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Pegasus Farrier & Equine Services, Artesian Well Road NW, Calhoun, GA (2024)

07/07/2022

07/06/2022

“Your physiological state makes all the difference in the world to the horse. Horses can tell your heart rate and level of arousal from hundreds of yards away.” - Monty Roberts

07/06/2022

"It takes ten years learning how to sit on a horse without getting in his way. It takes another ten years learning how to influence the horse, and then a further ten years learning how to influence him without getting in his way!" ~ Unknown

— No wonder it takes so long to learn to ride. Maybe in another 10 years I'll start getting it figured out ‼️

05/25/2022

Montana has an old law that states if a student rides their horse to school the school principal must take care of the horse through out the day. Conrad High School Principal Mr. DeBruycker had his work cut out for him as 12 students rode their horses to school on Monday. https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/conrad-students-ride-horses-to-school

04/30/2022

On this day in 1945, a coalition of American and German soldiers work to save the famous white Lipizzaner horses from an advancing Russian army.

World War II was not yet over, but the mission united the two sides, if only for the moment.

“The 2nd U.S. Cavalry put a hold on the war for two days,” one American soldier later said, “while we extracted a sliver of culture for the rest of the world.”

None of it would have happened but for Luftwaffe Colonel Walter Holters. The desperate German officer came to 2nd Cavalry headquarters in southeastern Germany, near Czechoslovakia. He waved a white flag, but his was no ordinary surrender: Instead, Holters demanded to speak to the American officer in charge.

That man was Colonel Charles “Hank” Reed, and he was stunned by Holters’s story: The Germans were holding hundreds of purebred horses at a stud in Hostau, just inside Czech territory. Among these horses were all the brood mares for the prized Lipizzaner show horses.

These horses were normally housed at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, but the German high command had different plans: It intended to use the Lipizzaner mares as the base for a new warhorse. They were breeding (essentially) an A***n horse.

But now the Germans were going down in defeat, and the Russian army was advancing. The Red Army had already shot Lipizzaners at the Royal Hungarian Riding School. They’d turned those priceless horses into steak. Holters feared his horses could be next. Would Reed help?

The two worked out a deal: Holters would surrender information he possessed, and Reed would try to get the horses out. Importantly, Allied POWs were also at the stud, so both could be rescued simultaneously.

The plan received an unofficial blessing from General George Patton: “Get them. Make it fast.”

“Fast” would prove difficult. Others at the stud didn’t realize that Holters had gone for help. Emissaries went back and forth, but, in the end, a plan was made. Americans would fight their way into Czechoslovakia. The Germans at the stud would surrender as soon as Americans arrived.

Unfortunately, no one could control the more political arm of the German army, the Waffen-SS. In other words, no guarantees could be made about the trip to the stud. Americans would have to get there on their own.

The operation began on April 28 with an artillery barrage that blasted a hole in the German forward defenses. Just over 300 men went in with light tanks and armored cars. They fought their way through, village by village, until they came to the stud farm. There, those German officers surrendered, just as promised.

They did it in style, marching down the street, holding a white bed sheet between them.

But the hard part was yet to come. “They were eighteen miles behind German lines,” historian Mark Felton describes, “a tiny American island in a sea of German troops, connected to the Allied lines by a single long and thin umbilical road that for long stretches was barely protected.”

Complicating matters still more, it was foaling season. Transports had to be contrived for pregnant mares and foals. Worse, the Waffen-SS attacked and had to be fought off.

Indeed, logistical challenges kept delaying efforts to leave—at least until a Russian advance guard showed up on May 14. The window to escape was closing. The time to leave was NOW.

Horses, vehicles, and cavalry all left together. The convoy stretched for miles, and it took two days to make the trip—but they finally crossed into Germany.

Not only Lipizzaners, but also POWs and local refugees, had been saved.

“We were so tired of death and destruction,” Reed concluded, “we wanted to do something beautiful.”

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If you enjoy these history posts, please see my note below. :)

Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2022 by Tara Ross. I appreciate it when you use the shar e feature instead of cutting/pasting.

03/27/2022

The Heart of Science
by
Jean Luc Cornille

Once I was asked to help an autistic child riding a horse. The horse was a mare that someone in the stable graciously loan for the session. The autistic child was non-verbal with the reputation of having violent impulses of anger. In fact two male nurses came with the child and stayed in the ring to eventually “protect” me. The child had the facial expression of the grumpy cat, very intense an introverted. Once he was on the saddle, I placed myself in front of the mare for control and also because the only way we could communicate was body language. I did on the ground what I was expecting him to do in the saddle. I lifted my upper body opening my chest and he mimicked me. The mare responded immediately slowing her walk and coordinating her back. The facial expression of the child changed instantly. His grumpy face turned into a large smile. I was thinking, in fact he does have a beautiful face. His eyes were now wide open and their expression were like a language. He looked at me, looked at the horse incredibly happy that she felt him and responded positively and wondering if I saw it. The session became an astounding event. I faced right inviting him to turn right and he was ecstatic to feel the mare turning with him. I looked at the mare and she was very concentrated on the child and perfectly at ease. The child experimented right turn, left turn, halt, looking at me with an expression of total happiness. They were so much in tune with each other than I let them play just staying in front of the mare in case of possible reaction. The child was having a body or energy conversation with the mare. At times, he looked at me for help when the mare was not reacting as he expected. I did with my body the adjustment that he needed to do and his large smile came back as the mare responded.

The clinic was organized as a social event. It was cheeses and crackers and wine and champagne on the tables and the noise level of the many conversations was very loud. I noticed that soon it was complete silence. Everyone realized that they were witnessing an unusual event. This child and this mare were having a comfortable and friendly dialogue at a different level. The child had never rode a horse before. The mare was not trained for handicap riding. It was pure, peaceful and clear communication. The two male nurses had left the ring and one was crying.

The child and the horse talked to each other for a long time. The child was asking half pass at the walk mimicking my body language and the mare responded. Of course the mare knew the move. Of course it was not a perfect half pass. Of course it was at the walk, but the child had never rode. It was no aids, no cue. I moved my body as he should and he did and the mare responded.

Soon, the young boy showed signs of muscle fatigue and we ended the session He did not want to leave the mare and we continued with the work in hand. He was on the left side of the mare holding the reins and I was close from him helping eventually. Of course he needed some help but he had picked up the natural frequency of the mare and his move were soft and at the right cadence. The horse world tends to be satisfied with simple explanations and, since it is well known that sometime autistic persons develop unusual senses, the explanation for what they just witnessed was that he was autistic. The owner of the mare was one of the few ones realizing that it was a dialogue; it was a two ways conversation. Showing great intellectual modesty, the owner of the mare repeated, “I never saw her so confident. He did better with her than I ever did.” The father of the young boy was not a horse person at all, but he knew his son and realized that an important event had just taken place. He asked, “What happened?” I told him, “.More and more studies talk about frequency, vibration, energy. Horses have a level of sensitivity far beyond what classical approaches can even imagine. They feel the energy that we created through nuances in our muscles tone. Your son picked that when the mare responded to the adjustments of his back muscles. He was so happy to be able to communicate with the mare that he concentrated on this feeling. He does not have a brain that has been trained to think correct aids and all these stereotypes that are used in the equestrian education. He vibrated at the horse’s frequency because he was fully and purely interested in communicating with the mare and the mare was comfortable with this level of dialogue because such is the horses’ real level of sensitivity. It is indeed, their comfort zone. When I realized that, I let them be together just helping him when he looked at me for help. I can tell you that being close from both of them, it was beautiful to watch.” An auditor approached us asking “I did not see the aids?” and then, in the line of horse peoples who ask a question and provide the answer all in one sentence, she added, ”It was no aids; he is autistic” and she walked away. The father commented, “I see what you mean by being brain washed by formulas and stereotypes.”

We discussed about the benefits that riding could have for his son and I encouraged him but also warned him that he will have to find the right person as this person would have to adjust the program to his son and not fitting his son to a program. I told him remember what Albert Einstein said about the school system, “I failed school and school failed me. I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam. “

Almost a year later, I meet the father again. He knew that I was in the area for a clinic and came to discuss a little. I asked about his son and he said, “he does not want to ride anymore. I did not understand your warning and they did exactly what you say. He wanted to communicate with the horse and they wanted him to learn the basis, I tried to explain what you did but they looked at me in total incomprehension.” I told him, I was afraid of that. They don’t have enough knowledge to be able to adapt. They don’t have enough understanding of the equine physiology and neuro-physiology to understand that love is not just heart. You need the science to understand what the heart feels. Your son was intuitively capable to feel what the equestrian education regards as the finality. They don’t have enough understanding of how the horse does it to be able to adjust to your son sensitivity and start by what is traditionally regarded as the end. The system put riders and horses through formulas that are supposed to be learned in a specific order. Doing so, they kill intuitive minds for both, the horses and the riders. We were talking about Einstein. He wrote about that. “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” The reason in the equestrian world is lack of knowledge. Trainers know how the movements look like but they don’t understand how to prepare the horse’s physique for the athletic demand of the performance. They can only fit the horse to the system. They are not capable to take a gifted rider or horse where they are and cultivate the gift. A few good trainers and teachers can do it but they are very few. Most want a faithful servant because they do not have the biomechanical knowledge to be able to deal with situations and events that do not fit the system. The father smiled saying, “You just described the heart of science.”

Jean Luc Cornille 2015

03/20/2022

FROM A PARENT:
One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kids to ride horses?" Well I have a confession to make, I don't pay for my kids to ride horses. Personally, I couldn't care less about the horses.

So, if I am not paying for them to ride, what am I paying for?

- I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don't.

- I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are "too tired" to go the barn but go anyway.

- I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined.

- I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body.

- I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates.

- I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that score they'd hoped for, but still have to work hard in the grading.

- I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.

- I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours and hours and hours of hard work and practice to create a champion, and that success does not happen overnight.

- I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships.

- I pay so that my kids can be in the arena instead of in front of a screen...
..I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for horse riding, I pay for the opportunities that horse riding provides my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!

03/17/2022

Things I've Learnt About Horses as a non horse boyfriend.

Livery yards are not full of ultra fit young ladies in white jodphurs & show jackets despite what adverts/film/TV would have you beleive.

I can now tell the difference between a cheap pitchfork & a decent one.

2 tonnes is the daily amount a horse s**ts.

A bucket that costs 99p at B&Q will cost £9.99 at a horsey shop.

6 months ago if a horse bared it's teeth, flattened its ears & went for me. I filled my pants with s**t. Now it just gets a slap & shouted at.

If a horse stands on your foot no amount of pushing will shift it.

The horse is perfectly designed by nature to covert £ sterling into s**t. Literally.

If a horse can do something stupid it will do it.

Horses like to knock over wheel barrows piled high with s**t.

January at 5am is an awful time of day to be at a stable so I let Her do this.

A saddle. An item crafted out of the finest leather & costing upwards of £1k that never fits your horse.

You can ACTUALLY wear out a pair of Wellington boots in 6 months.

A decent pair Wellington boots that last 6 months cost around £100.

The vet. A nice man that turns up regularly & empties your bank account.

Grooming. It takes hours & is the green light for your horse to then go and roll in mud, s**t & probably fox poo.

Horse dentist. A barbaric man with steel toe cap boots, a bucket of big rasp files who turns up & empties your bank account.

Farrier. A really nice bloke who turns up & empties your bank account every 6 weeks in exchange for putting bits of metal on your horses feet which fall off with 10 minutes of him leaving.

Horse Walker. A giant electrified hamster wheel for horses.

Crop. A whip thing covered in mud & hair & not at like the ones in Anne Summers.

Wheelbarrows. I can now tell the difference between a good one & a bad one. A good one has a low centre of gravity. A bad one falls over as soon as a horse so much as farts near it.

Water bucket. A container holding fresh water into which a horse must s**t at the first opportunity.

Horse Teeth. Giant chisel like things that the bastards like to grab you with the instant you're not looking.

Hunting. A big excuse for lots of horsey people to race around the countryside, looking posh with loads of dogs & never ever seeing a fox. Mainly because I shot it 2 weeks ago. And a nice excuse for yobs in balaclavas to have an outing and desperate not admit to it being a class war, despite the people with the horses having more of an empty bank account than they do.

Being run over by a horse feels exactly the same as being run over by a car. I've done both & can confirm this to be true.

6 months ago, watching my beautiful girlfriend, riding a demented, bronc'ing, rearing fiery horse filled me with dread. Now I just accept it's what happens.

4 hours is the time it takes to use a foot pump to inflate a 7.5 tonne horse lorry tire to 85lb PSI with a foot pump.

Stock fencing. An object that any horse treats as a challenge. It's to be jumped, kicked, leant against until it snaps at any opportunity.

Electric fencing. Decorative tinsel for ponies!

Horse worms. Jesus!!!! They're HUGE! A ball of grass snakes just fell out of your horses bum. Apparently this is because the previous owner used a 'herbal remedy' & not a proper medication.

Don't wrap the lead rope around your hand. Because a dangerous empty bag of Quavers, which are well known for attacking horses, will blow past in the wind causing the horse to bolt in panic & will pull your fingers out of their sockets. This hurts enough to make you vomit.

Horse rugs. Why do we always need another one? What does this one do that the other 76 don't do?

😂

Send in.

03/15/2022

"Equus has been my teacher, my friend and my provider; he can be yours." - Monty Roberts

03/13/2022

Watch this Free Video Clip To Help Your Horse!

𝘉𝘺 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘩, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 2022

Shoulder relief, freedom of movement and straightness.. Learn the acupressure point in the video clip below that can help your horse move better.

Dr. Ridgway's lung 1 + is a really important acupuncture/acupressure wellness point which releases and resolves pain in the shoulder and barrel. It is a very good point to stimulate and incorporate in any horse's training routine as it promotes muscle comfort and shoulder freedom before even getting in the saddle-- thus helping the rider develop the horse's straightness without stress.

This educational video clip demonstrates how to find the point in detail:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/improvedhorseperformance

𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙄𝙈𝙀𝙊 𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙥.

DISCLAIMER: If you are not an equine health professional, please ask a qualified equine health professional to teach you the techniques shown in the video series that are appropriate for amateurs and let them do the mobilization, alignment, acupuncture/acupressure, bodywork techniques that requires a professional education in equine health and/or integrated veterinary medicine.

To learn more about Dr. Ridgway's work, please check ProudHorse Connections:

www.proudhorseconnections.com

For fantastic streaming videos of Dr. Ridgway’s saddle fitting course and ulcer courses please go to:

http://www.drkerryridgway.com