23rd August, 2008 Recent feedback

It was great to see Sarah work with Farley, very talented and very caring with Farley, completely put her all in to the work with him.
J.C. 2.8.08

Great Day with Sarah Weston... (thread on NFED)
August 2 2008 at 10:02 PM
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to Sarah Weston for a great training day today. Sarah came out to my place, with her lovely assistant Julia (ooh, that makes them sound like Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee ) and worked with myself, some friends and our horses - we had a great time, learnt lots, had fun, and we want her back sooooon to do more! I am so pleased with my babies who worked very hard for a yearling and 2 yr old and went back to their field much more mannerly and 'polite' - you can judge the results for yourself if I make it to the breed show with them which is the plan (depends how diligent I am at maintaining a consistent handling approach, so in my own hands )! I quickly realised (ironic that ) that my problem with Mary rushing off as I got on her was entirely due to my high energy mental attitude I rush everywhere so she is simply reacting to my 'hasty' approach - silly mummy , and Rocky (whom many of you know I've had some problems with this year as he suddenly seemed to lose confidence in the world around him) showed how brave he can be if I set him up properly by strolling confidently over the tarp and letting me twirl umbrellas in his face with total contempt.Everyone else said how helpful the day was, even cynical "I don't do NH stuff or anything that requires me to commit" Lucy, who'd given up hope of Lincs even approaching a pole on the ground - she now believes he may even yet become willing to pop a jump happily. Archie arab was happily allowing scary things to move over and above him, after just a few minutes of click/treat, when just a few days ago Julie daren't even lift her hand to the top of her head whilst riding for fear of him bolting, and Tony and Thomas just breezed through every exercise after starting the day with Tony convinced that Thomas would just plant or ignore him So thank you Sarah and Julia, and hopefully we can do some more work together soon (if we can find a pony/trap to get Rocky past that particular hang up I'll be chuffed!).
TC 2.8.08

Re: Great Day with Sarah Weston...
August 2 2008, 10:11 PM

I had a great time for the hour or two that I was there - lovely to meet everyone and I have lots of respect for Sarah, she has a lovely quiet way with her and the horses looked really trusting of her. I went away with some ideas and decided to have a bit of a play with Murphy when I got back. I fixed up a scary fluorescent yellow sheet on the ground, which at first he wouldn't go near but after walking quietly round and getting him to back up - he eventually decided it wasn't scarey at all and walked normally over it. I then did the umbrella thing, previously he's always thrown a wobbler when he sees one but by introducing it slowly in stages he accepted it totally and also walked over the sheet.
He also seemed very much more relaxed on our ride - don't know if that was anything to do with our ground work - but I had a fab ride on him.
GR 2.8.08

We had fun, learnt a lot, everything was clearly explained with no confusion or disagreement (people or horses!) and everyone that took part said they felt a lot clearer about a more effective way to handle and communicate with their horses - 5 handlers and 6 ponies came away having had a very positive experience! Sarah's manner was quiet, gentle, helpful and clear – she is a credit to the IH organization
TC 7.8.08

Hacked out yesterday with Julie on Archie and he was soooo much better about not rushing, especially when we turned for home - she randomly paused him to click/treat and occasionally just click, stroke, then move on.
TC 7.8.08

We have just got back from Pony Club camp where Frosty won the prize for the most improved pony from last year which is all down to your help. He didn’t put a foot wrong.
ML Telephone message 9.8.08

Hello Sarah,
Just a quick email to let you know of the good progress that Bailey and I have been making.
Bailey has been rather poorly recently. The vet reckons an insect bite that he has been rubbing has caused an infection which resulted in a large pocket of pus along his side. Anyway, the abscess was lanced on Friday and I have had to clean his wound twice per day, inject him with antibiotics twice per day and clean his sheath into which, for some strange reason, the infection is draining from. All rather messy and a lot of handling! Anyway, this morning I was able to attend to him and do all the medical care I needed without having to tie him up. He was loose in the bull-pen and stood like a trooper! No big deal for most people, but considering that once upon a time I couldn’t get anywhere near him, it is a huge advance! When I first made contact with you I just wanted to be able to catch him and put a head-collar on him in the field, remember? But how much more have we achieved!! It makes me feel so much more ambitious for him – perhaps we might even attempt some showing, you never know!

Bailey is a dear little soul and we are having a much more secure and trusting relationship which I have no doubt is down to your intervention.
Thank you Sarah.
GG 10.8.08


Thanks so much for today! As usual, everytime I see you, you boost my confidence with Bailey and I really do understand how important it is to be clear and consistant with him. My space is MY SPACE now and I will try and keep it that way. I will keep up the fly spray work and let you know how we get on. I was so pleased to do the long-lining on the lanes with him, and really pleased how confident he was. I've got lots to work on now and know where to come for a 'reminder' if I get a crisis of confidence!
NB 11.8.08


What a lovely report too, charming, sensitive but also important details of how you need to toughen up!
Comment on my report to NB on the Richard Maxwell site: 13.8.08 Mogwai


Just to inform you of another successful show that Joe and I competed in at the weekend. Joe was amazing and we walked away with the novice youth hi point champion award for the whole of the west coast circuit which was a fantastic achievement. It seems that as soon as Joe gets into the show pen he just knows what to do and he behaves perfectly.
TB 14.8.08

Keep meaning to email you, we took Molly to her 1st show earlier this month, she loaded like a dream both there and to come home. She was such a good girl I could not have asked another inch from her.
LN 19.8.08

I was beginning to feel negative about riding my horse out but in two sessions Sarah had me feeling very positive by showing me how to deal with problems when they arose. She taught me how to breath, relax and be more confident which made m horse relax and begin to believe that she had a herd leader. Sarah talked of all the options for the future which was great. In a couple of sessions I learnt so much. I asked Sarah lots of questions and got lots of answers. Sarah’s relaxed mind attitude instantly put my horse at her ease. Out on the Common when problems arose Sarah stayed calm and taught me to stay calm and deal with the behaviour. The written report was very helpful and very detailed.
OK 23.8.08