Be Hopeful - Dog & Horse Training

27/10/2021

08/01/2021

Loose lead walking like a pro 💪

This dog found walking on lead soooo challenging. He loves to pull like a train, I mean who could blame him trying to get to those smells super fast. But my shoulder certainly didn’t thank him for it!

Loose-lead walking is a staple skill for me, alongside recall. And so this boy was a perfect project to try and turn a 25kg Hulk into the gorgeous floaty Lurcher you see loose lead walking here on a fairly fast moving and overwhelming road with some beautiful engagement too.

Using my epic Mendota Line too... wouldn’t know what I’d do without this lead. It’s like the most awesome piece of kit I own. I love it. Even if it can be a little long to curl up sometimes when walking (as demonstrated with me having to awkwardly hold it high up)... but I LOVE it and couldn’t be without 🙉

07/01/2021

Early morning winter training sessions listening to those gorgeous bird songs ❄️

Whilst I’m working on qualifying, and I’m sorting out all the ‘business-y’ bits of business, I’m going to use this account to document my training journeys with Hope, Sputnik and any other animals that fall into my lap!

This lil clip comes from a lovely early morning training session in the school with Hope. The light was gorgeous, and it was just a bit cold and frosty! Which I love!

I tend to start sessions in the school on the ground with Hope, and if she’s feeling up for it I’ll mount. If not we’ll just chill on the ground. There’s a lot of anxiety for her in the school, she’s on her own and often can’t see any other horses. So all I really want from her is relaxation.

She’s a busy thinker, so incorporating Targets (all the barrels!) and Poles work really well for her. They give her a visual focus and allow her to understand with clarity what I might be wanting from her.

You see here in this clip that we Target to the first barrel before a standard ‘walk with me’ over the poles which I set as fairly long walk strides, or short trot ones. The aim here was I wanted to really get her to extend her stride and push up and over the poles whilst maintaining a rhythm with me, before finishing on the last Target (just out of shot). This exercise is good for the mind and for the body!

After this I did hop on and do some simple trot steps through this set up, as well as popping them up to raised poles for a few repetitions at the end. Then we called it quits. Probably did no more than 20 minutes. It’s important for her to really feel in control of her sessions and I never push beyond where she is comfortable. The raised poles are hard work, physically and mentally. So once we achieved that, it’s time for a big jackpot reward and a good scratchy groom!

What sort of exercises do you do in the school with your horses? What other exercises like this do you think might work for your horses and ponies? Does your horse love or hate poles?

06/01/2021

My second team mate is this epic little Lurcher; Sputnik 💚

This guy. Where do I start. The rollercoster we’ve been on since I adopted him back in 2014 has rivalled that of Hope’s journey.

He’s the dog that made me fall in love with training, with behavioural science. He’s had his far share of trauma and fear and he didn’t handle it in optimal ways making his life fairly miserable.

He was just 6 weeks old when he was abandoned. And I saw him advertised for adoption one evening, the next day I’d gone picked him up and bought him home. The best impulse decision I ever made.

I have been on the best journey helping this dog overcome his anxiety and fear, and then getting to explore all corners of the UK with him at my side. He taught me that being a jack of all traits is not a bad thing... and is actually pretty special!

DNA tests show him as a Greyhound X Whippet X Saluki X Airedale Terrier X Parson Russel Terrier. And tbh that feels pretty accurate he’s both terrier and sighthound and he’s the best combination of both. He’s challenged everything I’d ever learnt about training dogs and he’s smashed every sighthound stereotype to smithereens.

He’s 6 years old now and his time to shine is only just beginning. Everyday with this dog excites me, he’s absolutely wicked and I’m so lucky to have him loyally at my side, always 💚

04/01/2021

What a cracking start to 2021, first the launch of this page and then I have just completed the final unit of my intermediate certificate with a result of 90% 🥳

Only a handful modules left to do now before I complete the full Diploma and can officially start taking on clients... it’s beginning to get a little bit exciting!

Thank you for all the support over the last few days, launching this was just a little bit terrifying but feeling very comforted having so many of you cheering me on. Thank you 🥰

03/01/2021

Before I kickstart sharing a bunch of training videos and pictures I wanted to introduce my two partners in crime. First up is Hope, my real life unicorn 🦄

I’ve owned Hope since she was a two year old and she’s taken me on the most amazing journey. Not all of it sunshine and rainbows but incredible none the same.

She’s a complicated little girl, much like me she struggles with over-thinking and worrying. She doesn’t want to make mistakes and for years this made her very fretful as she didn’t want to offer behaviour incase she was wrong. The more I’ve dedicated to training in a ‘force free’ way the more she’s grown and come out of her shell.

She is not just my heart horse, but my soul horse too. She knows everything within me before I know it myself. She has made me reflect on myself and question everything in ways I hadn’t done before. I owe a lot to this golden girl, she will never know quite how grateful I am.

Her full name is Honey Bee Hopeful (hint hint the business name), and she’s an 11 year old Thoroughbred X Warmblood. For all your thoroughbred fans she’s related to Man O War (I mean I guess all TBs are related in the end but it doesn’t make it any less cool)!

I hope that you fall in love with her by following her journey, because she is the sweetest, most puppy-like horse you’ve ever met. And I count my blessing everyday that I get to be her guardian 💜

01/01/2021

Hello everyone. This post will serve as a little introduction and welcome from me to my all new and exciting training page! ✨

So, hello! My name is Emily, I’m a 22-year-old horse & dog training in the South West of the UK. I am currently undertaking the final stage of my Canine Behaviour Diploma which will grant me a Cert.Dip.Prac.Canine qualification. I am also in the early stages of undertaking an Equine Behaviour Diploma which is equally as wonderful.

Although strictly speaking there are no certification standards for animal trainers in the UK, I will not be opening my doors to clients until I have qualified with my two Diploma’s respectfully. But I am looking to work with case-studies ‘clients’, if you are local to me and would like to work together - totally free of charge - as a way for me to further my education and put the training results together for my Diploma requirements I am always interested in hearing from you!

I follow LIMA training principles and I train with scientifically sound practices and compassionate methods that adhere to ethical standards to work with the animals: to hear what they are saying, understand what they are feeling and build a dialog between you and your beloved pets.

On my journey are my two epic sidekicks. Sputnik - the Lurcher, and Hope - the Thoroughbred. If you want to find out more about our crazy adventures then you can follow us on our personal Instagram account . They are my two bestest friends, and the greatest teachers I could ever have asked for. I am privileged to be apart of their lives - full intro posts for each of them will follow up shortly!

In the meantime before I qualify, this account will primarily share my training journey, tips and tricks for you guys, as well as addressing some deeper and more challenging themes like the ethics of training and animal husbandry as a whole. When I qualify I will add additional serves to this page; which I hope will include online training, in person 1-2-1s and groups for both dogs and horses.

I’m excited to have you onboard with my push into the animal training world and I look forward to seeing the journeys that you are on with you beloved animals 🤍