The Original DVD Lessons Are Now Mini Courses

Some favorite images from the original lessons.

DVDs are a thing of the past. Netflix recognized that a while back when they stopped shipping out DVDS. I recognized it, as well, but I’ve been slower to do anything about it. It took me over ten years to complete all eighteen of the original DVD Lessons. The first four were made in the era of camcorders and VHS tapes. It took me a while to join the modern digital world and convert them to DVDs. And now technology has changed again, and I am still playing catch up.

But catching up is exactly what I am doing. I am converting the DVD Lessons to On-line Mini Courses. Lessons 1 through 5 are now available on-line. Go to my web site: theclickercenter.com to learn more. You’ll find the lessons in the DVD section, but now they are available as mini courses which you access on-line.

Why am I bothering to convert these DVDS? I could have let them go the way of the dinosaurs and become extinct. After all, I’ve continued to add new material. I’ve got the original on-line course, the on-line clinics, an updated version of my book, “The Click That Teaches: A step by Step Guide in Pictures“, and my newest book, “Modern Horse Training“. I can well understand someone thinking that enough is enough. “Why do we need these older lessons when there is all this new material?”

The answer sits in the training mantra: “It is always a study of one.”

Horses are complex. They are individuals. Every horse I work with teaches me something.

One lesson I haven’t learned is always have a camera running. You never know when a horse is going to show you something important that needs to be shared. Every time I fail to video an interesting session, I always think of the old fish stories about the “big one that got away”.

But every now and then I get lucky. I have the camera running. The battery doesn’t run out, and the horse teaches us something important. Those lessons don’t become outdated. They are as instructive now as they were when they first came out.

Does that mean nothing has changed over the twenty-five plus years since the first video lesson was made? Absolutely not. The horses have been showing me how to teach better. I’m not just transferring the original lessons onto a streaming platform. I’ve added new material. Each lesson includes updates to the handling and new video that helps you understand the concepts I’m discussing.

The streaming platform means I can break the original two hour DVD lessons into shorter, more digestible segments. Shorter clips fit into our busy lives, and they also make it easier to find segments you want to refer back to.

The streaming platform lets me combine video with text. When a clip needs some background information to make it clearer, I’ve added new material. I haven’t just converted the original lessons. These are fresh, updated mini courses.

Over the next couple of days I’ll share with you what each of the new mini courses covers. If you can’t wait, visit my web site: theclickercenter.com. You’ll find the new mini courses in the DVD section of the Shop.

Enjoy!

The first five DVD Lessons are now available on-line as mini courses.

Modern Horse Training Connects Ground Work to Riding

One of my favorite expressions is: “Ground work is riding where you get to stand up and riding is ground work where you get to sit down.”

Everything is connected. The beautiful balance that Robin shows as he trots beside me at liberty is the same balance that I want to ride. The cues that I use on the ground carry over and become cues he understands when I ride.

The use of the lead as a communication tool works in the same way as the reins. When I teach Robin how to respond to tactile cues beginning on the ground, that understanding carries over to riding. Leads and reins work in the same way. Body language cues taught first on the ground carry over into riding.

This means the training is wonderfully efficient. I don’t have to teach one set of cues and behaviors for ground work and an entirely new set for riding. The components that I use to work with Robin at liberty are the same components that I’ll use for work in-hand and for riding. Modern Horse Training makes a deliberate, thoughtful connection between everything you teach. Lessons are not separate and random. The more your horse knows, the faster he will learn because many of the components you’ll need for a new lesson will already be in place.

Modern Horse Training Focuses on Balance

This has long been a favorite photo. I am asking Robin to lift his knee into my waiting hand. I love the quiet elegance that is expressed in this gesture. Note the solid support we see in his left front as he lifts his right leg.

I could easily turn this into foot cleaning, or I could expand the gesture so he extends his leg forward in preparation for Spanish Walk.

Or I could use it, as I am here, as a gymnastic exercise that prepares Robin for the day’s ride.

Once again we see the foundation lessons in action. Robin is standing on a mat. The mat provides a context for the leg lifts and helps to keep them from becoming a nuisance behavior. His beautiful balance has evolved out of the foundation lessons.

Modern Horse Training reminds us that everything is connected.

To learn more visit my web site: theclickercenter.com
Instagram: alexandra.kurland.5
Podcast: equiosity.com