Journey to Sound

Journey to Sound Join me on my journey discussing equine and human soundness of mind, body and soul ❤️

Something I hate about social media is how it can be manipulated by the less moralistic for their own personal gain or e...
20/09/2024

Something I hate about social media is how it can be manipulated by the less moralistic for their own personal gain or ego.

I recently commented on a post from a well known scientist who claims to be totally independent and will review many equine products and beliefs, with the aim of uncovering the truth to make the world a better place for horses.

This particular post appears to be heavily biased towards his own viewpoint, and he is disagreeing with everyone who has a different view to him. The research study he is talking about is a study that is at least 12 years out of date in an area that has had huge developments in that time. Something he would normally cite as a reason to dismiss, but he is now citing as being an irrelevant fact.

He disagreed with my opinion, despite having asked people for their opinions, and then said he would be interested in testing the products from the company I recommended. I responded that they would be happy to do that and he should contact them, only to find my reply disappeared? Naively, I though it might be a facebook error. So I reposted the reply, only to find that one quickly disappeared too. So, it would appear my responses were being deleted to make this person look like they had been magnanimous with their offer, and making the company in question appear reluctant to put their products up for scrutiny.

Apart from my shock and disappointment at such blatant manipulation, it has reminded me never to be sucked in by qualification, letters after the name or high level social following.

I try to follow the guidance to stay open to all whilst accepting nothing as gospel. Find your own path and your own tribe, question yourself and others, take what feels right without being sucked into a rigid system and never feel bullied. When clients question me, rather than getting defensive, I relish it, because it gives me the chance to justify what I am doing, I put a bit more thought in to being able to explain and sometimes it makes me question something that I then go and learn more about.

I recently listened to a short talk on training horses that interested me. It looked at training as having two componen...
23/08/2024

I recently listened to a short talk on training horses that interested me. It looked at training as having two components. The ability to communicate our wishes to our horses, and the desire of our horses to meet our requests.

The communication part is what we would normally think of as training. But equally important is our horses desire.

If we think of that desire as being a bank account that needs to stay in credit, we need to keep topping it up with positive deposits of good experiences, fun and trusting situations. For every negative experience, scary situation, boredom, repetition or moment of overwhelm, withdrawals are being made from the bank.

If the point is reached when that bank account becomes overdrawn, then you have lost your horse's desire, regardless of how good your communication is. Both parts are equally important within training.

Finding something fun that your horse can do that puts money back into that bank account will go a long way towards successful training.

I have recently discovered that Loki's favourite thing is to pop a little jump at liberty. No lunge line, his choice, that tops up his bank account ❤️

What tops up your horses bank account of trust and happiness?

28/06/2024

Friday's Foot Facts- White Line Disease, treatment and prevention

26/06/2024

Donkey's Words of Wisdom

Stop worrying about how little you have and start enjoying what you do have to the max

Be more like Donkey ❤️

Stable 101 - The equine equivalent to Room 101If I had to choose one thing to start this regular feature of things I'd t...
08/06/2024

Stable 101 - The equine equivalent to Room 101

If I had to choose one thing to start this regular feature of things I'd throw out, it would be flash straps. A happy horse, appropriately bitted, working in a comfortable balance will rarely choose to open their mouth. So if they do, it's always best to listen to them and work out what is wrong asap. Rather than strapping their mouth shut so they can no longer communicate

What would you choose to put in?

Twenty two years ago, I was a novice owner and competitor who was worried about my horse, knowing things weren't right, ...
15/05/2024

Twenty two years ago, I was a novice owner and competitor who was worried about my horse, knowing things weren't right, but unable to get clear answers. The professionals didn't communicate with each other, and I was lost in a sea of inaccurate and conflicting advice from well meaning colleagues.

So I set about learning everything I could to help myself through the rollercoaster ride of finding out what was wrong with my horse.

And with that knowledge I hope to help guide others on this frustrating journey using my professional qualifications, research and considerable experience, rather than hearsay and guesswork.

My inspiration was this gorgeous chap TJ Tigga. I'm so sorry I let you down and couldn't help you to a happy pain free life. But I have never forgotten you, and your life was the start of me being able to help so many other horses 🙏

If you don't know which way to turn and who to listen to, head over to the safe space of my group What's Wrong With My Horse where we can discuss best options

Badminton Horse Trials - Love it or hate it? I’m on the fence but feel compelled to watchAs the first horse was counted...
11/05/2024

Badminton Horse Trials - Love it or hate it? I’m on the fence but feel compelled to watch

As the first horse was counted down for cross country, “5 4 3 2 1 GO good luck” ………
I felt my adrenaline levels rise just as they used to when I was last in the start box over a decade ago . By start box, I mean competing at BE90 and 100 - a totally different sport to 5* eventing for sure!

During that first round I felt a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye multiple times as I witnessed the generosity, honesty and athleticism of Tom Jackson’s horse Farndon. Then as the day goes on, watching the impossible starts to feel more achievable and almost expected. And it loses some of its reverence. It then takes a much less perfect round to remind me that this level of excellence is not normal!

I love watching the cross country phase because when it goes well it is truly stunning to see the end result of the training, the fitness and the trust between horse and rider. And at this ultimate level, every hole is exposed, hopefully with penalty faults rather than falls. Watching the likes of William Fox-Pitt, Emily King and Caroline Powell fills my heart with joy at what horse and rider can achieve in harmony with an obviously good relationship. I have no doubts about the ethics of their training

Preparing a horse to have the physical fitness to negotiate the xc, when the ground conditions and temperature on the day are unknown until the day, is so tricky. And of course you can over prepare so your horse can cope with the worst combination of holding ground and higher temperature. But you will then have a horse so full of energy they may explode in the dressage and may be so keen at the jumps that you lose that essential level of control at the complex combinations, skinnies and angles they have to negotiate. They literally become like a small child on a plane flight after a bucket full of blue smarties, which is quite frankly dangerous.

In pure dressage, sadly force and coercion are very possible. And as all the recent social media has highlighted, there are many incidents of unethical training and dubious horse welfare going on that need to be better addressed.

In show jumping ,hopefully less so, because you can’t physically force a horse to leave the ground and clear a fence. But show jumping doesn’t demand quite such a two way level of trust over a fence that easily falls down compared to the rigidity of xc fences.

But for xc at this level your horse has to have a huge desire to lock on and jump anything in front of them, whilst still listening to their rider who knows the order of the fences, what is on the landing side and what sort of fence is coming up next. They need to want to keep galloping, but be soft in the contact and come back from their rider’s weight change and light rein check. If they fight and throw their heads up, they hollow in their back and drop their back legs, as well as tiring quicker. If horse and rider can’t stay riding committedly forward because the horse is taking over unsafely, then doubt comes into the horse about their ability to jump and then the run outs, stops or awkward jumps come. They need to stay super straight at the skinnies, but be totally turnable. Any hint at crookedness will see them jumping out through a shoulder and not staying between the flags.

Badminton is not for the normal. It takes an exceptional horse and an exceptional rider, both of whom, quite frankly, have a less than average imagination for what can go wrong. And it provides an amazing showcase for the brilliant. Less easy to watch are the not quite brilliant but very lucky, and even harder, the not quite brilliant and unlucky. Seeing the horses struggle with fitness, or fighting with the control is the bit I hate.

Everyone who gets here is an exceptional combination, but it is very obvious to see who are the truly brilliant ones who inspire me, at my vastly lower level, to want to achieve that level of harmony and partnership. Whilst NEVER wanting to jump those fences!

I’d love to hear what you think, did you watch, do you love it or hate it?

Where did my love of horses begin?It actually started when my mum took me to a neighbours and lead me out on a pair of s...
10/05/2024

Where did my love of horses begin?

It actually started when my mum took me to a neighbours and lead me out on a pair of seaside donkeys who used to come and stay in the winter. Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Sadly they're aren't any pictures of them, as back then you chose carefully what to photograph on your 24 picture roll of film, that had to go to Boots and be developed.

So my first photograph is aged about 9 or 10 on a little Dartmoor pony called Bunty. Back then we wore secondhand velvet hats with stretched elastic straps knotted to being vaguely tight(or no hat if you were an experienced adult rider), rubber riding boots, string girths, no numnahs, no restrictive nosebands and plain loose ring snaffles. Some of those things we are coming back round to. Luckily, not the Loveson rubber riding boots which made your feet very sweaty!

Once I was deemed competent I would hack her out alone around the apple orchards of Kent. She regularly used to take off with me under the trees, I'd get dragged off backwards and be winded, whilst she took herself back home for tea. Undeterred by this I kept trying, and never lost my enthusiasm. As an adult, I discovered on MRI, that I had some old fractures in my thoracic spine, which I suspect we're thanks to Bunty. But I survived to tell the tale ❤️

My husband passed comment a few days ago about where had my bottom gone? I'm naturally pear shaped, so carry more of my...
07/05/2024

My husband passed comment a few days ago about where had my bottom gone?

I'm naturally pear shaped, so carry more of my weight in my bottom and thighs. And since my knee operation and subsequent immobility, I have lost a huge amount of muscle, leaving my bottom and legs looking a bit under inflated

I had anticipated putting weight on with the lack of activity, instead of which I had dropped 2kg in the first 3 days. Because of the speed of that loss without me cutting me back on food, I knew it had to be muscle loss rather than fat

In my Osteopathy training we were taught that muscle atrophy (wastage) starts within 24 hours of not using it, hence the saying "Use it or lose it"

It really made me start thinking about box rest for horses following injury or surgery. And the importance of doing the in hand walking that is recommended.

It's easy to think that the horse will be moving around their stable on their own. So what difference will 5 minutes of in hand walking make?

Actually it makes all the difference. Straight line consistent one foot in front of the other several times every day will massively reduce that muscle atrophy. As well as the mental health benefits it brings from a change of scenery and gentle movement

Start as soon as you are allowed. The sooner the better

Stay consistent so your horse knows this will be happening regularly. If they can predict, they will less stressed and desperate for outside movement, meaning a lower risk of explosion behaviour

Stay safe. That probably means you wearing protective footwear, a hat and gloves.

Ideally practice in hand walking before surgery so you know where they are relaxed doing it and what they need to be wearing. Are they better alone, or with another horse being walked with them. If they need sedation to be walked safely, ask your vet to prescribe some in advance

And be aware, that in hand grazing for 5 minutes is a great mental health and digestive activity for them, but it is not the same thing as 5 minutes of consistent walking. They need both

26/04/2024

Fun Friday Observations

As an Osteopath, a lot of my degree was scientific.
Anatomy, physiology, neurology, pathology, pharmacology. But we also studied the less scientific skills of palpation, observation, body language, instincts, cranial and energy work.

Collected lived experiences are known as anecdotal evidence, and tend to be viewed by science as very inferior to clinical controlled research.

So I love science, but don’t believe it explains everything? I feel there is equal value in things that don’t have research? Staying open minded to assess everything on it’s individual merits, is important to me.

Within the horse world there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence that is drawn on to assist progress and teach others. Science often follows up some time behind, and shows why the beliefs were correct.

But I do encounter some resistance from scientists, to anything that lacks researched evidence, which I believe can inhibit progress. Should we be waiting for evidence before making welfare changes for instance. And when reading research papers it is important to look at the question the research is proposing, how it is carried on and how big and varied the sample group was.

A statement that is important to me is that coexistence does not equal causation ie just because two things happen at the same time does not mean one caused the other. As an example, I recently noticed that I tend to come up in little bruises on my thighs during the wet winter weather. Scientists would look to explain this by researching blood supply to the skin in colder temperatures, effect of increased humidity and decreased barometric pressure.

However, if you watch the video you will see my lived experience in the winter and the real reason for my bruises as I struggle up the wet muck heap with a full wheelbarrow! Anecdotally I knew exactly why 🤣🤣

24/04/2024

Although we can never share the spoken language with our horses, in the way we can with people, we can still build a progressively expanding communication system with them

Horses are excellent readers of body language. In the wild they rely on observation of each other to function in a herd, without collision and without being left behind

They need to be able to alert each other to potential danger, without highlighting their existence to other predators

When we think of having an intention to do something, we make tiny changes in our body towards that thing. As humans, with such a complex language system, our skills at observing intention in others is often very rusty at best, obsolete at worst. But to our horses it is quite clear

But in such a busy, noisy world many horses have had to learn to filter out all but the most obvious, to avoid overwhelm. They are effectively wearing noise cancelling headphones

Once we start to show our horses that we see the language they are displaying to us, and trust them to read our subtle signs, their headphones can come off and the dance can begin

I used to be at my happiest testing my training competing in a dressage test or riding round a tricky cross-country course. But for now, I adore the simplicity of playful exploration with no agenda and no judgement

Do you ever find time to just play with your horse and see what happens?

Address

Heathfield

Telephone

+447771795065

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Journey to Sound posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Journey to Sound:

Shortcuts

Share

Category