Oakwood Park Equestrian

25/07/2024

Hi everyone! Does anyone have or know someone (within Australia) who has a copy of this book that would like a new bookshelf to live on? It's out of print and I'm trying to find a copy :) many thanks!!

29/04/2024

💜

28/04/2024

Our aids are meant to help the horse.
Help them into a better balance.
When the horse is in our seat, no other aid is necessary.
We often give too many aids, and often not the ones the horse actually needs. Dare to let go of all your aids (hand, rein, leg) and see what happens. Where does the horse fall out of the frame?
This is where we actually have to help with an aid!
The aids correct the horse back into the frame and then we cease them again. That’s where riding based on the old grandmasters is very different from modern dressage approaches. There is not supposed to be permanent tension on the rein, or permanent push with the legs. The only aid which is always “on” is our seat!
If we want to achieve lightness and harmony, we have to start with lightness in our aids and let the horse take responsibility for the shape. They will thank us by listening very closely to our aids and working a lot more contently.
www.academicartofriding.pl

28/04/2024

We love this approach and learning to apply it

Our aids are meant to help the horse.
Help them into a better balance.
When the horse is in our seat, no other aid is necessary.
We often give too many aids, and often not the ones the horse actually needs. Dare to let go of all your aids (hand, rein, leg) and see what happens. Where does the horse fall out of the frame?
This is where we actually have to help with an aid!
The aids correct the horse back into the frame and then we cease them again. That’s where riding based on the old grandmasters is very different from modern dressage approaches. There is not supposed to be permanent tension on the rein, or permanent push with the legs. The only aid which is always “on” is our seat!
If we want to achieve lightness and harmony, we have to start with lightness in our aids and let the horse take responsibility for the shape. They will thank us by listening very closely to our aids and working a lot more contently.
www.academicartofriding.pl

28/04/2024

Love this approach and love learning how to apply it :)

Our aids are meant to help the horse.
Help them into a better balance.
When the horse is in our seat, no other aid is necessary.
We often give too many aids, and often not the ones the horse actually needs. Dare to let go of all your aids (hand, rein, leg) and see what happens. Where does the horse fall out of the frame?
This is where we actually have to help with an aid!
The aids correct the horse back into the frame and then we cease them again. That’s where riding based on the old grandmasters is very different from modern dressage approaches. There is not supposed to be permanent tension on the rein, or permanent push with the legs. The only aid which is always “on” is our seat!
If we want to achieve lightness and harmony, we have to start with lightness in our aids and let the horse take responsibility for the shape. They will thank us by listening very closely to our aids and working a lot more contently.
www.academicartofriding.pl

10/04/2024

I love this!!! Such a different approach 💜

What is the right contact with the bit?
Should the rider feel a pound of pressure? A kilogram? Five? Do you drive the horse into your hand, so you can feel the push from his rear pressing into the bit, or reins? How much pressure is required to know that your horse is "on the bit?"

In this old work, contact is just touch.
Just that... touch.
The rider communicates through the rein aids by the weight of the rein, not by pressure on the mouth.
The lips are never even moved by the touch of the rider's hand.

If you look at the connection between the rein and the bit, there is a small area of play between leather and metal. As you begin to gently lift the leather of the rein toward the metal of the bit, there is a moment when the rein comes in contact with the bit.
That is contact. And it is enough.
The bit is not moved by the touch of the rein in your hand.
The rider’s hand is soft, relaxed, at ease. The rein is held between thumb and forefinger, with one rein in each hand, or with both reins in either the right or left hand.
If you can feel that light contact and you have a truly balanced seat, you can communicate a subtle suggestion, a direction. If you have been educated to the rein aids, with that connection you can communicate to the horse so that he places his weight exactly where you want, on any of the four legs, and anywhere in between. You can, using the smallest indication of the aids, suggest any of the gaits, and any posture desired to make movement simple and easy for the horse.
It takes no pressure, but to create meaning from touch does take a link between the rider’s and the horse’s minds.
Now, there are two of you here.
The horse's mouth and mind is as involved as the rider's hand with the bit, the horse should be free to be as curious and sensual about the connection between you as the rider is. A fully supple, balanced horse and a supple, balanced rider with a good education view the simple snaffle bit as something to listen to and speak through quietly to one another.
The rider listens through the bit as much as we communicate through it. The mouth is the first thing to change if the horse begins to tense, and the last thing to release as he relaxes. The hand in the rider plays much the same role.
This weight of the rein connection is easy if the horse and rider both are in self-carriage and perfectly balanced. If we are not supple or balanced, we express our stiffness or lack of coordination through altering the touch on the bit.
This is not wrong, no one is perfect—but only one person in this pair of animals has a vision for an improving connection.
Some horses will root at the bit, some will fiddle with it, some will clench it between the teeth, some will lean on it, some will pull back from it, or tuck their nose so that the feeling is lost. (And, by the way, the unbalanced or fearful rider’s hands start with the same problems.) In the old way of working, any change to the feeling of the bit is information, communication, an indication of a change in the horse’s carriage, balance, and calm.
The rider never ignores the horse’s discomfort. The rider always returns the touch to “légèreté”, that is, to lightness.
The feel on the bit has been said to be like stirring heavy cream, deeply connected, smooth, effortless, delicious. It is the feel you have when you are going to dance with a great partner, and you float up from your chair when he offers you his hand, no one is gripping, no one is pulling, and no one is leaning, your hand rests like a small bird on his, and with that sweet, sweet connection, as with the horse, together your balance is exquisite and your rhythm divine.
Weight of the rein. That is "right contact". Weight of the rein, and the intoxicating link between two minds.
Mary Anne Campbell
www.blue-river-farm.com

01/03/2024

OUR FRIEND, THE DUNG BEETLE (repost)
We may be coming to the end of summer, but dung beetles are still around! The dung beetle requires manure as a food source for their offspring. The adults bury balls of manure down in the soil for their larvae to develop on. If you ever collect manure that has had dung beetles in it, you’ll see the holes in the soil.

The activity of dung beetles is very useful in the control of the free-living stages of parasitic worms. In hot, dry conditions the aeration of manure pats by beetles is enough to fully desiccate the manure which results in the death of worm eggs and larvae. Therefore, if you have dung beetles on your property in summer, you no longer have to collect manure or harrow it. In cooler times, dung beetles may still be present and can lower the number of infective larvae emerging from pats by up to 74%.

In your pasture management plan, you should aim to help and encourage dung beetles as much as possible. Not only dung beetles, but all the soil invertebrates that help to degrade manure. It has been found that over 200 different insect species call manure home, all which play an important role in manure degradation.

One thing to avoid in summer is worming your animals. All classes of worming-drugs have a mode of action that means they are also toxic to a range of other organisms. Wormers are designed to kill nematodes (roundworms), and so drugs that pass out in the manure can have a toxic effect on free-living soil worms (such as earthworms). The mectin drugs (abamectin, ivermectin, moxidectin) are also toxic to insects, and so manure of treated animals can be toxic to a range of insects, including dung beetles.
Different species of insect and nematode are affected in different ways. For example, dung beetles may still feed/aerate a manure pat of a treated animal however the beetle larvae die or undergo abnormal development. Overall, the presence of wormers in manure has a negative effect on the rate of degradation of manure.
Therefore over summer, avoid worming your horses/livestock unless faced with a case of clinical disease. If you get FEC performed, it may be wise to increase the EPG cut off to 500EPG compared to the normal 200EPG. If worming is required, ensure that you collect the manure for the first week after worming to prevent ill effects from the high concentrations of drug in the faeces.

This summer have a think about the humble dung beetle and the wonderful work they do. The world is full of species that thrive in what we consider waste – these small but mighty creatures play some of the most important roles in ecosystems.
Additionally, if you don’t have dung beetles, there are places online where you can order them as well. A box of dung beetles in the post seems like such a nicer thing to receive in the mail than a bag of, well, dung.

Bryan, R. P. (1976). The effect of the dung beetle, Onthophagus gazella, on the ecology of the infective larvae of gastrointestinal nematodes of cattle. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 27(4), 567-574.
Bryan, R. P. (1973). The effects of dung beetle activity on the numbers of parasitic gastrointestinal helminth larvae recovered from pasture samples. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 24(1), 161-168.
Errouissi, F., Alvinerie, M., Galtier, P., Kerboeuf, D., & Lumaret, J. P. (2001). The negative effects of the residues of ivermectin in cattle dung using a sustained-release bolus on Aphodius constans (Duft.)(Coleoptera: Aphodiidae). Veterinary Research, 32(5), 421-427.
Strong, L. (1993). Overview: the impact of avermectins on pastureland ecology. Veterinary parasitology, 48(1-4), 3-17.
Strong, L., Wall, R., Woolford, A., & Djeddour, D. (1996). The effect of faecally excreted ivermectin and fenbendazole on the insect colonisation of cattle dung following the oral administration of sustained-release boluses. Veterinary parasitology, 62(3-4), 253-266.
Photo credit to University of Western Australia: https://www.uwa.edu.au/.../quantifying-ecosystem-services...

05/02/2024

Attention horse riders who use Mount Crawford forest. Forestry SA would love to hear from you. If you attend you the workshop you will go in the draw to win an annual horse riding permit. Win win for riders. 🌲🐎🌲

Details below ⬇️

05/02/2024

Take care of your dung beetles!!

The mighty power of the dung beetle! Not only can these impressive animal move 1,141 times their body weight, they are also vital to our ecosystem.

These beetles improve the flow of water, nutrients and carbon into the root zones of pastures, which in turn:
- boosts pasture productivity (dung beetles can increase the pasture growth response by ~30% over a two-year period)
- prevents build-up of flies and nematodes, leading to improved animal health and productivity
- assists producers to sequester carbon and contribute towards a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
Just to name a few!

Next time you’re walking through a paddock make sure you have take time to check out the great work the dung beetles have been doing.

28/11/2023

Here at Oakwood we’ve been learning the Legerete dressage system which has horse welfare at its heart, along with other complimentary and contemporary training approaches. We encourage everyone to learn better and do better, there’s so many options!! 💜

This weeks documentary expose at Helgstrand dressage has shocked the equestrian world, Except, it hasn’t really. Everyone knows this way of producing horses goes on everywhere in the horse industry. In dressage, in racing, in reining, in eventing.

It’s hidden in plain sight. And actually, half the time it’s not even hidden, it’s normalised. I often pass people hacking their horses in draw reins, martingales and gag bits, you can get them at the local tack shop. I don’t know why we’re surprised people use them, it’s all just there to buy.

This can all feel a bit depressing and leave you wondering what to do. Here are some ideas - you may have more of your own.

1. If you’re a coach or riding instructor set out your stand about your principles and celebrate them with your students. Help people understand what the vertical looks like and why it’s important for their horses. Be proud of saying, ‘Let’s take all this kit off this horse and learn a better language’, Be part of a vanguard of change and prioritise ethics over rosettes (although both are possible). The more people in our industry really do it (rather than just pay lip service to it) the less it will be considered the ‘alternative approach’.

2. Companies can change the images they use to sell us stuff. They could use horse models without nosebands, with their faces in front of the vertical, showing signs of what a happy athlete actually looks like. Many incredible vets, scientists and ethologists have long lists of indicators to help identify these attributes, these are freely available on your local social media page - you don’t have to look far.

3. Magazines, do the same as above. Put these horses on your front cover. People can be what they can see, Show riders without loads of equipment on their horses, demonstrating healthy posture, riding in a way that allows horses to see, breathe, move. Include articles about how horses need to move to stay sound and happy based on classical principles of biomechanics grafted to our modern understanding of their minds and body.

4. If you own a livery yard, along with the sign that says no smoking or heavy petting, include a list of welfare practices for how horses on your yard will live and be treated. Friends, freedom, forage. No need to lead in chifneys we can help you learn how to lead your horse well without one. No shouting at horses on your yard, please.

5. If you hire out a venue you can do similar to the above. As part of your contract outline how horses need to treated on your property. Encourage and celebrate teachers who have respect for the horse at the heart of what they do. Explain that as a visiting rider if you need draw reins there are coaches here who can help you find a better way, Be clear about what you welcome and don’t welcome at your venue.

6. If you run a riding club or pony club then focus on education~ there are plenty of amazing people who will come to talk to members about horse welfare, behaviour and how horses learn. People who can explain that when horses buck or rear or nap or spook they’re doing it for what they consider to be very good reasons, and require our support and compassion rather than punishment. They can help your members recognise pain and discomfort and be on the side of their horse. People want to do better when they know better, I believe.

7. We can all collectively not buy horses who’ve been started under saddle before they’re 4. We can push dealers to find horses who’ve been left to grow up and haven’t been sat on or loose jumped while their young bones are still maturing. We actually drive the market, if we say no to horses started too young and pushed too fast, things will change. We may need to pay more to ‘wait’, but we pay less in the long run.,

8. Those of us who ride can be braver about poking our heads above the parapet and demonstrating, ‘There is also this way of doing things’. Even though it may, in the first instance, open us up to criticism as it doesn’t ’look’ like what has become the norm. We can support and encourage our colleagues and peers who are trying to do things ethically with horses; even if it’s not exactly what we’re doing.

This is only a very small starter for ten. The call is also of course for judges to judge differently, but that is really the tip of the iceberg. If we, as a collective equine industry, don’t start to insist on change wherever we are then we may find the public taste for letting anyone ride a horse is significantly reduced.

Change is possible, you may have other ideas for where practical action can take place right where you are now. Please do share your own ideas. it’s amazing what individuals can do.