Odyssey Horsemanship

04/22/2024

10/23/2023

🥰🥰Being stronger than the thoughts😍😍

Last night many of us would have watched the amazing 5 star competition in 🇺🇸 Marylands. What a result 🇮🇪🇮🇪 Austin and his Mount Salty moved up from 4th after XC to WIN……..an overdue fantastic result ❤️❤️

Something that touched our hearts watching this competition was an interview that Austin did on TV straight after he won. He stated that results like these don’t happen to people like him……….he is one of the best event riders in the world and has the best relationship with his horse but he still thinks he’ll never beat the people who he thinks are ‘better’ than him! Then he went on to say he had been privately thinking of putting someone on the horse who would get the results the horse deserved………….again he had been doubting himself, one of the BEST eventers in the world had been doubting himself that Salty needs someone better!!!!!!! So from watching from the outside this result for Austin has come at a perfect time and so well deserved but also………..

It just goes to show what your own mind can sometimes tell you, you start doubting yourself, you start to think you can’t do what people think you should be doing, you start thinking what others might be thinking over and over again………….but all the time you are doing amazing and in the bigger picture achieving things all the time! Sometimes whatever gets in your mind needs a reality check and you need to realise, ‘wow I’m actually doing GREAT ❤️’

Austin well done and thank you for being honest. There was not many dry eyes last night watching you ……. Roll on your next results 🥰🥰

(Austin is also supported by the amazing Childeric UK and Orange Horse Consultants 🍊🍊)

Riders Minds

06/09/2023

What is the single-most aggressive tool you can use?
..Your hands.

My guess is that the vast majority of horsemen have no intentions of hurting their horses. But we can forget that the horse’s mouth is one of the most sensitive places on his body. We have the ability to put hundreds of pounds of pressure on that sensitive area (even in a snaffle bit)!

The truth is that spurs and whips are no comparison to what we can do with a bit.

That is why it is incredibly important for us as horsemen to learn to ride with light hands.

The lighter our hands are, the more soft and responsive our horses can be. The more we give slack back to the horse when he gives us softness, the more consistent that softness will be.

If my horse isn’t soft in the bridle,
no amount pulling or jerking will solve the issue
changing bits will not solve the issue
hanging on him will not solve the issue

But light hands, with a consistent & correctly-timed release, WILL.

- Ken McNabb

03/19/2023

Learn horse shedding best practices to keep your horse cool and comfortable from two veterinarians in this complete guide to Springtime horse hair care.

01/13/2023

FACT . . . .

12/02/2022

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲...
"𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺, 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘸. 𝘐𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥." -Al Dunning.

Learn why spending time on a patience pole can improve your relationship with your horse and make your time in the saddle more successful.

11/07/2022

I’ve got a bone to pick and it might surprise you to know it is with b-l-o-o-d-y trail riders. I have ridden many thousands of kilometres up and down the eastern half of Australia over many years – sometimes camping in the bush for many months at a time. Plus I get a lot of trail riders coming to my clinics. So I have enough experience and ammunition to make a legitimate complaint.
In fact, I have 2 complaints. The first is easy and I can deal with it in one short paragraph, but the second deserves a rant.
Okay. First up, about half of those that mainly do trail riding describe themselves as “pleasure riders”. Stop it. We are all pleasure riders! I hope we all ride for pleasure – even professional horse people. Being a good horse person is hard and dangerous work, so if you don’t love it, the other rewards (financial, accolades, ribbons) are certainly not enough for me to make it worthwhile. Gaining pleasure from what we do should supercede every other reason for riding horses. So trail riders should stop trying to appropriate the term “pleasure rider.” It’s a term that should apply to every rider of every persuasion.
Now the second and more important reason I am cranky at trail riders is their attitude.
Whenever I meet a new student at a clinic I ask them what do they do with their horse. I would say 4 out of 5 of the trail people say something like, “Oh not much. I just trail ride” or “I just like to potter around on the trail” or “We are not serious. We just like to ride out in the bush.”
They describe trail riding as if they have to apologize for it. It’s as if there is some sort of shame to being a trail rider and they are the second-class citizens of the horse world.
Well, I’m going to tell you those trail riders are not second-class horse people. They are the WARRIOR CLASS of the horse world.
I have come across plenty of people who have had long and highly successful competition careers that wish they had a horse they could safely ride on a trail. They practice their exercises in the safe confines of a riding facility where the most startling and unpredictable thing that can happen is that the horse gets its tiptoes wet in a puddle after a storm or it has to cope with a judge placing a rosette on its bridle. Heaven forbid those precious gold-plated ponies with their diamante browbands would have any sort of challenge that would cause their makeup to run.
Now of course I am having a bit of a laugh making fun of precious show horses, but my problem is not with show horses and their owners. My problem is with the apologetic attitude of trail riders.
I realize that some in the horse world look down on trail riding as not being “real” riding. But that is no excuse for the average trail rider to be hiding in the corner hoping nobody will make fun of their mixed breed pony with the unbraided mane and gone-wild ear fuzz.
To train a good trail horse is proof of a person’s skill as a horseman or woman.
Creek crossings, steep descents, swampy ground, branches whacking their face, the stench of decaying carcasses, inconsiderate car drivers, and bike riders are the things of nightmares for many horses trained in other disciplines. But for a good trail horse and their rider with a spine made of tungsten they are nothing more than another point of interest on their sightseeing tour.
To be able to calm a horse that is losing its manure on a trail is a badge of honour that is worth more than any blue ribbon. When on the other side of every new turn in the trail lies in waiting a horse-eating emu, it is the experienced trail rider that will see them to safety. When behind every bush hides the shadow of the grim reaper ready to unleash mayhem and death, it is the trail rider that will slay death. How many horses that only know the soft feel of a sand arena on their feet can hold their panic in check when the tentacles of an errant blackberry runner grabs their leg and attempts to drag them into the belly of hell?
I realize there are plenty of horses that are skilled in multi-disciplines and are proficient in arena work as well as trail riding. But so many horses live a life confined to just one particular chosen discipline. I believe all horses should be riding horses before they are ever trained for a specialty. That means they should be good trail horses. That means they should be good with traffic, opening gates, crossing bridges and water, mounting from either side. That means they should remain emotionless when their rider removes a jacket or another horse trots up beside them.
Nobody should ever apologize for being “just” a trail rider. Stand proud. Be the best you can be at what you do and you will never have to feel second-class to any other horse person. Remember you are the WARRIOR CLASS. (Author: Ross Jacobs)

07/15/2022

Teach for the horse gains confidence!

The key to teaching your horse to navigate any obstacle, including water, is to give him enough practice so that he gains confidence.

Learn more in this training tip ➡ https://downunderhorsemanship.com/training-tip-water-crossings-practice-makes-perfect/

06/29/2022

Facts!!! 👇👇👇