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FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010

Doctoring: Natural Horsemanship Applied

Four years ago, I volunteered at a natural horsemanship-based ranch for the summer. It was an incredible experience, and what I got out of it was definitely worth forfeiting a paycheck for. One story from my summer there really stands out for me – about truly understanding and applying the concept of approach and retreat.

One fateful day, one of the horses decided to attempt to saw his leg off on a vinyl wire fence. It wasn’t pretty. He cut all the way through the skin and right down to the cannon bone. So we had a nasty wound that couldn’t be stitched up to doctor twice daily.

Oh right, I forgot to mention – up until a few months earlier, this beautiful gelding had been untouched. Since then, he’d been gelded but not handled too much. So we were doctoring a gaping wound on a partially wild horse!

Prior to his injury, we could catch him but it took some time. By the time I left the ranch to return to school, we couldn’t get him to leave us alone when we were out in his paddock.

We had obviously done something right. Instead of being more sceptical of people after having his wound scrubbed out several times a day, he wanted to be with us. And in my opinion, it’s all because of how we used approach and retreat to care for his leg.

This guy had never been hosed, but this wound needed hosing. We started by putting the water on and trying as best we could to keep it on his leg while he danced and pranced and worried (approach). As soon as he calmed down – voila! – the water came off his leg (retreat). Then we repeated. And repeated.

And repeated.

Same thing when we were scrubbing the proud flesh out of it; when he got worried or lifted his leg, we kept cleaning until he put it down (approach). When he relaxed, we’d give him a break (retreat), then start again.

Soon he just stood there for anything, and would actually wait at the gate to be doctored, eager to come and hang out with people. Oh, and giving him a bit of grain when he came out of his paddock may have helped, too!

Since then, I haven’t had any problems doctoring horses, no matter how bad the wound. By staying calm and continuing what you were doing while they throw a fit, then rewarding them for relaxing, they start trusting you and, even if it hurts, they’ll put up with more. By doing this, you can turn a potentially bad experience into a good one – and even into a training opportunity.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 1:04 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: APPLYING NH, DOCTORING, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP TECHNIQUES

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2010

Natural Horsemanship as it Relates to Parenting

I was thinking the other day how natural horsemanship really does apply to all areas of my life. It affects how I relate to people and especially how I am with my son.

Because I only have one child, I really don’t know if my observations that relate the way Ben responds to my methods are really accurate – I haven’t exactly had a lot of different case studies! But the way I approach parenting (and urge my husband to do the same) is with consistency, a whole lot of love, a sense of fun and a sense of justice.

Ben is nearly two-years-old and a really interesting little person. The other day, he took a round cork trivet and a pair of oven mitts out of a kitchen drawer, put the mitts on and carried the trivet around, proudly showing me his ‘pizza’. I never cease to be amazed at the things he comes up with all on his own.

And wow, if you want to know how emotionally fit you are, just try being the primary caregiver of a young child in pain. Some children are easy teethers – Ben is not! Before he was five months old, his first teeth came in. Since then, we’ve had months and months and months of teething. For both for Ben and for those around him, the sleepless nights and misery can last for ages – for example, he’s been working on his two year molars since December and it is now June and they’re still not in! I was happy that I came into this with more emotional fitness and more awareness of my emotional state and how to change it than I used to have. It has also clearly shown me some areas that need improvement!

Aside from the whole teething thing, Ben is a really happy kid. He has and understands his boundaries; he has determination but knows that if he is really struggling, we will help him out; he trusts us implicitly and feels safe with us. He knows that he won’t be told that he can do something today and then be reprimanded for doing it tomorrow. He understands when he makes a mistake that we still love him, and he has shown us the value of repeating things over and over (and over and over) again with patience and understanding.

I’m not a perfect parent, but natural horsemanship has sure helped me be better than I otherwise would have. And really, I think that parenting has helped me to be better with my horses.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 6:09 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: EMOTIONAL FITNESS, HORSEPEOPLE - A BREED OF OUR OWN, LAYING THE FOUNDATION, MY FAMILY, REPETITION

THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010

Repetition, Reward & Recovering Perfectionists

I am a recovering perfectionist. I used to be so afraid of doing something wrong – or worse, something “bad” – that I didn’t want to try new things. I wanted to sit in my little comfort zone and do things the way I had always done them. I didn’t even want to cook because what if – gasp – it didn’t turn out!

I am slowly recovering. It is a long journey, full of discomfort and mistakes. I have to keep reminding myself that mistakes are good – you really can’t progress without them. Figure out what doesn’t work and change how you’re playing the game.

One of the things I’m recognizing now as I try out new techniques and give myself permission to be wrong or awkward or a downright mess, is that I’m starting to see the small changes in my horses. It gives me more incentive to keeping trying because I can see those little tries and improvements.

Horses (and we) learn by repetition, and it’s hard to keep repeating something that feels all wrong if you don’t think you’re really getting anywhere. But becoming more aware of those positive changes in my horses keeps me at it.

I feel and reward the little improvements, which does two great things – it makes me want to repeat the lesson the next day, and best of all, it lets my horses know that their little tries are being recognized and appreciated. When I feel that small change and reward them for it in a way that they understand, they start trying even harder and they learn so fast!

When you keep each exercise short (repetition is the key, but it can easily be overdone!) and just keep looking for the little tries, it is incredible how quickly horses come along.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 7:46 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: APPLYING NH, EMOTIONAL FITNESS, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP TECHNIQUES, REPETITION, SOAKING

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010

My Zephyr

Zephyr, my beautiful solid black APHA gelding, will go down in history as the horse who taught me the most. For a while, anyway – there may be another one who comes along to keep going with what Zephyr started.

The challenging thing about Zephyr is that he used to have a very small happy medium. He used to change very quickly from right brain to left brain and back again. If I wasn’t assertive enough, he would decide that I wasn’t the leader and try to take over. If I got too assertive, he would get scared and upset. Finding that happy place was a constant challenge for me.

Zephyr and I have been together for five years now, and every year he matures more and becomes more confident – and maybe a little less cocky! I used to think that he would be an ‘evergreen’ horse, but he is proving me wrong.

Since I co-own a horse training business, my own horses often get left on the back burner. We have been busy with our sales horses and one in for training, so Zephyr had been on vacation. Finally on Monday, I had the opportunity to bring him out.

The contrast between him and the youngsters I’d been riding with so apparent after not being on him for a while. He was so attentive and quiet, so focused and ready to work. After being on our smaller horses, his gaits felt all the more athletic and big.

In other words, I was in heaven.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 9:34 AM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: MY HORSES, SOAKING

TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010

A Good Start

You know how they say that a good start is half the finish? I’m with them.

Yesterday we took Blondie, our 4-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse mare out for her first trail ride. It was her seventh time being ridden – and four of those rides happened last fall.

When we got Blondie last June, she was mostly wild – we couldn’t even catch her. It took two weeks of taking it slow and showing her people were a good thing to finally be able to halter her. But once we had earned her trust, she turned into a different horse.

For most of her life, she had been living, pretty much unhandled, on a breeding farm. But she did have one short period of incredible handling, and I believe those few days made a big difference in this horse.

As a three-year-old, Blondie participated in a clinic with Ray Hunt. And just those few days of great handling stayed with her. We noticed it as soon as we were able to halter her. She was extremely respectful of pressure – she never thought of pulling back while tied, and led like a dream.

After we’d had Blondie for two weeks and had just been able to start handling her, a young rescue horse who we’d found a home for needed to be loaded into a trailer. This youngster, Spirit, had been badly abused and I had only been able to touch him once – and now we needed to get him into a trailer!

Spirit had bonded with Blondie, and would follow her everywhere. So we haltered Blondie and led her into the trailer, which had been backed into their pasture. She was a little bit nervous of getting in, but had been taught to lead so well that within seconds she was hopping in – and Spirit followed right behind! The hard part was getting Blondie back out, but again, her respect for pressure made it a lot easier than it could have been.

When we started working with her in the round pen, Blondie was your usual green horse – worried about new things and a little anxious about what was going on. But she settled into the routine quickly and accepted new things much more easily than you would expect an unhandled horse to do.

She was like an experienced trail horse when we rode out yesterday. She had been taught to move off of pressure so well that even on her third ride this year, she was moving off the slightest suggestion from my leg. And I got to enjoy that amazing running walk!

Even though she’d hardly had any handling as a youngster, the handling that Blondie did have was excellent. She is one of those lucky horses who has never had a bad experience with people. She has so much trust and confidence in people, and that makes her very willing even when faced with new experiences. It is so wonderful to see and experience what a difference that makes in a horse.

Thank you, Ray Hunt.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 9:29 AM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: LAYING THE FOUNDATION, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP PROFESSIONALS, RAY HUNT, YOUNGSTERS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010

Rollkur: "Absolutely Not Acceptable"

I was thrilled to hear the news yesterday – that the FEI has officially (and unanimously) ruled that rollkur is to be outlawed from the warm-up rings at international competitions.

Rollkur does not have a standard definition, but is essentially extreme overbending with the head far behind the vertical, sometimes to the point that the horse’s muzzle touches its chest. Rollkur is used by some as a training technique, now predominantly known in dressage, but also seen in the warm-up ring at show jumping and eventing competitions. The Classical Riding Club has some great information on what rollkur is and its effects on horses.

(Please note that the photo above does not illustrate rollkur, but rather a horse at liberty with his head just above the verticle as he uses himself naturally.)

There has been a great debate going on in several areas of the horse industry about rollkur. The subject has heated up and gained a lot of publicity since October 2009, when a Swedish rider at an FEI competition in Denmark was alleged to have used rollkur for a period of two hours – and to the point that the horse’s tongue appeared to go blue. The an article, including the footage, was released by EPONA.tv. The rider was not disciplined by the FEI.

Several major groups have spoken out against rollkur, including The British Horse Society and The Classical Riding Club. The British Horse Society released a fantastic statement about where they stand on the subject.



The round-table conference of twenty-three FEI directors and representatives from numerous equine disciplines met yesterday to discuss the use of rollkur.

"The first conclusion, which was agreed by everyone, was that all aggressive riding is not acceptable," said Trond Asmyr, FEI Director Dressage & Para-Equestrian Dressage, yesterday following the meeting. "Hyperflexion and rollkur is the same – it’s a position of the head which is obtained by aggressive riding, and this is absolutely not acceptable."

A committee has been formed to implement the policy, which may include using closed-circuit cameras in the warm-up rings.

The participants of the FEI discussion also agreed that the technique known as Low, Deep & Round (LDR) achieves flexion of the horse’s neck without the use of aggressive force, and is therefore acceptable.

I am sending out a huge thank you to all those who actively helped achieve this decision, including the incredible 41,000 people who signed the petition against rollkur that was presented at the FEI discussion. And now – here’s to hoping that this ruling makes a big difference to our sport horses.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 1:33 PM      4 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORY: ROLLKUR/HYPERFLEXION

FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2010

Horses Make Me Happy

Horses make me happy.

For the last few months, our horses have been enjoying a well-deserved break while we catch up on office work. So I was pretty excited yesterday when I managed to escape from the paperwork and bolt up to the barn for a ride.

The first thing that I did was go into our pasture and rub all the horses. Our horses are pretty positive guys, and they were all competing for attention. Just scratching them and smelling that perfect horse smell was enough to put me in the running for the happiest person in the world.

And then I took out my big black gelding, Zephyr, threw on a saddle and rope hackamore and off we went! The ground was pretty hard and he’s been on holiday so we didn’t do too much, but even just a good trot down the road was enough to have me grinning from ear to ear.

What is it about horses that affects us this way? I don’t really know, but I love it - and I love them.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 4:52 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: HAPPINESS, WINTER RIDING

SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2010

What Do YOU Think???

Owing Heartwood, where we have a lot of fun with our horses, lay a solid foundation and find them great new homes, is an amazing opportunity. Not only do we get to do what we love and meet great, like-minded horsepeople, but we get to experience many different horses. And what a gift that is for developing our horsemanship!

Because we are not currently blessed with an indoor arena or good weather, we are spending a lot of time this winter researching different horsemanship methods. Yes, that means that we get to read horsemanship books and watch horsemanship DVDs while on the clock. What could be better?!

Our goal is not just to further our own horsemanship, but also to outline a horse development strategy. In the spring, we plan to hire a student to come in and work with us. So far, since Anna and my philosophies are pretty parallel, we haven't laid out our exact program - that is, what we do, step by step, with our horses. But since we are bringing a student into the mix, in order to reduce the number of gaps and ensure that our horses have that real foundation, an written game plan seems like a good idea.

Anna and I have both always been very open-minded and explored many different avenues of horsemanship. We like to sort through information, take what we feel is relevant and in line with our philosophy and leave the rest. We love seeing the different methods out there and incorporating different techniques into our training as we find them.

Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to just stick with one program, but most of the time I'm pretty happy to take note of the similarities and differences in the approaches out there and use what makes sense to me.

So what do I want your input on? I want to know the one thing you have found most beneficial to you and your horse. Is there an exercise that you find indispensable? A technique? A game? Why?

As a 'collector' of horsemanship information, I'm hoping for some really neat ideas to try out!

POSTED BY CELENA AT 8:17 PM      2 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: ANNA, APPLYING NH, ASPIRING HORSEMAN, DEVELOPING HORSES, LAYING THE FOUNDATION, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP EXERCISES, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP PHILOSOPHIES, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP TECHNIQUES