Corkscrew Willow Equestrian

18/10/2023

Lunch time....

Individual feeding paddocks with loads of space and grazing while they wait for their friends to finish🤩

13/10/2023

Enjoy every moment...

08/10/2023

Soft hands don’t seek weapons.

One of the single most common justifications for use of harsh bits or gadgets is “my hands are extremely soft” or “I barely touch the bit!” Or ”I use X harsh bit because it’s actually softer than a nice snaffle since I barely touch it!”

Your hands stop being soft the second you seek to weaponize them. The BELIEF that your hands are soft whilst using harsh and highly aversive equipment is only yours, you didn’t ask, and couldn’t ask, the horse.

First off, let’s discuss hands in general and the simple fact that the vast majority of riders, even decorated upper level riders, are highly likely to be overestimating their softness and underestimating how hard they’re actually pulling on the reins.

Yes, there have actually been rein tension studies featuring upper level professionals and amateur riders alike, all depicting pretty significantly differences in perceived rein pressure versus the actual pressure applied.

What this means is that all of these “soft handed” people using harsh bits are entirely unaware of the degree of pressure they’re actually applying, all while defending their right to use harsh bits with the sole factor often being related to how feather light their hands are.

That aside — the softness of hands is a moot point when the current market of equine products is creating bits with mechanics that are painful at rest and inflate the pressure applied by even the softest cues from the rider. The rider can THINK they’re being soft all while the bit itself amplifies the pressure in the horse’s mouth.

The desire to rush through the steps and force the horse within distance of your goals as quickly as possible will always come at the expense of your horse’s health and happiness but also the expense of a good foundation.

See this photo? The left side is the terrible neck I developed on my OTTB gelding by use of draw reins, bitting up as a means of slowing him down over fences in lieu of training and all in all, prioritizing what was fun for me over what was in the best interest of the horse long term.

Comparatively to the right photo, my rescue gelding, Milo. He has never worn draw reins, has never been ridden in bits harsher than soft snaffles and has been ridden bridleless and bitless often.

His ability to follow soft cues is far beyond that of any horse I tried to train the “quick” way. His ability to build muscle was far superior due to the fact that I wasn’t rushing him and fatiguing him into building the wrong muscles by trying to manufacture a false frame through force.

We cannot ethically use a lot of the quick fix bits and gadgets that are on the market. Many of these products simply shouldn’t exist. They don’t facilitate good training, they’re harmful to the horse and they enable riders in lazy riding practices and lower the amount of empathy we as a community feel towards horses.

So, here’s your reminder that you don’t get to judge the softness of your hands. The horse does. And, as it stands, there’s very little reason to believe horses “like” any bit, much less ones literally created with mechanics intended to force the horse to bend their will earlier due to the high levels of discomfort.

The bit is only as soft as it’s mechanics allow it to be. After that, no matter how soft you try to make your hands, you’re still riding in harsh equipment.

Give your horse the gift of empathy by holding yourself more accountable in the equipment you select and also having the self reflection skills to be honest with yourself about how soft your hands really are.

As soon as those hands seek to be weaponized with harsher mechanics, are they REALLY still soft?

It does not matter if YOU think you’re being soft if your horse doesn’t.
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Reference Studies:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=rider+perception+rein&btnG= =gs_qabs&t=1659886067942&u=%23p%3DQF7Mds0a8ykJ

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wagac/cep/2017/00000013/00000001/art00002

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159106004242

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787814000355

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787810000626

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-exercise-physiology/article/abs/fluoroscopic-study-of-oral-behaviours-in-response-to-the-presence-of-a-bit-and-the-effects-of-rein-tension/6DEC594DBD54E56FAF3B55E9EB6AA80A

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-exercise-physiology/article/abs/fluoroscopic-study-of-oral-behaviours-in-response-to-the-presence-of-a-bit-and-the-effects-of-rein-tension/6DEC594DBD54E56FAF3B55E9EB6AA80A

06/10/2023

An extremely hot day predicted for Sunday...We are preparing as always for the hot days. Some good reading to help out your equines during this time. Be safe and stay 😎

With higher temperatures in the summertime, horses are prone to heat stress. This can contribute to an increased risk of colic, ulcers, weight loss, fatigue and dehydration during this time of year. Horse owners should be vigilant for signs their horse is overheated.

06/10/2023

Finally some new green grass coming through....Can't wait for the rain!!

04/10/2023

In this very hot weather...we made a diy water bowl for bee's 🐝

03/10/2023

Corkscrew Willow Equestrian
We offer horse riding lessons to young and old, nervous or shy.. Teaching all levels including the fundamentals of horse riding.
For the very little ones we offer pony rides.
Situated in Farmall Close to Randburg, Kya Sands,Broadacres, Fourways, Honeydew.
Feel free to contact us to book. 084 509 2802

22/09/2023

Stabling available end of September. Small, quiet non competitive yard with large paddocks. Herd/group or individual paddocks. Our horses are stabled at night in barn style stables. Enjoying 3 meals a day in big individual feeding paddocks. With a large sand arena. Situated on a 17h plot close to Broadacres, Fourways and Randburg.
24h Super vision as owner lives on the property and actively involved in caring for the horses.
Feel free to contact us for more information or viewings.

19/09/2023

To help move your horse sideways in leg-yield, imagine you are an ice skater …

You push off with one leg toward your other foot, stepping and putting your weight to the side, like an inside foot to an ice skater. Also, you cannot collapse at the waist, or you would fall.

Ruth Hogan-Poulsen has earned her USDF Bronze, Silver and Gold medals as well as her Freestyle Gold Bar. All of these awards are with top Honors of Distinction. Her students have won top honors in the USDF Year-End, Horse of the Year and All Breed awards. She has been designing competitive musical freestyles for decades, which have been performed in all levels all over the world. She splits her time between Vermont and Florida.

🎨: Sandy Rabinowitz

18/09/2023

While we’re thinking about how we might intrude upon our horses’ natural lives with our manmade plans and expectations, I for one, am still gathering new information. This, during my summers of moving the herd about to improve our pastures.

Horses are demanding grazers. It is perhaps little known that while they thrive with turn out on some sort of forage—for their mental wellbeing, their postural and gut health, even the state of their incisors—horses are plumb hard on grass.

If we look at many turnout plots and pastures, we see tall and coarse grasses that remain untouched… while the horses ‘camp out’ on the grasses that are cropped right to the ground. Season after season of this and the choice plants become miniaturized, unable to withstand the onslaught on unpalatable weeds. Horses will choose to dig up these short grasses with their front feet, just to feast upon the tender roots!

They also like to be on hilltops. Higher ground. I live in an area with large predators, so it makes sense that they don’t want to be trapped in a valley, or caught by surprise. They want to see what it is that’s coming to get them. In the run-off vales and low spots, the vegetation becomes rank and untouched. The hilltops and south-facing slopes are already more fragile and these tend to be the first ones eaten out.

What we’ve been experimenting with is protecting our vulnerable grasses and moving the horses from rough patch to rough patch. It’s hugely labour-intensive and many times, the horses refuse to eat the taller grasses, until they’ve been mowed. We move the water sources and salt/mineral to the areas where the horses do not usually congregate because they will loiter at these, just as we might hang around the water cooler at the office.

What has surprised me most, however, is their genuine upset at not being able to gather close to our house at night.

I have learned that unlike the wild beasts around us, horses need human companionship and a feeling of safety, every bit as much as they are happy to see us arrive in the morning with their feed. This tells me that the relationship that I have been made to believe is one-sided—in that we need them more than they need us, that we’re interlopers—is not entirely true.

Perhaps the only instance where we might question our mutual need is with the actual wild or feral horses who exist without any contact with man, not even for feeding. It makes me realize what an incredible about-face Sarcee must have felt when we asked him to come into our lives and do our bidding.

Our horses find safety when they are with us—or, they should—and feeling safe is one of the vital components of a healthy, happy life. By watching, I am seeing that being with us, among us, ain’t all bad. In fact, when I would move my horses to lush, new grazing plots and then, leave them, they would become quite agitated, exhibiting what we would call ‘herdbound’ behaviours that usually exist only between horses.

I have seen this when I leave one of my horses in stabling at a show ground, for instance, when I go away for lunch. Surrounded by other, albeit strange horses, they are clearly choosing my human safety and companionship. Finding this same need within the whole herd, in a familiar pasture setting, has come as a genuine surprise.

So, my horses—even when running freely as a happy group on large tracts of land—need me in their lives. We’ve long been told that it is us who infringe upon them but I am seeing that in a healthy relationship, we simply bloom in one another’s company. Or, so we should.

The chasm of communication isn’t as great as we might think. What we really need, I believe, is an awareness, a well-developed sense of empathy. The promise of comfort and safety is only step one.

Shown here, Berry on the pasture as night falls. We don't have a barn; we have no horses kept in the corrals, as a magnet. There is only Mike and I, living alone on this hill…

But always, always, my horses are grazing their way towards home.

18/09/2023

🤣🤣 Sooo true...

11/09/2023

06/09/2023

Warwick Schiller Attuned Horsemanship - Video Library

06/09/2023

05/09/2023

03/09/2023

10/06/2023

Use the 5 Point Safety Check When Selecting a Helmet

09/04/2023

Well done on your placing Kyla Rosenzweig and Comet. ⭐

THE 2023 TOYOTA EASTER FESTIVAL RESULTS
The Toyota JR0.90m A2 Competition

1st Daniella de Vries / To The Moon & Back
2nd Hannah Harrison / Clueless Wonder
3rd Lieze van Aswegen / Riders Apparel Jaywalker
4th Dante Palmarozza / Seyunique Royally Done
5th Kendra Forsyth / Abydos
6th Chanel Pieterse / Silver Flash
7th Jamie Frayne / Dolarch Elektra
8th Tessa Hayward-Butt / Mai Dancer
9th Sarah Florence / Spaceman
10th Mila Sunjich / Capital Camaro
11th Kyla Rozenweig / Come at Me
12th Jaime Napier / Stokvel

02/04/2023

If you’re a fan of all things equestrian, get down to the Toyota Easter Festival 2023 at Kyalami Equestrian Park from 1 to 10 April. So, saddle-up, because there’ll be a variety of incredible events from show jumping to dressage as well as an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Entrance is free and everyone is welcome. Find out more here: https://url1.io/s/VwM38

22/08/2022

Our arena finally beginning to take shape🙏So excited..still loads more work to be done ..but it is going to be all worth it!!!

09/08/2022

Thank you Andre & Karin for our new website! Was such a pleasure working with you, best team!! Can definately recommend Aick Web Design

I really enjoyed working on this website for Corkscrew Willow Equestrian. The owner is a lovely person with a passion for horses and giving horse riding lessons. I highly recommend her services.

Go visit her website at https://corkscrewwillowequestrian.co.za

09/08/2022

So excited our new website is live! Go check it out at www.corkscrewwillowequestrian.co.za Thank you Andre & Karin from Aick Web Design https://facebook.com/aickwebdesign