A COWBOY TOWN IN CZECH?
Now
this was a whole new experience for both of us. Ivana and Hanna Zertova
dragged me out to the Western fun park to catch a show. That's all this
Scottish/Kiwi/Texan needed. Czech people playing cowboys and Indians. However,
I was pleasantly surprised, so surprised in fact that I had Ivana take
me back a few days later just to see the place again and work on some of
their horse.
One thing led to another and now it looks as though the venue will turn out to be a base for Equine Touch clinics in Central Europe. It had a full western town built in a valley, restaurants, bars, and an outdoor theatre where they present wild west shows at the weekends. If it was not for the Czech people wandering around in flip flops and long shorts, you would swear you were back at Willie Nelson's ranch in Austin. Overlooking the valley is a massive outdoor arena which can be used for horse shows, rock concerts, etc with small round pens and corrals for all types of equine shows.
The
weekend we were there private planes and helicopters were taking off and
landing all day long. The accommodation is eclectic to say the least, there
is a full camping site, caravans or tents, chalets, as well as a pension
with college style accommodation and a five star hotel, both done up in
a Tex Mex theme.
It's only one and a half hours from Brno so is a great venue (once you find it) for holding clinics at all levels, and there are 28 awesome horses that are just perfect to work on. We are already looking for dates for clinics there for next July and August. These classes will be open to students from all over Europe. So tell your friends and get them to sign on for this newsletter and then they can keep up with this exciting new idea.
The Pension Accommodation ------------------- The Major Arena ----------------------- The Colorado Grand Hotel -----------
As the accommodation appears to be quite reasonable and the facilities offered are superb, this may be an excellent place to hold an ET European or International Conference at a later date.
Jock and Ivana
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BACK TEACHING HUMANS!
This was supposed to be a holiday. I think I said that in a previous newsletter, but some of the old crowd joined up with some of the new and the next thing I knew Ivana and our Slovak instructor Katharine had a hammer bar on me and before I could say Jack Daniels I was back teaching VHT. As usual I started off grumpy, got grumpier and than started to enjoy myself. The whole translation bit is quite a bit unnerving, especially when it is Ivana doing the translating. I will speak five words and she will speak 100. I will speak 100 and she will speak 5. I then go to tell one of my stories, and find she has already told it. I will decide that I am going to show how the move can be done through 14 layers of towels, only to turn around and see she is already doing it.
The last day was quite hilarious. I had been sleeping; badly, our neighbours across the road have a guard dog and its entire focus in life is to keep me awake. On top of that the local tom cat decided to imitate Placido Domingo so I was a mess. Ivana decided on the Friday night half a sleeping pill. Nothing happened. The next night, Saturday, I tried a whole one. Now that was a whole new trip - No one has ever been taught by a zombie before. Time stood still, I fell asleep all over the classroom, thankfully Ivana was doing all the talking, I would manage a demonstration and then disappear to find a wee corner to zone out in. No more sleeping pills, think I'll just have a wee glass of single malt each night and see if that will do the trick.
I actually found that I still like teaching humans so I have decided to run one clinic a year when I am in Czech to keep my hand(s) in. For those of you who have never been to Czech it is a great place to come on a course and just chill out. A really relaxed atmosphere (apart from the pickpockets) and everyone is welcome on the clinics whether they be rookies or practitioners. The manuals are in Czech and English for those who are interested.
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EQUINE TOUCH REPRESENTED ON THE MONTY ROBERTS CHALLENGE TOUR
Equine Touch will be well represented on the upcoming Monty Roberts challenge tour of the UK this autumn. As I said in our last newsletter Monty is the first 'star' ever to take time out to watch ET and give his personal support to us. There are some great things coming up that we will be doing together and hopefully over the next few months we will be able to line up contacts for ET being represented at Monty's shows all around the world. The harmony between Monty and Kelly's work and ET is instantly obvious for anyone who has seen the approach working in tandem.
On Monty's Challenge Tour - who knows what he will be presented with
this time?
There could be a young horse in need of backing or hates the clippers or
farrier or refuses to load in a trailer. Perhaps there will be a horse who
has fear issues? Is too slow or too fast when ridden or won't be caught?
Perhaps it's the handler or rider who admits to needing help with a confidence
issue for hacking or jumping?
Each one of these violence-free demonstrations is completely unique. Go and learn
the language of Equus and change your experience of
horsemanship forever!
Wed Sept 24 - Merrist Wood College, Surrey
Sat Sept 27 - Hadlow College, Kent
Thur Oct 2 - Greenlands EC, Carlisle
Sat Oct 4 - Gleneagles EC, Perthshire
Tue Oct 7 - Bishop Burton College, Hull
Thur Oct 9 - ILPH, Norfolk
Sat 11 Oct - Unex Towerlands, Essex
Sat 18 Oct - The Grange EC, Devon
Sat 25 Oct - Addinton Manor EC, Buckinghamshire
Mon 27 Oct - Arena UK, Lincolnshire
Tue 28 Oct - Rodbaston, Staffordshire
Thur 30 / Fri 31 Oct - Hartpury, Gloucestershire
Sat 8 Nov / Sun 9 Nov- Myerscough, Lancashire
Monty Roberts advance tickets £25 (£30 on the door)
(£3.50 total booking fee on credit/debit cards, tickets are non-refundable)
Telephone bookings : 01488 71300
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THE BOOK IS IN THE PRINTERS
At
last, it is over. 'The Equine Touch, From Zero to Hero in Your
Horse's Eyes' is completed and is currently in the printers in
the UK. We intend launching it at the Level 3 and 4 symposium on the 13th
of September when we have a UK Guild meeting. Originally we were scheduled
for the ILPH in Norfolk, however they have just had an infectious outbreak
and we are now holding the clinic and meeting at the Blue Cross
Burford in Oxfordshire. It is literally about 8 miles west of Hartsop Farm.
We have not come up with the final pricing on the book in various countries as yet though in the UK it will be 25 pounds sterling and can be ordered from the NCC or purchased from instructors on any clinic. We have decided not to go for large runoffs due to the fact that it costs a fortune nowadays to post them overseas. (7 pounds sterling to send one to USA) Instead what we will do is print in USA, Australia and New Zealand as they are required. This may not make too much difference in the overall cost but it will mean you do not have to wait, in some cases weeks for the U(useless)K postal service to lose or delay them. Believe it or not Mary in WA received an airmail letter which we posted her from New Zealand three months prior, but the best is a Christmas card we received from one of our students in Zambia. It arrived six weeks ago and was posted in 2003!
Already the next important project is well under way and hopefully will be completed very shortly and that is the all new mobilization stretching manual. Before we release it to the instructors and the general practitioner and student population we will test it thoroughly first with a couple of instructors who we will select for training and wait for the feedback. Hopefully all the testing will be finished before the end of the year and we can bring this unique Equine Touch stretching and mobilization clinic into a reality.
We will keep you up to date on both of these projects.
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FOR JOCK AND IVANA'S CLINIC SCHEDULE WORLD WIDE CLICK ON:
Jock and Ivana's clinics 2008 2009
or go to http://www.theequinetouch.com/schedules.html
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STORIES, STORIES, STORIES, where are they, we all want to hear them, write them down and send them in with a photo.
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