Equestrian Focus

04/04/2024

Catching with an old friend today.
The lovely Banksy, who was a true gent and was very different today to when I last saw him!!
He has had a long and difficult life, but Lauren took him on in 2019 and with time and love he has completely turned it around.

Make sure you give them a follow to see how amazing these two are!! Team Banksy

01/04/2024

"Don't panic!"

Teach your horse not to panic, it's a vital lesson for them to learn.

It takes time but it's so good to know if your horse does find himself in a sticky situation, he will just stand and wait to be rescued.

Here in these two pictures Toby got in a sticky situation!! First one, he ripped his rug over night and the section hanging down was actually still attached the other side, with his tail caught in it. The second picture he managed to get leg over one of his stable guards. The yard staff said they couldn't believe how he just stood there, waiting to be untangled. You can even see the side eye!!! 🤠

17/03/2024

Patience is a virtue!

When teaching horses the one thing we should remember is patience.
Horses weren't born knowing how to take a rider, lunge or pick his feet up and that's something we often forget.

When training our horse, we can never get frustrated when they don't get it... They didn't get it, because they didn't understand the question, because we weren't clear enough.

There is no point getting frustrated, it solves nothing! In this video, it took Katie a few attempts to show Simon what she was asking him, but at no point did she show any frustration. She just corrected him, gave him the cue, and carried on. He soon gave the right answer and no one was anxious or stressed!!
Well done Katie and Simon 🤠

15/03/2024

Appreciation post for Cinch Up UK for these great inventions... Tail wraps!!! Best thing ever!! I use one every winter as it keeps the tail tidy and clean!!!

07/03/2024

I see a lot of people asking about calmers and gadgets to calm/control their horse, especially when hacking.

I used to be one of those people! Used a variety of calmers and tried a multitude of bits and nose bands. My horse wasn't "naughty" or bolted, he just became tense and would become worried when we met new things.

It wasn't until I moved to western training and found the magic that is ground work that made me realise my horse had zero confidence in me and didn't trust me with his life, so when he did get worried he would decide what to do, rather than turn to me for reassurance.

So before you ask about lotions, potions and gadgets, ask yourself if your horse trusts you with his life, and if the answer is no, then we can change this!!!

11/02/2024

Your reins are not your seat belt... If you can do this (obviously hold into the pommel if you have an english saddle) and let your horse move forwards!

09/02/2024

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=7133994190041051&id=100002916211977&sfnsn=scwspmo

10/12/2023

Treats...
Do you give your horse treats? Do you experience unwanted behaviour like nudging, mugging, pushing, pocket searching?

Why do we give treats? Remember when you were a little child, and you done well at school, your parents would give you a sweet as a treat.

So we, as humans, do the same with our horses. However... We don't need to! A horse doesn't want or need a treat for praise. They just want you. They just want you to be present with them, and be with them without expecting anything in return.

If I praise my horse, a scratch on the withers, or a rub on the forehead is the best way to say "well done".

No more treats, and lots more scratches!! 🤠

22/11/2023

Something I tell all my clients. A wither scratch means so much more to a horse.

Being patted is not in a horse's ethogram. This means that they are never patted (let alone repeatedly slapped) in their natural environment.

Wither area scratching and rubbing mimics mutual grooming, and is inherently rewarding for a horse, so choose a reward that is instantly lovely for your horse.

If you watch their demeanour as you do it, you'll see them relax into it.

So good to see that the Australian Pony Club is embracing lesrning theory into their teaching.

Now everyone else needs to catch up!

One interesting point raised from a commenter is that she desensitises her horses to patting, in case a well-meaning person approached and pats them. Good point!

09/11/2023

Relaxation

Here are 2 of my regular riders and their beautiful horses.

Both horses are complete opposites in personality and their attitude towards life.

Their owners have worked so hard is showing these ex-riding school horses that they do have choices and are allowed to express themselves.

Both horses are now learning how to relax, use their bodies and process new things.

Well done guys!! 🤠

08/11/2023

Remove the Pressure

One thing I have learnt over the years is the amount of pressure we put ourselves under.

We seem to tell ourselves that if we haven't done this or that, then are we any good?

The answer is YES, YOU ARE GREAT!!

You have taken on a huge responsibility, whether you ride once a week in a lesson, or own your own horse, you are a great person.

So what if you decide it's too wet or windy to ride. So what if you didn't canter today, or you decided to go for a slow plod around the fields instead of schooling in the arena. It doesn't matter.

Don't let anyone judge you as a rider and person. We are all worried about what other people think or what we look like when they watch us ride, and it's that sort of behaviour that can wreck your confidence.

Remember, all your horse cares about is that you communicate with him 🤠

07/11/2023

It's all about trust and letting go!

Letting go doesn't just let your horse stretch and open up, it shows them you trust them wholeheartedly!

As for the rider, it helps balance, trust, communication and not forgetting confidence!

Here are Hugo and Emma. Emma has struggled with self belief and knowing that she can do anything. Today, she fully trusted Hugo and let go!
You can also see how better her balance is, now she isn't relying on her reins.

Well done Emma and Hugo, massive achievement today 🤠

23/10/2023

Feedback

I love getting pictures from my clients, showing them something they have achieved... No matter how big or small that achievement is!!

This is Hugo who, last week, wouldn't go into the arena. Planting his feet and turning round for home.

Luckily for his owner, I was walking round the corner with my own horse at the time, so I helped her get Hugo refocused on her and walk into the arena. I then got her to do some groundwork, before hopping back on to finish her session.

The picture below is her walking around the arena on Hugo, after she casually walked in on her own, with no rejection from Hugo.

Its all down to communication 🤠

20/10/2023

CEO or Janitor

I often use these two people as examples when I teach.

CEO - This person is the leader. They monitor everything, make sure everyone is doing their job correctly, make sure the company is earning money and if anything goes wrong, they have to find the reasons why and fix it.

Janitor - This person doesn't worry about what others are doing. They don't worry about how much money the company is making and don't need to stress if something goes wrong. They are followers, they just do whatever jobs they are asked to do.

Horses make rubbish CEO's. They can't make important decisions and won't handle the pressure of running a company.

Horses just want to be Janitors. They are happy when someone tells them what to do and when to do it. They want an easy life.

Horses may think they would make a good CEO (leaders), but we know they won't.
Horses make excellent Janitors (followers) and it's down to us to remind them 🤠

11/10/2023

Spending time with your horse

How often do you sit quietly in your horse's stable or paddock, and expect nothing of him?

Yes, we are with them when we groom, tack up and ride, but I mean just being with them, like in a herd.

This is a great way to learn how to live in the moment. Rest our mind from the day to day hassle, empty our thoughts, and enjoy being in our horses company.

When I spend time with my horse, I don't expect anything from him, I don't expect him to stand with me, but if he does, that's his choice to be with me.

Sometimes, you might even get a few extras join in on the relaxing moment 🤠

10/10/2023

Black and White vs Grey

When training horses, you cannot be grey in any areas, you must be black and white.

What I mean by that is make sure you are clear with questions and rewards.

Imagine talking to your horse on a mobile phone, and it starts going crackly and the connection keeps fading.... That's grey communication. Your horse isn't too sure what you are asking, or if their answer is correct.

When this happens, you cannot and should not blame the horse for getting it wrong... He didn't get it wrong, he just didn't understand or hear you!

If you want your horse to answer a question correctly, make sure you ask them clearly 🤠

04/10/2023

To all my clients and followers...

“I was scared today.

I was scared to get on, scared to walk out the yard because I had a bad ride the day before. One bad ride, and it made me scared.

I didn’t know why. I’ve had 1000 bad rides. I’ve had 1000 falls. I’ve broken bones and bruised my pride on countless occasions, but today I was scared.

Why? Because confidence is fragile. It takes months and years to build and seconds to lose and yet we are so careless with it.

When we get on a horse, we wear a hat to protect our head. We wear body protectors, gloves, boots...

We pay so much attention to protecting ourselves physically, we forget that our minds are not invincible, and our confidence certainly is not.

Your bank of confidence needs regular deposits, not just from others... but from you. Self confidence is the most valuable currency in life.

When you go to get on, and you hesitate, you falter and you start to ask yourself “can I do this?”, chances are, your account is almost empty.

Every time you laugh and say “oh no, I’m no good” or “so and so is 10x better than me”, you make a withdrawal from that account, and before you know it, your account is empty and you’re scared to get on.

But every time you say “I’m really pleased with how that went” or “I think I rode that really well”, your balance increases.

We need to learn to give ourselves a break, pat ourselves on the back and allow ourselves to feel proud of where we are - after all, most of the time we’ve worked bloody hard to get there!

Recognising your strengths is just as important as recognising your weaknesses. Never allow yourself or anyone else to empty that account.

Confidence is valuable, don’t bankrupt yourself.”

Author- cromwellandlucy

02/10/2023

Confidence

Teaching children how to have the confidence to move their pony on the ground is so important.

Horses thrive on a confident leader, who they can trust and follow, no matter what they come across in their life.

They are also never too old to learn how to trust their young humans.

This is Strawberry being led by his new human. He is an ex riding school pony who is well into his 20's. Over the last few weeks he has really come out of his shell and is showing lots of trust and confidence in his little human 🤠

26/09/2023

Step by step...

Have you ever been at work, and someone asks you to write an email... Then at the same time, someone else asks if you can file something... Then a third person asks if you can take a call?

It all gets a bit much trying to prioritise it all and you feel like your brain will explode!

Now imagine riding your horse in the arena, asking him to pick up trot, go on a circle, soften through his topline and then pick up a canter all within a few seconds. Just like us, some horses struggle with multitasking and need time to organise themselves without added pressure.

I'm not saying horses can't multitask, just some need longer to learn how to without panicking.

Just taking the time to ask your horse each question, one at a time rather than all at once helps him keep calm and achieve each task. Eventually you can start asking him to bring all the questions together, and give one great answer 🤠

24/09/2023

Horse peoples commitment to believing dominance theory / “Alpha” theory despite the lack of evidence showing it to be a real thing is an incredible thing to watch.

There is currently very little, if any, evidence suggesting that horses have a static herd hierarchy in natural environments and that even IF they did, that said hierarchy would apply to how they view humans.

Much of what is viewed to be attempts of asserting dominance in domestic horse herds is actually resource guarding.

A horse guarding a PERCEIVED lack of resources, this does not mean that the resource actually has to be lacking

Reduced space, infrequent hay feedings, environmental frustration and general stress can increase the aggression we see in domesticated horses.

In feral herds, horses don’t spend much time engaging in aggressive behaviours because such behaviours are expensive physically and risk injury.

Even in instances where feral stallions are actually fighting, it isn’t an attempt to be the “alpha.” It is attempt to protect and/or secure resources such as breeding rights to mares, space etc.

Dominance theory is used by humans to label horse behaviour as “naughty” or “disrespectful” which is then often used to justify use of physical punishment.

The issue with this is that much of the behaviour we label as dominant behaviour from horses towards humans stems from fear, frustration, confusion, pain and general stress.

Escape behaviours are merely a horse trying to evade an undesirable situation, not an attempt to exert dominance.

Horses are natural peace makers and would generally prefer to not put up a fight.

But, so much of horse training in the human lens involves disciplining fear based behaviours, creating more fear and then blaming the horse for responding with stress.

We create the very types of environments that make it more likely to see what we perceive as “dominant” behaviours and then blame the horse for it.

The vast majority of undesirable domestic horse behaviours are directly caused by, or at least contributed to by, human influence.

So, it’s about time we reflect inwardly, get with the times and accept the fact that research doesn’t support the idea of dominance theory.

The level of attachment people experience with this theory despite the lack of evidence I think speaks for how desperate many of us are to justify our use of force in horse training.

Communication and partnership will get you a lot further with horses than dominance, despite what much of traditional horse training may have taught you 🤠

21/09/2023

Trigger Stacking... What is it?

Think of a glass of water. Each time your horse experiences something that worries him (known as a stressor), that glass fills a little with water.
Imagine multiple stressors putting water into that glass, eventually it will overflow.... And that's when your horse reacts.

Now imagine one day you get your horse in from the field and he's wet as it's been raining (stressor 1), you then tack him up and without you realising the girth pinches his skin (stressor 2). You get on and start hacking down the road. A dog walker approaches and their dog barks at your horse (stressor 3). Your horse spins, bucks and bolts.

Most would think it's the dog that caused the reaction, but actually it's all the stressors stacking up to the point when your horse can't cope.

Learning your horses triggers and being able to show him how to cope is key.

Today, whilst riding my own horse, the gardener wanted to remove overgrown plants by the arena fence. Years ago I wouldn't have even put myself in that situation, knowing my horse wouldn't have coped. But today, I told the gardener to carry on as normal, and even though Toby was looking at him, I was able to help him stop his glass from over flowing and he coped amazingly well 🤠

18/09/2023

Just be present... That's all your horse asks from you 🤠

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=784735270322021&id=100063566648158&sfnsn=scwspmo

Horses Don’t Wear Watches
And they’re not real fond of shoes
And they rarely look at Facebook
And they never watch the News
But they always know the time of day
And you might well ask how
So if you asked one what the time was
It’d simply say “Its NOW “..

You see NOW is when they eat the grass
And NOW is when they drink
And NOW is when they feel that breeze
And NOW is when they think
And NOW is when they buck you off
Cos you weren’t paying attention
And NOW is when they’ll break your leg
and put you on a Pension ..

So if you’re hanging round with horses &
If You’d like things to be pleasant
Then put your bloody phone down
And just try being present!!

Horsezenship.com

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Lukethoma

16/09/2023

Ground Tying

Teaching your horse to ground tie is such a valuable skill for them to learn.

It teaches them that even though you are not near them, they can still trust you.

If you want to poles out in the arena, pick up a knocked down jump or even open a gate in a field on a hack, knowing you can ground tie your horse and trust he stays there is amazing.

It's very simple to teach a horse this skill and it doesn't matter what discipline you do with your horse 🤠

10/09/2023

The best trainer for your horse is YOU!

Believe it or not, training your own horse is the best way to build that trust and relationship.

I really love showing people that they CAN train their own horse, with help and guidance.

Watching owners get those light bulb moments with their horse and seeing the communication open up between them is so heartwarming and it's why I do what I do.

Message me if you want to learn how to communicate better with your horse 🤠

07/09/2023

How does doing groundwork with your horse help you?

Being able to control your thoughts, be more mindful and focus on the present not only helps your horse relax, it can also help you relax and calm any anxiety.

To be able to communicate with your horse you need a calm mind, otherwise it won't benefit either of you.

We all have good and bad days, even horses have them, so if you've had a mad hectic day at work, making sure your mind is calm is so important.

Don't worry if you can't manage it every time, it takes time to learn how to control your thinking. Eventually you will learn how to shut down those "what if" thoughts and when you do, EVERYTHING is possible with your horse 🤠

05/09/2023

Would you like to understand more about communication between you and your horse?

Book a lesson with me and I will help you both start a journey of trust and understanding what being present with your horse means.

I know how it feels to lose confidence not only with my ability but also with my horse. It's the most debilitating feeling in the world BUT it's a feeling that you can control and move on from... TRUST ME!! I am here to help 🤠

Lessons from £25* for one hour
*Travel costs may apply

Your journey can start by popping me a message.