blog

Going global...

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:08:17 +0100

And I'm off...7 months around the world, amongst other adventures I plan to keep an eye on the horsey world around me and be considerably better about blogging about it! For ease my blog has been transfered to the following address where you can follow by email and enjoy our travels with us.

Please visit rosiejoneshorses.wordpress.com and let me know what you think!

Under pressure...

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:05:46 +0100

Last Friday I completed my social anthropology degree! The last year has been pretty hard work, balancing home visits, teaching and studying, but finally, it's over and life can return to normal. My dissertation explored the way horse/human interactions are studied within anthropology and behavioural sciences, so it's been fascinating, but pretty hard work. Harvey clearly realised his early retirement was coming to an end (he's had 6 weeks off due to dissertation madness) and so promptly developed a foot abscess, but now that has burst too, so that both Harvey's puss-y foot and my fuzzy head are left with empty cavities. Not for long mind; I now have the refreshing job of going through the endless 'to do after May 14^th' list (see how I put a positive slant on that?!), but at least I'm back to working full time and riding plenty so, with the sun out, all feels wonderful.

Over the weekend I ran a Practical Skills Development course with Sandra Williams and Jim Goddard. I absolutely love running this clinic because it's very pragmatic. We have 'real' youngsters and horses with problems for students to train in small groups, and it's a really positive feeling course as both students and horses progress at the same time. On this course, the problems included a young horse who broncs when girthed up, a 2 year old entire colt, an Iberian horse that is very scared of being long-lined, a cobby chap who could be bargy and nippy, an ear shy pony and a thoroughbred who has a tendency to rear.

I saw an interesting comment on a forum thread this morning that got me thinking, the author was worried that training a horse to move out of pressure using 'natural horsemanship' techniques would make it very difficult to encourage the horse to accept pressure in the future (e.g. from the leg and the hand.) So much of the training that we use at IH comes down to an awareness of pressure and release, that it, making sure the horse has an appropriate release when they do the right thing. Generally, we teach the horse to move away from pressure because that is what most horsemanship requires, e.g. you use the reins and the horse slows down. But if we really pick it apart, it isn't really all about moving away from pressure – it's about accepting it and moving away softly. The point was emphasised by the rearing horse that my group worked with on the PSD course. I rode this little guy for a demo slot during the lunch break. Initially, during groundwork, when you touched his belly and asked him to move over, he swished his tail, pinned his ears, and leaned towards you before shuffling away. With a little work, he was able to calmly cross his hindlegs over when asked with a touch on his belly, which then transferred in to a ridden aid that helped me to soften him once I was on top. The point is that moving away isn't enough, we are not just teaching horses how to avoid pressure by evading it, we are teaching them how to accept it softly without tension or stress, because they know how to release it again. This is indeed the type of response that you want from your horses sides beneath your legs, mouth beneath your reins, or in fact any part of him at any time. You can teach a horse to pull into pressure too (a driving horse for example), and still the best way to teach the desired response to pressure is with well timed released for the behaviour you want to encourage. Of course it takes a while to generalise the learning and attitude so that the horse is not expecting pain or stress but ready to listen to each pressure willingly and work out how to release it softly and without stress.

I suppose it's not so different for people. Sure I learned how to deal with academic stress calmly, with clarity, enthusiasm and organisation. Not quite managed the same response to the pressure I'm feeling from the overflowing accounts pile...., now I could run away from this pressure, but I don't think that will release it any quicker!

(We are running another PSD clinic on 2/3^rd June this year in East Sussex, get in touch if you would like more details, and I'm ready to accept new clients for this summer, with spaces coming up from around mid June, enjoy the sunshine while it lasts :) )

Home stretch

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:57:08 +0100

I am so sorry. Time has flown and I don't think I had any idea that it has been 5 months since my last post. Those of you reading between the lines will know that I am now in my final year at Sussex University. Going to university was the right choice and I have loved it. However it's coming up to my final term and it turns out Han was right, it's really hard work! Luckily I am writing my dissertation on how people construct their knowledge on animal behaviour so it's fascinating stuff! It does mean though that between chaining myself to my desk, home visits and Harvey my blog has become a little neglected. SO I will not promise any posts between now and my hand in date on May 14th. But please don't loose hope, I have a really exciting summer ahead relishing in a full time return to horses before a little bit of adventuring later in the year...more details soon!

P.s. I am still available for home visits but I am booking up quickly so please get in touch soon!

Mount Terrible

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:15:00 +0100

This month I can hardly blog about anything except mounting problems since I have seen so many of them! Still its quite nice to focus on one specific issue and recognise the number of different approaches necessary in order to meet each horse and owners needs.

So, firstly this month we had Chester, 15.1 bright chestnut cobby type of chap who had come from Ireland and was a little worried about life. His lovely 15 years old owner was a little worried by him, and so he was worried that she was worried, and the worrying was all coming to a head during mounting, where they both thoroughly freaked each other out by being so aware of the others nervousness. There was nothing about the specific process of mounting that really concerned Chester, he didn't mind things going in and out of the blind spot behind his head, or a toe tickling his elbow, or the feeling of the weight moving, so the challenge was to find a way to help them both relax. We worked from leg ups to start with, in order to just break the pattern with the mounting block ,and I got up and down and on and off both sides and built up towards flailing around on top of Chester as if there was a pony club prize for mounted yoga. Once Chester had resigned himself fully to life as a yoga mat and nodded off to sleep, I got his owner involved again, clambering on and off from on angles and, since she was up for a bit of a laugh, mounting in the style of various celebrities – Marilyn Monroe, Silvester Stallone, Graham Norton. We then set up some groundwork exercises, involving backing through L shapes, weaving round cones and stepping with one foot over a pole, and the mounting block was one of these exercises, where the owner needed to mount on one side and dismount off the other before continuing with the obstacle course. The groundwork severed a few purposes – firstly it was a distraction from the dreaded mounting, but more importantly, it required Chester's owner to step up to the bar and become a leader, she was able to find that confident, in control place before thinking of getting on, rather than psyching herself out.

Next was Josh, and a whole different kettle of fish. Josh belonged to a point to point yard, and had won at his only run last year. He had also injured his jockey multiple times, mainly throwing him off during, or just after mounting. Now, coming back into work after a summer off, he didn't want to be mounted at all, and would throw himself up into the air, rearing bucking or broncing as soon as the rider hit the saddle. The yard had already tried working from a leg up or block, and could stand and rub him all over from a block with no problem, so were stuck with where to go next. This was a really tricky task, since the yard had been able to persevere and put up with behaviour that amateurs would have needed to get help with, it meant that the mounting problem had become very ingrained in deed, and was extreme to say the least. I am always trying to find that 'Maybe' from the horse- when they are coping and not reacting negatively but are being stretched, that’s the place to put your work in, rather than trying to deal with the 'No' reaction – especially when it is this severe. The more ingrained a problem behaviour, the smaller that Maybe zone is, the horse seems to pop straight from 'Yes' to 'No Way' giving you very little chance to work on anything productively. This was very much where Josh seemed to be, as he would stand still by the block and allow you to put your foot in the stirrup, then immediately react explosively as you mounted. It certainly took some careful observation and very incremental progression to find Josh' maybe, but once we found it, and spent a little time there showing him he didn’t need to react explosively, he came around very quickly. In all I did two sessions with Josh, and for the second one I took Jim Goddard with me because he gives the best leg ups in the world and I know he can always keep the adrenaline of the situation down. Again Josh didn’t really have too much of a problem with any of the individual elements of mounting, the height, weight or movement of the rider, but it was the whole process itself that had become habitually stressful. My feeling is that he wasn't started correctly, and had been scared the first tome he was mounted and that fear was never dealt with but just grew and grew- with jockeys mounting quicker and quicker as his behaviour became more and more explosive, I don’t think anyone had ever slowed the process down to give him time to absorb what was happening to him. At first the maybe zone was standing ready to mount, once we had turned that to a Yes, the maybe zone was legging two inches off the ground, then it was leaning over, then moving his feet while I was leaned over, then moving myself about, then swinging a leg over and back again, and finally mounting and staying up. It sounds obvious to build it up in this way, but the knack is in finding the specific techniques that allow you to sho0w him each stage is OK rather than just move through the steps systematically without teaching him anything. For instance, its important to walk the horse off at the right angle, too straight and you invite an explosion, too sharp and they cannot move – so it was great to have Jim to work with me for such a potentially dangerous horse, and all went well. I decided it wasn’t really apt to ask the professional point to point jockey to mount in the style of Graham Norton (!!) I have had updates since to say he is mounting very well since the sessions, but also that a back lady did find a physical problem, which is now being treated so it may be that this was at the route of all of his behaviour in the first place.

Next we have Speily, a warmblood mare in Derbyshire. Actually, I thought she was in Derbyshire, and it turned out she was in a town of the same name in Nottinghamshire, which meant an extra 90 minutes on the driving time! I started off with a longlining lesson for the owner, who had been lunging up until this point, but wanted to learn to longline to help relax and get control of Speily who would often whizz off on the lunge in canter. Then onto the mounting: Speily had become stressed and dangerous at the whole mounting process, her rider had come off many times and was at a point that if the problem couldn’t be resolved Speily would be retired. I found that the trigger was the feeling of moving with weight on her back, therefore we could work on this problem with the rider leant over initially. She quickly became very relaxed about the legging up process, we used fake legs for a few repetitions first since she seemed so tense, but very quickly getting up there was not the problem, moving with weight on top was. Speily gave plenty of 'Maybe' signs, she was trying very hard, her stress level had reduced significantly, she really was not in a state of fear, but still, when she moved her feet, her back rounded right up like a cats, to quite an extraordinary degree. To help get her used to moving with weight, we did plenty of moving her head and neck around with the weight on her back, so that her back muscles moved and flexed under the saddle and her neck relaxed. We also used a technique of walking her in tight circles without the weight, and pausing only briefly to leg a rider up (to lean over) and down and then continuing the circle. You repeat this a good few time before getting somewhat sloppy with your timing so that the rider comes down a bit late – after the horse has started to move. You try to really keep them moving and not stop for too long at all so that moving off is not such a big deal. We used plenty of walking over raised poles in between mounting repetitions to try to get her to soften her back.

All these things helped, and by the end of the session I was able to mount without a reaction, but still, Speilys back was rounding up on movement, and having palpated her back and found and sensitive areas (back of saddle and elbow – so so so often sensitive or sore with mounting problems), I suspect there is something physical going on underneath. Her owner expressed some concern about finding a back person who you can trust and who wont miss anything (she had already had her back checked) and I have to agree, it is so difficult to know who to turn to. The only thing I can recommend is getting a second opinion and trusting what the horse is telling you. Although this was a successful session, I was concerned that what we were successful in was teaching the horse how to cope with discomfort.

Next we were in Cambridgeshire and had a clinic of 4 horses, three of whom had mounting problems!! The first was the most extreme, Fleurs mounting problems had resulted in her owner having a very nasty fall and loosing a lot of confidence, and I quickly realised that for Fleur it all focussed around seeing something go in and out of the blind spot on top; she was particularly worried about movement near her offside hind quarter. I began to work on this with the movement of a single longline on and off her body, which at first caused an explosive reaction, and then with the fake legs. Again the same areas of back of saddle and top of girth/elbow were sensitive to touch. Fleur had undergone every psychical check going, even thermography checks, so perhaps these areas were just more sensitive to touch rather than sore – but it certainly is becoming a pattern in mounting horses that these places are not relaxed when touched. We worked from leg ups and from the block, and ended up with the owner mounting and dismounting several times with Fleur totally relaxed, something she has not been able to do before. There is, however, a lot of work left to fo with Fleur. I'd really like her owner to continue working on getting her used to things moving in and out of that blind spot particularly on the off side, and teaching Fleur that if she can just stand still and relax it will go away and not hurt her. I have had an update from her owner who is working hard in the right direction and finding plenty of areas she can improve. I felt for her owner who had pretty much been told NOT to be scared and just to get on with it. Fleur was missing some major stages of training that she needed in order to be relaxed and safe, and her owners nerves were actually a very sensible reaction to being told to mount a horse who was not properly prepared.

Then there was Angel, a lovely young bay Arab mare. Angel was not as scared as the other horses I have mentioned here, but found mounting a bit uncomfortable and had worked out exactly how to avoid it. Some people would call her naughty or cheeky, but really, learning how to avoid uncomfortable stimulus is a great attribute to a ridden horse, since that is how all of our training works, so I think she was just pretty clever and sensible. I worked in two ways, firstly, to take a little more control of Angels feet with some groundwork in the Dually, and then to use that control to stand with her while her owner mounted and make sure that Angle found stillness was the most comfortable, easy option, by backing her up if she moved. Secondly, I really worked hard to help her owner (who had arthritis down one side of her body) to mount more smoothly since the process really wasn’t very comfortable for Angel. Since Angle is young and we want to set her up for success, I have suggested having someone stand with her for many many times mounting before mounting on her own. Sure, we would like her to be good to mount on her own, but you also need to be realistic about what is going to work and what isn’t, and since her owner cant mount very smoothly or quickly, it makes the most sense to make things easy for both of them for a while.

Finally, we have Hague, a lovely big warm blood mare, in a similar position to Angel, she had just learned that if she moved her hind end away, she avoided the mounting process altogether. Backing up doesn’t work quite so well for these hind leg swingers, and her owner really did need to be able to mount on her own so I went down the route of circling the block instead. In this technique, you circle very tightly round and round the block and then, when it feels right, provide the horse with an opportunity to stand by straightening their head. Most horses go 'thank goodness I can stand' which is perfect! ! You can then build up the steps towards mounting very slowly and incrementally, often stopping (before mounting) to go back to circling. In this way you set up a situation where standing for mounting is the easy choice, if the horse swings his hind legs away at any point, you simply circle pretty tightly and pretty quickly. It also helps to stroke the offside hip before mounting, to pick up your reins (loosely) and find your stirrup in a different order from that which your horse is expecting, to mount as smoothly as possible, to approach from the tail side of the block not the head side, and to get straight off the offside once your on a few times. All these things come together to help the horse just chill out and stand still and allow you on and off. I also recommended that the owner finish each session with several times mounting and dismounting, repetition of good behaviour is the key to breaking very old habits.

So its all been about getting on! Of course there have been other things going on to, its my first week back at uni and as always the course is fascinating. Even more exciting news, Han and I are planning some travelling for when I finish uni next Autumn. So watch this space as our plans develop...we will be looking for ideas and floor space I'm sure!

Brain-Ache and Babies

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:15:25 +0100

The brainache section of this blog is all about a rather big decision I have made- not to ride on the upcoming Monty Roberts UK tour. “Madness!” I hear you shout! It certainly was my dream for a very long time to be a tour rider for Monty, my riding idols for years were Dan Wilson and Grant Bazin (the names will be familiar to old Monty fans!) who seemed to be able to get on, and stay on, anything in demo's. And it really has been a highlight of my career so far, and something I am very proud of, to be the first female demo rider for Monty. In fact, its a lesson that I have learned in my time around Monty, and certainly Kelly, that has made my rethink my options this time around. It seems that in order to succeed with horses (and life) things need to be completed not just super-keenly, with childish enthusiasm and energy drinks, but thoroughly. With my third year of uni starting this autumn (I'm studying social anthropology), and a very loyal, busy, client base that I don't want to abandon for three months, riding for Monty seemed like biting off more than I could chew. And remedial riding, whether one to one in home visits, or in-front of hundreds, isn't the sort of thing you can do as an optional extra in life. It is something you need to completely commit your body, brain and energy to. Ultimately, I simply have too much respect for the job itself, and for my clients, and my degree (and my own horse and my relationship!) to try to patch them all together with sticky tape and power through on optimism and pro-plus. I absolutely adore riding in Kelly Mark's demo's, and so I'm simply looking forward to the summer when they will come around again. I know I sound very together about it, but really there have already been several moments when I have been squirming inside at the thought of tour preparations going ahead without me. So far, though, I have not actually regretted my decision and fingers crossed it stays that way! It helps that Monty's brand new tour rider, Alex, is such a lovely guy. I suppose if he wasn't it would be easier to set up some sort of twisted ego rivalry, but that isn't really my bag anyway so I'm glad that we can genuinely get on without any weirdness! He is very humble and eager to learn, as well as brave and able, so I'm sure he'll have a great time on tour.. He's pretty new to the whole thing, and only 19, so please do say Hi to him and give him a good welcome to IH if you see him on tour!

So – what else have I been up to?

This morning I lost my car keys – it turns out I left them in Hannah's car last night. Thank goodness Harvey now lives close enough that I could walk 45 minutes in the sunshine to do him this morning. I was worrying that with breakfast being so late he might be cribbing like crazy but he had just decided to have a lie in and was fast asleep when I appeared. Thank goodness also that I only had one appointment today, since this week is “file the tax return” week in my diary. Luckily my client has been very understanding about moving the appointment to a day when I am less, ahem, incapacitated by my own stupidity. So, I decided to use this time wisely and take Harvey out on the long lines to explore the new hacking (since the saddle is in the locked car, riding was out). It really is absolutely beautiful around here, and Harv was in a truly wonderful mood, swinging along, making friends with cows, ducks and even a deer and fawn – all dappled sunlight and butterflies. Must loose my keys more often!!

In terms of clients, and on to the 'Babies' section of this blog; this week has reminded me how precious an un-ruined youngster is. That's because it is so much easier to bring a baby along and watch them turn into generous, obedient adults than it is to try to turn the clock back working with older horses who already have established problems. The star horses this week are Layla, a young quarter horse and Delilah. Layla's owner has never had or backed a youngster before, and so asked me to help start her under saddle over the summer. With weekly sessions and homework to continue with, Layla has grown this summer from a slightly hot headed red head, to a patient, cooperative working partner. Often people ask “how long does it take to back a young horse” and its always a bit hard to answer -not only because each horse is different but also because its hard to define when they are 'finished'. Is it when you sit on them for the first time? When you can ride in an arena without help from a leader or ground person? Is it after the first canter? When they can hack out? And because of the very gradual process, sometimes it can sneak up on you where all of a sudden you have a moment of perspective where you realise how far you have come. That happened for me with Layla this week, as her owner mounted up and rode down the lane for her first hack, which went beautifully. The delight of it is, its been easy at every stage, as with many raw babies, everything just falls into place one brick at a time. Well done Layla and Susie! Delilah has not been quite so simple, another chestnut mare but in the Ferrari model! Delilah was tickly with the saddle, and initially took a while to pick up her confidence with carrying a rider – she's been interesting to work with since she became very reliant on the ground-person when a rider was on top, and more than once she has taken a little lateral thinking and patience. However, over the summer she too has settled into a really very mature and predictable person, and quickly became my favourite ride at Jim's place. She is now being ridden by her owner every day for a week before going home, and I had a text yesterday to say she had had her first canter and all went well. The joy with youngsters, even the tricky, or sharp, or worried ones, is that everything is new and so you can immediately see the effect your training is having and adjust. Its easy to get them on side, if they have no reason not to give it a go.

My tricky horse this week is last Blog's star – Tutti, who naps and rears. Her owner has been incredibly patient in leading her out in hand to get her trust, confidence and obedience back before returning to riding. We have had a handful of rides out now which have all been successful, with someone on the ground to support her, but unfortunately I have had a message from her owner, and it seems things have taken a step back again this week. I really feel long lining is the solution for this mare. She leads nicely, really fights a rider, and sometimes thinks about stopping, but works through it on the long lines, so it will be back to the long lines for my session on Friday. I have a sizeable (and growing!) array of tricks and techniques for riding rearing horses up my sleeve, but Tutti is almost unique in that I could feel that not many of them were going to work from in the saddle, it is so ingrained in her to fight the riders aids. I think it is going to be a fairly long road to bring her round to being a happy and obedient horse, and I cant help wondering how easy she might have been with a different start in life, Tutti and Delilah really are quite similar people after all, and I wonder if they had changed places where they would have ended up?

And so, my advice to everyone is to value your youngsters! They only have one first go at things, and although they are so forgiving that they can, and do, often recover from mistakes, the attitude and education they get early into their career is powerful – for good or for bad.

Rosie

xxx

Mountains and Molehills...

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:00:32 +0100

* I have been trying to enlarge the font on my blog as I know it can be a little squinty. The computer is not cooperating at the moment though so do zoom in (usually under page on your top menu) if you are struggling! We are working to improve the website as soon as possible!

Sometimes I like to feel like my blogs have wonderful hidden meanings or central themes of discussion - this one, however, really is just an update of what's been happening in my world!

I had a wonderful time in Wales last week, culminating in a riding clinic which I ran with RA Anne Marie Marek. We affectionately christened her 'The Badger' a couple of years ago, because of her surprisingly ferocious control of the shopping queue on Monty Roberts tours where she is in charge of merchandise - but she's actually lovely and always cheerful, so it doesn't seem so appropriate any more. But when a name sticks what can you do?!

I was worried that I would only be able to ride horses on the left rein, since I had managed to crick my neck white water rafting (which was tremendous fun!) and couldn’t turn my head to the right, but luckily the Badge loosened it up with some Shiatsu and all was fine. The clinic was a new format for me, 8 riders back to back, each had a session in the morning and afternoon. One session was with me, focussing on behavioural tools to bring out the best in the horse, and one was with Anne Marie, who is training with Mary Wanless and focussed on position and balance. The horses I worked with largely fell into at least two of three categories - those who didn’t move forwards off the leg, those who needed to relax, and those who had an insufficient grasp of the basic steering mechanism! It was a good reminder for me that there is so much mileage in really getting the basics in place properly, so many riding horses go along without ever properly learning the foundations. I'm going to be bossy for just a second- if your horse does not stand still and relaxed for you to mount (and move around when you are aboard!!), does not move forward or laterally off a leg aid, does not stop and stand still and quietly when you ask, or cannot turn softly and steer accurately, or does not seem to enjoy being ridden at all - then you have absolutely no place in saying 'for no reason at all' or 'out of nowhere' he 'suddenly' ...(insert traumatic and painful ending here).
I have to say, it seems that people are generally happy to just put up with a certain level of misunderstanding, stress or worry in their horses, and in doing so they get so used to the horses behaviour that they stop reading or reaction to it.
The students on the clinic were fantastic at participating in the thinking behind all of the sessions, and beginning to get a grasp of how we can use pressure and release, plus a bit of clever thinking, to get the horses understanding what we want and finding that comfortable and enjoyable. Some of the participants were riding horses that were borrowed and entirely new to them, which made for an even bigger challenge of identifying what the horse needed to work on and getting to know how that horse learns in order to construct a useful session - all really good fun.
My voice was hoarse though and I was pretty spacey after 8 horses back to back, I get quite animated when I'm teaching - plus like to ride every horse I'm teaching with. Anyhow, we parked up in a lay-by and wiped the mud and sweat off with tissues, put on some lippy and a dress and headed on to a wedding! Not quite a miraculous transformation, Han found mud on the end of my nose part way through the evening, but I think in dull lighting we managed to avoid any big social blunders.
The holiday vibe has continued since heading back to sunny south England, yesterday was a superb day for all the horses I worked, the sunny weather does help! Delilah, a young dressage bred warm blood who has taken some time to start under saddle had her first real solo ride yesterday, mounting from the block, and riding in walk and trot over poles and around obstacles in the arena and she was a DREAM. The trot is feeling fantastic and she is so naturally supple- one to look out for in the future. Little Lana the spooky Dutch warm blood did fantastically with logs (his nemesis apparently) and then dustbins, tarps and cardboard boxes. Spooky horses are so varied and need very different approaches, but the knack with him seems to be less is more - given time, a relaxed rider and a loose rein, his brave and curious side emerges all on its own. Rocky - our remedial restarter is accepting a rider pretty happily now, and going from strength to strength. Perhaps best of all was Tutti - beautiful warm blood with a nasty nap and rearing habit. Yesterday was my third visit, to date we have worked on groundwork - leading out and long lining, and begun ridden work, things have been improving but yesterday was a world ahead of the last session. She's now on regumate, I rode off the dually rather than the bit, and I rode a little in her paddock at home before going out, working mostly on soft circling (which helps prevent a rear), soft backing up and a good forward reaction to the legs. it remains to be seen which of these things (or the fantastic weather) we have to thank - but Tutti's behaviour was really faultless, so much better than last week, and she rode out down the track and back without hesitation. Looking forward to a repeat performance tomorrow.

Perhaps the title of the blog is a little misfit - (I am always so partial to a little alliteration and there were fantastic mountains in Wales), in truth, though there is only really one pretty tiny molehill in my world at the moment and that involves the handsome Harv. Those of you who follow the blog will know Harvey, my ex nappy TB. I have decided I need to move yards - away from Jim Goddard RAs place. This is a nightmare for me, since Harvey is so settled at Jim’s and its been great working closely with Jim, but the 45 minute drive means I'm just not getting time to ride Harv as much as I'd like to so I'm moving him closer to home. Hopefully. The attitude to cribbing is crazy though - I have found it so hard to find a yard that doesn't suggest electrifying his stable or keeping him permanently in the dark with the top door closed! There is definitely a missing link between proven scientific information (that vices are unlikely to be copied in happy adult horses) and assumed facts (that cribbing is entirely contagious!) Still, I think I have found somewhere just 8 minutes from home - fingers crossed the move goes well and Harv settles in OK. I was jumping him on the long lines yesterday too (another highlight) and he was simply flying so really looking forward to getting fit and out and about with what’s left with the summer - the new yard has a cross country course on sight and my fingers are itching to see how he goes. I'm off to drink lemsip, eat hobnobs and watch nature documentaries now - (this seems to ward off any threatening cold bug before it materialises) but will be back soon with a blog all about horses and work ethic.
Hope you are all enjoying the sun and enjoying your horses! I will do my best to get some new pictures on here soon - they are all sitting in various cameras but I think we can rustle something up... check back soon!

Rosie

Lets talk about stress...

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:03:12 +0100

Well this is a bit of a mammoth blog since I haven't written for so long!
This months events have got me thinking about stress levels in horse and rider, and particularly, how much stress is OK? How stressful should horse owning (or human carrying) be?
Of course the easy answer is - 'Not Stressful At All' but two events have got me wondering if that really is true.
Firstly, there are the boys. Jim's yard has recently been frequented by two handsome young suitors who pop in from next door and titilate the ladies. The farmer next door owns herds and herds of unhandled horses, doesnt maintain his fallen down fences, so Jim has had the odd visitor but this is the first time we have had entire colts to deal with. They have clearly been kicked out by the stallion of their herd now that they have reached maturity. One is black (henceforth 'Blacky') and the other is grey (hereby known as 'Grey-ey', no, better still, lets call him 'Grayson'). We have obviously had to bring all the mares into the safest places, and managed to herd Blacky into the roundpen, where he stands now, very worried by his lack of herdmates and confinement, screaming to anyone who will answer him. Grayson is still at large (rather impressive jump, it turns out) so will take some forward planning to herd him in. The farmer didn't want anything to do with helping herd them in or fixing fencing, and the police and RSPCA legally cant do a lot, so rather than follow the farmers advice to eat them (he was joking, surely?!) we have convinced him to sign them over so we can look for homes for the boys. Therefore I have been relaying the stories of them to all my clients hoping someone will find a space in their heart (and bank balance!) for one or both of the renegades. I was telling one lady how poor Blacky was now all alone and needed gelding and gentling, and she said "Yes its so sad itsn't it? Poor little mite - he doesn't even have a name."
Well that got me thinking on the way home. I'm not sure it is sad at all about his namelessness, or the lack of human attention he has had. In fact, from his point of view, it is the presence of human intervention that is making his life so stressful right now, and, over the coming weeks, however gently and kindly it is done, adjusting to domestic life is going to be stressful to some degree. I should think the name is the least of his worries. But then, we mustn't feel too guilty, being a colt without a herd jumping from field to field does not look stress free either - Grayson spends most of his time looking absolutely lost and desolate on the horizon, let alone the obvious risk of injury.
Is a certain amount of stress inevitable with human contact with horses? Is it ineveitable in horses lives anyway, without humans interfering at all? Are we really doing them a favour by trying to keep everything entirely stress free, or is this a red herring approach?

Certainly, trying to keep all stress from the horse doesn't always yield the lovely results it seems to deserve. Horses handled a lot by well meaning owners since they were foals (and therefore less likely to have the stress poor old Blacky is going through now) are often the most unhappy, grumpy and stressed out horses as 3 and 4 year olds. Particularly true if this handling was from the humans point of view 'kind' and from the horses 'confusing/inconsistant/ineffective'.

Recently, I heard that a complaint was sent in to a horsey magazine, cancelling subscription because there was an advert in the mag which had an image of a horse wearing a flash and the owner felt it was cruel. The sad thing is, this magazine (the Listening Post) is full of training techniques, networks and behaviour articles that could have helped this lady to achieve better success in her (flash free) horsey life, but she was so careful to shut out this particular stress from her horse, that she has actually restricted herself from learning other stress-lowering techniques. I guess my point is that sometimes, there are things you can learn from people if you just accept that their boundaries are different from yours, and that 'cruel' is really something of a personal choice rather than a clear definition. One mans cruel is another mans kind, we can all only do our best to stick to what we think is right and realistic. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure IH isn't wildly in favour for flash nosebands anyway, but approved of the item advertised (a strap to hang on with if your unseated). I know I'm not keen on flash nosebands, but if you search hard enough you'll find a photo of me riding a horse in one. I suppose it's one of the things I'm willing to negotiate on temporarily, if its working for the horse and owner and I'm new to the picture, especially in order to help the owner with other issues - if I shut myself off to all flash weaing clients that would rule out or offend most of the horsey world, since bridles seem to have them on as standard. Anyway, noseband debates for another time...

How interesting that I should start this thread arguing for people to be less concerned about the stress their horse is under, when my whole approach involves finding the most low stress solution!

Kelly's recent May Masterclass tour has to be my favourite tour that I have ever taken part in, specifically because I feel that it really displayed this low-stress way of working, if you get the technique right, and break it down into small enough steps, then sure enough, training can look easy, low stress, and feel succesful to horse and owner. Its not as simple though, as merely being kind or avoiding anything unpleasant. Actually what can appear to be a stressfull stimulus can cause the horses stress levels to lower - what giberish am I talking now?! Lets think of an example - loading a horse into a lorry using panels. The first time I saw this, I went through the thought process that many of you probably have too - 1)thats cheating 2)thats too stressful for the horse as he has no real choice. But, I've learned a few things now, and my current viewpoint is 1)cheating is great if it helps the horse and 2) actually, counter to human instinct, the horses stress seems to go down when the panels are used. I can only speculate that this is because the real stress - of the decision to load - is taken away, there is no fight to be had, the back door is closed so there is only really one way and the horse can be left alone to find that loading is the obvious choice - with lower adrenaline and less stress. I know its hard to believe but after watching almost every horse sigh, soften and load when panels are used, and then continue to load once they are taken away, I found myself forced to recognise that loading is LESS stressful with panels. How do we know then, which stresses we should avoid and which seemingly stressful things are actually helpful? There is a level of personal choice regarding ethical boundaries, but I think largely we have to assume the horses will tell us. If the outcome is a less stressed horse, and the process was not beyond out own ethical boundaries, then sometimes we have to reassess the truth of what actually works for the horse.
Its great that there are so many clinicians and horsepeople to watch and learn from nowadays, but even if you dont get out to demos a lot, you can have a nosey at what goes on with the horses around you. Have a tack cleaning day and spy on your yard mates!! Who has the happiest, most relaxed and willing horses? If you know a horse that seems really happy, and unstressed, then find out exactly what the owners are doing and start incoporating/trying it out!!
Sadly, and strangely, since I have been playing this game I have found it isn't always the 'kindest', most caring, or most 'naturally inspired' owners who have the happiest horses, it seems the right motivation is not enough, I think it is actually the most consistant and confident owners whose horses are the most relaxed, but, this is a thesis of ongoing development so by all means email me your spying results if you find different patterns!
Its great too that we are in a climate where ethics and technique can be discussed so openly, I love that sort of thing, although even I was surprised to see the Dually halter compared to an electric pig prod on a forum recently. A video of girls loading a horse using the electric shoc device had been put up, and one contributer likened the training to Dually work since it was all about timing and discomfort. From one logical point of view I suppose she is right, in that the dually works with pressure (or discomfort), of course in many more ways she was wrong (I cant always be PC can I?!) but rather than jump to the defence of the Dually on any logical point (and there are many!) I think you only need to look at the reaction of the horses to know what is really stressful and what is not. I simply wouldn't use a device that didn't work, or more importantly, that horses became fearful or stressed of - regardless of who promoted it!! I'm fickle like that!
So I guess this brings me to some sort of conclusion on the rambling discussion on horses stress levels. Part of horses live's are inevitably stressful, that's what living IS. It's our job to reduce that stress in training and managing horses as much as we can. While doing this, we need to bear in mind that it is not always immediately obvious to human minds which route will lead to the least stressed horse. Keeping open minded to others training techniques, and watching to see how the happiest horses are produced, without preconceptions, has to be the way forward.
Gosh I'm sounding far too wise - I reckon a fall is now due to knock me off my (literal and metaphorical) high horse - probably in mud, face first, with lots of people watching!! Then lets talk about stress levels! lol

Hope your grass is growing in this weather (thats the positive way to say, hope your not all getting too wet!)
Rose
xx

In tearing haste...

Tue, 31 May 2011 18:43:58 +0100

Adjusting to the real world post tour is never an easy thing. Especially when the tour was such a good one and when there are exams looming and essays to write! I am being good though- in fact I am dictating this to my other half as I rifle through readings on kinship. I have so much to write about, the highlight of course being Kellys May Masterclass which really stood out to me as a particularly special tour. However it will have to wait so please bare with me and check back next week when I shall have finished year 2 of the degree and will be embracing a summer full of home visits and teaching!

update on the Solland Babies

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:25:25 +0100

This is less of a real blog and more of a bit of photo fest, sorry that I don't seem to be able to get them to go in the right order, or in any order at all actually.
So, the challenge of this blog is to spot which phot matches which description!!
1) Here is Cardinal being a brave lad and really enjoying his loose jumping. We used a bit of loose work round the arena to see if it helped him settle and relax, having moved a bit. It did, and he really remembered the head lowering exercise from yesterday, so I was able to use that to help relax him during some of the training today - which involved plaastic bag (he was great and very brave) and also the longline around his girth and his quaters. I am happy that he may be ready to wear a roller and have a go at longlining tomorrow.
2 a and b) BBs reaction to the plastic bag in her girth area, initially, and after just 5 minutes of work. She was really very happy about the plastic bag on her back, shoulders, tummy etc, this explosive reaction was about the girth area only. Today I set her up for tack with longlining (naked, as it were) plastic bag in the girth area and then leading her round in walk over poles etc once she had the saddle on rather than put her out onto a circle. I thought we had it sussed, but once longlining in tack, she had a little spook and then had a pretty good buck, this time I had a jumping wing and a barrely to negotaite while handling the lines and the photos are amusing I look as though I'm taking part in It's a KnockOut. Overall though, definately a good day for BB and a real step forward.

3a,b,c) Are Charlie. in one photo you can see how much he is enjoying his longlining, just third day and already loving obstacles (cones, wings, Lshaped poles, tarp,) and working very happily. Leaning over him today we found a little worry spot when I came up higher so worked at that until he relaxed about my height. Lovely to see him finish his session today following Alice over poles and about the arena with no line on at all.

4 a, b and c) are Cider, who has to get the gold star of the day. She took to longlining like a duck to water, didn't buck with the saddle at all today even though it was a little bit tickly, (you can see how short her strides are in one photo, and how much her shoulders have relaxed after some polework in another), she carried my weight leant over and moved happily in walk and so we continued working until sat astride, which she seemed most relaxed about so we ended the day there. Superstar Cider!

So a lovely day was had by all, except perhaps the cider making team who were so soaked in cider when they came in at lunch that i can only assume there was some sort of industrial accident or they were all swimming in the stuff rather than working!!

Making practical progress

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:55:03 +0100

Well, I have been struggling with how (or even if) I should write this blog. I wanted this blog to be entirely honest and open, in the spirit of creating an educational resource, an entertaining read, and most importantly an offloading device for the many thoughts and ideas that can tangle about in my head. I also want to be positive, and professional about other horsepeople, I really see no benefit in critising other succesful horsepeople who probably have plenty to offer. But it seems that positive and honest can not always go hand in hand, so please forgive me for sounding slightly tongue tied as I try to find a fair middle ground in the way I approach writing about the recent demo that I attended. Admittedly I missed half of the event, but was genuinly excited to see if there was anything I could learn from, agree with, don't agree with or had never seen before. What surprised me the most was the lack of actual practical training attempts made, which left me with nothing tangible to agree with or learn from. There were plenty of abstract statements made, all of which I agree with, regarding the horses welfare, the benefits of finding 'Yes', and the importance of both RDA and equine charity work, and for bringing these issues to the attention of a large crowd, the clinician should be applauded. However, the particular horse and owner he worked with seemed to get very little in the way of practical progress during the 2 hour ridden session with him. It got under my skin mostly because the horse was napping, one of my absolute favourite issues, and I would have loved to see another approach to dealing with this, but unfortunately the clinician did not even discuss the problems that were coming up, never mind explain them or try any sollutions, he seemed to just keep telling the rider to try again. At one point the audience even had to make the "uh-uhhhh" 'wrong' noise when the rider could not get the horse forward into the corner, but no practical advice was given to help the rider or the horse to get it right. I hear there were some good segments to the rest of the weekend, so far from tar everything with the same brush, I am just super keen to make sure the work that I am doing (and that we will demonstrate in May on tour) really is practically useful to the horses and riders involved. One of the challenges that I enjoy in being a Recommended Associate of the Intelligent Horsemanship Association is finding practical useful techniques that can apply to each horse and owner.
Recently I have been teaching badger (very-sweet-but-green-and-wobbly) and his owner to longline, in order to strengthen his back end as part of a rehabilitation program towards riding him again. I have also been working weekly with Jenny and Splash (needs-to-absolutely-know-she-is-safe-or-panics) in the New Forest, Splash is quite unique in how thoroughly each stage needs to be completed (and often recompleted) before she is ready for the next, and Jenny (an IH student) has done an amazing job of being very resourceful, patient and thorough in her preparation of Splash to make each stage succesful. Now we are leaning over and sitting on Splash, but working on her relaxing her body enough that she will be able to walk forwards softly. 2 Mares that have been at Jim Goddards yard for starting are both coming along well, but at very different speeds, with Willow (soaks-up-work-like-a-sponge) already working on trot halt transitions, turn on the forehand, mounting from the block and riding in the field, and Delilah, (ever-so-willing-but-a-little-worried) riding on one line but still taking a lot of confidence from Jim on the ground, and working on halt, walk on and steering. At one yard I saw Penny (rushes backwards out of trailer), Molly (what legs? why would I go faster?), Faust (17hh, but much smaller on the inside, thinks the world is all a bit too much), and Clover (beautiful girl, working on lightening up the forehand, she has the mind of an angel but the shoulders of an elephant), and abstract ideas or sentiments simply wouldn't cut it, each owner expects a workable sollution that they can engage with and utlise. It was a delight to work with Junior, a 5 yo event horse whose fear of water jumps had escalated into quite a napping habit, last time out he had reared vertically and had not got round at all never mind going near the water jump. The lovely thing was that once I had hopped on and shown her techniques I had in mind, his rider latched on to the training methods really well and I pretty much spent the rest of the session saying 'Yes!' 'Well done!' 'Brilliant!' . Pictures of Junior splashing through the water to follow shortly, I am looking forward to progress reports regarding his future schooling. But this is how it should be now adays, this is what we are entitled to expect from contemporary riding lessons - of course not all problems are fixable in one session, but a sense of progression, a sense of achievement, a lack of humiliation and frustration are all things I have come to expect rather than wish for, both as teacher and student. I think this may be because I have been thoroughly spoiled in terms of the fantastic teachers I have had, both within and outside of IH. We dont have all the answers all the time, that is what makes it so addictive, but we do need to have a good handful of potential practical approaches lined up ready, and a positive attitude to keep thinking and working until a method is found which leaves both horse and owner feeling safe, comfortable and capable of moving forwards.
I know this must sound a bit protentious, and perhaps even bordering on boastful, but I really am quite proud of IH and its commitment to finding workable, ethical, sollutions for horse owners, I try to include a learning point in every blog and I hope you believe me that it is only in the spirit of honesty and not politics that my learning point this month has to be the value of being surrounded by practical, positive thinkers and teachers.

OK, feeling better for the rant and now ready to look out the window, sigh and appreciate my unbelievable surroundings. I'm working for 4 days at the Solland stud in Devon, and it is absolute heaven. Solland Farm also produces cider, which means not only does the whole place smell of apples, but some of the horses are turned out in the orchards and come trotting to you from between blossom trees in full bloom. Its so refreshing to meet such well mannered, kind and relaxed 4 year olds, many are either spoiled or abused by the time I see them, but these guys have had a fantastic mix of natural life living in herds and great foundation education with Alison. The 4 horses I am here to work with are all very different people so in the name of sharing practical training advice, and since I'm spending far too much sitting in beautiful surroundings and looking wistful, I thought that while I have plenty of time I would update you each day as to how the babies are getting on and what I am up to.

(check the gallery for photos, I cant get them to come on the blog, sorry!!)
Cider, the bay mare, came to a Monty Roberts demo in february to be started but hasn't done much since. I will try to put a photo up later, look for the tight stomach muscles suggesting she is going to buck - followed by the bucking photo. I really try to work nowadays to avoid the young horse needing to buck as much as possible, by grooming the saddle and girth area until no longer tickly, using a longline as a 'girth' to desensitise the area, and walking the horse in a few tight circles until their back loosens up before sending them out on a circle. You can see here I am working off one line, as there is no roundpen, but my body position is the same as when in the pen and there is very little 'hold' down the line. Cider relaxed with the saddle and was happy to be leant over, with no reaction, and also did some great longlining without the tack on today. Although the saddle had tickled her, she was not very stressed by it and seemed happy to absorb more work.

BB, the roan mare, really did not like the feel of the saddle. She seemeed to walk off OK but then felt the girth and had a good buck. You can see she even jumps her back feet off the ground at one stage in a real capriolle type move (if I get the photos working!). When this sort of thing is happening its best to just watch with interest, and try to keep in the right place to anchor the horse should they start to run. You are no use to the horse if you get either angry, feel guilty, or get excited. Although the reaction is quite explosive, BB quickly settles down and relaxed with the saddle able to walk over poles and trot without a repeat performance. We loose jumped in her saddle to really make sure she had loosened up, and to get her looking forward and thinking of something other than the tack, before taking it off and putting it on several more times, she went to buck again on the first repeat but then accepted it. When the front end comes up so high like this it is almost always girth related bucking, I am hoping that we will not get the same reaction tomorrow and I will be sure to really loosen her off before letting her out on a bigger circle, but should this reaction continue then i would be tempted to leave a curcingle or roller on her overnight. The interesting thing with BB is that she is the only one of the 4 who has been through this all before and didnt react to the saddle at all alst time - is it because she is in season? Moutling and more sensitive under her tummy? Better prepared last time? Or simply a tighter girth? Potential Psychology project for IH students- does time of year affect the probability that youngster will buck with tack (coat length, rug use, feed/grass, season related etc).
Charlie was our gold star boy (chestnut gelding). He was so happy with the saddle, and the initial longlining preparation, that within a few minutes we were longlining in tack, over poles, in walk and trot like an old pro! He was a little worried the first time I came down from bellying over, but settled again to accept that happily, and then, since he had been aiming for the jumping lane during the whole session, we let him jump as a reward, and Alice showed me the despooking she had been doing with an umberella etc. Superstar Charlie!

And little (17.2 recently cut) Cardinal was so worried by me even touching his sides, that we did a little work moving him about on one line in walk, a huge amount of touching his sides with my hands, the line, and eventually a stick and then plastic on a stick, and quite a lot of head lowering. The aim was to show him what he could cope with, so we started everything really small and easy and built it up, but he really was quite reactive and not at all ready for tack or longlining, but he did make a huge amount of progress in one session and really relaxed his giraffe neck and softened his tight jaw and licked his dry lips and took a few good deep breaths towards the end of the session.

If you have made it this far through a mammoth blog, you deserve a cool glass of cider (try Courtenays, made here at Solland, best served cold while imagining foals amid blossom trees), and please do check back to see how they all get on tomorrow!!

Rosie
xx