Harvey - or 'Glentons Midnight Moon' had an extremely succesful start to life as an in hand show hack. He really made quite an impression on the showing scene, here are some of his showing successes.
Glentons Midnight Moon – 3 yr old Hack/RH
1st Hacks BSHA National Championships
Hack breeding Champion – BSHA National Champs
Supreme In Hand Champion BSHA National Champs
1st RH 3 yrs and under NPS Champs
RH Champion NPS Summer Champs
However, his ridden career never quite took off due to his difficult behaviour. Kelly Marks took on Harvey as a five year old who napped and reared, had thrown a judge, refused to enter rings, and really knew how to throw his toys out the the pram - not to mention behaved aggressively on the ground with teeth and all four legs. As Kellys rider, I got the ride on Harvey. The first day I met him, I filmed a session of catching him, groundhandling, tacking up and longlining during which Harvey swore and faught everything he was asked to do with a passion and athleticism that was quite alarming! The pictures on the left show his re-entry into the showing world in after a summer of retraining, which included riding him on Monty Roberts tour to get him used to 'parties' again in a constructive way. My proudest point was at newbury showground, where he behaved impeccably in a huge lineup and gave two judges a fantastic, well mannered ride. Although I was thrilled with how far he had come, he certainly still has a long way to go before this good behaviour is firmly established and rock-solid.
He has been (and still is!) a really interesting challenge for me, because his napping was so ingrained that he really knew how to say 'No' effectively, and neither attempting to fight, nor appease him, would get any results.
Harvey quickly reverted to his nappy behaviour when a new (and very talented) rider pushed him a little too confrontationally during introducing him to jumping. This has led me to really evaluate exactly what it is that works or doesn't work for him - the nappiest of all nappy horses, and also how I can expand his tolerance and willingness for different types of rider as well. I need to consciously learn what works for him - and then expand that to include normal riding. When it came around to looking for a new home or Harvey, I kept describing his imaginary new owner to friends and colleagues. Tactfully, they pointed out that I was describing myself, and so, despite deciding not to own a horse of my own at the moment, I took over ownership of Harvey at the end of the summer and continue with his training and progress from Jim Goddards yard in Sussex.
All is going well - but I won't sugar the plum and say its all plain sailing, all is going well because I expect from him what he is ready for and so can put him to bed with a smile every day - not because he is perfect but because he is achieving and trying every day within the well-thought out constraints of what I ask for. I think it is much more useful if readers are allowed a real-life understanding of the time and training involved in really turning such extreme problem behaviour around. I have really enjoyed hand-walking, as an intermediatory stage before hacking out alone, and felt this has been an amazing opportunity to get to know Harvey even more and for him to enjoy spending time working for me. We have jumped ditches logs and banks, got lost, sworn at speeding lorries, been out in rain storms and dozed/grazed on sunny slopes together without any adrenaline fuelled confrontations. I feel he is able to say 'maybe' and be convinced, rather than a flat 'NO.' With hacking 'upsides' in company, and walking out tacked up so that I can ride favourite sections, I am noticing Harvey's 'wont go' habbit melting away and being forgotten, and so hacking out alone is becomming one of the things we can do - without ever having made a point of 'making him' or having a big fight. On the longlines we are working on plenty of transitions and energy control. As with many other horse owners, its largely about finding things you CAN do in the facilities you have - without a school I was worried harvey's schooling, suppleness and work attitude would suffer. But by incoporating schooling onto hacks and on the longlines in the roundpen, I am confident he will feel great next time I get him to an arena.
I'm experimenting with jumping attitude - every time we longline or do groundwork inthe field, I lead or longline Harv over a jump on the way in ,as a last exercise. I'm hoping I'll soon start to see him aim for the jump - at which point I'll turn it into two. He has such a good jump that I'm hoping he will enjoy jumping as long as he learns to tackle the fences not the rider!
Keep an eye on the blog for regular and honest updates on Harvey's progress from now on!
