Joanna Harrod Equine Services

28/03/2023

MICHELIN 2023 We are delighted to have retained our star for the 9th consecutive year .

Thank you to our team, gardener, growers & producers for their passion and dedication.

02/12/2018

Manolo Mendez Dressage

Manolo Mendez Dressage

Today is a good day to reshare this post about ill fitting tack and cranial nerves we posted for the first time in 2013.

"A quick look at what cranial nerves DO reveal how important their well being is and why properly fitted tack is paramount. There are twelve pairs of cranial nerves. They have a role in:

Balance
Heart rate (sensory and motor control of viscera including heart, lungs, and bowel)
Hearing
Smell
Vision
Eye movement
Neck muscles that move the head
Sensation from the face
Motor to the muscles for biting, chewing
Facial expression
Taste from the anterior 2/3rds of the tonque
Taste from the posterior 1/3rd of the tonque
Tearing (lacrimal gland)
Salivation from the parotid gland as well as not from the parotid gland (different nerves)
Sensation and some motor to the pharynx
Swallowing (motor to the muscles of the soft palate, pharynx and larynx)
Vocalization (motor to the muscles of the soft palate, pharynx and larynx)
gastrointestinal peristalsis
Tongue movement

Full article in link.

https://www.manolomendezdressage.com/2013/12/06/facial-nerves-and-the-importance-of-proper-bridle-fitting/

21/11/2018

Jeff Sanders California Vaquero Horsemanship

This is an absolute must read for every horse owner and especially those with younger horses!
People can certainly debate and argue over different training techniques and styles but we can not argue the science.

"Owners and trainers need to realize there's a definite, easy-to-remember schedule of fusion - and then make their decision as to when to ride the horse based on that rather than on the external appearance of the horse.
For there are some breeds of horse - the Quarter Horse is the premier among these - which have been bred in such a manner as to LOOK mature long before they actually ARE mature. This puts these horses in jeopardy from people who are either ignorant of the closure schedule, or more interested in their own schedule (for futurities or other competitions) than they are in the welfare of the animal.

The process of fusion goes from the bottom up. In other words, the
lower down toward the hoofs you look, the earlier the growth plates will have fused; and the higher up toward the animal's back you look, the later. The growth plate at the top of the coffin bone (the most distal bone of the limb) is fused at birth. What this means is that the coffin bones get no TALLER after birth (they get much larger around, though, by another mechanism). That's the first one. In order after that:

2. Short pastern - top & bottom between birth and 6 mos.
3. Long pastern - top & bottom between 6 mos. And 1 yr.
4. Cannon bone - top & bottom between 8 mos. And 1.5 yrs.
5. Small bones of knee - top & bottom on each, between 1.5 and 2.5 yrs.
6. Bottom of radius-ulna - between 2 and 2.5 yrs.
7. Weight-bearing portion of glenoid notch at top of radius - between 2.5 and 3 yrs.
8. Humerus - top & bottom, between 3 and 3.5 yrs.
9. Scapula - glenoid or bottom (weight-bearing) portion - between 3.5 and 4 yrs.
10. Hindlimb - lower portions same as forelimb
11. Hock - this joint is "late" for as low down as it is; growth plates on the tibial & fibular tarsals don't fuse until the animal is four (so
the hocks are a known "weak point" - even the 18th-century literature warns against driving young horses in plow or other deep or sticky footing, or jumping them up into a heavy load, for danger of spraining their hocks)
12. Tibia - top & bottom, between 2.5 and 3 yrs.
13. Femur - bottom, between 3 and 3.5 yrs.; neck, between 3.5 and 4 yrs.; major and 3rd trochanters, between 3 and 3.5 yrs.
14. Pelvis - growth plates on the points of hip, peak of croup (tubera sacrale), and points of buttock (tuber ischii), between 3 and 4 yrs.

and what do you think is last? The vertebral column, of course. A
normal horse has 32 vertebrae between the back of the skull and the root of the dock, and there are several growth plates on each one, the most important of which is the one capping the centrum.

These do not fuse until the horse is at least 5 1/2 years old (and this figure applies to a small-sized, scrubby, range-raised mare. The taller your horse and the longer its neck, the later full fusion will occur. And for a male - is this a surprise? -- You add six months. So, for example, a 17-hand TB or Saddlebred or WB gelding may not be fully mature until his 8th year - something that
owners of such individuals have often told me that they "suspected" ).

The lateness of vertebral "closure" is most significant for two
reasons.
One: in no limb are there 32 growth plates!
Two: The growth plates in the limbs are (more or less) oriented perpendicular to the stress of the load passing through them, while those of the vertebral chain are oriented parallel to weight placed upon the horse's back.

Bottom line: you can sprain a horse's back (i.e., displace the
vertebral growth plates) a lot more easily than you can sprain those located in the limbs.

And here's another little fact: within the chain of vertebrae, the
last to fully "close" are those at the base of the animal's neck
(that's why the long-necked individual may go past 6 yrs. to achieve
full maturity). So you also have to be careful - very careful - not to
yank the neck around on your young horse, or get him in any situation where he strains his neck."

Dr. Deb Bennett

ABOUT DR. DEB: Deb Bennett, Ph.D., is a 1984 graduate of the University of Kansas, and until 1992 was with the Smithsonian Institution. She is known as an authority on the classification, evolution, anatomy, and biomechanics of fossil and living horses. Her research interests include the history of domestication and world bloodlines and breeds. She teaches unique anatomy short-courses and horsemanship clinics designed to be enjoyable to riders of all breeds and disciplines, and all levels of skill.

Internationally known for her scientific approach to conformation analysis, "Dr. Deb" has made a career out of conveying a kind of "X-ray vision" for bone structure to breeders and buyers. Her background in biomechanics helps her clearly explain how conformation relates to performance ability. Dr. Deb's clinics often feature real bones and interesting biomechanical models.

16/11/2018

Manolo Mendez Dressage

Take your Time or Things Take Time are words to live by if you work with horses.

Reward and praise are a constant theme in Manolo's being with horses as is quietly standing by, while working in-hand. Giving horses the space and time to absorb a new situation, a new exercise, giving them the time to ground themselves before asking them to move one foot.

I have observed this quiet standing many time. Sometimes before working together with a horse. Sometimes while working with a horse and sometimes afterwards. it depends. If there is someone present, Manolo will be turned slightly away from the horse, in mid-distance or closer as he judges appropriate and he will talk away. If alone, he may lean on his bamboo and gaze in the horizon with mellow eyes...waiting without pressure, expectation, impatience.

There comes a softening in the horse which often is very discreet, like a wind ripple on a lake. Perhaps the neck lowers half an inch or the nose unwrinkles a wrinkle or two, the horse's gaze mirrors Manolo's.... then Manolo approaches. Casually, a friend greeting another with respect and pleasure.

He will caress the horse, run his hands in long, smooth motions over its body. Sometimes, he will embrace its neck or lean on its shoulder, an arm over its neck in comfortable companionship and he will stand a bit more. His long arms may gather the horse, one hand on its poll or chest, one on its croup..his chest lightly resting on the horse's ribcage, matching breath for breath. His touch connecting the horse from feet to ears, mind to body, connecting him to the earth beneath its feet, the arena space, the cavesson, the bamboo, the man. The lunge almost umbilical in its connecting role.

In silence and through touch, the horse is no longer alone, now there stands two united beings, present in the same stillness, sharing the same reality where before was a man and a horse, separate.

All of this the work of seconds or minutes or less or more depending.

"It depends" being something any student of Manolo will get accustomed to hearing... and learn along the way that being flexible and adapting to the horse you have today is a good way to train for the horse, and for his person.

In these photos from a few years back, Manolo was working for the first time with a Connemara gelding who had little training and was anxious about a new place, a new person, a bamboo and a cavesson. This was towards the end of the lesson, another opportunity to stand peacefully and reflect in quiet contemplation of all that is new and good. You can see the progression from unsure to slowly relaxing in his carriage, ears and gaze.

NOTE: Manolo's work is rooted in having grown up in rural Andalusia on a farm and learning to be patient planting rice, tending crops, watching over cattle, sheep and swines. You cannot hurry the land, you cannot hurry the ewes into giving births, or the orange trees into bearing fruits.

This is an experience that is very foreign to us who live in a world where we are asked to deliver results immediately (I NEED IT NOW) and do not get to experience for ourselves what it is like to be given time and space.

What Manolo does is not new but it is very liberating. It is ok to take time, to take weeks and months if needed, to be content with standing quietly today. And it is a gift you can give your horse, but also yourself.

Most importantly yourself - it brings back joy into horsemanship that can become very stressful and adversorial when it is focused on instant results.

Taking time gives us the time to figure things out, see patterns, connect the dots - things we miss because we are too focused on the doing.

Taking time, giving ourselves time and being given time are all expression of kindness and respect that I suspect we could all use a little more of in our daily lives. ( from a post by Caroline Larrouilh)

Photo credit: Pamela Stuart

07/12/2017

Joanna Harrod Equine Services's cover photo

18/11/2017

Photos from Joanna Harrod Equine Services's post

27/10/2017

Timeline Photos

12/10/2017

29/09/2017

Joanna Harrod Equine Services

20/10/2016

Looking after this little cutie.

10/09/2015

Welcome - Concordia Equestrians

http://www.concordiaequestrians.com/

Concordia Equestrians International 'One heart one vision'

17/07/2015

Marijke de Jong

Straightness Training is not a quick fix, it’s a journey of little steps taken on a daily basis. And during this journey we set goals. But goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose or our Straightness Training journey. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus, to move us and our horse in a direction, and to learn and to grow.

And it's not important what we achieve, but who we become during our our own wonderful Straightness Training journey.

The way is the goal ✔ Enjoy the process ✔

09/07/2015

How To Engage Your Horse's Back - corrected version

https://youtu.be/I8cOq7YWXys

Master Horseman/Classical Dressage Trainer Will Faerber demonstrates how to encourage your horse to raise its back, engage its hind end and "get connected." ...

30/06/2015

6 Exercises To Improve Posture For Dressage -

6 Exercises To Improve Posture For Dressage -

6 Exercises To Improve Posture For Dressage

24/06/2015

Experienced Rider available for exercising & schooling. Lightweight, suitable for children's ponies.

Holiday cover, (local areas only)

Redditch, inkberrow, feckenham & surrounding areas.

I have over 20 years experience working in the equine industry, references available.

Please contact me for more information.

19/06/2015

Untitled Album

03/06/2015

WHY CHOOSE ALOE VERA, FOREVER FREEDOM FOR YOUR HORSE!

There are many products available in the marketplace for horses with joint problems, so why choose Forever Freedom?

We have found with Forever Freedom that the high concentration of Aloe Vera at over 80% increases the absorption of the active components (MSM, Chondroitin and Glucosamine) so that high concentrations reach the joints.

It is also important to remember the other properties of having a product with so much Aloe in it. For example Aloe Vera decreases inflammation and pain in the joints as well as increasing synovial fluid. It has other benefits such as improved hoof quality as well as helping the skin and digestive system. It will also keep the immune system in peak condition so that the horse will be more efficient at fighting off infections such as viruses.

David Urch BSc MA VetMB MRCVS
HORSES LOVE THEIR FREEDOM!

23/04/2015

Find your Unmovable Frame to Become a Better Rider

Find your Unmovable Frame to Become a Better Rider

For more information visit my website http://www.gotseat.com/ or contact me at [email protected] or 831-206-9613. Remote Video Consultations are now availabl...

14/04/2015

Marijke de Jong

There is no such thing as failure. There are only results and lessons to learn!

12/04/2015

Mary King is one of Britain's most prolific . Her career has spanned over 30 years, including winning two World Championship gold medals and entering six between 1992 and 2012, where she gained bronze and silver medals with .

If you would like further information on the products Mary uses for herself and her horses then please let me know.

Mary King is one of Britain's most prolific . Her career has spanned over 30 years, including winning two World Championship gold medals and entering six between 1992 and 2012, where she gained bronze and silver medals with .

Further information on the products Mary uses for herself and her horses can be found and purchased online here: www.forever.myforever.biz/store

If you can't find what you are looking for then please let us know