Sunday, March 30, 2008
30th March, 2008 Looking forward
My next small demo is on 11th May at Horseworld, Bristol. Prince is coming back from his loan home to be part of the day.
30th March, 2008 Flump!
By all accounts my demo went very well and we have raised £1,000 for the RDA Wilton Group. At the start I felt like a bridegroom waiting to see whether the bride would turn up, but all the horses that I had been promised turned up on time and were the stars of the show. No horse, no demo and also no helpers, no demo. I couldn't believe it when we had the whole place set up and ready to go within one hour and all looking really tidy. Dismantling was equally slick and we left the place looking like we had never been there.
The first pony, Tigga, got as far as being half clipped by the end of the first half - we used touch and move away technique and clicker training for him. Bella and Lily were confidentally being touched and having their feet picked up and then followed umbrella's and bicycles around the arena before walking over the carpet and tarpaulin. Lily is actually a Narcissus as she kept gazing at herself in the mirror.
Ori, who seems at least 20 hands high and isn't yet two, came in on her toes and I did wonder whether she would be able to calm down enough to be long reined. With a bit of groundwork and some de-sensitization to the long reins I was able to get her going quite nicely and looking a lot more relaxed by the end.
Finn, the biting horse didn't live up to his reputation and after I shook the rattle bottle at him once, I couldn't persuade him to try to bite me again no matter how provocative I was.
Sunny the horse that won't load to go home, wouldn't load and we were able to give a good demo of pressure and release and use of the panels. He kept throwing his head up into the air, usually a clear sign that he has previously hit his head, and seemed very worried about the partition once he was in.
Reviews specifically from the demo:
Well done yesterday, you did a great job.
Hannah
I am glad you are saying 'successful'! It really was a brilliant demo and you were amazing. I really hope that you get a lot of feedback and work from it. I had some feedback from Fi last night. She sent a text saying 'fantastic, really glad I came'. Then she phoned me and said that she wanted us all to know what an absolute pleasure it was to watch us all working and she wanted to shout to everybody to take notice of what we were doing and how we can change their horses lives! Anyway well done to you.
Sheila
Well must say... i'm kinda beaming today... we finished up yesterday's clip... without sedalin, vet sedation or a twitch in sight! (something we've never been able to do!) But by the very end after our last break i could just turn the clippers straight on and put them on him! Amazing results... and i did notice near the end when i turned the clippers on you could see him go to move them suddenly as if a light came on he'd freeze and stand rock solid still... i can only describe as if waiting for his click & treat! We got in done without a battle of wills just by using the clicker.
Jodie (owner of Bella and Tigga)
Great demo! It all worked very well and I was proud to be one of the team. You have no need to be nervous about doing such events, just be yourself and people love you.
Derry
I came and watched you yesterday and thought you were very good and very brave, well done.
Zoe
I really enjoyed it. Sarah makes it all look so easy!
Evelyn (non-loading horse)
I was there 2, well done sarah it was very interesting 2 watch,(great demo's)
Charlotte
Had a great time and thought Sarah was amazing! I for one am extremely proud to have been a part of the display and thoroughly enjoyed it, and going by Lily's behaviour she did too! right little show off bless :-)
Tracey (nervous pony)
Was an enjoyable demo-did you get to finish clipping the 'mini'?I came away with a few tips and will be taking a container of vit C Pills in my picket with my sometimes nibbly horse (ok to rattle not to take!)
Colin
fantastic Sarah thanks so much, ori was such a good girl and settled nicely in a decent time. brill demo, enjoyed watching all the ponioes... but tigga is SOOOOO cute!! and ori looked.... soooo big
Toni (owner of Ori, long reining horse)
Have you recovered from Saturday - you must have been exhausted once the adrenalin wore off? I thought it was an excellent demo and what a great selection of horses/ponies. Although I was impressed by the sheer size and beauty of that 2 year old thoroughbred I think I liked the chestnut Shetland best and the Welsh pony was totally fascinated with the mirror - it was very funny!!
Frances
I hope you have recovered from your marathon session on Saturday. It was amazing how you kept going. I wanted to thank you so much, rumour has it that you have raised around £1,000 which I can't belive. Anyway, thank you so much for your good nature and keeping going and the wonderful display that comes through love and patience and patience and more patience and working from the horse's point of view.
Pat (Burgess)
The first pony, Tigga, got as far as being half clipped by the end of the first half - we used touch and move away technique and clicker training for him. Bella and Lily were confidentally being touched and having their feet picked up and then followed umbrella's and bicycles around the arena before walking over the carpet and tarpaulin. Lily is actually a Narcissus as she kept gazing at herself in the mirror.
Ori, who seems at least 20 hands high and isn't yet two, came in on her toes and I did wonder whether she would be able to calm down enough to be long reined. With a bit of groundwork and some de-sensitization to the long reins I was able to get her going quite nicely and looking a lot more relaxed by the end.
Finn, the biting horse didn't live up to his reputation and after I shook the rattle bottle at him once, I couldn't persuade him to try to bite me again no matter how provocative I was.
Sunny the horse that won't load to go home, wouldn't load and we were able to give a good demo of pressure and release and use of the panels. He kept throwing his head up into the air, usually a clear sign that he has previously hit his head, and seemed very worried about the partition once he was in.
Reviews specifically from the demo:
Well done yesterday, you did a great job.
Hannah
I am glad you are saying 'successful'! It really was a brilliant demo and you were amazing. I really hope that you get a lot of feedback and work from it. I had some feedback from Fi last night. She sent a text saying 'fantastic, really glad I came'. Then she phoned me and said that she wanted us all to know what an absolute pleasure it was to watch us all working and she wanted to shout to everybody to take notice of what we were doing and how we can change their horses lives! Anyway well done to you.
Sheila
Well must say... i'm kinda beaming today... we finished up yesterday's clip... without sedalin, vet sedation or a twitch in sight! (something we've never been able to do!) But by the very end after our last break i could just turn the clippers straight on and put them on him! Amazing results... and i did notice near the end when i turned the clippers on you could see him go to move them suddenly as if a light came on he'd freeze and stand rock solid still... i can only describe as if waiting for his click & treat! We got in done without a battle of wills just by using the clicker.
Jodie (owner of Bella and Tigga)
Great demo! It all worked very well and I was proud to be one of the team. You have no need to be nervous about doing such events, just be yourself and people love you.
Derry
I came and watched you yesterday and thought you were very good and very brave, well done.
Zoe
I really enjoyed it. Sarah makes it all look so easy!
Evelyn (non-loading horse)
I was there 2, well done sarah it was very interesting 2 watch,(great demo's)
Charlotte
Had a great time and thought Sarah was amazing! I for one am extremely proud to have been a part of the display and thoroughly enjoyed it, and going by Lily's behaviour she did too! right little show off bless :-)
Tracey (nervous pony)
Was an enjoyable demo-did you get to finish clipping the 'mini'?I came away with a few tips and will be taking a container of vit C Pills in my picket with my sometimes nibbly horse (ok to rattle not to take!)
Colin
fantastic Sarah thanks so much, ori was such a good girl and settled nicely in a decent time. brill demo, enjoyed watching all the ponioes... but tigga is SOOOOO cute!! and ori looked.... soooo big
Toni (owner of Ori, long reining horse)
Have you recovered from Saturday - you must have been exhausted once the adrenalin wore off? I thought it was an excellent demo and what a great selection of horses/ponies. Although I was impressed by the sheer size and beauty of that 2 year old thoroughbred I think I liked the chestnut Shetland best and the Welsh pony was totally fascinated with the mirror - it was very funny!!
Frances
I hope you have recovered from your marathon session on Saturday. It was amazing how you kept going. I wanted to thank you so much, rumour has it that you have raised around £1,000 which I can't belive. Anyway, thank you so much for your good nature and keeping going and the wonderful display that comes through love and patience and patience and more patience and working from the horse's point of view.
Pat (Burgess)
You will also be pleased to know that Sunny has been practising loading last week with no issues, but the test was a Wimboune RC Gymkhana on Saturday. Unfortunately I wasn't there but C took him and on the way home he loaded for her within 5 minutes..... much to the shock of many others there!!! (he has a reputation!!!)
From ER 6.4.08
Friday, March 28, 2008
28th March, 2008 Dear Dr Morris
Mass hysteria in our house tonight when I let David read a letter my doctor has received from the rheumatologist which describes me as a "44 year old caucasian horse whisperer"!!! I'm actually 45 anyway.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
27th March, 2008 Making Plans
With the demo only two days away I am looking forward to it with some excitement and a little apprehension. I am hoping that as soon as I get a pony under my arm I'll be fine as they seem to ground me better than anything else. We've sold over 150 tickets with a few more to go on the door and we hope we covered everything from food, to seating, music and ponies! We've got six for the demo: two miniature Shetlands, Tigga and Bella, one of which objects to being clipped and the other is frightened of bicycles, a Welsh pony, Lily, that was sexually abused (??!!), and lovely Ori, the Arab cross Thoroughbred that I have worked before that we hope to introduce to long- lining. Finn the RDA pony bites like a shark and Sunny won't load to go home from events. Whilst I am hoping that everything we do will be interesting, I am keen not to try and copy either Kelly or Monty and will just use IH techniques to do dramatic things in a non-dramatic way. I may also be able to show some clicker training where it would help.
Back at home, I am making plans to restore myself to good health. I have just been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which seems to stem from both physical and mental exertion. I have certainly had a hell of a winter with three horses coming in for supposedly six weeks and then not going home for twelve. Inevitably there is an element of emotional involvement with every horse and owner I meet and this can tax my brain at 4 a.m. while I try to work out which way to go for the best.
So, the plan is to get myself off to a chiropractor and a nutritionist a.s.a.p. and to work with them and the doctor to minimise my symptoms. I shall continue to work with horses on a freelance basis and get my additional exercise through pilates, the gym and riding my own horse. David thought it would be quite novel for me to go walking with him rather than at the end of a set of long-lines for once. We used to walk absolute miles at the weekends and once worked our way through the Jarrold Book of Lancashire walks all in the right order - which is a bit sad actually.
I took Petra Perkins to a saddle-fitting clinic by Dave Siemens at the weekend where he found that her saddle was bridging ever so slightly. I hadn't noticed this because I always check with my palm down rather than palm up (which makes your hand flatter). We also tried her in a western saddle and she looked fabulous. Dave gave her a chiropractic treatment which wasn't too dramatic and she does seem to be moving better. Kate Barnett came out to give her physio yesterday and will come again next week. I am hoping that my lessons with Amanda Barton will continue to persuade Petra not to be "on a mission" all the time that she is ridden and that she will watch out for me going out of a shoulders, hips, heels alignment. With a corrected saddle, lots of stretching exercises, pole-work and long reining I am hoping that Petra will stay fit enough to ride throughout the year.
Back at home, I am making plans to restore myself to good health. I have just been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which seems to stem from both physical and mental exertion. I have certainly had a hell of a winter with three horses coming in for supposedly six weeks and then not going home for twelve. Inevitably there is an element of emotional involvement with every horse and owner I meet and this can tax my brain at 4 a.m. while I try to work out which way to go for the best.
So, the plan is to get myself off to a chiropractor and a nutritionist a.s.a.p. and to work with them and the doctor to minimise my symptoms. I shall continue to work with horses on a freelance basis and get my additional exercise through pilates, the gym and riding my own horse. David thought it would be quite novel for me to go walking with him rather than at the end of a set of long-lines for once. We used to walk absolute miles at the weekends and once worked our way through the Jarrold Book of Lancashire walks all in the right order - which is a bit sad actually.
I took Petra Perkins to a saddle-fitting clinic by Dave Siemens at the weekend where he found that her saddle was bridging ever so slightly. I hadn't noticed this because I always check with my palm down rather than palm up (which makes your hand flatter). We also tried her in a western saddle and she looked fabulous. Dave gave her a chiropractic treatment which wasn't too dramatic and she does seem to be moving better. Kate Barnett came out to give her physio yesterday and will come again next week. I am hoping that my lessons with Amanda Barton will continue to persuade Petra not to be "on a mission" all the time that she is ridden and that she will watch out for me going out of a shoulders, hips, heels alignment. With a corrected saddle, lots of stretching exercises, pole-work and long reining I am hoping that Petra will stay fit enough to ride throughout the year.
Friday, March 21, 2008
21st March, 2008 Speeding across the Forest
Following another bad year for animal accidents on the Forest, the police are using the above poster in the hope of getting people to slow down. In a recent speed check, 12 people were issued with fixed penalty tickets - all of them lived in the New Forest National Park.
21st March, 2008 Assets and liabilities
From an accountant's point of view most, if not all, horses have to go in the liability column of the accounts. Just like adding an extension to your house, there is no guarantee that the cost of any improvements will be reflected in the value of the horse. Many of my clients have spent far more on training and equipment for their horses than the horse cost in the first place. This is especially true for native ponies some of which can be bought for under £100.
I used to have the view that competition compromises horses - the drive to win can make people very predatorial and can mean that horses are over worked when they are too young, they may be kept in a lot of the time and have to wear gadgets aimed at disguising symptoms rather than curing problems. On the other hand, I think many of our ordinary hacking horses can be compromised too - the cost of physiotherapy and the frustration of finding a decently fitting saddle often mean that things are deliberately overlooked until a horse starts shouting. Petra Perkins has got a sore back at the moment and I have had to take a deep breath before embarking on the long journey through physiotherapist, saddle fitter and then riding instructor. Petra cost me nothing in the first place but she has cost me quite a bit since!
I used to have the view that competition compromises horses - the drive to win can make people very predatorial and can mean that horses are over worked when they are too young, they may be kept in a lot of the time and have to wear gadgets aimed at disguising symptoms rather than curing problems. On the other hand, I think many of our ordinary hacking horses can be compromised too - the cost of physiotherapy and the frustration of finding a decently fitting saddle often mean that things are deliberately overlooked until a horse starts shouting. Petra Perkins has got a sore back at the moment and I have had to take a deep breath before embarking on the long journey through physiotherapist, saddle fitter and then riding instructor. Petra cost me nothing in the first place but she has cost me quite a bit since!
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