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Our training notes often show schooling at the farm but may also
include cross country schoolings and trail rides away from the
farm. Go back through our
notes to see how we train our off-the-track
Thoroughbreds and prepare them for new careers as sport horses.
Ed Dabney Natural Horsemanship Clinic
June 15-
16, 2007
at Bits & Bytes Farm
Hello Friends of Bits & Bytes Farm,
We are hosting a Gentle Horsemanship Clinic
with Ed Dabney on June
15th and 16th, 2007 at Bits & Bytes
Farm.
The mission of Gentle
Horsemanship is to assist horses and their owners in
having a more safe and pleasant life together by establishing
a relationship of mutual respect and trust through the use of
gentle communication. This is something we truly believe in at
Bits & Bytes Farm. We have asked Ed
Dabney to teach us more about
the topic.
Here is some information from Ed Dabney's Web site:
Both you and your horse would greatly benefit from
the clinic experience. Much of what you'll learn and what you'll
be teaching your horse during the weekend centers around developing
your leadership position in your relationship with your horse.
Experience Not
Required
You do not need to be an experienced rider or horse person to
participate with your horse in this clinic. Beginners as well as
advanced riders have found the skills taught in Ed's clinics to
be very useful. His system of working with horses builds confidence
in handling horses on the ground and mounted, equips owners with
natural communication skills and establishes their authority as
a confident, consistent leader for their horse.
Ed's teaching style is very clear and straight-forward, giving
students a methodical and systematic approach which is easy for
both horse and rider to understand and apply. His gentle methods
have been proven effective by successfully working with hundreds
of horses and humans. You will learn problem solving principles
and teaching techniques that work with the horse's nature and instincts
in order to overcome resistances with confidence, patience and
understanding.
Register TODAY! Spots are limited!
Please
fill out the registration
form and fax the form back to:
770-704-6594
Please then mail the original form with a check to:
Bits & Bytes Farm
1275 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
Enclose your
check made out to:
Ed Dabney Gentle Horsemanship,
LLC
to guarantee your participation in the clinic. We cannot guarantee
any spot without a completed registration form. The cost is
listed below.
The Clinic Schedule
Friday Evening 7:00 - 9:30 PM
"Revealing the Mystery of Natural
Horsemanship"
A lecture/demonstration on the theory of natural horsemanship.
On Friday night Ed will introduce what the participants will be
learning on Saturday. Attendance at the Friday night session will
be required for rider participants. This session is open to spectators
as well. Topics covered on Friday night:
- Building a relationship with your horse through Care, Communication
and Consistency
- Join-up for Respectful Catching
- Predator/Prey Relationship
- How this type of training relates
to the horse's natural instincts by explaining herd dynamics
and leadership, especially in the wild horse herd
- Discussion
of tack and bits
- The tie knot
- Demonstration with Sunny showing:
- Respectful Catching
- Achieving Proper Head Position for Bridling
- Respectful Haltering
- Respectful Leading
- Saddling and Bridling Tips
"Six Keys to Harmony"
Easy to understand techniques for establishing respect and trust
with your horse and achieving light responses from your horse on
the ground and mounted. Click here to read more about his videos
of the topic.
Saturday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday you'll be teaching your horse the "Six
Keys to Harmony", easy to understand techniques
for establishing respect and trust with your horse and achieving
light responses from your horse on the ground and mounted and begin "despooking" your
horse with "scary" items. All this is designed to build
his confidence in you as a worthy leader and to help him be calmer,
smarter, braver and more polite. You'll enter the arena with your
horse on halter and lead rope unsaddled. During the day you'll
be teaching your horse the "Six Keys". In the afternoon
you'll be introducing your horse to "Developing
the Fearless Horse - Techniques to Build Calm
and Confidence into your horse".
The Cost
Rider/Participants at $175.
This is a much discounted rate to
our customers.
Minimum six, maximum twelve participants.
Participants are required to attend the Friday evening session.
Spectators may attend on Saturday for $20.
Friday night free
for spectators.
Stabling:
We will have a limited number of stalls available @ $25 per night.
What to Bring:
Required: Negative Coggins for participating horses.
Lunch and beverages will be provided by Bits & Bytes Farm.
Spectators please let us know you are coming so that we can provide
lunch and beverages for you as well.
Bring a lawn chair, note pad and pen, all horse tack for participants.
No dogs or alcoholic beverages please.
Ed's Background from his Web site
Just to let you know a little of my background, I grew up on
my Dad's horse farm where we raised and trained our own horses,
taught riding lessons and boarded horses for other owners. My
dad always had a gentle, natural way around horses and treated
them well. He taught me, at an early age, how to ride with lightness
and how to have the proper relationship of respect, trust and
leadership with my horse.
As a teenager my brother and I spent
countless hours on our horses exploring the countryside looking
for challenging terrain for our horses. In high school and college
I began traveling the rodeo circuit competing in bull riding
until I got enough sense knocked into me to quit that crazy sport!
Throughout
my adult life I've been blessed to have had a variety of experiences
with riding and training horses. I have participated in Civil
War reenactments with a cavalry company traveling around the country
to put on battle reenactments and living history demonstrations.
With horses I trained for movie work, I was cast in mounted action
roles in seven motion pictures.
I operated a horseback vacation
business taking guests on week long riding and camping trips
in the Wyoming Rocky Mountains near Yellowstone. While living in
Wyoming I had numerous opportunities to observe wild horses on
the open plains. This gave me a much deeper understanding of their
well developed social structure, instincts and communication.
I trained horses for
several large ranches in Wyoming. On these ranches I had occasion
to work with range raised colts, wild horses and problem horses.
I did quite a bit of imprint training on new-born foals and weanling
training. All my training was done with gentle communication
and respect for the horse. My training techniques were somewhat
unorthodox in the land of the "rough and tumble,
old cowboy ways". Over time the results of my training techniques
were evident in more dependable, calmer, smarter and braver horses.
In the spring of 2001 I moved to Georgia
to escape the brutal Wyoming winters. In August of 2002, I purchased
the business from my employer and now operate as "ED DABNEY Gentle Horsemanship".
Since moving to Georgia I have enjoyed helping many horses and
owners have a more safe and pleasant life together by establishing
a relationship of mutual respect and trust through the use of gentle
communication. I was honored to have been selected to teach the
Horse Training course at the University of Georgia for the spring
2003 semester.
Twenty years ago I made a decision to trust
in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Since then I have committed
my life, my family and my business to His glory. God’s
word has given me hope, guidance, and peace in my life.
"Trust in the Lord
with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding, in all
your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path." Proverbs
3:5-6
-Ed Dabney
It should be a fun and enlightening weekend. We have found many
of the natural horsemanship techniques useful in retraining our
off-the-track Thoroughbreds.
Here are some links to Ed
Dabney's Web site to give you a better
understanding of him and the clinic.
http://www.eddabney.com/index.htm
http://www.eddabney.com/philosophy.htm
http://www.eddabney.com/experience.htm
http://www.eddabney.com/moviemakers_buffs.htm
http://www.eddabney.com/moviepics.htm
http://www.eddabney.com/psychotherapy.htm
http://www.eddabney.com/articles.htm
We look forward to seeing lots of our friends and making new
ones too!
--Elizabeth & Barry owners of Bits & Bytes
Farm. |
