For the sake of the horse
Sadly one person has messaged us privately, yes thankfully only one, to voice their disappointment that we came out straight away yesterday to say abusive horse training, as is shown in the video, is wrong and wholly unacceptable.
Please do not message us to complain. If you do we will send you this portion of the video which was not shown on GMB news.
It shows Dujardin with two hands on the lunge whip hitting the horse, which is not giving a big enough jump in the canter, as hard as she can and then saying ‘This is so sh*t at hitting them hard’.
If you think this is acceptable and that we should not all be shouting as loud as possible to make sure it never happens to another horse, then please, please, unfollow us and slither back down the drain from whence you came.
If we end up with only one follower and one customer then so be it.
From the beginning (2010) we have been a horse company that tries to help owners and riders do better for their horses in every aspect of horse keeping and training. We are proud to be different and we are proud to be brave enough to say no to cold and callous behaviour that damages and puts under threat everyone’s right to enjoy the wonderful sport of horsemanship.
#dropthewhip #poweredbyforageplus
Whips and Horses!
Charlotte Dujardin has withdrawn from the Olympics and all competition following video being submitted to the FEI that shows her mistreating a horse with a whip during a lesson.
This is part of the video shown on Good Morning TV and it’s a very good example of the normalisation of the use of whips with horses.
What’s interesting about this video is not that we don’t know this goes on behind the scenes, or that Dujardin has scuttled off back home, or the timing of the whistle blower but that Charlotte Hawkins, the presenter, shows how embedded the normalisation of the use of whips is in our horse training culture, whilst being shocked that Dujardin has gone too far.
Charlotte Hawkins says about the whip ….
“Often you have it because the horse knows you have it but you don’t have to use it …… but if you do you would normally hit the ground, you would hit something around the horse, it’s just more the noise, it’s the fact that they know you have it …”
Here’s some questions about what she says:
1. Is hitting the ground a threat which will cause mental fear?
2. Is hitting something around the horse a threat which will cause mental fear?
3. Is making a noise with a whip, usually behind the horse, a threat which will cause mental fear.
4. If the horse ‘knows’ you have a whip and that changes its behaviour, that means that at sometime in the past the horse either felt the threat mentally or was subject to the physical action. Is this an ethical training approach which would be accepted anywhere else in the human world?
In our reel posted yesterday morning, before Dujardin removed herself from Paris, I said ……
“I now believe a whip, used lightly, works because horses are super smart. The horse has worked out how to ‘avoid’ the threat of the whip. The thing is though, they had to ‘feel’ the discomfort at least once, if not more, to learn to bow down to the whip and your authority. Now I ask how far can I go withou
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Our fabulous Spruce Giveaway Prize has been shipped to our winner Ann Smith.
Check today’s story out for the next fun giveaway which starts tomorrow ⬆️
Which one will you choose?
Starts 3pm, June 21st, 2024
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✨ Let’s talk liberty distance
✨ Let’s talk liberty distance
One of the hardest things to overcome in liberty is the horse not being on top of your head.
I love my horses more than 💯but wearing a 500 / 650 kg animal has led to me feeling like eating hospital food is near.
When I used positive reinforcement they got so excited that they wanted to be right on me. That made me use negative reinforcement so they either went back to the gate and said get me out of here or it made the being on top of me worse.
There is balance in everything, it’s just how do you find that balance? How do you find the sweet spot of trust?
The biggest game changer has been the realisation that you don’t make friends by saying be my friend or else.
I guess I didn’t fully realise that horses have exactly the same emotions as us about trust. I guess my understanding of trust with horses was based on conventional training that usually has a rope and halter to say no don’t do that. Take that away and suddenly you don’t have much.
Without trust there is no motivation so they went to the gate, or got fearful and felt the answer was being on me, I know weird!
Without play and fun based on trust there is no motivation so they went to the gate, or got fearful and felt the answer was being on me, I know weird again!
Motivation with trust is everything.
So I ditched the whip, not them it’s me, I used it with an intention that is not healthy, even subliminally. Maybe this is a learnt thing after years of only having that as a tool. Maybe one day I’ll go back to using it as an extension of my arm when I have the skills.
I ditched saying no don’t do that with an halter and started mirroring their behaviour and movement, and inviting them to sometimes do what I did. Now the dance is definitely getting better.
They love the cones.
They love the target.
They love their ideas being rewarded.
They love being allowed to be creative.
They love the mats.
Th
Didn’t she do well ⭐️🤩⭐️ A great first #poweredbyforageplus trip to the beach for Rosie Potter with @ and @ Ainsdale beach goes on for miles and miles! Didn’t she do well!
Didn’t she do well ⭐️🤩⭐️
A great first #poweredbyforageplus trip to the beach for Rosie Potter.
Ainsdale beach goes on for miles and miles!
#beachride
Do you need a head collar?
If your horse trusts you and you give it time to trust you, you shouldn’t need any kind of restraint.
When I first bought Gatsby he used to be nervous about having his feet picked up especially his hinds.
On this day he was standing watch over the babies (cuteness 🤩) when he was next to be trimmed.
It seemed mean to move him so the trimming stuff went to him.
I love that he munched grass while I trimmed him. I didn’t use food as the reward as I didn’t have any on me so I used big scratches instead.
I still had to wait while he organised both his brain and his hind legs when I trimmed the backs but it’s lovely to wait with a wonderful pony.
If you haven’t discovered the power of using a positive reinforcement approach and you want a calm, trusting and free based horse partnership, then learning the science and techniques behind this type of training will be a game changer for you.
Gatsby and I speak as those who have started the journey and will never go back.
Thanks to those who have inspired me to be a better person for my ponies.
My destination is happy free horse world.
#poweredbyforageplus #barefoothorse #positivereinforcementtraining
Lots to learn about this …..
It’s an interesting journey to train for bit free riding.
What do you use as a bit free bridle?
Would you like to know about the options for bit free bridles?
Would you like to know how to train, know which systems/equipment are more or less aversive?
I am loving our bit free journey and so is the wonderful Gatsby in this week’s marvellous poletastic session.
Gatsby loves his Orbitless bit free bridle which we used in the second session having used a bosal in the first.
And who would guess this is only the third time he has been ridden since November because a bit free, free horse, R+ approach on the ground makes for a very cool and happy ridden dude of a Gatsby.
#poweredbyforageplus #bitless #bitlesshorse #bitlessriding #bitfreelife #bitfree
Horse Feed Basics
Let’s talk about the feed basics ….
16 years ago we fed the bog standard stuff. We chose feed by the colour of the bag, what our friends were feeding, what top riders were feeding or how much protein was in it. It didn’t work 🙈
Being into barefoot horses we noticed problems with the white line, a bit of footiness and flaky hooves.
Then we had skin issues, strange areas of scabbing which the vet said was a fungal infection.
Then the hoof abscesses started 🙈 it was time to start digging and searching.
We found the feed approach of a vet named Dr Kellon. She suggested matching to grass and hay, so off we went and got an analysis. What we found was shocking. We weren’t covering the basics and so our horses didn’t have enough nutrients to maintain their health.
The basics we needed were:
💥 Correct a VERY severe imbalance caused by manganese so high that the horses never got enough copper and zinc. Manganese in our grass and hay was at toxic levels. This is common in the UK.
💥 Correct very poor magnesium levels so that they were in balance with high calcium. This is also common in the UK. High calcium blocks magnesium. Magnesium is critical for nerve, metabolic, hoof health and loads of other things.
💥 Correct sodium levels so that there was enough in the diet, matched to grass and hay, for maintenance and replacing sodium lost through sweating. Here in the UK sodium levels are often so low that it is the number one cause of colic in horses.
💥 Correct protein levels so our horses had enough essential amino acids to be able to build and repair skin, hooves, muscles and every part of their bodies.
💥 Make sure essential omega 3 was at levels high enough to ensure good hooves and good skin through the winter months (October to April)
THEN
💥 BOOM 💥
All the health problems disappeared because we had covered the basics and filled the gaps where the grass and hay were not balanced.
W
Which is your favourite?
We stock a variety of horse feed balancers which are unique in being formulated to statistical analysis of the thousands of samples of grass, hay and haylage we carry out every year.
No other company has access to this powerful data.
We match carefully to what your horse needs:
🍃 Adult horse feed balancers which target the deficiencies in forage.
🍃 Young horse feed balancers which target the nutrition needed for healthy, safe growth.
🍃 A laminitis prone horse balancer
🍃 A no selenium balancer for when forage tests high in selenium.
🍃 A no phosphorous balancer for when forage tests high in phosphorous.
🍃 A horse feed balancer for horses eating a Timothy hay diet.
🍃 Coming soon our Scandinavian horse feed balancer matched to many forage analysis results from this area of the world.
Why would you not use a forage focused approach? It works like magic to build the healthiest horse you could only imagine in your dreams.
Find out more from our website or click the link in the post comment.
#poweredbyforageplus #horse
Ben Atkinson Kelsall Equestrian?
❓Who’s going to Ben Atkinson’s demo and or clinic at Kelsall Equestrian this week?
Gatsby and I will be there both days and I will be at the evening demonstration on Thursday night.
Be lovely to meet some other wonderful liberty lovers there.
I’ll have some special Fari ‘horses leave hoof prints on our hearts’ keyrings to give to anyone I meet there 💓
Bit Free Beach Blast for Gatsby
Giveaway Alert 💚 …..
WIN a Le Mieux, sprice, matchy matchy prize.
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💚 Fabulous spruce jacket (tell us your size in the comments)
💚 Choice of spruce dressage or jump saddle pad (tell us which one you want in the comments)
💚 Spruce Fly Hood
💚 Spruce pom hat silk
💚 Horses put hoof prints on our hearts keyring
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How to participate …..
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1. Share this post to your story (just tap the share arrow to start) and tag us in the story.
2. Make sure you are following Forageplus
3. Like this post
4. Comment by tagging three of your friends and telling us what size jacket and which saddle pad you would want:
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The competition closes on Friday 1st March 2024. All entries will be counted but the more you make the more chance you have 💚
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The winner will be announced on social media on Monday 4th March, 2024 at 7pm GMT
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All the matchy, matchy best 💚
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Note: This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Meta.
Meet Georgie and Teilo the newest members of the Forageplus family.
They are adorable Welsh x Warmblood weanling foals.
They are settling into a free horse life on the track and racing about the field.
Gatsby and the Monster are taking turns to babysit.
Special thinks they need eating 🙈
Did you know we have ……
1000s of results of forage from all over the UK and Europe.
Forageplus is a unique company because we know what is in the grass, hay and haylage horses eat. We don’t have to guess or scatter gun nutrients in horse feed. We target everything using a forage focused approach which always starts with what your horse eats the most of.
What is surprising is that protein is often low in the forage samples we test.
As we head towards winter, and hay and haylage becomes a larger part of every horse’s daily diet, then knowing what is in this, largest proportion of the diet is essential.
Knowing means the difference between your horse being awesome and your horse struggling.
When protein is low then horses will struggle to maintain health because protein powers everything about the body.
When protein is low, precious resources are directed to the most important areas.
If there isn’t enough then structures like the coat, hooves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin and the digestive lining will suffer.
If your horse is a good doer and you have to control calories and feed a controlled amount of hay or even straw, then you could be looking at protein so low it doesn’t even cover minimum levels. This will add up over time so there won’t be enough resources to keep everything healthy.
The more work your horse does the more protein they need. The more work they do the more you need to make sure all the essential amino acids that are contained in protein are high enough to enable your horse to build body structures that are optimum.
Don’t leave protein to chance❗️
✅ Feed a daily protein supplement like Topline Plus, Pea Protein or Whey Isolate each day in the bucket feed. 100 grams is good for a 500 kg horse.
✅ Feed an after work bucket feed containing equal parts of beet pulp and oats, and add Essential Amino Acids (1 x 75 ml scoop is good for a 500kg horse) This bucket feed will power safe
Giving a horse control won’t mean you loose control.
What a journey with my broken little special needs pony I have had.
It started by thinking about his posture and the way he was braced, dragged his hinds and was a lame brick on circles and corners.
Watching inspirational others (mostly on Instagram) led me to wonder how to stop him running, stop ignoring me, stop being braced and tense because of huge mental trauma that had happened before he came to me.
I needed to let him understand he could say no. It wasn’t pretty! He attacked me. That was bit difficult to deal with. How could I give him control when he did that?
I had to build a different relationship with him. I had to set him free, give him choice. I had to understand how to motivate him so he found peace in his head.
🎀 Now, no one would believe this horse attacked me for food.
🎀 Now, no one would believe he came at me with his teeth and tried to strike me with his feet.
🎀 Now, no one would believe he ran away, crashed through the gate of the arena and out into the garden.
Choice in training has drastically changed him. Changed his belief about me and about himself. It has reduced his fear, reduced his aggression. It is building the trust that was so badly broken many years ago.
This is only the 4th ride I have had on him in 2023. I have worked on him having fun with me. He has found the joy of finding fun things to do with his body. If he walks away that’s fine, if he joins in, I feed him until he can eat no more. I literally stuff as much food as I can into his mouth.
Now we are ready to use the same principles riding and he LOVES his mats. He loves the game of standing on his mat and being square.
So a horse that couldn’t stretch, a horse that couldn’t go round a corner without feeling …. hoppy …. is now finding his body with me as a partner.
A magic mat was what I needed!
One more thing he HATES a bit. I don’t think I’ll ever put another bit in his mouth
Mini 24 Hour Giveaway ⏰
🍁To win a snuggly Love Forageplus Fleece for those chilly autumn days 🍁
✨ Share this post to your wall and story
✨ Make sure you are following us
✨ Comment below telling us your size, why you love your horse and tag three friends in your comment.
The winner has been announced on our story. Check to see if it was you 👏✨👏
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5 x 10 minute sessions from start to full spin.
The power of positive reinforcement
I am constantly blown away by how powerful this approach to training is.
The sky is the limit if you choose to go positive.
A year ago, being behind him would have been unthinkable.
A year ago he would not have been able to concentrate to be able to think.
A year ago he didn’t consider I was worth listening to. I was more of an anxiety than a team mate.
What a difference a year makes!
Have you gone positive? Tell us what you think?
Tag us in your positive reinforcement horse training posts.
#poweredbyforageplus #positivereinforcement
