Wish You Were Here!

Wish you were here!  Sally and Monte riding Cabo and Bridger in the Marin Headlands above Sausalito.

 

Fun and Games with Art Grunig! - April 23rd

Fun and Games With Art Grunig!Learn to play games with your horse that improve riding skills!

Games include:

ʻKissingʼ Contest
Treat Racing
Team Trail

There will be a games explanation period, followed by a coached practice session, which will be followed by the games themselves. The winning horse for each game will win a prize! We will have a lunch break between the games practice and the games themselves. The day will end with a sharing of the experience and how the games affect riding including a period of reflection and sharing.

Date: April 23rd
Sign Up: 8:00am
Fee: $100
Call 415-897-8212 to sign up 
Time: 9:00 am till about Noon, 1:00 pm till about 3:00 PM
Location: Willow Tree Stables, Novato, CA

GAMES DETAILS: 

‘Kissing Contest’ 

See how many times your horse can touch a target with its nose without moving faster than a walk. This course consists of astarting point, marked with a cone, and two poles on the ground leading up to a post. Begin at the cone, walk up to the target, ‘kiss’ it with the horse’s nose, and return around the cone as many times as possible. Stepping outside of the poles or going faster than a walk will result in disqualification. How many kisses can you get in?

Treat Racing

Can your horse pick up a treat and make it back across the finish line without dropping it? Begin by crossing the starting line, travel to a barrel with a horse treat of your choice waiting on it, get your horse to pick up the treat and return to the start/finish line. If the treat is dropped, you are out of the contest. Treat racing will have three divisions; first is no faster than a walk, second round is no faster than a trot, and the third round is any safe speed. Separate divisions for bit and hackamore.

Team Trail

Team up with a partner and ride a trail course in tandem! The course will consist of a gate, walk overs, backing, a cone weave, and a figure eight. With the exception of opening and closing the gates for one another, the riders must maintain some degree of an overlap when viewed from the side. All trail work is done at a walk.

ART GRUNIG 707-838-9755  artgrunig@aol.com

Art Grunig has trained horses professionally for forty years. Since 1986 he’s incorporated bodywork so his horses train and perform even better. His successful career includes over 30 championships and reserve championships won by him and his students at regional and national levels. Art has trained horses for reining, cutting, working cow horse, western riding, western pleasure, trail, jumping, dressage, gaited horses, jousting, vaulting, driving, and racing. Art has performed his work form coast to coast in the USA, in Hawaii, Mexico, Italy, the Virgin Islands, and Ethiopia.

Art developed a neurologically based equine bodywork method called Reflex Balancing. Art is also trained in massage, cranio-sacral therapy, lymphatic drainage, and visceral manipulation, watsu and tantsu. He’s studied in the United States, France, and Italy.

While the body work greatly enhances training, the training has done even more to help Art's body work. Having horses to work on every day and ride them too has taught Art what body work techniques truly make a difference.

 Click for Art's Website

For more information about Art go to ArtGrunig.com. 

Life Of A Horse Addict - Made By A Willow Tree Fan

Adult Vaulting Classes To Begin In April!

Adult Vaulting - Click For More InfoMondays 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm (will go later with more than 5). Click for more info. 

$20 per class, $15 for college students with a college id. 

Drop in, no commitment necessary. 

Participants in this class will get fit while having FUN. We will focus on conditioning, stretching, balance and strength exercises for vaulting and
riding horses. 

No previous gymnastics or horseback riding required! Just a desire to learn about vaulting, improve your riding, and/or increase your overall fitness!

For class please wear STRETCHY tight fitting pants and have hair tied back, no jewelry. Gymnastic or vaulting slippers are ideal, but light weight tennis shoes or water shoes will work. Bring running shoes for warm up and water to drink, especially when the weather is warm or hot.

Adults of all ages are welcome! Students will progress at their own pace and will not be held back or pushed. It's all about having fun and learning about vaulting! 

The horse will be controlled by a longer via a longe line and longe whip. Equipped with a surcingle with handles, students can focus on being in tune with the horse's movements, on moving around on the horse's back easily and in harmony, and on dismounting safely while the horse is in motion. 

UPCOMING EVENT: Challenging Times - How Well Will Your Horse Fare?

February 12, 2011 at the Marin Humane Society

Challenging Times

How Well Will Your Horse Fare?

171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd. | Novato

8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Registration and coffee

9:00 - 9:15 a.m.

Welcome and Update by MHC President Joel Bartlett

9:15 - 11:15 a.m.

Managed Care for Geriatric Horses presented by Grant Miller, D.V.M.

11:30 - 12:30 a.m.

Saddle Fitting for You and Your Horse presented by Max Gerdes of Devoucoux

12:30 - 1:30 a.m.

Tack and Wrap Exhibit and Presentations by the Redwood Pony Club

TICKETS AT THE DOOR: $20 adults, $10 for under 16. For more information contact Marina Eisenzimmer at eisenzimmer@hotmail.com or 415.488.0950.

Marin Horse Council | 171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd. | Novato, CA | www.marinhorsecouncil.org