LFE Riding Institute

04/28/2024

01/08/2023

Endless memories with Berlin.

01/08/2023

Douglas Milt and Berlín Coronel

01/08/2023

Feliz cumpleaños ODIN, hace 10 años que llegaste a nuestras vidas, gracias por completar nuestra manada en LFE. Tu eres el cariño incondicional hacia todos los que te conocen. Te amamos! Gracias por escogernos como tu familia humana.

01/07/2023

For 13 years our school created so many memories!

09/02/2022

11 years ago. Yaya and Snowhite, our foundation mares.

08/23/2022

https://www.facebook.com/1766008416819648/posts/5390754014345052/

08/23/2022

Our beautiful students all grown up and keeping their friendship through time.

08/06/2022

Horses are amazingly tolerant, giving creatures.

It unfortunately means they’re often exploited due to the ambitions of the human. After their basic needs are met, you must be very thoughtful in the training of your horse.

Your first duty is to preserve the purity of the paces. What does this mean? Walk has 4 beats, trot has 2, canter has 3, gallop has 4. ALWAYS. If not, something is wrong biomechanically, and your horse is at risk of injury. BTW impure paces can usually be detected in a photograph, even though it is only a “moment in time”, AND this applies to all disciplines.

Strapping a horse’s mouth shut with a crank/flash (or other) noseband very often contributes. The fact is, a horse cannot maintain full range of motion with his hind legs if he can’t move his tongue and jaw. FACT.

For jumping, if the horse bolts off - away from, towards, or after a jump, putting on a bigger bit and a martingale will not fix it. If a horse hesitates or stops, pulling out the whip will NEVER make him more confident.

These are just a few hints that your horse is asking for HELP. Go back. Consolidate the basics. Another wonderful thing about horses is they're retrainable. If you ignore the hints, eventually the horse will either break down, or will SHOUT to get your attention, and you will get hurt.

After all, horses are dangerous. We tell everyone that. But actually they are not. We wouldn’t be able to ride them if they were truly dangerous. You know what’s dangerous? People are.

Ponder this excerpt from Franz Mairinger’s book “Horses are made to be Horses”:

I recall an incident in Sydney when we had a lame horse with a very bad tendon, and the rider wanted to start the horse the next day. We asked Roy Stewart, the veterinary surgeon, and he said, ‘Yes, that’s the trouble. People always think that horses are made for man, but that’s not true. Horses are made to be horses’. I thought about that a lot, and decided that if I should write a book I would call it Horses are made to be Horses.

(Franz Mairinger was the first coach of an Australian Olympic Equestrian Team, his excellent book is out of print, but can occasionally be found second hand - buy it if you see it)

(Picture credit Thinking Art )

08/05/2022

WHEN TO SAY GOODBYE

A few days ago a friend shared with me their heart break at the death of their beloved dog. Recently we have had to say goodbye to a couple of our most cherished animals. It's something we all face at some time in our life. I don't know of any animal owner/lover who escapes this heart-wrenching experience. These are my thoughts on the subject.

Horses are a gift in our life. In fact, most of the creatures we share our lives with are a gift. The pleasure they bring us far outweighs the financial burden and the sometimes inconveniences that come with the responsibility of ownership.

They bring so much happiness, but unfortunately, they also bring so much grief. I am specifically thinking of the grief that comes with death.

The arrival of our horses and our other beloved animals enrich our lives so much that it is sometimes hard to come to terms with the emotional price of losing them.

This is made far worse by the situations where the decision to end their life is in our hands. We don’t tend to debate for too long about the decision to end a horse’s suffering when they have a catastrophic accident. The grief is still sharp and painful, but the decision in favour of a humane death is pretty clear. However, when a horse is experiencing a slow and lingering journey towards death most of us struggle with figuring out the right time. Actually, I think “struggle” is the wrong word. I think “agonize” is a more accurate description. It’s horrible.

I have had enough horses and pets in my life to develop my own philosophy on the subject of deciding when to euthanize an animal I love. These views are specifically in regards to animals that are heading towards their end due to illness or aging and not in cases where the suffering is so great and obvious that any caring human would not need to hesitate over the decision. I want to point out that they are my views and for me only. They may be irrelevant to you or your circumstances. I make no judgment on how other people choose to deal with the decision to put a beloved animal down.

Firstly, if possible I would prefer to do the euthanization myself. I know some people think that is very strange, but I have been the carer of my animals during their life and it is important that I be their carer at the end of it. This is so important to me. There have been a few times when it was not possible to be the one holding the syringe, but even in those cases, I have always insisted on being present to say goodbye.

Secondly, I realize there is no instant that demarcates the exact right moment when it is time to say goodbye during a slow demise of an animal. There are no signs to tell us that yesterday was too soon, but today is the right time. We each come to a decision when we feel we don’t want to see our precious horse/pet suffer any further. It is a judgment call that is personal to each of us.

But this is where the difficulty arises.

We control the timing of euthanization based on the way we feel. We hold off on the decision and do everything possible to delay the inevitable until we feel it is crunch time. We wait until we feel it would be cruel to put it off any longer. This is why I believe very few people euthanize their horse too early and I suspect most people do it too late. We wait until we feel the suffering is becoming too much to tolerate. Often times it is because we don’t want to watch our animals suffer anymore rather than looking at the situation as a bystander who is emotionally detached. I know this because I have been guilty of this behaviour myself. I don’t want to say goodbye so much that I wait until it upsets me too much to watch the suffering anymore. If I had been able to detach myself from my feelings I might have eased the suffering a lot sooner.

I believe most people wait too long to euthanize an animal on the downward slope. I have never come across anybody who was faced with the situation and felt they had not waited long enough. Everybody waits until the last possible moment when they feel the animal’s condition is making the decision for them. This is perfectly understandable, but I believe most of us do it for selfish reasons and not always in the best interest of our friend.

I certainly believe there are worse things a horse can suffer than a humane death. If I could be certain that I knew the moment when a horse’s life transitioned from "life is okay" to "death is a better option", then there would be a lot less anguish over the decision of when to call the vet and a lot less guilt during the subsequent grieving process.

It is not for me to tell people how they should handle their horse’s “end of life” situation. But I wrote this essay in the hope that maybe people would prepare a little better for what they know is eventually coming and think hard about the decisions they will have to make. Maybe examine their own motivation behind their decisions and whether their love and fear of grief skew their decision-making.

I believe the onus of responsibility to care for our horses (and our animals) at the end of their life is just as strong as it is to care for them throughout their life. Always asking myself, “What is in their best interest?”

Photo: This is Old Billy, a stallion of unknown breed who died in 1822 at 62 years old. He is believed to be verifiably the oldest horse on record.

08/04/2022

Really excited about the 'Balance Through Movement Method'. Thanks to Celeste from Wild Magic LLC, for sharing her work so that owners can help thier horses.
I can't wait to learn more about these techniques and their application in long term rehabilitation.

https://www.facebook.com/wildmagicllc

08/01/2022

07/25/2022

Recuerdo de Poeta, 16 months c**t. Living the dream of growing up in liberty.