Being With Horses

20/05/2024

Fun in the sun a couple of weeks back
🌊🌞 🌊
Rod Red

09/04/2024

Annually the Kaimanawa herd is reduced to 300 by aerial mustering. KLF is committed to supporting the successful placement of excess horses.

15/03/2024

Before backing your young horse, please read -

I wrote the first version of this post many many years ago now, every spring I tweak it, update it and reshare as owners are beginning to think about starting their youngsters. It has been stolen thousands of times, usually without the image, which irritates me as Naomi’s image was my inspiration to write this piece and I feel the words lose a lot without it, so please share rather than steal.

There are strange tables around that lead the reader to think horses age more quickly when they are young and slower as they get older. There is no evidence to support this. Why would the horse be the only animal in the world that ages in a non-linear manner? It doesn’t even make sense. It is an excuse for impatient owners to justify working their immature horses.

Sitting on a horse before they are mature is risking kissing spine, especially if the horse is not conditioned slowly. Sending a horse away as a 3 year old to go from unbacked to ridden daily in 6-8 weeks is a recipe for disaster. Riding in circles on 3 year olds damages the hocks. Jumping large jumps on 4 year olds is asking for stifle injuries. Pounding the roads pulling traps with 2 year olds damages every joint in their legs. Any joints asked to take excess pressure before maturity increases the risk of irreparable damage. Perhaps a young horse puts down more long bone in response to work, but a child heals quicker than an adult, it’s no excuse to cause them damage. An adult is still fully capable of adapting to the work load, just slower, without the collateral damage to the rest of the body.

For every horse that is backed at 3 and lives a long working life until they are 30, I can show you thousands, tens of thousands that are euthanised before they hit their teens because their bodies are broken. The exception makes the rule.

Now for the post -

A horse ages roughly 3 times faster than a human.

So a 90 year old human is a 30 year old horse. Both very old, usually arthritic, don’t have many of their original teeth left, and very likely retired and enjoying the finer things in life.

A 25 year old horse is a 75 year old human. Some are still happily working but some prefer retirement and an easier life. Often depending on just how hard a life they’ve lived.

A 20 year old horse is a 60 year old human. At that point where the body doesn’t work like it use to but the brain is all there and wants to be active.

A 13 year old horse is a 39 year old human. Middle aged, prime of their life where their knowledge and physical ability are about equal.

So let’s get down to the babies and work our way up.

A 1-1.5 year old horse is getting their first adult tooth, this happens at 6 years old in a human child.

A 3 year old horse is a 9 year old child. A child. Not ready for work by a long stretch. We have moved past sending children down the mines.

A 4 year old horse is a 12 year old child. Often will do odd jobs for pocket money, maybe a paper round, mowing lawns etc. Basically a 4 year old horse can start a bit of light work experience to learn the ropes.

A 5 year old horse is a 15 year old teenager. Think they know it all, cocky, and ready to up their work and responsibilities. Still quite weak and not fully developed so shouldn’t be at their physical limit but can start building strength.

A 5.5 year old horse has just cut their final adult tooth, this happens at 17 years of age in a human.

A 6 year old horse is an 18 year old human. An adult. Ready to work.

An 8 year old horse has achieved full fusion of their final growth plates. This happens at 24 years of age in a human. This is the age it is safe to push a horse for their optimal performance.

Pushing your youngster too hard too young will result in the failure of many body parts. Joints, spine, tendons, ligaments as well as their brains. Waiting another year or two at the beginning could give your horse an extra 10 years of useful working life. Be patient with your pride and joy!

Written by Vikki Fowler BVetMed BAEDT MRCVS

Graphic credit to Naomi Tavian , check her out on Pinterest

06/03/2024

There are so many great and valuable things you can do with your youngster, way before starting them under saddle...

It builds a wonderful bond between the two of you and allows them to aquire a good range of skills, so don't wait to do stuff with your youngster until you want to ride them.

Here's a couple of pictures of Nahani (yes she's a youngster, still under 2.5 years, just huge 😁) becoming a pro at wearing the soaking boots.

Very handy when the ground has been super dry to hydrate the hooves and also make trimming easier. And of course in case of an injury you can easily soak and treat feet, so lots of good uses.

06/02/2024

Swimming the horses to exercise them is a great alternative in this beautiful hot weather 🌞😊🌞

18/06/2023

Working with Captain who has come a long way 🙂
Even though he's not a young horse I only just started riding him not long ago, so definitely yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks 😉

He's a good boy ❤

09/11/2022

Without further ado, the homefree 2023 calendar is here and ready to pre-order for one week only! Just $25 including postage for a whole year of pretty photos, or a great Christmas present for that adventure lover in your life 🎁

This year is a little different as Leg-Up Trust sadly closed down in September. So instead of fundraising for a different charity, I decided that all profits from this calendar will go directly towards feeding and caring for the remaining therapy horse herd from Leg-Up Trust, who are seeing out their days in the care of the founder Ros. I'm sure you'll all agree this is a good use of the funds raised!

Sprite is in this herd too as I still don't want to put her through the stress of trucking to the deep south where I live now, or sell her. The horses are only semi-retired though, still helping young people two days a week through a new program called Helping Children Thrive. Check it out here: www.helpingchildrenthrive.co.nz

How to order your calendar? Simply message this page with the number of calendars you want and your postal address, and I'll send you the bank account to deposit $$ into. Pre-orders will close next Wednesday the 16th November. Then the calendar goes away to get printed and within 2 weeks after that (early December) it will be winging its way to your letterbox 😊

How much you say? $25 per calendar, including postage anywhere in NZ. If you live rurally but have access to a town address it can be sent to, that would help keep postage costs down and maximum $$ going to the horses. International postage is available too for $5 extra.

Please, whether you buy a calendar or not, share this and further posts about the calendar for me to help beat those pesky algorithms and get the message out far and wide!

Thank you 🙏

16/10/2022

This is possibly the most important picture you’ll see today, or at least your horse might think so!

Tacking up seems like such a small part of our horsey routine but taking an extra few seconds to ensure your saddle is placed sympathetically makes a huge difference to your horses comfort and the outcome of your ride!

A saddle fitters job is to fit a saddle with even weight and pressure distribution that is stable, balanced and comfortable. By putting a well fitted saddle on either too far forward or backwards we lose these essentials.

One of the most common things I see is when saddles are hoiked up just a touch too far, a couple of inches usually. This will throw off the whole look of the saddles fit and can give the illusion of tightness, shoulder restriction, uneven panel contact and poor balance. I have another post coming shortly with tips for ensuring correct placement so be sure to keep an eye out for that one!

When a saddle is placed too far forward the points of the tree sit on the scapula, pinch, restrict movement and lose saddle stability which causes discomfort for the horse… In this scenario, do not use a breastplate to hold the saddle forward on the shoulder. The saddle will be moving/pushed by the shoulder as the horse moves. In most cases the saddle would only move back to its correct position with the points of the tree clearly behind the back of the scapula.

A saddle placed too far back will cause weight to be taken behind the horses saddle bearing area (past the 18th thoracic vertebrae into the lumbar region), instability or “rolling”, discomfort and pressure at the front of the saddle.

When the saddle is correctly fitted and positioned the horse will be able to move freely, work comfortably and the saddle will be both balanced and stable.

If you have any ideas for some more saddle fitting tips, please comment below!

Hope you’ve found this helpful,

Alice 💙

15/09/2022

We are teaching all aspects of horsemanship, which includes holistically caring for horses (diet, grooming, health maintenance, herd life...), educating about horse psychology and what motivates horses, communication on the ground/groundwork and also riding.

We can work and learn with one of my horses or I can come to you and support you in working and learning with your own horse.

I'm happy to help with young horses or help with any challenges like floating and such.

❤ 🐴 ❤

02/08/2021

Petitions are addressed to the House of Representatives and ask that the House do something about a policy or law, or put right a local or private concern.

29/01/2021

30/09/2020

30/09/2020

This is little Dallas doing some truck training...

What a cool dude!!!

Being with Horses is here to help you with:
Training of young horses
Float training
Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)
Body awareness exercises for the rider
Groundwork instruction, games and exercises
Riding instruction, games and exercises

04/09/2020

Here is beautiful Kya doing a bit of pole work.

Poles are great to increase focus and attention. They also help your horse to heighten their awareness of were they place their feet.

By changing the distance between the poles we can play with shortening or lengthening the stride of our horses 🙂

Being with Horses is here to help you with:
Training of young horses
Float training
Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)
Body awareness exercises for the rider
Groundwork instruction, games and exercises
Riding instruction, games and exercises

14/07/2020

This is Apache working on his balance and also canter transitions.

When horses are a little tight and need help with developing more flexibility, balance and transitions, it can be quite helpful to lunge them to help them build they muscles they need.

We want to make sure that particularly for the canter our horse is allowed to go on a big circle and use a full lunge line for that.

Cantering them on too small a circle, for instance just using a 12 foot training lead can cause damage instead of being beneficial.

Being with Horses is here to help you with:

Training of young horses

Float training

Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)

Body awareness exercises for the rider

Groundwork instruction, games and exercises

Riding instruction, games and exercises

08/07/2020

This is sweetheart Baby :) He's a 6 year old but only starting off in many ways as he has had a significant injury to his leg that has taken years to heal...

Here I introduced the feel of the saddle pad to him as well as the lunge rope on different parts of his body, like behind the withers, on the lower back, on the hindquarters...

He is also learning to be relaxed about the seeing the lunge rope moving when I gently flick it forward or backward on his back and also the sound it makes when it gets flicked on the pad...

All these things are a good preparation for one day a rider being on his back and him developing the capacity to stay relaxed and confident with different feels and seeing movement 'back there' 🙂

Being with Horses is here to help you with:

Training of young horses

Float training

Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)

Body awareness exercises for the rider

Groundwork instruction, games and exercises

Riding instruction, games and exercises

28/06/2020

17/06/2020

Beautiful Tao relaxing after a good session working on her canter leads :)

She strongly prefers the right lead but is getting better and better at the left lead now, getting it on the first go several times in a row! Yay!

And little Mia just being the big snuggle bug that she is :)

Being with Horses is here to help you with:

Training of young horses

Float training

Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)

Body awareness exercises for the rider

Groundwork instruction, games and exercises

Riding instruction, games and exercises

14/06/2020

Another lovely lesson with little Kya!

Checking out the roller here :)

It's so important to encourage our horses to look at things that could be a bit scary, to help them become more brave and less reactive or worried...

Being with Horses is here to help you with:

Training of young horses

Float training

Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)

Body awareness exercises for the rider

Groundwork instruction, games and exercises

Riding instruction, games and exercises

08/06/2020

Apache having a good snooze before our lesson ❤️

So nice seeing the horses being relaxed and feeling happy and safe...

Being with Horses is here to help you with:

Training of young horses

Float training

Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)

Body awareness exercises for the rider

Groundwork instruction, games and exercises

Riding instruction, games and exercises

27/05/2020

This is little Jade who is just coming up to 1.5 years 😀
We are practicing putting her feet into a hoof bath. She finds it a bit scary still and we will slowly help her to become more and more confident with it, once she realizes that it is safe...

At first she didn't want to even go near the bath, let alone smell it or touch it with her nose or feet. Step by step she has learned that she can drink out of it, play with the water with her lips and even dip her foot in it briefly. She is not quite brave enough to leave it in there yet, but that will come ❤️

Did you know:
Due to different structures of the eye, a horse doesn't posses the same depth perception as humans do. Therefore they actually can't judge if it is 10cm deep or 100 meters. Hence the initial apprehension...

Being with Horses is here to help you with:

Training of young horses

Float training

Body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)

Body awareness exercises for the rider

Groundwork instruction, games and exercises

Riding instruction, games and exercises

18/05/2020

Hi team,

we hope you have all arrived well in level 2 and look forward to picking up our lessons with you!

BEING WITH HORSES is ready to help you with

- training your young horses
- float training
- body work for the horse (stretching, flexing, bending)
- body awareness exercises for the rider
- groundwork instruction, games and exercises
- riding instruction, games and exercises

Take care and see you soon!

www.beingwithhorses.co.nz

08/03/2020

28/02/2020

Over the past two weeks we have been working with this beautiful wee filly to ensure she is comfortable, relaxed and confident in a float before her next adventure to a new grazing site. Often we are in a rush to put a horse in the float and transport them. This can be incredibly stressful and detrimental to a horse's well being and at times can lead to further issues down the track. Allowing time for processing, thinking and relaxation is integral for the well being of your horse.
If you would like help with float loading send us a message :)
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

14/02/2020

11/02/2020