Who learned something at this year’s event? Everybody! And you can, too, with more great tips from QuarterFest clinicians.

By Holly Clanahan, America’s Horse editor

The envision! video crew films footage at QuarterFest that will later appear on americashorse.tv. Envision! also covered the event on Twitter. Check out their updates at www.twitter.com/envision and our own updates at www.twitter.com/americashorse.

The last day of QuarterFest: A Celebration of the American Quarter Horse is always a little bittersweet. After a long weekend of learning (coupled with two days of storms), participants were tired, for sure. But that seemed to be tempered by the excitement of all the new knowledge.  I talked to one woman who learned how to post for the first time after she took a clinic with Lynn Palm; another woman has been pining for years to learn about pack trips and camping skills from outdoor expert Bo Winslow; one woman loped with her horse for the first time after Julie Goodnight helped her gain confidence; and yet another family made a 20-hour drive from Michigan (made longer by some vehicle problems along the way) because they were so thrilled by the number of great clinicians at one event. The list goes on and on.

Meeting people like this — as well as the knowledge that I gained popping in and out of clinics for three days — sure makes it all worthwhile for me. Here’s a few of the tips I gleaned from QuarterFest, held April 30 – May 2 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee:

• AQHA Professional Horsewoman Stacy Westfall: When trotting circles and asking your horse to flex his neck, “if the ear is the first thing you see, he is not breaking at the poll.” If your horse is bent correctly, you should be able to see his eye. If you can’t, you may need to extend your inside arm straight out to the side, with no bending at the wrist or elbow.  “I’m going to put a cast on you,” Stacy kidded one rider who wasn’t keeping her arm straight enough. “If you’re doing this correctly and you haven’t done it much, it will burn the back of your arm.”
• AQHA Professional Horsewoman Lynn Palm: Don’t be afraid to give dressage a try. “It is very, very achieveable. It’s just about good riding and training. It’s about using seat, legs and hands, and riding with the horse in balance. And when the horse is in balance, he becomes willing.” The theories and training methods are applicable, she says, no matter if you ride in a western saddle or an English one.
• Also from Lynn: “Usually, if you can’t post the trot, you’re not doing it fast enough, or your horse is not forward enough.”
• AQHA Professional Horsewoman and Certified Horsemanship Association spokeswoman Julie Goodnight: “If I could do one thing to help horses, it would be to teach riders to slow down their hands.” Before you jerk on the bit, give your horse a chance to stop or turn by slowly moving your hand first. You can take a hold of him if he doesn’t respond, but give him a chance to respond first. It’s like your hands are moving in slow motion.
• Also from Julie: Imagine your horse is a long hallway with six doors, one at each end lengthwise, then two on each long side of the hall. The two doors on the ends represent the head and hindquarters, and the other doors represent the left and right shoulder and the left and right hip. Riding is a matter of opening and closing these doors, depending on which way you want your horse to move — forward, backward or sideways. “For every door you close, you have to open somewhere. You have to give the horse somewhere to go.”

Check out the sideshow to get a better taste of the third day of QuarterFest 2010. Click on the photos to read descriptions.