Ferguson Family Farm LLC

11/03/2024

11/02/2024

A couple of years ago I had a one 2 one tutoring with Dr Sue Dyson MA. vetMB, Ph.D, DEO, DipECVSMR. I wanted to “read the navicular bone” and have an educated guess as to what was wrong, or right with that bone.

Fast forward 2 years and I watched my tutoring again as I am preparing for my navicular class. I watched with new eyes. I realise that I did not always understand what Dr Dyson was teaching me but now I have another 2 years studying this bone and navicular syndrome in general, my eyes are opened!

I had a lot of navicular bones that I had collected over the years and we discussed a few of them, their lumps and bumps, their holes and indentations. Parts had new bone laid down in specific areas and Dr Dyson explained to me why this was occurring. Some navicular bones had little chips out of them at the area where the impar ligament attached. These were called distal border fragments.

Dr Dyson made it super clear that I was not to focus on “just the bone’ but to look at all the soft tissue as well, plus the sites where ligaments attach.

My eyes were certainly opened during that session but they are even more opened now.

I’ll be talking about all of this in my zoom class 14th November. Please contact me by email if you would like to see the agenda and see if this class is a good fit for you.

[email protected]

11/01/2024

Unpopular opinion loose the nose band, hell, loose the bridle all together.

It should be obvious...but for many equestrians it isn't so at all...

10/29/2024

Pat on the back for me…

10/29/2024

Just another example of the complexity of stallion behaviour. These two boys were mustered in together with the latest herd, there were also two mares, Electra & Eclipse both heavily pregnant, a yearling filly, Emma, and a filly foal, Evie. Now these two stallions do bicker a bit, they are both young, nothing serious just jostling over food and who gets to stand next to which mare. However along with their jostling they also spend time grooming each other sleeping next to one another and playing together.

I think the reason they are able to co-exist still within the herd, in a limited space now they are here, is that they do a lot of conflict avoidance behaviour as well as lots of bonding activities each day. Most disagreements are done over the poo piles and who managed to poo on the very top of the pile. So there is squealing and pawing but very little actual physical aggression and then they devout a lot of their time to this each mutually grooming every day that seems to strengthen bonds.

I’ve witnessed this lots in the wild, in areas where there is a high density of stallions. Sometimes when there is more than one stallion in a herd, or between bachelors. I’ve also seen young bachelors kicked out of the herd not be allowed to be near but them and the herd stallion go out and groom what looks like their outcast younger sons.

When stallions fight there is no doubt they mean business and it’s scary to watch. However it is definitely not the only behaviour they exhibit! This mutual grooming and behaviours that avoid conflict or build bonds between horses in the same area I’ve seen many times too.

There always seems to be a pattern with these boys to they squeal at each first thing in the morning, followed by a grooming session a few hours later. Then the same again in the afternoon.

With Equifest now over it won’t be long until we start working these gorgeous boys too!

📸Maija Jespersen Fine Art

10/27/2024

Watch, follow, and discover more trending content.

10/27/2024

Start out refined, become even more refined
Start out exaggerated, make a sloppy mess and have to fix it up

I used to start a bunch of young horses, and thought the best way to make things clear to them was to exaggerate my cues. More often than not, horses figured it out- but it wasn’t until excellent teachers in my path made clear to me how often I was blocking, confusing, and frustrating the horse.

Horses are gracious, and excellent at pattern recognition. Eventually they can figure out anything if you repeat it enough.

But along the way, I came to realize how many bad habits in not just the horse but in myself I had created. Making the leap from greenie to advancing was difficult because my position had developed sloppy habits, and the horses had learned to lean, fall on the forehand, or fishtail the hindquarters around. All areas that took me quite a bit of work to clean up, and created a lot of frustration in the horse as I tried to advance them - suddenly I was saying now don’t lean on a shoulder, don’t fall over your sternum - the very things I had CREATED in the horse I was now trying to block.

It’s not a very fair approach to training - and as I became serious about advancing horses and my own riding, my teachers gave me a stern warning to start my horses as I wanted them to go - not just to seek an easy beginning but a good beginning.

It takes quite a leap sometimes of the imagination with the youngsters to imagine what it can be - especially if you’re used to doing too much. Sometimes you have to offer and trust it will work if you’re not used to expecting it to work, especially if you’ve created in the horse the habit of expecting more exaggerated and loud communication from you.

Sometimes it takes an excellent teacher to knock the obvious into us -
If you always offer lower levels of communication, you’ll always be trapped in this.

So start out refined, and continue refining - or create brace and sloppiness, and live there.

Pictured is Brent haltering a young one for the first time, already layering in higher level concepts , gently and fairly. Not expecting too much, but creating the building blocks for advancement. It wasn’t until I felt this that I could believe it to be true. Just because we haven’t felt it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

“The horse is born with lightness -why kill it and then spend years trying to build it back up? “ -Brent Graef

10/26/2024

If you want to make people happy and feel good, use comfortable words, vague and nice language, and don’t touch on any topics that are too controversial.

If you want to make real change, use direct language, don’t shy away from uncomfortable topics, and be willing to discuss it from all angles. Drop the dogma, listen, discuss, and stay away from emotionally charged language- this too quickly brings the conversation toward the arguer’s individual value as a person, instead of the topic at hand.

Either way there are consequences and discomforts. People will say you stand for nothing, or that you’re prickly and argumentative. People will call you soft, or say you’re a razor blade. Even if you try to balance between the two, you will receive criticism for being wishy washy. People will think whatever they want to think- You pick the ones you’re willing to deal with.

10/25/2024

10/25/2024

The way I see it there are two mindsets:

One- The mindset that the horse is a tool.
The horse functions to supply our ego. Usually this is in the show ring. Or to reach a goal specifically centered around riding accomplishments.

Two- The mindset that the horse is our teammate.
We are checking in with them, communicating with them, listening to their needs. They come first.
The riding, ribbons and the arena can wait.

I do not believe these mindsets are mutually exclusive. At some point, one will always outweigh the other.

There will be a fork in the road at which you have the opportunity to put either your horse or your own wants first.

I will be the first to admit that it’s very difficult to put your own aspirations aside when your horse is telling you they can’t do it.

But this is what horsemanship is- to me anyway.

That being said-
•The normalization of minimizing pain in horses
•Ignoring communicative behaviors
•Manufacturing harmful tack and equipment
•Unethical riding and training
•Lack of knowledge of general equine anatomy, biomechanics and husbandry… is SO abundant it’s honestly frightening

I believe the answer is accountability.
ALL equestrians (especially owners) are accountable and should be advocating for their horses.
Seeking out education to learn more about their animals.

Learn when your horse is saying no
Learn when enough is enough
Learn what their body is telling you
Finding reputable practitioners & teachers who have a thorough and ACCURATE understanding of the horse and its systems

If you aspire to put the horse first- those are some key elements I believe you should be implementing.

What are some things you think we can do to improve the treatment and welfare of our horses ?

10/23/2024

Check out wile_e_cowgirl’s video.