Darolyn Butler - Clinic in Brazil Day I & II

Darolyn Butler here in Brazil on a borrowed e mail address of my friend Sylvia Vaccari. Sylvia & I met a little over a year ago during the Endurance Competition of the World Nature Games in Parana, Brazil. She visited me this summer and rode DB Razzmatazz 50 Miles at the Old Dominion, & then she started working with the University of the Horse in Sorocaba, Brazil, to have me down for a clinic.

I arrived last Thursday in Sao Paulo and was met by Sylvia and the Dean of the University, Aluisio Marins. After a short, but very scenic drive to Sorocaba, we arrived at Sylvia's beautiful home & small acreage which houses her 5 horses as well. I met the horses of course, then crashed for awhile to catch up on the jet lag. They are only 5 hours different, but..... coincidently, I had been on the same flight as my good friend, Brazilian, Dr. Marcello Grilo, (the team Vet for Chili for Dubai, I won't even try to explain), & also co-hosting Day III of my six day clinic. Naturally we talked most of the night flight about the clinic, endurance training/conditioning & strategy for his team in Dubai.

Yes, I said SIX DAY clinic!! Boggled me at first, but then I assigned Marcello to one day for Vet stuff, & Sharon Saare one day for Saddle Stuff, & with slides, (taken all of 1 week to 1 day before departure), & my 15 year old video tape ;-), (lord, was my hair really that black & was I really that skinny???), Its pretty doggone easy to fill several days watching & chatting about Endurance.

At the end of Saturday, Day I, we all took a short ride in the beautiful Brazilian countryside. We practiced sponging, (Angie.... U would have been proud!!!.... I've been a big fan of the hour glass synthetic sponge for a long time, but one has to have a bio-thane leash... now really. ) We practiced flying or emergency dismounts, & talked alot about tailing, but no one was brave enough to try. Including myself, as I was mounted on a 15.3 hand chestnut stallion that was ethel powered. He put up with the flying dismount, thought I shouldn't push my luck after that.

I must admit, however, that I am a bit pre-occupied.... Thursday evening I was informed that my little ranch back in Texas is flooding, once again, in less than 4 weeks. Even worse, my daily reports are that the water is 2-3 feet higher than it was in October. My barn manager & friends watching my place are now ready to find a new friend, as they had to evacuate nearly 30 head of horses and all the vehicles & trailers on the place. Not to mention loading up over 100 bales of hay that were getting ready to drown. Lost over that last flood & they knew how I cried. Worst of all though, is it is two feet deep in Sky's (barn manager's apt.).

When I called Sunday A.M. the phones & the e mail were going out, so if anyone local reads this, Lynda C. vickie, etc. Please call my cell phone & report back to me at Sylvia's e mail.

Back to the clinic, today, DAY II we covered conditioning & rider equipment. They are calling my fanny pack a Batman Pack & me McGuyver. Really, it only weighs a few pounds & yes you could probably perform some sort of surgery out of it. ;-))) If you want my formula, e mail me in a couple of weeks at darolyn@swbell.net, & I will pass it on.

At the end of the day we were scheduled to ride after I demonstrated loading a "non-loading" horses. Horse did & did not cooperate as he walked right on the first time with no problem. Should I quit while I'm ahead?? No.... not that smart....So I asked for something else, and boy did I get "Something Else"! A young anglo-arab that came bouncing out of the stable like a kite on a string. I took one look & said...."I think we will take this one to the round pen first." That was smart.... as I worked for almost two hours just gentling and building up his confidence in me. It's always a little nerve wracking doing this work, even if you are alone.... you always have doubts if this method will really work "this time." I have had one miserable failure and the thought always haunts me.

Today was successful though, with a combination of skills learned from Linda Tellington-Jones, John Lyons, Pat Parelli, & Monty Roberts, (listed chronologically of course), & I suppose a little bit of DB thrown in, the colt was a different guy. Still has a few holes, and still not ready for the saddle, but at least manageable now. I asked my clinic attendees at the end of the work if they thought I should try to load him & risk loosing what I had attained thus far, or quit while he was happy & relaxed. Thank God they voted that we quit. Never under estimate the power of positive thinking.

Led him quietly to his stall, and then demonstrated to the stable hands how to catch him in the stall, as he had been almost impossible to catch, even in there. What a great way to end the day. We missed our scheduled ride, but I don't think any of the students were too disappointed. They loved watching a bundle of nerves turn into a quiet and soft eye.

Tune in tomorrow for Day III. Miss home, but ride camp helps... put it up on Sylvia's computer the 2nd day I was here.... so I'm keeping up with everyone back there.

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