Giselle Hutchings Horsemanship

21/09/2024

20/09/2024

Doing the Masterson challenge with River this morning. 🥰 She is so sweet, licking my hand and thanking me each release 💚💙💜 The Masterson Method, Integrated Equine Performance Bodywork

20/09/2024

Teaching Roxy to move her hindquarters away with steady pressure. As we teach this we move our hand down and across until it reaches leg position C which will enable the rider to ask for lateral movements

14/09/2024

https://youtu.be/OK8nHxqXQsY?feature=shared

Check out my new video on my YouTube channel! Subscribe to see more like this 🤩

In this video I explain the concept of needing the horse to read the human's intention and energy and not pay attention to motion around her. I begin teachin...

12/09/2024

Working on helping Jewel to find relaxation in her body as she has a tendency to brace and lock through the ribcage. This exercise is also helping her overcome her fear of being touched on the hindquarters. Please reach out if you want any help understanding your horse 😇🤔

20/07/2024

Time for both of us to get fit again.

15/03/2024

This is where groundwork can really pay off. Instead of insisting Razz goes whilst ridden, leadership and positive reinforcement from the ground gives her confidence and is safer than riding her through any avoidance. Shame she wanted to climb on the bridge with me rather 😅. Thanks to Gill Engbers-Ward for the halter and long rope and my mom and Pier Rush for the encouragement 🤗

15/03/2024

Razz had an outing at the practice x-country on the Common recently. She was unconfident at the river crossing even with a lead from a bunch of ponies on track. See the next post for how I solved this....

09/02/2024

Found these pics of River at a x-country open day in May 2010 (before the career ending injury) she was so bold and game!

03/02/2024

Well said

25/01/2024

Baby Dashing River, can't believe she's 19 already! I had so many hopes and dreams for us, she loved jumping so much she would pop the paddock fences for fun 😁 Brave and bold over the xc fences at the open days, I imagined us flying across country with joy in our hearts 💕 Alas our dream was cut short by a paddock accident where she cut both front legs above the knee. Tragically, I was advised a joint flush wasn't neccessary so we went ahead with the standard antibiotic treatment. Her extensor tendon became infected and the vets didn't understand why she didn't respond to the antibiotics. In hindsight I should have got a second opinion far sooner. By the time I asked another veterinary practice to examine her it was too late. The damage was done and she developed career ending arthritis and scar tissue on her off fore knee 😪 We tried everything possible to rehab her, extensive physiotherapy including laser, but her way of moving changed forever and she is prone to stumbling ever since. Her stay mechanism has also been affected so she falls when trying to sleep standing 🥺
River is my soul sister, we are intricately connected and I will always do everything I possibly can for her.
Life is interesting though...... had she not had the accident I would probably not have bred her to Divine Dream and got my beautiful palomino Dalila. I wouldn't have been looking at young horses on Facebook and spotted Assegai Razzmatazz!
💚💙💜
I now have new dreams with these two youngsters and hope this time the Universe has the same plans I do! ✨️ 💫

17/12/2023

Some shots of my session with Dalila today. and developing a natural top-line 🥰 Showing a lovely Flexion already from exercises such as the crab-walk and clock shape. DM me if you would like some help developing your horse! 💚💙💫

29/11/2023

Razzy giving cuddles after our session today🥰 Such a special mare 💓

17/10/2023

Perfection in a summers day! ☀️

10/10/2023

Such a stunning color sea today! 🤩

25/09/2023

Please supply your info, via this form: https://forms.gle/1j4QBJK89mzM8Pgx6

17/08/2023

Curiosity of young horses is so precious! 🥰💚

14/08/2023

Fear of unknown horses.

This is a completely natural phenomenon, often not considered or understood by riders and coaches.

In the wild horses live in closely bonded herds, changes only usually occur when a foal is born or when the stallion drives out colts that are sexually mature and present a challenge to his genetics being passed on or when younger stallions steal mares or fight the dominant stallion.

Hence unknown horses are viewed as potential threats by the herd as they could possibly be stallions challenging the dominant stallion.
Younger stallions often band together and steal mares to form their own harem. The mares current foals may then be at risk.

In the arena/ show environment/ hacking out there is the added insecurity in that your horse now doesn't have the safety and protection of their herd members or stablemates.
In addition there is often high energy at shows and out hacking (think other unknown horses moving at speed, perhaps in water making noises, dogs(predators) and other people in those public spaces.)
The onus is on us to show attunement to our horses, ie recognize their concern and show them we are AWARE of and empathetic to their unconfidence and insecure feelings.

Try to think WHY is my horse behaving in this way? Instead of just classifying the behaviour as "naughty" or "good".
Horses are firstly concerned with their SAFETY and surviving in a world full of possible perceived threats.

The *worst* thing a rider can do in this situation is to "get after" the horse or punish them. This will only exacerbate the horse's fear and destroy any hard- earned trust and rapport that has been built previously.
Imagine being afraid of strangers in a dark alley and then being punished by your friend or partner for being afraid!

If you would like to learn more please feel free to contact me for a consult.

25/06/2023

https://www.facebook.com/100064451033652/posts/653746050117090/?sfnsn=scwspmo&mibextid=6aamW6

The words "never" and "always" leave zero room for compromise, and therefore should not be taken literally in every single case, and an example might be the use of draw reins on a horse.

What draw reins do----They give the rider enough leverage, because of the physics of basically the pulley principle, to force the horse's head into positions that can cause extreme pain, and can even cause long term damage.

They also can so thoroughly overwhelm a horse's ability to avoid them that some horses who have been ridden much in draw reins automatically come behind the vertical, like in this picture, even when ridden without draw reins, and once that happens, that the horse just "gives up," it is extremely hard damage to undo.

Now, sure, it is theoretically possible for an extremely gifted rider to use draw reins with extreme tact to correct extreme resistance without causing extreme damage or discomfort, just as some extremely gifted riders can use extreme bits without similar damaging results.

The problem, though, is that lots of riders assume that they are "extremely gifted," when they are not.

I read something that makes sense, "Draw reins should only be used by the most gifted riders in the world, but the most gifted riders in the world do not need draw reins."

So, yes, while there is theoretically a tiny window, a sliver, of wiggle room, it is probably a mistake for any of us to equate ourselves with riders so exquisitely gifted that we can use devices like these safely.

Which means, since many riders use these things daily, that there are more exquisitely gifted riders out there than we realize, or there are lots of arrogant riders out there who think they are, and which situation is accurate, I leave to others to judge----

09/05/2023

Teaching Caesar at Tom Ro Haven to come over to the mounting block, he found it a lot harder on his right side. I like to teach both sides for a better depth of understanding. He's such a tryer! 🤩👏

21/04/2023

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrTgpfYoXky/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

1 likes, 0 comments - Giselle Hutchings () on Instagram: "Equine spa patient 🥰"

10/04/2023

So excited as we did the first training on the equine spa treadmill at Gilvarry Equine Rehab! I am so honoured to be part of the team at this fantastic facility! 😁

10/04/2023

Helping Jaffy overcome some past trauma from being a cart horse, he was anxious to begin and had some cunning evasive maneuvers 🤭 but soon realised he was safe and it was easy enough 🤩😇

09/03/2023

Braved the ocean for the first time, all by herself, no lead horse required 😇🥰

05/03/2023

I received this lovely review from Jason, a very dedicated client who has developed a lovely partnership with his mare Didi:
Being a disabled person I had to think how I could work with horses in a way that they would be comfortable around me and myself around them.
We decided to find a trainer. To help myself and my mare Didi.
Giselle Hutchings Horsemanship came and we started training her right from the beginning . It has been tough sometimes as each day my body gives me new challenges. So we have to modify the way I work with the horses.
We started ground work first.
After a few months I started to ride her with no bit .
She is a changed horse.
We have hit many milestones and today we hit another one with Giselle. We went out for the first time, with Giselle leading both Didi and myself. What a great new experience it was.
So why I'm writing this post is to thank Giselle for teaching Didi and I.
It was so great that I could experience this with my mare, and feel on top of the world.
So thank you Giselle for helping us on this great exciting journey we on.
From Jason Mark Hyde

25/02/2023

Over the moon with Razzy's emotional fitness at her first ever x-country practice! Coped so well with the high energy, so game with the new obstacles and head down to graze straight after!! 🤩😍😇👏

10/02/2023

Really proud of Razzy's bravery with the flag! Learning how to cope with things approaching and touching her 😇🤩

27/01/2023

Very lucky to spot a caracal on my beach ride this week! Brave Razzie allowed me to take pics 😍