Foundation First Horsemanship

19/12/2024

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦,
𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦.”

15/12/2024

😂😂😂😂😂

He sees you when you hang on the inside rein
He sees you when you yell “quit”

He sees you when you tune out
He sees you when you’re being drug down the aisle to the hay

He sees you when you forget to breathe
And he sees you backing up your horse trailer!

Mr Delton is coming to town
With a shiny lump of coal for you
If you don’t give that inside rein
Take a deep breath
Focus
And make slow but frequent adjustments backing that trailer

13/12/2024

Thiiiiissss 🙌🏽👏🏽
Forward Forward Forward!!

Freely forward is the way to the heart of the horse

Horses are MADE to move. From birth, they are working on moving. Their brains and bodies are both perfectly designed for movement

And yet, from the first halter, humans are working at restricting their movement. Pretty soon, many horses learn to sull up, and when we ask them to go forward, many of them drag, pull and lose their enthusiasm for movement at our hands. Some go the opposite way and become anxious at being restricted, becoming dancy and unpredictable in their movement.

I’ve only met a few teachers in my life that really understood and honored the need for a horse to go, and beautifully incorporated this into their work, creating calm and peaceful yet energetic horses.

And thankfully, they have given me many great lessons on the importance of going with, and directing movement.

Most training paradigms have their tricks at how to curb a horses forward- from one rein stops to bearing down with the seat and a jillion ways in between - but few truly honor and harness this natural motor and blend in with it. To do so requires great self discipline -

I’m not talking about just letting horses be out of control, or letting them take over in a frenzy of unorganized energy. But directing movement like funneling water , knowing that it can never be dammed up without consequence - learning to be part of and love the flow, and to direct it artfully.

It’s much easier to teach people how to shut down movement, and to believe in a false sense of security and control. But the reality is that energy, like water, cannot really be controlled - we see that in life all the time - we become lulled into a false sense of security and water becomes a destructive force outside our control.

Energy has to go somewhere - if we don’t let it flow, and give it constructive mechanisms to move, it finds its ways, and we may not like where it chooses.

If we really want to love and honor horses, we need to put some great personal work into learning to not just tolerate but love going forward. Because movement is the true essence of the horse. How can we claim to love something so much and yet spend a lifetime trying to shut it down, dam it up, and give it no place to really be what nature made it?

05/12/2024

Lily did her lesson yesterday bare back!
And she did absolutely amazing!

Removing the saddle can help you really feel for your horse and how it moves underneath you. It can also help you relax your knees and lower back. We focus heavily on riding with our seat and legs and riding without a saddle can really mix things up and give you more understanding of how important your balance and core strength is while riding. Lily also worked on controlling Fox's body by having a target to focus on which was the ball! Good fun and lots of giggles 🤭🤩

Buggez Bugeyes
****ck

01/12/2024

𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓

Will be looking to start lease in the new year.
Please reach out if you have anything suitable.

Thanks 🤠

01/12/2024

𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢’𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎.

30/11/2024

Sonic growing up so fast 🥹 12 weeks old 💫 time is flying by!

**t

30/11/2024

Pretty little filly 👀 🏠

𝓢𝓾𝓰𝓪𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓢𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓮...

Affectionately known as as “Spice” to us, this little lady is looking for her forever home 🏡 She is out of Pepper, the big paint mare Anthony had on the road teaching off of and she’s by RS Chisum.

She turned one on the 11th of October 2024 & has already had lots of handling and a good start to her education. Ready for someone to further and prepare her for starting when she’s old enough.

We are more than happy to send more photos and videos on request.

Please contact us via Messenger or call/text Anthony’s number listed on the ad!

29/11/2024

A good listen 🎧

28/11/2024

How cool is this?! And local! 👏🏽 can’t wait to go check out the new store 🤠

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫...
Be the first to see our beautiful new shop in the Main Street of Richmond next Friday from 6pm. The Western Ranch is a boutique western wear store with personally selected pieces for the serious cowboy/cowgirl or the boho inspired cowgirl at heart. There’s a little bit of country in all of us! ❤️💃🏻

27/11/2024

🦊 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 🦊

Did you know we offer private horsemanship lessons with our horse, Fox?!

Fox is our mature aged gentle giant gelding. Fox has helped people get back in the saddle after many years. He is a great horse to learn on, he is quiet, level headed and doesn’t mind if you get confused or fumble. He will support you. Fox has helped heaps of people find confidence again and reignite their love for horse riding. We love and appreciate how beautiful Fox is, so sharing him with others is something we are very grateful to do.

Our lessons are horsemanship focused. Meaning we don’t just chuck you on and instruct. We aim to teach you valuable skills and knowledge on horse handling, ownership and riding.

We are located in Kurmond and have lesson slots available during the week in the afternoons and weekends.

📥 PM us to book! Weekend spots fill fast.

Fox is here waiting for you to meet him, ps he loves carrots 😉

26/11/2024

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵... 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.
𝘈𝘯𝘹𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱-𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦’𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘢, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯; 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵-𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯, 𝘳𝘶𝘣𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺. .

Author unknown

26/11/2024

This is so timely. Mental health amongst equine professionals is such an important topic. This industry can absolutely crush you if you don’t take care of yourself.

An old post worth resharing -

Mental health for equine professionals -

Over the past year, I have been working hard on my own mental health. I know some of my readers are equine professionals also, so I thought I’d share. Even if you aren’t, these might help you too.

-I make myself rules about my posts. I write about what I think is important to share, understanding some people may misinterpret my intent, mix up my words or get upset and flat out disagree. I make myself a rule to limit time reading and answering comments, and don’t allow myself to read comments outside of my own page on my posts. If it gets shared, the comments are none of my business. I sometimes slip up on this, but my rule of thumb is that other peoples comments are not personal, and not important enough to put a cloud over my mindset while I ride other people’s horses through my day. And I try to remember, when you throw a stone at a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one you hit. In other words, angry comments usually come from a person who feels defensive.

-it’s ok to be disliked. Get comfortable with it. Being a people pleaser will only lead you to feel bad, and cheapen your work. You don’t have to be rude to people, and you can be polite to everyone. But some people won’t like your work, and that’s ok. There are plenty of other people who will love your work and love who you are and what you bring to the horse.

-set good and firm boundaries with yourself, your time, and others. Make very clear what you expect and you will find yourself surrounded by clients and people who respect you.

-it’s my job to educate, but it isn’t my job to save everyone. I make time to write and answer questions the best of my ability, but it isn’t my job to give up my day to answering questions about horses and riders I can’t see. My responsibility is to the horses in my care first- it’s important to remember if people really need help and value your time, they will respect you and your time and seek help through the proper avenues.

-it’s ok to be vulnerable. Just because you don’t see many big names admitting to stress, fear, struggle, uncertainty etc, doesn’t mean they don’t have it. I truly believe the industry is changing, and every vulnerable and authentic interaction we have helps change the tide.

-don’t forget what it felt like to have no idea. Most of us have been doing this so long, we forget what it’s like to feel totally inadequate, unsure, uneducated, or dependent on a trainer. I think it’s incredibly healthy to put ourselves in similar scenarios often- take up a new skill that you are a little afraid of - it’s a great reminder that we all want kind treatment, things explained clearly, time to learn, and no judgement about our shaky ability while we learn.

-we do this for love of the horse, but We need to feed ourselves and our horses. Giving away your services, giving endless discounts, giving away time etc leads to burnout, resentment and loss of passion. Horses are a luxury item-they are expensive to maintain. Your farrier, vet, hay supplier and bank won’t give you discounts or trades- you still need to pay them. Charge for your services - then if you decide to give time for free, it will be truly from the goodness of your heart and not obligation and resentment.

-don’t forget to take time out for yourself, your family, and your own horses. Other peoples horses will come and go, and you ultimately have no control over how they are handled. It might break your heart to watch your training horses go in directions you didn’t think was best for their well-being - but developing your own horses as partners is something you have complete control over, and a piece of artwork you can call all your own. Don’t forget about your own life.

25/11/2024

🗓️ Our upcoming schedule 🗓️

Busy few weeks ahead! 🤩

Remember, we also offer private lessons on your own horse and we have our school horses you can use! 🦊😉

24/11/2024

🧂🔥Resharing as we head into a heatwave 🔥🧂

Salt and electrolytes
I have recommended for many years at least 2 tablespoons of salt (about 50 g or so) and more in hot weather for horses on untested forage on the basis of the NRC Nutrient Requirements of Horses and Dr Eleanor Kellon VMD. Horses use sodium, chloride and potassium for chemical processes in the body (maintenance needs) AND for cooling down when sweating (sweat losses). Fortunately potassium is relatively high in all feeds including grass and hay so from a daily, maintenance aspect, the two electrolytes we mainly have to supplement is sodium and chloride. Fortunately the easy way to do this is with NaCl, salt. This amount of salt will hopefully cover maintenance requirements AND contribute to electrolytes lost in sweat.

I've been concerned for some time by some people saying to base horses salt supplementation on 5-10 g/100 kg BW (bodyweight). This is not going to be enough in many cases. It's not a BW calculation when you take into account the horse can excrete excess electrolytes easily, and the potential for high losses in sweat in hot conditions. If the horse is a miniature, I have halved the general recommendation but understand that excess salt (excreted easily as long as plenty of drinking water) is vastly better than an electrolyte deficiency.

Some years ago, a visiting vet told me she gives her horses 6 (six!) tablespoons of salt over a day on extremely hot days.
It makes sense. If we only supplement at one time in a day and knowing that electrolyte excess is excreted easily and efficiently within a 4 hour window, even within one hour, then it makes sense that if a horse is sweating in the heat in the paddock, it's not going to be enough. I've now stepped it up to 4 tablespoons, split between two small feeds (we have plenty of grass thank goodness).

If your horse does not have access to water (huh?) never force salt into your horse as it can cause hypernatraemia. Always have drinking water available.
Sodium is what the brain ‘reads’ in determining when to trigger thirst and when to regulate the amount of sodium and water the body excretes in the urine.

At normal body levels, the horse has 1.58 g of sodium per kg of body weight. That's 632 g of sodium for a 400 kg horse. Slightly over 50% of that is stored in the bone and only 10% of the body's sodium is in the blood. If blood levels of sodium have been low for a long time, when you start to provide salt, sodium will need to be replenished in the skeleton and other tissues, not just the blood.

When a horse is sodium deficient, they drink less, they urinate less to conserve sodium. A sodium deficiency = fatigue. Drinking less may make you think you shouldn't give salt but salt is what they need. By supplementing salt, it can trigger drinking. Many endurance riders know how well this works.
You may ask, why do horses not drink when they are obviously dehydrated (pinch test)? The two triggers that can cause the thirst mechanism to be activated are loss of body fluids and loss of concentration of sodium.

When body fluids around cells drop due to sweating (horse looks dehydrated, tucked up, skin stands up in tent, slow to lower), fluids are forced out of the interstitial spaces (around tissues and organs) to compensate for this. With continued exercise and sweating, fluid is absorbed from the stores in the gastrointestinal tract. (Jenkinson et al., 2006) This helps maintain the fluid volume of the plasma. Due to the large reservoir of fluids that the horse maintains, plasma volume is able to be maintained, even with a fairly large loss of total body volume.

The plasma concentration of sodium is also fairly stable. When the sodium levels drop, the kidney concentrates the urine and less is secreted. When the fluids move from interstitial spaces or from the colon, sodium is moved with it. This allows for a more stable plasma concentration of sodium, so the cells do not recognise that there is sodium depletion.

The notion that all grass and hay provides enough salt, or that horses will always get what they need from a salt block is not supported by pasture and hay test results or research. Horses are amazing at conserving sodium if the need arises, and will even excrete potassium as a substitute for sodium in urine. I don't want to confuse people, salt is so far the only documented craving in horses, they will travel long distances to a salt lick but the above hopefully will help with understanding why some horses simply won't access a salt block. The best way to supplement salt is in a feed, in addition a bucket of loose salt in the paddock is sensible too but NOT to be relied on. And please don't be fooled into thinking your horse knows always when he needs to grab salt from your salt block. Some don't even like the flavour.

Effects of feeding frequency and voluntary salt intake on fluid and electrolyte regulation in athletic horses
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.1999.86.5.1610

Sweating. Fluid and ion losses and replacement
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9561689/

Voluntary salt (NaCl) intake in Standardbred horses
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279566836_Voluntary_salt_NaCl_intake_in_Standardbred_horses