Wishing all my horse and human clients a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for trusting me and allowing me to be part of your journey. I look forward to the New Year has to offer.
I will be back on the 3rd of January.
Merry Christmas 🎄
The value of checking the basics and one rein riding. As we progress and get more refined with our aids it can be great to check if our horse really understands what the leg and body position means without two reins that we use to shape. Here we are looking at hq turns, haunches in, shoulders in, leg yield, stop and back up. I know you can’t see what we are doing but you can see the position George is in. I love his ears checking in with me.
Pip joining in when I was playing with George at liberty 😅
Little miss Pip getting a feel for what a stick tastes like. A little prep for the bit in the future. She seems to prefer this to a carrot 😅
Little miss Pip had the vet and the podiatrist out during the past week. Prep will make it easier for the horse to understand and to know how to respond to those situation. Pip has already a lot of handling from her breeder that made the experience with the podiatrist easy and relaxed. Setting up the young horse for them to learn and build confidence in the human and in their ability as a learner will make their life as a partner more enjoyable and successful. Nothing worse than having to dread the vet, podiatrist, dentist, loading etc. Whilst they are so curious and absorb so much, make the most of it.
Lovely moment after our third ride with Poppy. We have spent so much time and patience for her to find the moment where riding can be a pleasure and, most importantly, where both horse and human can be partners 😊
Lovely Dyme is starting to find a more relaxed and confident walk. Moving forward is no longer a closed door but somewhere to go.
Lovely Blue wearing the bareback pad for the second time. He has gotten more confident in all gates and both directions. He is such a fun little horse
Helping this lovely boy to find some more relaxation whilst being mounted. Doing something more than once offers the horse better understanding about what is to come next and they can get more prepared. We tend to just get on or off to ride but do we check in how the horse feels about that?
Horses like a purpose. I think George has found his job- collecting feed buckets 😅
I don’t think these moments are captured often, I would say it’s perfect timing. A perfect moment of my session with Blue. He felt truly connected, seeking that place next to me. It is amazing what can happen when you set it up for the horse to find it. Allowing the horse to explore and make sense of it, so it can come from his desire.
He is going to be such a fun partner 🥰
Lovely day teaching. I always feel privileged when owners trust me to play with their horses.
Here is Poppy doing some processing after some liberty play, getting the drive and draw balanced.
It is such a pleasure playing with her, the conversation is so rich and the flow of energy is magical.
A little something George and I have been playing with. It’s after our session, so it’s showing more what he makes of what I ask, rather working on things. George and I have been playing with the bow for about 2-3 months, on and off, for about 10 minutes at a time. It’s a great examples for when it comes to building physical confidence and strength, allowing him to figure out where and how to place his body. It has been a week since he has started to offer to go deeper and place his leg on the ground. I found the key was to reward the thought. He offered it when he was ready, it was his process enabling to have more understanding. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, little progress and the horse’s confidence is more important than just achieving it.
Have in mind what you want the goal to feel and look like, reward any pieces that are part of you final picture
Out of 2020 and into 2021 like this ....🐎🐎
Happy New Year 🥳
Lovely Blue and Julie exploring the early stages of long reining, using one rope and the stick to direct the nose and feet, also adding in a pattern- follow the rail which will make riding in the arena much easier as Blue will understand that it is part of his responsibility to stay on the rail.
It is interesting how natural it is to a horse to stay on a path, something I have noticed with our horses on the track, there is one path they stay on
George and I had a beautiful ride on the beach yesterday, perfect weather. What did you get up to with your horse?
I had an amazing day teaching yesterday, I left on a high after each session, not more I could ask for.
Julie is doing a fantastic job with her lovely horses. Here she is asking Poppy to back over a pole. This horse just to be tense, anxious and needed to just move to feel fine. Now she is a proud, confident and curious horse that is approaching everything new with an open mind, seeking connection.
Now is what makes what I love doing so amazing. Second time practicing circles, first time on a 22ft line. Poppy has a great neutral, trusting Bella and Bella is doing a fantastic job maintaining gait and direction.
They are progressing so well.
Poppy and Bella are making it look easy but it requires communication and understanding.
❤️❤️
