Sometimes the task of helping the world see horses as more than slaves seems an endless tunnel with no light at the end! So I don't wait for that light I march out there and light the blinking candle myself because otherwise I'd go crazy.
The ex-racer I talked about at the end of January having made a huge change for the better (working at liberty, soft and loving) has been found to have the most horrific kissing spines. It's why he can 'suddenly explode' under saddle and occasionally in hand. If you remember he seriously kicked a bystander and I was called in to help. Well I have helped, but only to make these last few days loving and pain free, it is not safe for us to keep him alive. The 'new' owner is devastated but says he was the one who showed her that there is another way of being around horses.
I have heard more of the accident as our sessions have continued. Despite really feeling she didn't want to get on a rearing bucking horse that wouldn't stand at the mounting block, she was told to stop being stupid and to get on with it and was legged up by the trainer. The horse promptly bucked and kicked out throwing the rider onto the ground and smashing his hind legs into someone standing nearby. The trainer has gone very quiet despite the fact that he should be being sued for such incompetence but the lady is terrified of his wife who threatens to sue all and sundry just for looking at her. We just have to soldier on sometimes.
On a brighter note I'm delighted that another student has just passed her Parelli level three liberty module. With the liberty circling she gained a level 4 pass on flexion on the circle which I am DELIGHTED about as I am neurotic about counter bent horses when they circle and my student and I had really worked on shifting those ribs to the outside using remote pressure to get a good shape in that horse. It really sets a horse up when they work in the correct shape!
Circling horses on and off the lead rope is a real interest for me because you have to get that timing just right to get the feet moving with precision and energy AND keep the shape of the horse on the circle. I don't use any whips or sticks or people to lead or chase. I simply open the door and allow the horse to travel through it. Saw a post on Wastebook the other day of someone who couldn't lunge their 'stupid thoroughbred' so they were using a method that involved the horse following a haynet round the circle. Replies suggested a long stick with a carrot on it moving along in front. I resisted posting a reply but it would have said 'Did you ever think of asking the horse to move his feet onto a circle?' I firmly believe that a 'stupid' horse is one that is just cleverer than his human!
Onward we go, helping horses one by one.
Tuesday 23 February 2016
Saturday 13 February 2016
Still here!
Sorry Everyone it's been a heck of a two weeks!
I judged all the videos that came in for the January Horse Agility entries then I had to make up time by catching up on all my clients.
What an interesting lot of horses I've met over the last week. But interestingly three of them couldn't stand at the mounting block, all different places not just at one yard! I love these because they are so easy to help.
First I make sure I can move the horse's feet (so it's easy to park him) and then we play around the mounting block (normally trigger for anxiety) and just make it a fun place to be. I had a real old ex riding school cob first of all and we just added in a bit of food when she was stood in position, very quickly she was parking herself in position without a hitch. I'm sure she just didn't know she was supposed to stand still while someone got on.
The other two had real anxiety issues about standing still while someone walked up onto the block so we broke this down into tiny little tasks (for example like just lifting my foot on and off the first step until the horse saw this as normal) and built up to parking the horse then walking up to the top step and making it a nice place fopr the horse to be rather than somewhere you stand before a nasty thing happens.
One horse had awful ulcers and the miracle change that came over that horse when his ulcers began to respond to treatment makes me weep.
This horse had been with a well known trainer who had discarded him as an event horse because he couldn't get on, no one had though to address the pain issue. (poor animal must have been in AGONY) It was the first thing we did and Hey Presto, we can now get on.
Also this week we have re-roofed our backup stable block. Storm Imogen finished off the wear and tear of the last few years and before the whole thing went we stripped it right back and splashed out on new roofing sheets for the front (that can be seen from the road) but recycled some old sheets at the back. Exhausting work but great to know we've got our stable block back.
Still very muddy here but we are just about staying ahead of it. The two fat ponies (Ollie and Fudge) decided that iron rations were not for them and escaped across the river last week, travelled along a deep gorge into the summer grazing...my did they look smug! Will I ever see their ribs again?!
I judged all the videos that came in for the January Horse Agility entries then I had to make up time by catching up on all my clients.
What an interesting lot of horses I've met over the last week. But interestingly three of them couldn't stand at the mounting block, all different places not just at one yard! I love these because they are so easy to help.
First I make sure I can move the horse's feet (so it's easy to park him) and then we play around the mounting block (normally trigger for anxiety) and just make it a fun place to be. I had a real old ex riding school cob first of all and we just added in a bit of food when she was stood in position, very quickly she was parking herself in position without a hitch. I'm sure she just didn't know she was supposed to stand still while someone got on.
The other two had real anxiety issues about standing still while someone walked up onto the block so we broke this down into tiny little tasks (for example like just lifting my foot on and off the first step until the horse saw this as normal) and built up to parking the horse then walking up to the top step and making it a nice place fopr the horse to be rather than somewhere you stand before a nasty thing happens.
One horse had awful ulcers and the miracle change that came over that horse when his ulcers began to respond to treatment makes me weep.
This horse had been with a well known trainer who had discarded him as an event horse because he couldn't get on, no one had though to address the pain issue. (poor animal must have been in AGONY) It was the first thing we did and Hey Presto, we can now get on.
Also this week we have re-roofed our backup stable block. Storm Imogen finished off the wear and tear of the last few years and before the whole thing went we stripped it right back and splashed out on new roofing sheets for the front (that can be seen from the road) but recycled some old sheets at the back. Exhausting work but great to know we've got our stable block back.
Still very muddy here but we are just about staying ahead of it. The two fat ponies (Ollie and Fudge) decided that iron rations were not for them and escaped across the river last week, travelled along a deep gorge into the summer grazing...my did they look smug! Will I ever see their ribs again?!
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