News / Penny's Thoughts
Updates at Caring Horsemanship - February 2010
I have written an article on my thoughts as to the down side of Natural Horsemanship from the horses point of view. As you know, I am a complete and utter fan of the natural approach, brought in by the masters and indeed our ancestors - of course they had their down sides but they were great carers of the planet, and worked with the weather, and listened and watched their animals to see changes. They then could make decisions as to the work load done on the farm, to cut the grass or not, to plough or not and so on. The animals were their guides.
Horses (as this is my medium) were looked upon as very special and taken notice of, for every day life. There was huge respect on both sides in the main and indeed horses have furthered mankind more than anything in history - even up to this date.
So my opening paragraph, the downside to NHMS from the horse's point of view becomes very apparent when the basic need you gets watered down. This of course is my opinion.
I think you have to keep a handle on the realistic side of horsemanship. I know that everyone wants to do the best for their horses, but by waving a magical wand, and 'maybe's' can get in the way of the true path to communication. I feel there are a lot of bandwagon therapies which can prey on the vulnerable which leads to confusion, expenses and little results - what can the horse be thinking - we humans know, that health comes from good diet, a purpose to get up in the mornings, good friends and dare I say simplistic pleasures (playing with the dog, riding the horse) . Just being alive, what we have on this planet if life, realness, responsibilities, bodies, breath, emotions - all of this makes us real humans - we are here for a purpose to live an earthly life - what a privilege. Yes I can hear you say, perhaps not all have the same good experience - this I cannot answer.
I am a great fan of maintenance for my horses, we have a larder of natural cures, good diet, teeth, massage, backs, bare foot where necessary, and exercise, stimulation, partnership, horseness. The latter has to come from modern man - us. We have lost so much reality and earthiness, and true hard working living - watching the natural world, and being part of it. All the answers are here, miracles happen every day - a birth, a flower opening, the sun warming our faces, need I go on.
We humans have so much potential to get it right, and we can. Listen to your heart, it will lead you the right way, keep your life real and your horse will thrive naturally.
I believe in the spirit world, and the wonders beyond, but I am also very realistic and in the now, your horse needs you to be grounded, in the moment, emotionally balanced, a leader and time to get it right.
Penny
Updates at Caring Horsemanship
Nancy, our gorgeous, surprise Paint filly, is now seven months old and after a slow and gentle weaning, she is living out with her new friend, Nazareth the donkey. She is doing well on the grass and hasn’t started to bray just yet! All the handling she had in her first few months seems to have paid off, as she remains so quiet and easy, even though we handle her much less now, allowing her to develop her ‘horsiness’ as a growing yearling. Her mum, Tizzy is also doing well, and really starting to make good progress in her ridden career since it was put on hold by Nancy’s unexpected arrival!
Fortunately the credit crunch has not made that much of a difference to us so far. There still seems to be plenty to do, where by in the past, difficult horses were, maybe, moved on, now more perseverance and commitment to finding a way through problems is becoming more commonplace- which can only be good for the horse!
This brings me around to giving horses a second chance, a different path.
As you know we are expanding along the western trail. We now have six lovely Quarter horses, who are just starting out in their ‘caring horsemanship’ careers and we will be using the western saddle to encourage a new look and feel to riding.
But we also have older horses at caring horsemanship; some well into their 20’s who are still in work but need to adjust their careers to keep them out of retirement. My daughters horse, Albi, is somewhere around the age of 28 now, and had a very full and energetic life. Successfully shown to a very high level as a hack, with his long, extravagant movement, then many seasons hunting on Exmoor, before coming to us about eight years ago, with a few issues that- thankfully, we were able to help him with.
Albi is a stunning, Anglo Arab welsh X, white and flighty, he loves fast work and spooks and prances at any opportunity (part of his charm, so Jo tells me). Although he had all this energy, a life of hard work was beginning to show, his neck was increasingly stiff and clicky and sometimes he could be slow to ‘warm up’. All the signs of a bit of arthritis due to wear and tear, we were considering retirement for a while even though he was still sound and happy. So, Jo gentled him along not ready to stop his riding career just yet, and started joining in on some riding lessons with Judith Hubbard, our western trainer. The difference in his body is amazing, he is much suppler than ever before, he can do flying changes, stop and turn like a youngster and is still improving in his western work.
Even though he is very high withered now, we have found a western saddle that fits him well, a synthetic wintec, which is much lighter too, than the leather saddles we predominantly use. Jo almost entirely rides him western now; it just suits him so well and keeps him going- and learning. I am sure there are many horses out there that would benefit from a change in the western direction, as Albi (and Jo) have.
Western riding can be an exciting way to progress and keep riding ‘alive’. We may not be quite like the cowboys, but we can certainly admire their skills and learn from them to develop our own horsemanship. We certainly feel here, at caring horsemanship that we are opening up a whole new path to explore, as do many of our customers, who too, are enjoying the western experience with us.
My young part paint mare, Dusk is showing great promise in her western work, and every day I look forward to riding her so that we can learn more together. If you or your horse are interested, why not come and give a go? There is so much to learn and enjoy with the horse. The Devon Western riding club is available too, for all you budding cowboys out there, with lots of events and fixtures over the summer.
Penny
Horseness
I meet people with their horses with behavioural issues every day. Some are easy to sort, others take a little longer. But time and time again the problem lies with the human kind. It is never done intentionally as most horse owners care deeply that their equines have everything they need to be happy. Of course there is plenty of advice and plenty of products to be purchased, but the question I sometimes ask myself is, are we taking the Horseness out of the horse?
To be able to have a light, responsive, respectful, co-operative partner takes a great deal of care, timing, teaching, patience and horseness within us.
So what is horseness in the domestic horse?
I would say keeping the natural instinctive behaviour alive to produce the follower, the horse, and the leader, you. The current way of training can be very robotic, restrictive, tiring, and of course very unnatural. The horse then is excluded from forming a partnership which enables the natural behaviour to try. They can become conditioned to the task. So I say, where is the Horseness in this? Our partnership needs to be alive in the moment to respond to the task as a herd member would be expected to do out on the planes.
Unless we take the time to show, think, and help, they will never know what it is they have to do, and can make it up!!
My job is to improve both horse and human parntnerships, so when I take the rope to lead a horse and the pressure is pulled backwards, I know that this horse has not learnt to release from pressure from the very start. As soon as this is taught the conversation can begin and the horseness can start.
Some times I have said to me, "My horse has never cantered on the right lead, ever, not even on the lunge. Now the horse is 10 years old so all the competitions have been missed out on due to this. He just can’t, so the training works around the cant." How restricting and frustrating for the owner, and the horse, not to go out and do more. This horse, he was so athletic, a super trot that there was no way he could not canter. I showed him a few tasks and showed him how to rebalance, and after working for 30 seconds he was cantering on the right lead. Not just once but many times. She and I were thrilled, so hopefully she will be able to take him out to do some dressage. It only took the time to show the horse how.
Conditioned training teaches your horse not to think, so rendering their instinctive behaviour useless, taking the horseness out of the horse. Keep your horse a horse! It is amazing how human this makes us.
Keep it natural.
Penny
Surprise, surprise Nancy!
Nature never ceases to amaze me, and isn’t that wonderful! You can’t package it up and write a rule book for her. She knows best, and fixes her time clock good or bad for us humans to work with.
So, as I said surprise, surprise Nancy. We are blessed with having some wonderful horses to work with, some young, some old, some borrowed and some new. One of our new quarter horse mares who had been bred by a dear friend and found her way to me had previously been sent away last autumn 07 to be started which happened to be at a stud, not the breeding season but a time to start youngsters, and breeding to stop-so you would think! My little mare spent some time there, running along side a smart Paint stallion, divided by a high stallion proof fence with electric tape across the top. It was assumed that both kept to their side, but somehow it appears that passion took over and a romantic liaison occurred through the fence! A secret encounter, that no-one was aware of!
My friend then sold her to another friend who then sold her to me in April 08. ‘Tizzy’ now a three year old. As you know the summer has been wet and trying and we have undergone some major changes, so the young horses had been turned away until the autumn, when we would seriously start their careers.
I wanted to start Tizzy’s education again at the beginning, lots of handling, re-acquainting her with tack, long lining and sitting back on again, all of which were coming on well. Her largish tummy did not concern me, she had done well over the summer as had her companions who were all a similar size, I had no reason to think any different, let alone that she may be in foal.
One Wednesday a few weeks ago, I was quietly long lining Tizzy, I needed to adjust the stirrups which brought me to look closer underneath her tummy and then to her udder which was stirring to a shape, still not thinking of a foal, perhaps a hormonal flush, a sore or bite? So we put some cream on her put her back in the field for the night and think again tomorrow. As I walked her out her belly just wobbled, quite aggressively, not once but four times! I think she was letting me in on her secret.
Some detective work had to be done, so I phoned my friend and we discussed the possibilities and decided that she potentially could be in foal, but probably not to foal for a while as she wasn’t very big and her udder was fairly small, we would wait and see- but not for long.
Our quarter horses live in a herd with a donkey called Nazareth, and on occasions he can be quite vocal, this Thursday morning was no exception, I think everyone in the parish could hear him announcing our newest arrival. So there she was in the field a lovely palomino Tobiano filly, with mum close at her side, both the picture of health, and ‘Nancy’ the image of her suspected father!
As I said, nature does what it feels is best sometimes, against all the rules,
1) Covering over a fence
2) Not letting anyone know she was in foal until the last minute
3) Not much udder and no waxing up
4) Completely out of season
Nature is determined to carry on regardless breaking rules and changing plans. It is so much bigger and far more powerful than we are, we need to be careful of this, she can and probably will, have the last laugh, she certainly has with Nancy, and we are delighted!
Look out for the photos of her, we will keep you updated on her progress.
