Nell Candelaria Horsemanship

24/12/2022

🎄Merry Christmas to everyone I’ve worked with in 2022. It’s been an absolute pleasure to help you and your equine friends. Looking forward to seeing you in 2023🎄
🎄Nell 🎄

22/12/2022

The lovely Lula has been making rapid progress this last week or so. My last appointment of the year was her first ridden hack out - she was totally cool about everything as she is now mostly with new things we show her 😍
I'm now having some time off until the new year. I hope everyone gets to enjoy themselves and spend some time with the people they love 😊

21/12/2022

Being a headrest for my teaching assistant this morning ☺️

16/12/2022

Huge moment for my client Amanda today. She rode her horse Lula for the very first time. They were both amazing 😍
(I love my job ❣️)

14/12/2022

Here's a question for you...

If you had to give your younger self one bit of equestrian advice, what would it be?

13/12/2022

Is your horse a good learner?

That might sound like an odd question, especially if your horse is well developed under saddle or well behaved on the ground, but let me explain.

In an ideal world, a horse would start by learning a basic conversation with something akin to the alphabet in our own language. In my mind, this would be understanding how to yield various parts of its body on the ground from simple cues.

Next we would add short words if we were likening it to our own language. For the horse, this might be stringing a couple of simple questions together, such as yield this part of your body for longer or at a different speed.

If a horse understand, it's 'alphabet' correctly, then this should be able to be performed without a great deal of stress.

However, if the horse doesn't understand the whole alphabet, this might make the horse become stressed and confused because it doesn't understand what those short words mean.

If we carry on with the training to longer words and sentences, if there are missing letters in the alphabet, this can create tension and stress in the horse because it is not confident in the conversation. As a learner, this is not helpful because the horse loses confidence in itself.

The result of this is the horse starts to make mistakes. If it is unlucky, it's rider will apply more pressure and potentially punish the horse for not understanding the question. Of course, it is the rider who has made the mistake by skipping bits of the horse's understanding.

If there is stress and anxiety, we can often revisit the smaller pieces of the puzzle and rebuild them again to show the horse the same thing a different way. This is how we can help horses become better learners. If we teach things systematically and are prepared to go back and check that the horse truly understands what is being asked, he will trust it's rider and grow as a learner.

12/12/2022

I am working with a client at the moment with a very energetic horse who tends to say no as soon as you start the conversation. Being the type of horse he is, he has plenty of energy to put into this! We have discovered that he is not very confident about learning new things, which is likely to be one of the root causes. Changing environments also causes his emotions, and therefore his behaviours, to escalate.

His owner recently asked me if as his attitude to learning improves, is it likely to help him with his anxiety. Here’s my thoughts on that.

“Horses tend to get anxious to varying degrees in five general areas – self-confidence or lack of it, the environment, as a learner, in his leader and among other horses.

Presently, he finds learning stressful because he is not confident in himself as a learner and we also know that new environments trigger stress in him as well. As you progress with him and he learns that there’s a process we are following, he will become more sure of himself and also in you, as you will become a person who is creating stability in his life. Once we get these things more solid, you will be able to take him to new environments and have the same conversations, as well as having the strategies to handle any emotional issues that arise for him.”

10/12/2022

Ex-racehorse Lula has been doing really well. We've progressed to trotting this week. This video was the first time she has been trotted with a rider for at least two years and it was a bit hesitant from both of us. We've trotted quite a bit more since then and it was a non-event (my favourite!)

06/12/2022

Working smarter, not harder 😍
Please excuse the mud 🤣

03/12/2022

A big well done to Sarah and her horse Ozzy for finding some nice moments of canter today 😊
Ozzy has been a tricky horse and Sarah has had to take the questions back to lots of small wins to get Ozzy on side so that he would actually offer forwards. Too much pressure and he (literally) left the conversation.
I love getting sent videos like this 😍

02/12/2022

It's cold. It's dark. We're all tired. There's plenty of mud, most of which is on your pony. It's easy to get despondent. So here's something to cheer you up...
Only 20 days until the shortest day of the year! 🎉
Keep going. If you are not reaching your goals, make them smaller. But don't give up!

24/11/2022

Lula's session went really well today. We progressed to walking some circles and playing with moving the forequarters. I finished with moving her hindquarters and she got a bit stuck moving away from my left leg. You will see in the video that I have a choice - stay on and escalate the pressure or get off and check the understanding on the ground. I choose the latter as it's less stressful for both of us. Once I'd checked it a few times, I was able to get back on and ask her again. As you can see, she responded straight away, so I called it a day.
We have a bit of stickiness with going forwards but I will look at that next time.

22/11/2022

Ex-racehorse Lula had her second session with mounting today. It didn't take her long to figure out where to stand for me to get on. She's such a smart horse and a very fast learner. This video shows the end of the session, where I was able to get on straight away.

18/11/2022

Not posted much recently as I've been busy helping lots of horse lovers developing the bond with their equine partners 😍 today, I had the honour of helping the lovely Lula accept a human on her back after 2+ years off work. She was absolutely brilliant. Lula used to be a racehorse so we suspect standing for mounting wasn't really a thing. We will progress with this slowly so she knows it's important.

01/11/2022

Very much an on the ground day today, dodging showers 💦

25/10/2022

Bit of a longer video showing both my boys ba****ck and bridleless. Shaun the old pro feels like a sedate Bentley - the buttons work just nice and smooth. Hugo feels like a Porche with too much over steer on the back end and buttons that overreact everytime you touch them (mostly that was me thinking I wanted to do something and he did it straight away 🤣)

30/09/2022

A bit of enrichment for my boys after their treatment with Kara Burrows Equine & Human Bowen Therapy - the bark on the willow has aspirin properties 🤗

10/09/2022

A lovely group to finish off my summer clinic series

29/08/2022

Something to get your teeth into summer ends. It's open to non-members, low-cost & gives a good focus moving into autumn 😊

TREC GB are launching a new Summer Challenge for all TRECcies, which will run alongside all our usual summer activities. This Challenge is primarily about taking part and achieving – winning is a bonus! The format is based around TREC Bingo which was developed by Gina King, who has kindly allowed ...

20/08/2022

A few shots from the obstacles clinic today. The last one of the season is Saturday 10th September. Message me for a space.

16/07/2022

One of my lovely client's horses who I work with. She's a smart, playful mare who takes a while to focus but tries so hard.

13/07/2022

Was thinking about doing a weekly questions session. Does anyone have any burning questions? Remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question 😊

12/07/2022

Please, please consider how you work your horses this week and into next week. Some basic tips:
- Make sure horses have shade and water at all times.
- It takes a few weeks for horses to acclimatise to really hot weather.
- Only really fit, healthy horses are likely to be able to cope with 'normal' work in this weather.
- Consider whether you should be travelling to shows or training this week. Many organisations have already made the sensible decision and cancelled events due to welfare concerns.
- Please look at the advice from experts - check out The British Horse Society and Dr David Marlin for sound advice.

Please share this!

In consultation with my clients, many of my sessions have been rearranged for earlier in the day or postponed until the weather cools off. Safety and welfare is the most important thing.

12/07/2022

Grateful to clients to be able to get out early

10/07/2022

Just to let you know that next Saturday's Confidence Afternoon at Flaxbourton has been postponed for a few weeks.
As you know, I am always in it for the horse and in discussion with booked attendees, it was agreed we would rearrange this clinic for another weekend when we weren't in the middle of a heat wave.
I know some coaches would carry on regardless and I totally understand why, but I am very fortunate to be in a position where I can question whether it will be a fun and positive experience for horse and human, particularly in relation to travelling horses in such weather.
I will post a rearranged date once it has been organised in case anyone else wants to join.
Stay safe this week. If anyone needs any advice on horse hydration, please visit Dr David Marlin , who is a leading expert on the matter.

25/06/2022

Well that's me done for a week or so. I've got some time off for ponies and family.

This afternoon, my obstacles went on tour. These two lovely pairs had lots of fun and learning - and we even missed the rain showers 😁

19/06/2022

My second Confidence Afternoon took place yesterday, which was fully booked. Everyone did a great job with their horses, ensuring each group had a relaxed and calm environment.
The next session is 16th July - there are still spaces available for this. WhatsApp or PM me for details.

05/06/2022

Wanted on behalf of a client:

5-star home waiting for the right horse - for hacking / riding club activities
Must be good in traffic
15.2+
Preferably no TBs
Age - preferably below 10
Loan or buy considered

Please comment below or PM.

04/06/2022

It's been a busy week and it's easy to get swept up in daily life. I had some sad news yesterday from a really lovely person and it reminded me of the importance of enjoying our wonderful ponies while we can.
Shaun, as ever, spots the camera for a selfie 🤷🦄