaded by a bunch of rope swinging natural horse types. Bring on the next course with Steve I say.