VIDEO: Lee Smith on Timing, Feel, and Pressure
- August 28, 2019
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- Savanna Simmons
Posted in: Featured, Horse Training, Photography, Video
I have been trying to say “yes” to more opportunities (especially learning) for myself, something that I haven’t really done since having kids. So when I saw that Lee Smith was going to be at the first Art of the Cowgirl event in Phoenix, Arizona, and a friend and fellow mother of young’uns asked if I wanted to go, I leapt at the opportunity.
Lee was the first clinician I ever rode with more than a decade ago, and I felt a pull to reconnect with her. She extended me so much grace and wisdom regarding motherhood and horsemanship at AOC, that when I heard that Art of the Cowgirl was hosting a clinic with Lee and Tammy Pate in Big Timber, Montana, six hours from home and closer than they generally get, I, again, decided to go for it and attend.
Lee has been teaching clinics for my whole lifetime, and she has a way of presenting that makes even the more advanced horsemanship much more palatable. I think she has gleaned some of her teaching skill from her mentor and friend, the late Ray Hunt, and she has developed that skill even further with her own sharp mind.
We spent much of the clinic working on two things, releasing the brace in our legs and bodies—do you brace? Woowee! I sure did without knowing it—and creating a soft feel in our horses by steadily holding our hands until our horses soften, then immediately releasing as soon as we felt the soften.
It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we remove our pressure as quickly as possible, then build upon that. In this video, Lee explains how timing and pressure can create a soft feel.
To learn more about Lee Smith and her schedule, visit here.
To learn more about the amazing things that Art of the Cowgirl has going on, read here or visit here.
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Posted in: Featured, Horse Training, Photography, Video
About Savanna Simmons
I'm Savanna Simmons and I live north of Lusk, Wyoming, on the Four Three Ranch with my husband Boe and our sons, Brindle and Roan. I grew up evolving my horsemanship with clinicians like Ray Hunt, Joe Wolter, and Jack Brainard, but not within a...