Anna Vickery Equitation

02/10/2024

Shanti

01/10/2024

Another amazing 4 days of teacher training completed.
Thank you to everyone involved that made it such a success. Naturally Light Equitation
Shanti just got better and better and absolutely put everything she had into this clinic. Beyond the brilliant training, thank you Catherine Marshall, it really was so heart warming to see and feel Shanti so at ease in her body and mind. It has been a long and bumpy road with this mare and I can finally say that she truly feels amazing atm.
We have lots of homework to focus on over the next 4 months and I really hope with her increased mobility through lateral work we can continue to improve her strength, balance and relaxation, especially in the canter which is still very tricky.
Perhaps, there is now a sparkle of hope that she will be able to complete the course with me?! 🤞🙏
Rosie Bensley Equine
Rachel Scott Hayward
Sarah Holland-Villa
Jen Mitchinson
Rebecca Sayward

28/09/2024

Almost at the end of Day 3 teacher training.
It’s gone too quickly.
Inspiring to see the horses and the positive changes in them.
Shanti has exceeded all my expectations once again.

Feeling so lucky to have such a great team at home running the yard, keeping the horses safe and loved.
And to my gorgeous husband keeping the kids safe and loved so that I can pursue my dream of becoming a licensed instructor of the school I have been obsessed with for many, many years.

04/09/2024

UK Foundation Instructor Training is fast approaching! Book a spectator place!
26th-29th September
https://legerete.co.uk/index.php/product/book-a-spectator-place-foundation/

This will be my fourth clinic with Shanti, my 7-year-old, 16hh warmblood. I've owned Shanti for nearly two years.

Shanti has taught me the importance of trusting your instincts when buying a horse and not being swayed by a beautiful face. When I first saw her, Shanti seemed to tick all the boxes. After viewing numerous broken or over-schooled youngsters, hearing that Shanti had only been used for hacking by her elderly owner felt like music to my ears.

Although she appeared sound, I had some lingering concerns. Her back was incredibly tense to the touch, she rushed off at the mounting block, and was "girthy" when being tacked up. But did I mention her beautiful face?!

To be thorough, I decided on a full vetting, including a full set of X-rays, instructing the vet to vet her as if she were heading to Badminton next week. She passed with flying colours, and the X-rays were clear. I pushed my niggling concerns aside, convincing myself that her issues were likely due to a poorly fitting saddle and rushed training.

As soon as Shanti arrived, she completely shut down. After a week of being unusually quiet, ignoring other horses and barely noticing us humans, the aggression started. My grooms quickly became reluctant to handle her. Simple tasks became unsafe. We discovered she was riddled with pyloric ulcers, marking the beginning of a painful and costly journey. Three rounds of treatment followed by short remissions and severe rebound effects became the norm. We exhausted every diagnostic option—blood tests, genetic testing, scans—you name it, we checked it, but everything came back normal.

At the beginning of this year, after many lameness workups, my vet finally discovered osteoarthritis in her lumbar facet joints in four places (not visible on pre purchase X-rays), as well as in C6/C7 (X-ray taken from 45c angle) and very mild OA both front coffin joints (missed on pre purchase x-rays). Despite all this, she remained sound even with gait analysis. While heartbreaking, it was also a relief to finally identify the problem and know there were treatments available to help her.

Shanti is an intelligent powerful mare who has learned to run on the forehand to escape the pain in her lumbar spine. At the start, she was incredibly heavy in my hands, and working with her in-hand was almost impossible. Even the static flexions were a battle and once she was high and light she would then brace her neck and refuse to let go and extend. Her downward transitions were and still are her nemesis. Happy to trot around with a long neck but refusing to give her back and take the contact, neck extension has always felt like a somewhere and nowhere position for shanti. If I ever did get that magical feeling of release into true neck extension she would very quickly speed up after a few strides and run away with me, often by cantering the wall of death. Balance and relaxation as been our mantra.

The Legerete program has slowly and mindfully taught Shanti to be lighter and move with more balance, simply being in better balance has helped her anxiety about being ridden. Over the past year, her posture has completely transformed.

In the last few months, Shanti has been going from strength to strength. She lives out, follows a solid program of core stability stretches with lots of hacking. Slow, high, and light walk work combined with short and stead moments of neck extension in trot has undeniably helped her reprogram her basic movement patterns.

While there's still some resistance in canter, and especially the trot-to-canter transition, I am happy to say that we are cantering most days. There is still much work needed to be done with her canter. Her lateral work is also improving, she is less braced, less rushed and generally seems more mobile and flexible, rather than sitting on a block of wood!

It's taken a year to get where we are today, and in many ways, it feels like we're just beginning. But there's something very special about Shanti, which keeps me with her. We’re navigating this journey together, and I truly believe that the Legerete program is the only approach systematic and mindful enough to give Shanti the best chance for a strong, successful, and happy ridden life.

21/08/2024

Lessons resume on the 5th September 🙏

18/08/2024

Edit: Space taken.
Potential livery space available for laminitic pony or grass sensitive pony.

02/08/2024

I wrote this
I hope u all enjoy it and learn more about shoulder-in and its benefits for the horse.

22/07/2024

Save the date
26th - 29th Sept
Ecole de Legerete
UK Foundation Teacher Training

19/07/2024

# this slot has now been taken. Thanks to all who got in contact 😊

Rare Lesson slot available around Hickstead area and towards Wivelsfield green next Thursday 25th July.
Please contact me if you would like book in. 🙏

25/06/2024

Watch Freddie a 5 year old warmblood in for starting with his owner Ellie on board… it’s his 5th ride in the school and 2nd ever time off the lunge. How amazing is he?!
3 low flying helicopters and he wasn’t fazed in the slightest. I can’t take any praise for his incredible nature and grandpa attitude to life. Ellie has worked tirelessly on his ground work preparing him for this moment.
It is an absolute pleasure working with students who are dedicated to the emotional wellbeing of their horses just as much as their physical….

Freddie is a real dude! 😍

24/06/2024

Shoulder-In on my beautiful homebred Noah.
Time and patience has unlocked his mobility and suppleness.
Being over 18hh and loooong has made lateral work incredibly challenging for him.
Consistant, careful classical training has been our answer combined with a lot of hacking and fun to keep him feeling positive about being a riding horse.
There is no faking it on a horse of his size!
No gadgets, no harsh bits, no rushing, no skipping past essential steps.
It takes time….

18/06/2024

Congratulations to Jane and Timmy! Jane Walker

I have had the pleasure of working with Jane for around 3 years.
She is a skilled rider with an avid thirst for knowledge around correct classical work. Her beautiful gelding Tim was once a bundle of stress and frustration having come from the showing world pre Janes ownership. Tim's early training was consistently behind the vertical in all manners of side and draw reins. He was likely drilled in the school and would offer canter in the only way he knew how (think showing schooling figures).

Tim also has the quickest spook and can still be incredibly sharp to ride, especially in the school. What he sometimes lacks in safety, he makes up for in intelligence and attitude to learning.

With lessons tailored around his strengths and weaknesses, he has become stronger, calmer and an excellent example of the systematic training of the French classical system (ECOLE DE LEGERETE).

Tim is now proficient in all his lateral work in walk and trot. He is starting counter canter work which is really helping to develop his true canter.

We have spent a long time developing Tim, nothing has been rushed. His biggest obstacle in his progression has without doubt been his tendancy to over-flex and throw his entire weight onto his forehand from his previous training.

Every lesson starts and ends with a conversation around trusting Janes Hands and allowing him to feel confident to gently take the contact rather than avoiding it. This lesson is repeated in all gaits and all levels of movement from laterals to collection and above all, lots of neck extension focusing on a clear contact with Tim's nose forwards and out.

Very proud of them both!

07/06/2024

Where has the week gone?!
I'm 5 days home from 5 days away training on the Ecole de Legerete Instructor course.
So many light bulb moments for me and Shanti. Some difficult moments too, working out what works and what does not for her continued development.
It's an emotional journey rehabilitating a horse. It's incredibly challenging to know when the time is right to ask for more.
Shanti was clearly stronger and more comfortable than 4 months ago which was lovely to feel.
She is such a giving and brave horse. I'd feel safe going into battle on her and I think she finally knows that she is safe in my hands.

Sadly my video didn't work properly and I only have a couple of photos of her this time.

Explanations on the photos.

Photos by Zoe Williams.

Huge thank you to everyone involved to making the training so successful.

31/05/2024

Here I am, training on Day two of Philippe Karl’s school of Legerete foundation instructor course.

If anyone is still interested in coming we are still going all weekend.

Do come along! We are a friendly bunch, cake and tea and good conversation promised!

Experience all kinds of horses being trained with respect, no auxiliary training aids, no conflicting aids, gymnastic classical training for the individual horse.
You will see the art of lunging, inhand and ridden lessons.

And get to see how and what your instructors learn!
😜

Preston capes
Pay on the door 🌅

22/05/2024

Back to training with Kat and my “baby” horse… 🙈😂
It’s such a privilege to ride him, even if he has been the hardest of my horses to train. Every small gain in balance and understanding feels like a huge achievement for us both.
This horse has been my greatest teacher, always helping me to strive to be a better trainer.

17/05/2024

My horse is part of my heart.
He is entwined with me in a bizarre but perfect way. It’s a strange kind of attachment and connection. But it’s powerful and very real and I simply do not know anything that matches it.
Some say we are crazy to trust our lives to an animal with very basic logic, horses are after all instinctive, reactive creatures. Yet we do trust. And that trust is repaid 1000 times over….
Today was a good day. I remembered the joy of being a kid with my pony again and any thoughts of training or working were a very long way away!

03/11/2023

Attention....
I have been inundated with emails, calls and messages looking for livery- Please be aware that our track is currently FULL. The only available area is the all weather turnout with field shelter that can have a track running from it in spring/summer months.

I wish I could take all your lovely horses on our track but we simply do not have the space or the man power! x

28/10/2023

East grins

Livery available - Nutley East Sussex
Huge double shelter, all weather gravel hard standing, water.
Netted post a rail fencing.
Suitable for 2/3 horses/ponies
Flexible Assisted livery am or pm to be discussed…

Would suit all horses but especially -
Laminitis types.
Horses that don’t cope well with traditional stabling over winter…
Restricted turnout for injuries.

We are a welfare driven, horse centred yard providing bespoke care and not cutting corners. Therefore, we are looking for kind people who are committed to doing better for their horses.

Price includes ad-lib hay
Simple systems forage based feed.

Price will depend on level of assisted required

This would be a separate area from main yard to be rented out for someone with multiple horses.

Please think about whether your horses will get along and will have similar requirements…

Use of Sandschool
And some summer grazing available if wanted direct from the area

Incredible hacking on the Ashdown Forest