6th January, 2017 A Good Read

Nothing much has happened in Woodgreen today. I feel obliged to provide something reading material and can thoroughly recommend these two blogs for starters...

Mulography.co.uk by Sari Maydew

As well as her cast of characters which includes Xato who came over from Mallorca...

...she has guest appearance including Henrietta.

Soft and Sound by Kate Sandel, who works with trainers Phillipe Karl and Mark Rashid.

5th January, 2017 Can We Lick It?

The consultant is happy with my thumb but still says no driving and the pins have to stay in for another three weeks. After that I'll be in a cast for a while! The scaphoid bone is apparently very delicate and needs to be protected so no gripping, lifting or waggling allowed. Fortunately I can still type and take photos.

I will happily make appointments with anyone who is happy for Tracey to do the physical aspects of the work with me supervising. From there I can also supervise your work with your horse.

One of my enquiries about a horse problem came from Nikki yesterday, who owns Miniature Shetland filly, Lolly. She and Lolly have eighty acres that they can roam when they mood takes them, and until recently they have enjoyed their walks. Unfortunately on one occasion, Lolly, who is normally very confident, got in a bit of a flap about some chickens that she met, and then just a few days later, was chased by loose dogs and got loose herself. Understandably she isn't so sure she wants to go exploring any more and plants herself instead. Nikki and I discussed some techniques that she could use and combine in order to help Lolly to overcome her fears. In a nutshell these were:

• Go out with a calm companion
• Replicate the 'bean bag race' but without racing, walking to a point and then returning part-way and then going a bit further or a bit nearer, and then returning to the beginning and so on
• Extending her world again by taking short circular routes like the petals of a flower
• Following and engaging with some controlled chickens/dogs making sure that Nikki is in control of the pony and the stimulus
• Rewarding with clickered treats using a three click system (rather than one click one treat)

We have the technology to control chickens

I can usually gauge someone's ability and understanding while I am talking to them on the telephone and feel confident that Nikki will be able to utilise these techniques carefully and sensibly and will seek hands on help if she needs it. As she isn't based anywhere near me, I will be able to recommend someone to help her who lives nearer.

4th January, 2017 All Around my Hat

On the Forest, the word 'hat' refers to a stand of trees and is evident in a few Forest place names. This morning I supervised Tracey working with Sammy and we visited a hat as we went by at Moonhills - Tracey is now definitely my right hand woman!

This afternoon I wrote 500 words of my book and also took phone calls about horses for charity. It's going well so far. 

3rd January, 2017 IHRA On-Line Clinic

Want help to succeed with your New Year's resolutions for your horse? The last advice clinic I did was very successful and not only raised money for the FRS trailer for their safety panels but helped horse owners with issues such as nappiness, fear of traffic, herd introductions, choice of horsebox, loading, and so on. Please feel free to contact me from tomorrow onwards and I will do my best to give you logical, sensible advice that you can try. If you need to have an appointment then there will be no charge for the telephone or email advice. You can nominate which charity you would like me to send the money to and you can pay via Paypal to me for forwarding.

3rd January, 2017 Birthday Suit

All brought together because of horses we made a bit of a motley crew for our birthday meal at the Royal Oak; made up of people who either don't or couldn't work! I was given a splendid carrot cake! Meanwhile, on Facebook, I was sent all the things that I like - Peter Gabriel on a camel, leading a horse and a mule would just about make my year!

2nd January, 2017 Wiggle Room

Over the years I have worked with hundreds of horses and ponies and their owners. The ones that do the best are those that gradually become self-sufficient, able to apply the underlying concepts and feel to any situation, rather than just formulaic techniques. They begin to literally 'work it out for themselves'. At least a handful of the people I have worked with have become Recommended Associates, and others have taken all of the IH courses for their own satisfaction.

Some have incorporated other, compatible techniques with those that we used together, or even gone on a more narrow course, confining themselves purely to clicker or IH. All are working away quietly with their own horses, taking their time, just applying a consistent and logical approach. Once you realise that there is actually very little to it other than that, and let go of any notion that horses are naughty, it's usually easy to address any training issue.

During the break I have seen pictures of Debbie, in Kenya, long reining her showjumper, SkubaDiver to bring him back into work, Alison, talking about teaching the Dorset Urban Heath conservation ponies, Wiggy, Harvey, and Jamie, how to lead, and Hilary clipping a very relaxed looking Benji. Benji was semi-feral when she first got him and pretty complicated to work with. Hilary and I worked on taming him, and later starting him under saddle, but the very first time anyone tried to clip him he kicked the clippers straight out of their hand with an unerring accuracy of which Henrietta would have been proud. Hilary has worked with commitment and quiet resolve.

Hilary asks that we excuse the wiggly lines, but that's much better than having a wiggly pony.

Colt foals at the Moorland Mousie Trust continue to be trained using the No Fear, No Force approach too...the Exmoor foals helped me to develop it.

1st January, 2017 Looking Forward

A little while ago I asked people on my Facebook Page Sarah Weston Logical Horsemanship which horse or what event had made them realise they still had a lot to learn about horses? In my case it was Welsh Cob cross Petra Perkins and many of the responses mentioned Welsh Cobs and Exmoor Ponies!

Kayti Harvey, someone who knows stacks about horses, said:

"In a word "Maisie", that mare thinks like a chess player, bounces like a trampolinist and loves with a heart like an ocean. She has few expected or typical behaviours, she does what she wants. Daily she reminds that I cannot fix them all and that not all horses (and people) think and do as we think they will - no matter how enlightened we think we are! And I love her endless because of it."

Who would like a shower?

"Butter wouldn't..."

Debbie, from the Isle of Wight could almost name the date and time:

"September 2012. Dillon arrived. And I thought I knew about horses !! What a learning curve the last 4 years have been but what an amazing journey and the bond now was unimaginable then."

Back on board for the first time

Dillon had to be completely restarted from the ground up, physical issues addressed and tack changed, but it was all worth it.

At the Mark Rashid clinic last year

This, from vet Joy was rather telling, and makes me pleased that at last vets like Gemma Pearson at Edinburgh University are urging vets and veterinary schools to take a more measured approach to horse handling.

"When I realised that 5 years of veterinary training is worthless if you can't get anywhere near the eye/ leg/ sole/ udder/ teeth/ foal/ horse! Followed by a complete re-evaluation of equine handling: everything I was taught about horse behaviour at vet school was wrong. Hopefully the teaching is better now, but I'm not convinced... vets still get injured by horses very very frequently."

I still hear of instances where, for example with New Forest pony Bear, vets are unaware of their energy and body language when approaching a timid horse.

The same can be said of equine colleges where one graduate said:

"After finishing 3 years of equine study.. Straight from inexperienced leaving school to level 2 diploma and nvq and then a level 3 extended diploma.. Realising I was taught to pass not to succeed."

...although I am not sure we would this mean to our work experience students!..

"When I went from riding my own pony club ponies to doing my GCSE work experience on a well known rider's yard and came off the same horse twice on my first morning!! Very soon realized they were a different calibre and knocked me down a peg or two! Employer to their credit had me back on the same horse every single day for the two weeks and I left having learnt more than how to staple papers together!"

These days I hardly dare put them on a horse for fear that they might fall off and sue me.

Friend Gill Dixon who relied on No Fear, No Force to train her Dartmoor Hill Ponies said:

 "When I rescued my wildies, they have taught me more than any other horse before!"

 Perhaps Lesley's approach is the right one:

"Nothing particular just a thirst for knowledge really...I never stop learning."

Lesley owns the wonderful Floyd, who does so well in driving competitions.

I am sure that in 2017 we will all be learning more about our own horses (and mules); hopefully not the hard way!