Brumby Rescue

We were in the middle of a busy but normal week last week when we got the call on Wednesday. There were some pretty special old bloodline horses up north that were being culled for all the usual reasons and could we help? Fred had been wanting to go up and help with a rescue for some time so he decided at very short notice to lend a hand. On Thursday, Sheila and Hutchy came and picked him up and off they went with a load of hay I had hurriedly organised, as the station were out of feed for the horses.

Fred sorting horses on the Station.

Stallions on the station

It was all a huge rush and I want to say thanks again to our very understanding clients who were all so supportive. Karla held the fort extremely well while Fred was away, but I know we had to change a few plans for people regarding visits and rides, so a big thankyou from us . Anyone who has seen the rescued horses peacefully grazing in our paddocks since would have to agree it was well worth it.

Our 'mob' down the back

Happily grazing

The guy’s ended up bringing 15 horses home with them and Fred and I took 7 here. I had about 10 minutes to make decisions on what to keep which was a bit stressful, but all the horses are gorgeous so I knew we couldn’t go too far wrong. Anyway, we ended up with two weanlings;a filly and a colt, two older mares hopefully around the two to three years mark, and three yearlings; two of them colts and a filly. They are beautiful horses, lovely bone and conformation and some really nice colours and markings.

Nice yearling colt

This is the first time we’ve been able to put wild horses out into paddocks. It’s been lovely for them as it’s given them time to get over their travel, fatten up and relax. Funny though, the last few days they have been meeting me over Roy’s fence, all lined up with ears forward watching what’s going on. They have 40 odd acres to roam around in but have been choosing to come right up to the yards to watch us which is great.

Once the horses had been here for a few days we noticed that Joey, the little yearling colt, had something wrong with his ear. We decided to bring him and Tooloo, his little weanling friend, up to the yards to have a closer look. We were able to calmly seperate them and walk them up which is just amazing! We could see that Joey had an injury to his ear and was a bit sick, so we decided to get Tanya out to have a proper look. She couldn’t come until after dark so we set up the spotlight then Fred used Uncle Roy to get close enough to Joey to get a halter on him.

Wild horse treatment by night! Note Roy licking to help.

Once Tanya arrived, Fred blindfolded Joey’s eye on the sore side and Tanya was able to sedate him, clip and clean out his ear and get him started on his antibiotics. It was all so easy, we are just blown away by these horses temperaments. Since then, Joey has been great to catch each day and has been coping with his needles and ear cleans beautifully. He’s picked up in condition too so I think we’re on top of things. His little friend Tooloo has been vet nurse and stands very close for comfort. Fred also haltered her last week and she’s now also great to catch and loves her pats and leads around.

Tooloo and Joey

We’ve had a new lead horse lately too as poor Roy has had a sore knee after hooning around his paddock. Our friends Maike and Andrew very kindly lent us Forest, their lovely black paint gelding, and he’s been doing some of Roy’s job for us much to Roy’s disgust. Roy takes his job fairly seriuosly and has been giving Forest some filthy looks over the fence everytime he rides by . It’s been great having another lovely quiet horse and Forest is a character too. I just heard a horse catering past on the driveway then and looked out and it’s Fred on Forest practising his canter leads. I guess that’s one good thing about lending us a horse, it will be worked properly!

Forest on the job.

Forest having a swim

The plan for these newly rescued horses is to bring the other 5 in this week and start work on some of them. We had a really fantastic response to these horses with heaps of interest after information was emailed out about them, so Fred and I have decided to hold a Wild Horse Open Day here on Sat Dec 5th. Some of the guys from Margaret River, including Sheila Greenwell, will be bringing up their wild horses from previous rescues and the plan is to have a fun, casual day where people can come and see the variety of these horses, talk to us about them and also watch Fred work with the 7 horses we have here from the latest rescue. We will also have some Perth memebers coming up, hopefully with their ex wildies too so there will be lots of people to chat to.
Sheila and Roy will be doing one of their amazing Liberty displays, provided Roy’s knee is healed and of course Fred will be using Roy to work with the horses, plus there may well be some other suprise displays of god knows what on the day!
Fred will leave two of the horses completely untouched so that people can see the very first handling session with them for themselves. Given that these horses literally hadn’t seen a human until a few weeks ago and the two Fred hasn’t yet handled will never have had a hand on them, it’s a pretty special and rare thing to be able to watch. I know I never get bored of it. Plus the other 5 horses will all be at different stages in their education so we can work with them and talk to people about how we go about ‘domesticating’ them and how fantastic they are in general. We’ll also have the OHHAWA stand up and going with all the info and photos available to look at.
Everyone is welcome, we’ll have a sausage sizzle and cold drinks available, and we’re asking for a gold coin donation on the day, all proceeds to the OHHAWA. Please bring a chair and sunscreen and remember that casual is the word (as in a spur of the moment idea with little organization!). I’ll also be emailing and posting more info here as we get closer, but at this stage we’ll probably start at around 9am to beat the heat.

So that’s been the excitement of late around here anyway! We’ve also had a full book of horses here in work the whole time so there’s been alot going on and we’ve all been working hard. Upon some good advise from a friend, I’ve decided to change the blog around a bit. I find it so hard to get time to do it so have decided to focus mainly on the latest news and the more challenging aspects of what we do here. I think most people know that we turn out consistantly great horses here so rather than go on about each and every horse that’s been through here, I’ll just mention a few. Apologies to horses and owners I don’t mention, it’s not personal at all, just which photos I see that catch my eye .

The lovely Elmo went home and is going very well. His owner sent us some great photos recently and he looks very flash!

Elmo with mum.

All the horses mentioned in the last blog have gone home and have all been going really well, as far as we’ve heard. It can be a bit hard keeping up with everyone but I’ve emailed a few and have had progress reports back too so all good.

We had Saxon back for a week or so recently. I’m not sure if I had the blog back then but Saxon had a light start last year and some leg restraint training and then went out to the paddock for a spell. He came back about 2hh higher and looking wonderful and his owner has been in touch to say he’s been going really well since she took him home. He’s so spunky, I have to post some photos!

Saxon and Fred having a canter

We’ve had heaps of nice horses lately so I’ll post photos with captions, rather than mention them all .

Phantom, a lovely thoroughbred.

Albert doing his own hosing

Timmie and mum having a ride

Junior, a lovely medicine hat paint colt.

Zeus and mum

Ash with mum and Timmie and Fred

'Roy-cam'

Doggy having a check up with Tanya

We’ve also got big Diik here now and his mother is going to murder me as I don’t have a recent photo of him to put on here. Sorry Dany, I’ll feature him exclusively next time! Diik is a lovely big Holstiener who has been kindly lent to us to use with the bigger horses we get that aren’t halter trained or are pulling back badly. Diik is awesome at 18hh and around 920kgs so he will cope with this job a bit better than Roy. He’s a big softy and right now Fred is training him to do his new job, so hopefully it will all work out as we love him! Photos next time….

Back to the wild horses we have here, alot of info went out to say that all the horses have got new homes. While we’ve had a lot of interest, we haven’t matched anyone to horses yet and while a few have owners ‘pegged’ for them, there’s nothing definate yet so please do enquire if you’re interested. We’re looking for kind, experienced owners willing to offer a loving home and will be confirming homes after the Open Day. Hope to see you there.

For The Horses

As I’m typing this, I can see out the window into the yards. Some of these eBay rugs are amazing! I can see a lime green and black, a silver and maroon and a bright yellow with black checks. I remember when the first WeatherBeeta’s came out in a synthetic and you only had navy blue with red trim, and that was exciting. A client gave a us a heap of old rugs a while back and it was like a trip down memory lane. Remember the original Picador’s and the old check wool lined WBeeta hoods? Someone should start a museum, as we were remembering all our old ones and the old colours and styles (well, not Fred).

A mad wild horse we had here .

We’re full up as usual and have a great mix of breeds and ages at the moment. About two weeks ago we had nearly all warmbloods here, which was kind of funny. We have a Quarter Horse here now plus a couple of Arab youngsters for handling and two OTTB’s having what we call the “OTTB Makeover”. And an Arab for starting plus some new warmbloods for starting……Fred doesn’t remember any of them when they first come, but once he’s done a work session with them he knows them all. I could play the best tricks on him and have nearly a few times. For example, two similar looking horses, one for starting and the other here because he needs a remouth. Fred grabbing the breaker and saying “what’s this boy here for again?” and me saying “oh, you just remouthed that one, on you hop!” Nah, I wouldn’t ever follow through and he would know anyway the minute he started working with the horse, but it has been tempting in the past…poor Fred .

Fred being a teacher.

Horsey time now…where do I start? Well, Happy went home a few weeks ago back to Margaret River. Talk about a perfect name for a horse! He was the happiest young man, nothing fazed him, he was willing to do and try anything you asked of him, and all in all was such a happy horse! He had a week or so off once he got home but he’s been ridden now and was perfect, didn’t put a foot wrong. We’ll see Happy in the Hack and Dressage arena in a year or so and I think he’ll do very well with the attitude and nature he has.

The very gorgeous Fancy Pants went home, and then came back to visit for a day last week. The lady who will be riding Fancy wasn’t available when she was ready to leave us, so her owner took her home for a week, then brought her back just for a handover ride. She was good, not quite as good as she had been when she left, but given she’d had a little holiday and maybe thought she was coming back for another month, she was very well behaved .

Fancy having her shoes on for the first time.

We’ve decided that Fancy takes second place as ‘Quietest Breaker Ever’ with Basil still in first place, only because she was a very forward little horse, which Fred loves in a horse but some people might not class as all that quiet (me!). Basil, however, was super quiet and also very lazy so still holds the title at the moment.

Arrow went home a while ago. I haven’t actually heard how he’s been going as his owner doesn’t have email, but she’s owned him since he was a foal and she had atleast 4 rides out here before he went home, so I’m sure things will be going fine. His owner is more than capable to cope with his mood swings, funny boy he was.

Bu also went home. She was a little sweety and her owner has since sent us photos of her being ridden. Apparently the owners friend wants to steal her so you have to imagine that things have been going well there. Bu was gorgeous though and pretty straight forward with everything.

Rebel went home after a month being started. We nicknamed her owner ‘The Ultimate Client’ as Helen was just so nice and so switched on about green horses and how best to bring them on. Plus she was so happy to get out there and have fun with Rebel and not be scared to put her everywhere and anywhere. On her last ride with us, she and Karla went out together with Karla on Fancy Pants. They played eventers and went through the water and over the bridge and up and down banks and basically just had lots of fun. They came back absolutely soaked after getting caught in a storm but they were so happy with the horses and you could tell the horses had also had heaps of fun.
Rebel has now gone out for a spell. She’s 5 but is going to be around the 18hh mark so she’s having a break now to rest and grow some more.

Rebel.

Bondie went home a litle while ago too. He was here for starting and was a lovely boy. He’s still quite young at not quite three but the work did him good as he was fairly unhandled and hadn’t had a lot done. He stayed with us for three and a bit weeks and his owner had a couple of good rides on him before he went home.
On his owners first ride out in the bush, she and Fred stopped and un saddled and re saddled the horses, which I think every breaker should be able to cope with. Bondie was totally fine about it and the swapping of riders, the good boy. He’s going back to the paddock for a bit now and may come back to us for a week when he’s had some time off.

Bondie and Spin.

We also had Spin here for a week, for some general ridden work and also leg restraints training. Spin is a QH/TB cross and was a great little horse to do everything with.

Spin and Bondie again.

We had Tally up here again for a few days. Tally’s owner has started him herself but sends him up every now and then for a few days, just so Fred can have a look at how he’s going and give her any pointers he may have. Tally’s owner doesn’t have much access to bush so Tally had a some good bush rides this time too, which he enjoyed. He’s a very nice horse and is coming along well.

We also had Doc up here, a very handsome Warmblood Stallion from Celestial Park. Doc came to the last John O’Leary clinic and Fred did a session with him then, just a quick mouth and short ride for the first time. Doc came up to us so that Fred could do some more ridden work with him, get his canter established and also get him past a fear of water and do some bush rides. I think Doc enjoyed being here and he did very well over the week. He’s already out proving himself in the show ring so hopefully now we’ll see him in some ridden events too.

Handsome Doc with his mum.

Speaking of stallions, we had Mannie here for three weeks for starting, from Cataby Warmbloods. We’ve started three horses now from this stud and they all have this absolutely amazing temperament. Mannie was also totally stunning and Fred had a ball with him. We couldn’t get over how quiet he is, especially given he’s a stallion. He would be in his yard flirting with girls and calling out but the minute you put the headcollar on…instant work mode and totally focussed on you. He’s gone home now and Sam has reported back that despite the rain and him only having had two rides in a week, he’s been great and hasn’t out a hoof wrong!

Mannie and Roy.

Gorgeous Mannie.

We also had Zephyr here for starting and she went home last week. Zephyr was a stockhorse cross and another rather dominant young lady. Fred always loves these types of horses. I admit that if you can maintain their respect for you, they are always amazing, but given that I can’t, I always find them a bit scary. It’s a good thing I just pick up the poo as I don’t have a hope with these types. I just find them too much hard work . I’m very lazy though and Zephyr was a fantastic horse; quick thinking, intelligent and so athletic. Definately the type of horse that needs a good firm, confident owner and a proper job. Zephyr would be a fantastic camp drafter or something as she loves to be worked.

We’ve also had a couple of yearlings in for a week each, just for general handling and leg restraint work. Both really nice babies but one who was a real terror when he came. He’d been quite sick as a foal so had had quite a lot of treatments and had turned into a bit of a ratbag. Also being a colt, he was very happy to strike, bite and kick and also run straight over the top of people that got in his way. He turned out to be the quietest, most well mannered boy and was an absolute sweetheart. Fred nicknamed him muscles as he was such a stunner and really well developed for a bubby.

I know we’ve had more horses in since the last blog but I can’t actually remember so I’ll talk about the new ones now.

We have Duke here, a lovely thoroughbred who’s here having the ‘OTTB makeover’ as we call it. Most ex racehorses come to us with the same sort of issues, so we’ve given the work we do we them a nickname over the years . Mostly they need a re mouth, to remind them of their responses and also help them over come being quite hard in the mouth….hardly suprising given they’ve had a jockey swing off it for years. They also tend to be very one sided and usually have trouble with flexion and bend, so we teach them leg yielding and how to work on the bit, to help them engage and start to use their hindquarters. This also helps them come off their forehand as most of them have been worked like this and are over developed in front and under developed behind, also contributing to their hardness in the mouth. We then develop their confidence in the bush and out and about on the roads and in situations that they may not have been in and make sure they are safe and happy being worked anywhere, on their own and in company without thinking they are back on the track .
Having said all that, Duke has actually been brilliant and really only needed help with his leg yielding and his confidence out on his own and leaving other horses. He’s a genuinely quiet little horse who would have been useless on the track I’m sure as he’s really laid back and quiet. He’s staying for a bit longer and is then off to a Steve Brady clinic next week.

Duke

Speaking off ex racehorses, we have a rather famous one here at the moment. He won the Perth Cup a few years ago and also ran a good race in the Melbourne Cup. He’s now retired and has come to us for some help with his confidence in certain situations.
It’s funny but I’ve noticed over the years that most really good racehorses tend to them be good at anything they have a go at. It makes sense as they would have to be very good athletes to race so well and be sound with good conformation, but it’s their attitude that alway impresses me. They always have a very good work ethic and tend to pick up new things super fast and basically just be very good at everything. This horse is no exception and Fred loves working with him. He has lovely manners and focusses so well on everything. It’s funny to look at him and imagine him being this champion as, to look at, he’s this rather small brown horse. Very cute, but I need to Google him as a racehorse as I just can’t imagine how he would have looked.

The above horse has come with his friend who is also having some ridden work done. She’s a lovely girl but unfortunately it’s looks like she may be getting an abcsess as she’s suddenly quite lame. It’s a shame as she’s been coming along very well, but that’s horses for you. The vet is here again tomorow so hopefully we’ll get a diagnosis on what’s going on. (Update today, it is an abcsess and she’s feeling much better).

Karla and Roy having a warm up hoon!

We also have Elmo here, a young warmblood for starting. Elmo has come from down south and belongs to one of the states top dressage riders. He’s a lovely boy who had his first ride yesterday. Another huge mover so Fred won’t have to shave his legs this week . Just kidding, but he always comments about how these horses take all the hair off his legs as he has to hang on so much to ride their movement!
Elmo’s a real character who thinks it’s all very exciting being up here. He’s like a little kid as he’ll be doing his work and then a horse will go past and he will instantly loose all focus and go “Hey, look at that! How cool, another horse like me!”. I think he’ll love it when he starts having rides out as he’ll have so much to look at.

Elmo's first ride.

We also have Taj here, another big thoroughbred who didn’t race. Taj has a bit of a history but his lovely new owner has given him a wonderful home and I think they will do well together. Luckily she has very long legs as Taj must be about 17.3hh! He’s a beautiful looking boy but he’s been very difficult with his feet in the past so is here for leg restraint training plus some ridden work. He’s coming along really well with the leg restraints and we’ve had a huge improvement there. His ridden work is also going well so we’re happy with him.

Taj getting better with his feet.

We also have Jamani here, an Arab for starting. Poor Jamani has a terrible needle phobia so his owner wasn’t able to have his teeth done before he came to us. Tanya, our vet had a try with him in the crush but he was so scared, we had to try another approach with him.
Yesterday, Fred used a front leg strap on him then blindfolded the eye on the side Tanya wanted to needle him. It actually worked really well as he couldn’t see Tanya so couldn’t anticipate the needle coming. Because he wasn’t all tense and stressed, the needle actually hurt a lot less when it did go in, so that helped him with his confidence. Tanya was then able to give him little top up sedations without blindfolding him and he was fine and we got his teeth done with no problems at all.
Jamani’s owner mentioned to us that a vet was very cruel to him many years ago. It just shows that they never forget. He’s a lovely boy and now that his teeth are done, we will be able to get on with his starting.

We also have Mishka here, a clyde warmblood cross mare here for some education as she’s very green. She’s a gorgeous chestnut with huge big clyde eyes. She’s only just arrived so Fred has only done one session with her but she was really good and seems very willing and sweet.

Mishka

We have a couple of other youngsters in for handling. I think owners are starting to really see the benefits in having some early handling done with their horses. Fred often handles foals from day 1 and I can’t imagine not wanting to have that done if I were a breeder. Fred will literally do three to five minutes each day for about a week or so and by the end of that time, the foal is halter broken, relaxed and great to lead, ties up solid, float trained, great to pick up his feet and has had a first trim, and has had all the leg restraints done. Mum is there and it’s all very relaxed, and then you have a safe and confident foal that is totally handleable if there’s an accident or emergency. Plus, we see so many hoof and leg defects that would have been totally prevented by early trimming in foals, but people don’t bother to corrrect their feet or can’t do so because their foal hasn’t had any handling. It doesn’t stress them if it’s done properly and with care, and most importantly it makes them safe and reduces so much stress in the future for them. Plus it makes our job easier when they come here .

I’ve been a bit upset lately over a few things that have happened. In a nutshell, horses that come here with a huge reputation and it turns out that there’s nothing much at all wrong with the horse but plenty of improvement needed with the rider/owner and how the horse has been handled. I know I shouldn’t be so rude but it just breaks mine, and Fred’s heart, especially when people don’t want to listen and just want a quick fix. We are always super honest but some people just won’t accept that the problem lies at least partially with them. All I can say is they must have money to burn as why would you send your horse for re education then not want to change a single thing you’re doing? Crazy and very unfair. I normally question people a fair bit now when they are booking their horse in with us as we prefer to avoid the above situation, even though we would very much like to help the horse .

Mannie having a smooge with Fred.

Speaking of trying to help horses, I’ve also been talking to our friend Robyn Cottman a lot lately as she’s gotten her new business off the ground now. Robyn gave an excellent talk on Sunday at Brookleigh which Fred attended along with a crowd, and got a lot out of. The link to Robyn’s new website is www.everythingequestrian.info and there’s so much good info on there, it’s definately worth a read.
Robyn business is called ‘Riding Straight’ and here’s a bit off her add as she says it better than me:

RIDING STRAIGHT increases rider’s awareness of how your body influences and affects your horse’s performance.

Rider postural imbalances, lack of fitness & inflexibility can block and unbalance your horse.

Your body, fitness, flexibility and suppleness influence that of your horse.

Most riders do not consider their own physical limitations and have back problems, are unfit and inflexible themselves.

Many of the rider’s physical problems are not visible to even the best coaches eye, yet have an outstanding impact on the horse.
RIDING STRAIGHT involves a comprehensive assessment of your posture both on and off your horse, including your physical strengths and weaknesses, fitness and flexibility.

Assessments of you AND your horse are available. With this type of assessment, we also analyse the way your horse is moving, any imbalances are identified and the interaction of the rider’s position is considered.

Clinics and small workshops are available for a limited number of participants. If you are interested in holding a workshop for you and your friends, please contact Robyn via the options below.

RIDING STRAIGHT
Henley Brook WA
0422808776
0422808776
ridingstraight@three.com.au
www.everythingequestrian.info

Fred said the workshop was such an eye opener as Robyn is a very practical, hands on teacher with a background in sports science, psychology and personal fitness training. She did some great exercises with everyone to get some of her points across. She had some backpacks with uneven weights on each side and got people to wear them to see how it feels when a rider has more weight in one side of their body, and how you compensate, as a horse does, to balance this unevenness. She said a horse trying to balance an uneven rider might well be labled ‘crooked or one sided’, when he’s purely doing the best he can and might be unfairly reprimanded with out the rider having a clue that it’s actually their riding causing the problem.
Robyn also assessed everyone there with special stickers that were put on everyones shoulder blades and back of the pelvis. Fred was horrified to see that he’s actually a bit crooked, and he has been doing some special stretches that Robyn gave him to help strengthen him and even up his muscle development. He’s such a good pupil!
Robyn also did some horse and rider assessments and Fred said the difference in the horses was amazing after Robyn made some basic rider corrections. Imagine what you could achieve with a whole programme!

This is turning into a very long blog entry but it’s been awhile and so much happens around here, I want to mention alot of it. Here’s a few for the ‘un named’ section .

We’ve had some great leg restraint results here lately. The best one was a horse that had a major floating issue. He was an older horse who had always travelled badly but it had regressed to the point where he physically couldn’t stand in the float and would travel half lying down sometimes and always fall over several times on a trip. He arrived to us a few weeks ago injured from where he had put his leg through the side of the float, falling down on the trip up.
Fred did two sessions of leg restraints with him and it turned out, the problem was that he would freeze when taken out of his comfort zone and he couldn’t understand that he could still move his legs independantly from one another when in certain situations like floating. After just two sessions, he was floating confidently and happily, a totally different horse.

We’ve also had two horses, both destined for the knackery because they couldn’t have their feet done. One genuinely scared, the other probably scared in the past but had now worked aout a nice evasion to not have to have his feet picked up. Again, two sessions of leg retraints and now both are going back to homes, not to the knackers. Happy endings all around . It really shit’s me when people say that they are a cruel training method. What’s cruel about saving lives? Come and watch, I always say to these people. Any training technique can be cruel when in the wrong hands, so come and watch an expert do it and see how much it benefits horses, especially ones where every other method has failed them like the ones above.

We had a horse here for a bit that was one of the most stressed out horses we’ve ever seen. A warmblood but with every OTTB behavioural trait we ever see. Weaving, pawing, walking his yard, striking, biting……A very unhappy horse. He was an older horse and he had never been out of an arena in his life. Once he learnt how to walk on uneven ground, do you reckon he liked his bushrides out with Fred??? It was like he was on drugs, he was that happy. All the behavioural issues stopped and he learnt how to properly relax.
He’s gone out to have a spell now and be a horse and hopefully he will come back in a happier horse and be ok for his owner to continue on with. She adores him and wants to do the best by him so we’ll have our fingers crossed for them.

We have a lovely horse he at the moment from up north. He’s 5 and has been a to a few other trainers up there. The owners have been told that he’s a ‘mad bucker’ a ‘nutter’ and should be put down. Usual story. Fred had done two sessions with this horse and the horse is absolutely lovely. He’s a sensitive type that might panic a bit if rushed, but Fred is taking his time in the sessions and the horse is responding beautifully.
The horse also had a very ordinary mouth and was constantly putting his toungue over the bit. Fred feels this has been a pain reaction before and the horse has been puting his toungue over to try and get away from rough hands. Now that Fred had re mouthed the horse, he isn’t putting his toungue over as he’s learnt that the bit doesn’t hurt now.
Fred had ridden the horse and he did go to have a buck but Fred stopped the buck, as he can with the lateral mouth he has put on the horse. We never allow horses to buck here, ever. It lets them know that it’s never an option as a response and it also prevents them from giving themselves a fright. That old school idea that some breakers have about ‘letting them get the buck out’ is not on in our opinion and Fred will always shut down a buck.
So sad about this horse, but big points to the owners for refusing to listen to these other trainers and bringing him to us for another chance. So far, so good and Fred is an excellent judge so I think the horse will be fine.

We had a bit of a scary drama with one of the horses here a few weeks ago, a young breaker. Fred had him out for a bush ride one afternoon and he had been fantastic on the ride.
When Fred was hosing the horse, he noticed a tiny spot of blood on his back sock. If he hadn’t had a sock, Fred wouldn’t have seen it as it was just a tiny smudge. There was a very small graze there, less than 3mm long but the horse wasn’t remotely sore so Fred just hosed it and put him away. About an hour later we were rugging and noticed yellow fluid dribbling out of where the blood spot had been. Joint fluid, or so we suspected.
We raced him straight to the vet who confirmed our fears and banadaged him up, then Karla and I took him straight down to Murdoch. It was pouring with rain and so windy and he was such an angel. We took him in in the dark and after a few hours of flushing, ultrasound and tests, the vet confirmed he had had a tiny stick or bit of wire or who knows what, go straight into the joint. Such a freak accident and given that he wasn’t remotely sore, even after all the flushing and needles, if we hadn’t noticed the initial blood spot, I’m not sure with all the rain that we would have noticed anything was wrong at all. The vet said if we hadn’t got him sraight down as fast as we had, he wouldn’t have made it.
Anyway, after a week at the vets, his owner rang us to say that he’s was fully recovered and that he hadn’t needed surgery. At first they wanted to go in and make sure that the object hadn’t damaged any cartilage or bone but because the horse wasn’t sore at all, they knew it hadn’t and he healed up just on anti biotics. It was very lucky and made me so glad that we constantly check the horses (and that he had a white sock!).

Nothing much else to say. I’m going to start uploading some of the video’s I take here everyday. Some are funny, I think all are educational and I think people might get a lot out of them. We get so many people wanting advise and asking questions about things, so some video’s of how Fred deals with a lot of different issues, plus some of his training in general might help people with their horses. We’ll see .

Schnitty with a girlfriend.

Latest News

Only just a month so not too bad this time . Where do I start? Again we’ve had some short stay horses come and go, all the horses from the last blog have gone and we have all new ones now! I’ll talk about the old ones first as usual.

Gambler went home a few weeks ago. His owners are from Kalgoorlie so we only saw them at the beginning and end of Gamblers stay. Gamblers owner, who was the ultimate in relaxed cowboy, had a nice bush ride on him the day before he went home. Fred was most impressed as he took two mobile phone calls about his business while riding Gambler. Talk about relaxed, both Gambler and his owner!! Gambler didn’t blink an eye with it . I’m not sure what experience they had had with horse breakers before but when they came to visit the day before they had a ride, Fred was actually coming back from a ride on Gambler and walking back to the yards on him, all calm and relaxed. One of Gamblers owners said, have you cantered him? (Yeah, for about two weeks now!) and Fred did a nice walk to canter transition then and there, past all the horses to the round yard.

Jo has also gone home. He was such a lovely boy to work with and was the boldest horse. One day his owner was riding him with Fred on Roy out in the bush. When they came out onto the road there was a grader bogged on the side of the road and Roy decided it was pretty terrifying. Infact, Fred said he did some scrub clearing and took out about four small tree’s in his effort to get away! Jo didn’t care about Roy or the grader one bit and his owner called out to Fred, would he like lead!? The breaker leading the lead horse, which I thought was hilarious! Poor Roy, he’s normally so reliable but I guess he’s allowed a lapse every now and then.
Jo’s owner has kept us updated on his progress and he’s been fantastic since he went home.

Roy and Jo

Cider ended up being a great horse but she did prove me right before she went home. I missed the action but she got Fred a beauty in the roundyard, getting him off twice in about 5 mins. As I’ve said before, Fred’s lucky to come off maybe twice a year but I knew this filly was a bit special . In all fairness it was only one buck off as the saddle broke the first time he came off. Still counts though! Karla said the saddle breaking one was very impressive as Fred managed to jump onto the rail at a canter and pull Cider up, rather than slip off and frighten her which I would have loved to see. Nice to know he’s human anyway, even though him coming off is a pretty unusual event!
Cider went home going really well and her owner has reported that she’s been great ever since with no problems at all.

Imagica also left us and we’ve been in touch with her owner who is giving her a spell for a bit now. She may come back to us for her first few rides which will be nice.

Molly who was just arriving in my last blog, was a gorgeous mare, a black warmblood x. Her owner had some great rides out here and has reported that Molly’s been heaps better since she came home and she’s been really enjoying riding her out and about. Molly needed some confidence and desensitizing work and once that was sorted, she was alot nicer to ride.

Liebe also went home a few weeks ago. While she didn’t rear here or show any signs of rearing here, Fred felt that it was basically due to the different environment. He pushed heaps of her buttons and his gut feeling was that it would be only be a matter of time before the behaviour surfaced again. Given how young and talented her rider is, they may decide to get a lovely foal out of her instead of trying to persist with her riding.

Mescal came and only went home last week. He was the super stunning Arab stallion that was due to arrive in my last blog. Well he was stunning alright! And such a character too. Fred gave him a light start and we sent him home for a break after three weeks as he was still quite young. He will hopefully be coming back in another 6 months or so to have a bit more work, but he did very well while he was here.
For some reason, Roy absolutely hated Mescal. It became a bit of a joke as while Roy is quite grumpy most of the time, some of the faces he pulled at Mescal when ever he had to go for a ride with him were just hilarious! I manged to get a few on camera as it was seriously funny:).

Mescal

Roy and Mescal

We had Cherry here all of last week, a very pretty and cheeky Arab filly. She’s two and was here for some handling and Fred loved her. He always get’s along well with dominant mares…..maybe that’s why we get along so well haha! Cherry went home yesterday and her owner was very pleased with the work that was done. Infact she wants us to move to Cunderdin so Fred can go through her whole stud. I wish, we could get a great property there for heaps less money, I’m just not sure if we would have any clients after we finnished with the Arabs .

We had another little weanling here for handling who was a bit of a handful when he arived. I never stop being amazed at how quickly a timid horses confidence grows once they start having some work. This little guy went home after a week everybody’s best friend and so easy to do anything with.

Roy and Tommy having a play

OK, new horsey’s now. We have a few that are half way through being started and also some new ones that have only been in a week now. I’ll talk about them from advanced to new.

Happy has come up from Margaret River and has been here three weeks now. He belongs to Cheryl Pateman, one of our oldest clients (she’s not old, I mean she’s been with us a long time!). All Cheryl’s horses have the best up bringing and are a pleasure to start. Happy has been fantastic, very straight forward and is nearly ready to go home now, he just needs to finnish his leg yielding. He’s a lovely dun Riding Pony and quite a large boy who is destined for the Hack and Dressage arena. He’ll do as well as all the Patemans horses do and I think he actually wins out of all of them on temperament which is a huge compliment, given how nice all her horses have been.

Happy out with Roy

We also have Phoenix here, a gorgeous thoroughbred mare for starting. Her owner is the one I’ve spoken about before as having the most stunning thoroughbreds and Phoenix is no exception. She’s three and huge and still bum high. She’s going to be a big girl and Fred say’s she’s an absolute character which I would agree with. Phoenix has me totally sussed as a chicken in the yard and only has eyes for Fred, although Karla has ridden her a few times now and also loves her.

Arrow is going home tomorow and his mum has been out for rides the last few days. He’s an interesting one with a rather determined personality but his owner has had him since he was a bub and knows what he’s like . She’s more than capable to deal with him and I think he’ll become a lot more willing after he’s had a few months work. He doesn’t actually do anything wrong or nasty, he’s just an opinionated young man!

Arrow with his mum

We’ve also had Mirabu here for a few weeks for mouthing and to finnish her starting. She’s a very sweet little arab mare who had some work with another trainer but who wasn’t mouthed. She’s been great, although is another pretty determined mare. She and Fred came to an agreement early on though and the last two weeks she’s been lovely. Her owner is having a ride and picking her up tomorow.

Mirabu

We have a gorgeous little Pinto mare here for starting now, officially called Ms Fancy Pants. She is so worthy of the name and looks like a china horse statue, she’s so pretty and petite. Fancy has been here a week now and Fred should be riding her in the next few days as he has nearly finnished her mouthing now.

Ms Fancy Pants

Rebel also came at the same time as Fancy. She’s another horse to be started, a nice big Cleveland Bay/Warmblood who is going to event. She’s 17.2hh now and Fred did the old rope test which said she will grow around another hand! Rebel is such a nice mare with a very gentle, willing temperament (thank goodness!). No, just kidding, Fred doesn’t mind how big they are or how feral, but Rebel is great to work with.

Rebel

We also have Bondy here for starting, a very cute Warmblood/Thoroughbred x. He’s only been here for a few days but has responded well to his first two sessions.

Tommorow we have three new Warmbloods coming, two of them stallions. Two for some work and one for starting. I’ll report on them next time.

My sheep having a play

I’m trying to think of what to put in my ‘anonomous’ section now. We haven’t had any really challenging issues actually and everything’s been pretty smooth. I’ll call the few horses I will mention ‘he’s’ again, just because.

All the horses I mentioned here last week have gone home now. The behavioural issues were resolved and those horses have been great since coming home with no setbacks. The horse that was going to the vet to check out the hormonal imbalance is still under going some tests but there have been some abnormal results, so hopefully the owner should have a result soon.

Fred did an endorphin tap on a horse this week that was being very disrespectful to the point of aggressive. An endorphin tap is where he will drop a horse using pressure points and lie the horse slowly down. There’s a lot of misinformation about this technique and I will say that Fred only uses it with very extreme cases. Over the years I’ve probably only seen him do this to maybe half a dozen horses but it’s always been highly effective, as it was with this horse. I might do an article about this on our website sometime as it’s a very interesting subject.

We also had a horse here this week that was displaying some really dangerous behaviour including head tossing, biting and rearing. The owners instuctor felt it was behavioural and asked the owner to use a standing martingale on him which made the rearing and other behaviour worse.
Before the horse arrived I asked the owner to get a vet check done, which she did, however it wasn’t very thorough and the vet seemed quite dismissive of the horse.
The horse arrived and the first thing we noticed was what a sweet personality he had. The first day Fred worked him we did a non ridden assessment and it was pretty obvious from the start that there was something wrong in the horses hind end. The horse couldn’t track up at all and couldn’t maintain a circle or flexion on the circle and would get quite upset when being encouraged to do so. He had some significant scarring around his spine and some muscle wastage in his hind end.
The owner agreed to another vet check with our vet and the vet confirmed what we felt, that the horse had had a significant injury at some point in his life, possibly a fracture, and would most likely not be sound for any sort of riding and was also in some pain. It’s hard to confirm with out an x ray but the issues the horse had been having most definately weren’t behavioural and the horses temperament was exceptional.
The horse has gone home now and his lovely owner is going to retire him and keep him for life. Cases such as this remind me that you always have to listen to your horses and give them the benefit of the doubt.

We had a horse here for assessment this week that had also been rearing. I won’t go on too much about this horse except that occasionally we see a horse that has a long standing, highly dangerous issue. This horse had no self preservation either and would rear right up vertically with no warning at all and for no reason. Fred tried absolutely everything he could think of and while the horse was very responsive normally and did improve in other ways, when the behaviour happened it was as if Fred wasn’t even there. Very unusual and extremely dangerous. He would be fantastic for days and then like a switch, the rearing would start. Unfortunately horses like this are just too dangerous and unpredictable and given that his owner has thoroughly ruled out all other possible causes, we reccomended she not continue ridden work with him. Very sad, but in our opinion the only safe option.

Not much other news around here except that Karla has taken my lovely Warmblood, Kenny, on lease. I’m not riding at all anymore and he was wasted in the paddock. He’s only 7 and is such a nice boy so Karla has taken him on for eventing. So far he’s been going great with her and she rides him so well.
I took some photos of Karla’s last lesson with him, with Robyn Cottman from Riding Straight. Robyn has them going beautifully with their flat work and is a very perceptive, talented rider and instructor. I’ve included Robyn’s details here as we’ve been really impressed with her technique. Anyone looking for an excellent instructor, give her a call. She comes highly recomended by us and here is the link to her add:

http://www.cavalletti.com.au/viewad_busdirectory.php?id=66159

Kenny with Karla and Robyn

Kenny

Snitty the sausage dog had the snip (good pun) this week and I had a very hard time slowing him down afterwards, especially with Karla’s dog Poppy here! He seems fine now which is good. I always stress when any of our animals has to have an anesthetic.

Fred was a cover boy on the June issue of ‘Horses Downunder Magazine’. He had a small photo on the cover and then a big half page one inside which was pretty cool and rather embarressing for him . He looked great though and heaps of people commented on it which was nice.

Brave horsey with the Bobcat

Just a little reminder to everyone. We don’t accept horses being dropped off or picked up on Sundays and we never have, except in a few special circumstances. We work 6 days a week, and Sunday is our one day off where we like to get away and do something fun with the kids. We employ Marilyn on Sundays so we can have a break and get away, leaving the horses in safe hands.
People are happy to ring us up until 10.30pm every night of the week, to the point where we have to take the phone off the hook to get a break . We accept horses every other day and I think are pretty flexable but we need one day to ourselves. Thanks from us and the kids.

Nothing much else!

Welcome to my yearly blog…..just kidding.

Late again and no excuse except for the usual. It just gets too busy and by the time everyone is rugged and fed, kids and horses, all I want to do is sit and watch Law and Order with a big glass (or coffee mug) of wine.

Schnitty and Lamby by the fire after a hard day.

Because I’ve been so slack, we now have all new horses as everyone from the last blog has gone home. And then this week four have gone home that didn’t even get a look in on the blog yet! Nevermind, I’ll talk about them all as we’ve had some really interesting ones here.

Basil left us and went home with the award for Quietest Breaker Ever. He was just amazing, a bit lazy but such a genuinely quiet horse that you could forgive him that. His owner has since reported that he’s been great with his rides out at home and she’s really happy with how he turned out. His owner also gave our Mem, our lovely old lead horse from Margaret River, a home and he and Baz are great friends. I’m so greatful to her for taking Memmy as he needed a job and is much loved and cared for at her house now.

Cherry also went home ages ago. I think Fred reccomended she have a few more weeks work and then have a bit of a spell and from memory that’s what her owner has done with her. She did have a few bush rides and said that Cherry had been good, hot but good!

Ledger also went home a few weeks ago. We’ve been in contact with his owner and he’s been going great. Apprently he blitzed the handy pony event at their agistment centre recently and was a star with all the scary objects and gate opening challenges!

Ledger having a hoon.

Delta sadly went home and I haven’t stopped missing her. She was just such a character and so funny. Her owner has had another of our clients do her ridden work and apparently she’s been faultless under saddle. A total pain in the ass on the ground but not with her manners, just because she’s such a nosy parker and is always into everything!

Joanne went home too and her owner has been having some great rides on her. She will start her showing career soon under saddle and her sister is coming to us soon for starting as well. I hope she’s like Jo as Jo was a sweetheart in every way.

Heidi went home and we immediately lost a lot of class here! She is just such a stunning mare. Anyway, she’s been fine since she got home and her owner has reported that everything is great with her. It was nice as when her owner first rode her, she told Fred that she used to have a job riding breakers for another guy in QLD. She would take them broken in and then give them some further education and she said that Heidi was by far the most ‘rideable’ breaker she’d ever sat on and far more advanced then what she was used to.
Hopefully we’ll be watching Heidi in some Young Horse Dressage comps towards the end of the year.

Fini went home too. She was a great horse and she had the most enormous trot Fred has ever ridden. She had a thing about the sheep and Karla and I happened to be watching one day as she did beautiful passage past their paddock. Fred came back that day with bald legs and said “why would ANYONE want to ride a horse with a trot that big??” Karla and I explained that EVERYONE wants a trot that big!! Every dressage rider, anyway:)

fini with Roy (and Poppy dog)

Little Mocha Choca went home after about three weeks. She was an awesome little pony, so bold and forward with huge movement. Fred loved her but couldn’t keep her going past the three weeks mark as she was just that little bit small. He did all the initial stuff but couldn’t teach her leg yielding as he literally couldn’t get leg on her. She’s such a quiet little thing though, her owner is going to have a friend do some more work with her and I’m sure she’ll be fine.

Mocha

Fred went home after some leg restraint work and ridden work. His owner has let us know that he’s much improved. He had a very good session with Eriks, our farrier, before he went home so I think he will come back here for his next few trims just to help with his confidence.

Herbi went home a few days ago. Karla said he was a little big horse as he rode just like a big 16hh horse, only he was about 14hh! She loved him and wanted to steal him.

Knight Cap is also still with us. She had some handling and is now here on agistment for a little while.

OK, horses we’ve had here that have since gone home….first the cute little Diego, but don’t call him cute as he’s actually a big stallion hiding in a 10hh Shetland body! He came to be re mouthed and to have some leg restraint training. Apparently the farrier wasn’t a huge fan of his but after one session of leg restraints he ’saw the light’ and has been brilliant ever since. Fred was far too big to ride him but couldn’t resist one little hop on while he was here, just to make sure he wasn’t a bucking bronc!

Diego..get off Fred!!

We’ve also had Cassie here, a beautiful thoroughbred mare that came for some ground work, floating and ridden work. She was a lovely mare, bold as anything and great fun. She left last night so we’ll be waiting to here how she goes over the next little while.

Beautiful Cassie

Casper left today, a very handsome Andi cross who was a bit scared of water. Fred also did some work on his mouth and making him a bit more supple and easy to ride with his lateral work and collection. His owner (poor thing) was forced with peer group pressure today by me and Karla to put him through the very full dam before she took him home, and she did a great job! Karla said to her that it would be a while till she struck anything that challenging in a cross country course, so she said she felt very confident after getting him in a few times.
Casper has a dressage day on Sunday and from what we saw today, he should do very well.

Casper and Kenny

Lana came back for a week this week. She was here a few months ago and did very well to overcome a few issues. She then went home to rest and came back this week about a hand bigger, looking absolutely stunning. She had forgotten all her trauma’s, yet hadn’t forgotten any of Fred’s training and he was able to hop straight on her and pick up where they left off. Fred loves Lana and she’s a very special mare who’s going to be extremely competitive once she starts her dressage career. She also has an extremely capable, lovely owner which is what she deserves!

Ali on Lana

Lewis left today after a week here. He’s a Second Chance Horse Rescue boy (we donate a months training to them each year to help out). Lewis needed a bit of help with a few issues he had. Once Fred had gotten him past them, he became a more relaxed happy boy literally over night. It’s lovely when that happens.

Lewis

Diva also left today, a harness horse for the Bakers Hill RDA that has started up here. We are also donating some time to them and Diva came to have some handling and de sensitizing work done. She’s a gorgeous mare with a very solid temperament. It was funny watching Fred do the work on her some of the time with blinkers on (her, not him!). Not used to using those around here:)

So, as of today we have a couple of new horses that came today and also quite a few that have been here for a week or more. I’ll start with the ‘old timers’ first.

We have Gambler here, the most amazing looking Appaloosa. Even if he didn’t have a huge blaze and blanket, he would still be stunning! He’s been a lovely horse to work with, very calm and willing, and today had his first ride out of the roundyard with Roy and was fantastic.

Gambler, first ride. SO NICE!!!

Stunning Gambler.

Jo has been here a couple of weeks and is nearly at the same stage as Gambler. He’s a Palamino Arab/Stockhorse so is also adding some colour to the place. Jo had his first ride today and was also really good.

Jo, first ride

We also have Cider here, an older thoroughbred being started. Cider is a bit scary, or atleast I think she is. She adores Fred and will do anything for him but she recognises me for the chicken I am so pretends she’s a brumby if I go to rug her or anything! Fred say’s she’s improved in leaps and bounds this week but Karla still refuses to ride her so she must still be abit scary Fred!

Imagica has also been here for two weeks and is a little Stockhorse cross. She’s had four or so rides and is settling down well now. She’s had a couple of rides with Roy and will be out on her own next week.

Imagica, first ride.

Molly arrived today, a very pretty warmblood for some desensitizing and confidence building work. I’ll comment on her later (hopefully while she’s actually still here!) as Fred won’t start on her until Monday.

We also have Leibe arriving any minute, another warmblood mare for an assessment and some re education, and we have Matt coming tomorow for a re mouth and some ridden work.

Speaking of assessments, we had Junior here last week; the most gorgeous big thoroughbred. He hadn’t been ridden for a quite a few years but you wouldn’t have known it as he was great. Quiet as but forward and so obediant and willing to please. He was also one of those awesome horses that has that wonderful effortless self carraige. I loved him!

Junior

Then yesterday Fred did a pre sale assessment on a very nice Arab. I could tell he didn’t want to get off this one when he came back from a bush ride. I guess Fred is always riding either breakers or horses that are here for re education so he very rarely gets to ride ‘normal’ horses. No offence to anyone but I’m sure you know what I mean. He loves his job but it must be so nice to be able to switch off and relax on a horse sometimes.

On Monday we have two stallions arriving, both warmbloods and then a gorgeous Arab colt on Tuesday. Anyone who has read this blog will remember back to the ‘Month Of Stallions’ when I accidently managed to book in five stallions at the same time, all mature age as well. That was the loudest month we ever had and Fred didn’t forgive me for some time.
Well, I’ve nearly done it again this week with three booked in at once! The ones that are coming are all beautifully handled with very capable owners so I’m sure we won’t need the ear muffs this time, fingers crossed!I need to start writing down sex, as well as breed and age.

I said in the last blog that I would try and do a ‘nameless’ section and talk some of the more challenging aspects of the job. I really think it’s worth it so I’ll give it ago and see how it sounds. I’m going to call all the horses ‘he’s’ just because.

We had one horse here recently that had a major issue with being bridled and also being tied solid. He would get extremely violent with his evasions and was actually quite dangerous as he would rear and strike.The first thing Fred did was eliminate any veterinary reason for his behaviour by having him checked out by a vet and also a dentist. He needed his teeth doing anyway so that was done under sedation and we were suprised that his mouth and head/neck were fine.
To begin re educating him, Fred first did some leg restraint training with him to remove the highly dangerous striking and cow kicking. He was then able to handle the horse safely and get in and touch his head and face and mouth area with out being injured. As the horse couldn’t evade as he had been doing before, the horse was able to work out that being touched in the areas he hated actually didn’t hurt him, so day by day his confidence started to grow. Fred was then able to introduce the bridle and get the horse confident with that.
The tying up was a bit different as the horse wasn’t remotely scared but had just got away with pulling back many times and had formed an evasion. With these horses it’s important to go back and make sure they are actually properly halter broken and truly understand coming off pressure. Fred did lots of leading off Roy with this horse and also did some work with him on the tie up pole, tying him solid with a collar and putting some pressure on him so he would safely ‘loose’ a few battles. He then went down to the tying up rail and was consistently teid up solid everyday for grooming, hosing and having everything done.
It’s different when horses have a real fear but with this horse, it was just making him safe then doing lots and lots of solid tying in different situations and always being consistent. He went home a few weeks ago and hasn’t had an issue since, but his owner understands that one time tying him up to string, and he’ll most likely be back to square one. Lots of people have a fear of tying solid but if the training has been done properly and they continue on consistently with the work, the horse’s are normally fine.

We have another horse here at the moment that was very ear shy when he came. Fred thinks he was ear twitched at some point and had developed an evasion due to that memory. Fred taught him to tie solid and also used knee hobbles to prevent his rearing and striking, then did lots of gentle handling of his ears. It’s taken three days and then today he was perfect to handle and bridle, so he seems to be over his issue. Again, it’s about removing the evasion safely then handling to get the horses confidence back. You can spend years going ’softly softly’ but any experienced trainer or horse person will tell you that evasion just breeds more evasion so it needs to be nipped in the bud, in Fred’s opinion. It certainly works and produces much happier horses alot faster. I know if I had boogeymen, I would rather face them and have them gone then have someone tickle at them for years!

We have a very dominant and challenging horse here at the moment and he’s been interesting to work with. We have so many horses come here and they are all so different and need to be treated differently, of course. A dominant horse will always test and challenge and needs someone to be very firm and fair back. These horses have to have huge respect in their owners and trainers or their behaviour can get quite dangerous.
This horse arrived as a biter and kicker. He would confidently strike out if he didn’t want to be rugged and would kick out and charge when Fred initially started his work in the roundyard. On the first day Fred worked with him, he did a join up and demanded the horses respect so that the horse knew exactly where he stood. Fred has put extra demand on this horse with every aspect of his training as he needs that, or he won’t listen and respond.
It’s been a week now and this horse is turning the corner, but you cannot let your guard down for one second with him. If he gets an inch, he’ll take full advantage and try something else out, just to see where that gets him. I must admit, I find horses like him pretty hard work. Fred loves them though as he reckons they’re hard won but worth it in the end. He says that some horses are on the outside of the circle like this boy, and other horses are on the opposite side of the circle and are lacking in confidence and nervy and shy. He say’s it’s his job as a trainer to try and bring them into the ‘middle ground’, which makes sense to me.

Speaking of highly aggresive and kicking and biting, very occasionally horses present here with that sort of behaviour but don’t improve like they should despite trying all sorts of different methods, and that’s when you need to look elsewhere for possible reasons why. We had a horse here a couple of weeks ago that was fairly unhandled which is fine, many are that come to us. Fred began the work with some general handling, so the horse would be safe to have teeth and feet done and begin some training under saddle. The horse just did not respond normally. The aggression was there some days and gone on others. The horse seemed highly stressed on some days then totally over confident and aggressive on others. We suggested to the owner to get some bloods done to check for an inbalance with hormonal levels. That’s happening at the moment and already some inbalances have shown up which definately contribute to the horses unusual behaviour. It’s so important to be able to reccognise when something isn’t right, no matter how subtle the horses difference in behaviour seems to be.

One of the horses here at the moment has come for an assessment and is a bit of a ‘last chance’ horse. When the horse gets stressed or isn’t comfortable doing something, apparently it rears and flips over backwards with little warning. In our experience horses with no self preservation that exibit this sort of behaviour are fairly rare so Fred is very much hoping to find a reason. The teeth have been done but there’s a possible veterinary reason that Fred will be able to determine here. The sort of work he does with the horse will also bring any ‘holes’ to the surface, so I’ll report back on what happens there.

Another horse that has gone home now came to us with a huge reputation and lots of warnings about his behaviour. Apparently he had an issue with being mounted and if anyone was actually able to get on him, he would buck and buck and absolutely panic. He was a nervy boy on the ground but seemed fairly sweet and responded well to Fred.
Again, with any serious issue like this, it’s about preventing the evasion, whether the horse is scared or just unwilling. This horse definately had a fear so rather than let him compound that fear by allowing him to get away and buck, Fred first put in the work to be able to safely stop the horse from doing any bucking or racing off.
First he re mouthed the horse with a very good lateral mouth so he could be safely mounted without being able to move. Then Fred did some leg restraints with him to also take away the buck and racing off. While the horse had a front leg strap on, Fred was able to climb on him and all over him and get his confidence back with being approached and mounted. Fred then saddled him up and hopped on as normal using the one rein stop to prevent any attempts to run off and buck, and the horse was totally fine. Infact, the horse was hugely relieved as he hadn’t been allowed to compound his fears by displaying his usual behaviour and frightening himself even more, and had actually been given an opportunity to get past the fear and regain his confidence. And all this took place in one training session of about 45 mins. The next day Fred saddled up and off they went for a nice bush ride, no problems at all! This horse was thought to be one that could possibly only be a companion horse as he was so dangerous, yet he was infact quite simple to help after all.

Kenny and Roscoe at the dam

This is turning into a novel so I’ll stop now. One other thing though; we will not be accepting any horses being dropped off to us or picked up from us by Rob Cook of Horse Taxi. He is a non payer and is not welcome anywhere near our place. We’ve had to refer his extremely overdue debt to a debt collector which I think is just disgusting.
For other suggestions on transport please contact us

My Two Weeks On Update.

Not so bad this time, only two weeks since the last blog! I had four clients ask me when the next one would be yesterday plus 3 emails so thought I’d best get onto it today.

All the horses have been coming along really well. Since the last blog, I think Chloe, Owen and Scout have gone home. Chloe had two weeks with us and was a fantastic little mare. Very forward and quick thinking. Maybe not the best horse for someone getting back into riding after many years off, but she would make the best games horse or teenagers’ all arounder. Her owner plans to put her into harness at some point so I think she will be well suited to that as well as riding.

Basil is still with us. he is probably the quietest breaker we have ever had here and he is such a kind natured boy. He was ready to go home about a week ago but his owner wants him to stay a bit longer, just so she can have a few more rides out with Fred to get her confidence with a new horse. Funny yesterday though. One of our clients was a bit nervous and was riding his pretty spooky young horse. Things were going a bit pear shaped so Fred offered to swap horses with the client, just so he could demonstrate how to deal with the spooky horses nerves a bit better. The client gratefully climbed onto “old Baz” for the short trip home and was totally relaxed about the ride home. Fred didn’t tell him that Baz was a breaker until they were home and the client was amazed! He thought “old Baz” was another of our lead horses like Roy I think.

Amber went home yesterday. Her owner, who is also a friend, had some great rides the last few days and feels so excited about Ambers future now. It must have been a bit nerve wracking for her initially when Amber was here, having had two other trainers be negative about Amber’s prospects as a riding horse. Honestly, not in one session did Fred ever get the feeling he was going to have any problems or challenges with Amber, so I don’t know what that was about. She’s a highly intelligent and sensitive mare, but she is a wonderful horse to do anything with. I guess it’s always good to get a second (or third) opinion!

Cherry is still here and is nearly ready to go home. She is in all honestly, a little chestnut hothead. But she’s light as a feather to ride and very quiet and responsive. Her owner had a ride on her yesterday and I think will be fine with her. Cherry needs lots of steady work and would probably be a nightmare with an owner that wanted to hoon everywhere, but her owner has the patience to give her time to take everything in and settle her when needed. I am starting to believe a little bit in the chestnut mare theory that some people swear by though!

Ledger, another chestnut, is coming along in leaps and bounds and is turning into a very willing and fun horse. He’s a thoroughbred and he has the most enormous warmblood trot on him, plus he’s very athletic. Fred reckons all the hair on his inner thighs is missing this week thanks to Ledger (and Heidi!). Ledger’s owner is coming out tomorow to see how he’s going and I’m sure she’ll be really pleased as he’s a fantastic horse to ride.

Ledgers first ride

Owen went home last week. He was never a problem at all, just didn’t seem all that keen on his work initially. He had some great long bushrides in the last 10 days or so and something just clicked with his whole work ethic. We like the horses to really enjoy their work here, which is why we give them so much variety in their rides and work plus spend so many hours out with them in the bush. I was really pleased when Fred commented on Owen’s change in attitude.

Delta is still with us but is going home on Tuesday. She has been the most fun horse to have around and has been fantastic to start. Her owner commented that fencing and farm work is so much easier without her around, and I can just imagine. She would be trying to get in and drive the tractor and would be nicking off with tools and wire!
Delta is such a quirky horse and has been so funny with some of the stuff she’s gotten up to while she’s been here. She loves to carry a stick in her mouth when out on bush rides, plus if anything scary ever hops out, like a dog or a kangaroo, she wants to follow in pursuit rather than run away and gets quite cross when not allowed to chase! We will miss her.

Delta with Karla

Joeanne is also going beautifuly now and is so pretty, like a little doll. She has huge intelligent and is such a quick thinker. She practically broke herself in, I think, just by watching! She’s on her third week this week and is having some nice rides out at the moment.

Jo and Ledger out for a ride

Joeanne's first ride

The very beautiful Heidi is also having some rides out now and is coming along very well. Fred said she pretends to be alot braver than she actually is, so Roy came along for some confidence on the roads out with the traffic yesterday. She is improving everyday and we’re very happy with her. Plus with her good looks she makes us look very classy!

Heidi having a ride out

Beautiful Heidi

Finnie, another looker, is also coming along great. She had her first ride out yesterday and was really good. Fred is focussing on her forward so she will be going out for nice easy bush rides next week to encourage her with that.
Forward is so important in any young horse and particularly in these big moving warmbloods who aren’t always naturally forward. A lot of re education horses we get here for rearing and bucking have not been allowed to go forward, especially some of the bigger moving horses. They get frustrated at being ‘blocked’, so that energy goes up or explodes. Yet alot of people seem to find it hard to ride big moving horses, so compensate by trying to slow their natural stride too early. I think anyone with a big moving horse should go on a fitness campaign before having them started! I know Fred finds them pretty hard to ride, even with his high level of fitness.

Finnie's first ride

Scout went home yesterday too. He was such a sweet boy who initially had quite a big issue. When being mounted, as soon as he saw or felt any movement on his right side he would literally explode, spin and buck very violently. His poor owner had found this out the first time he went to hop on, and was pretty badly injured.
Scout turned out to be a fantastic example of how leg restraint training can and does fix these very difficult, fear based issues. Fred needed to be able to safely restrain Scout so he could then get Scouts confidence back with being mounted and touched. He used a couple of different restraints and as Scouts confidence grew, was able to remove these all together. He also re mouthed Scout so he could use the one rein stop when mounting.
By the time Scout left, Fred and Karla were able to get on either side from the ground or from a bucket with no problems at all. They also spent lots of time riding Scout like a drunk person with arms and legs flopping around everywhere, which worked to desensitise Scout to his fear of movement on his right side.
Scout is still a bit of a spooky boy but came such a long way in two weeks. His owner will just take things steady with him, and now that Scout also has a very good one rein stop, he feels confident that he will be able to control Scout in any situation. Such a nice horse with a lovely owner!

Schnitzel's favourite teddy bear

We have Mocha here now too, the cutest little Riding Pony to be started. She’s a little darling and so pretty. Fred is going to look rather silly on her as she’s quite small, but she will improve his balance! She’s quite stocky so I’m sure will carry him ok. He’s certainly started smaller ponies before. Mocha will be like Oscar, where Fred will hop off and walk her up all the hills so she doesn’t have to carry him!

Mocha

We also have Fred here now too, the most stunning Welsh Cob. Fred is here for some leg restraint training as he’s not entirely happy about having his hind legs handled. His owner has done a great job with improving this but wants Fred to consolidate what she’s been doing with him. He’s also going to have some rides to improve on his forward and confidence under saddle.

Fred having some leg restraint training

Today we had two new arrivals. The first was Herbi, a very cute Riding Pony to be started. And Knight Cap, a young Stockhorse also for starting. For people that have followed this blog from the beginning, Knight Cap is Creflo’s full sister. Creflo is a gorgeous Stockhorse that came to us last year for re mouthing. We absolutely loved him as he was such a character and responded so well to the re mouthing. I think I had some photos on here of Fred having lots of fun pretending to play Polocrosse with Creflo, hooning around the paddock doing flying changes and so on! Creflo also came as company for Knighty and stayed for some afternoon tea. It was nice to see him again as he was a bit special to us.

I was wondering during the week about adding a little section to this blog. The thing is, generally everything goes fairly well around here but of course we get hiccups, and horses do present issues that need to be dealt with. That’s the job we’re in, especially with re educating horses.
I’ve always tried to be very careful about commenting on anything that could be seen as negative, mainly because it’s not our place to mention that sort of thing about particular horses. Information like that on the internet has a way of coming back to haunt people, especially when they try and sell horses on and it isn’t fair on the owner as they are doing the right thing seeking some proffessional help with their horse. Plus, no horse or owner is totally perfect all the time.

Having said that though, one horse we had here a while ago had a very serious, highly dangerous long standing issue and Fred strongly reccomended that the horse be put down or retired, never to be ridden again. I found out later that despite our advice, the owners sold the horse to a young child. Unbelievable and they will be completely liable when that horse injures someone, or worse. I kind of wish I had talked about that horse on here.

Anyway, I wondered if it was worth mentioning some of the more challenging situations that arise here and just not link the actual horse to the story. I think it would be interesting for people to read about different issues with the horses and how Fred deals with them. I’ll see if I can make it happen for the next blog though as boringly enough, nothing really challenging has happened around here with any of these guy’s and the’ve all been great!

Molly and Poppy on 'Roundyard Patrol'

My new ‘Monthly’ Blog

OK, I’m going to have a go at trying to do this once a month. Then maybe I won’t feel pressured and might actually get the bloody thing done! Not that I don’t enjoy it, it’s just finding the time to sit and write in between kids, husbands and horsey’s wanting things.

Since I last updated we’ve had a great holiday away, the first in a very long time. We went down to Albany for a couple of weeks and it was fantastic. We went via Margaret River and caught up with Sheila Greenwell and visited all the wild horses she has down there. Plenty of different shapes, colors and sizes on her farm! Plus Fred caught up with Andrew, Sheila’s trainer, and couldn’t help himself doing some horse work and swapping some techniques.
Albany was great fun and we loved it. It took me about three days to get over the fact that Albany wasn’t the sleepy seaside coastal town I was expecting though, bloody idiot I am. I didn’t bother to ask anyone what it was like, despite us having quite a few clients down there, so was expecting a smaller Busselton or something. By the time we had driven past the forth car yard and got to Bunnings, my jaw was dropping. Best shopping I’ve seen in ages though and the kids were happy with the one Happy Meal they were allowed from Macca’s, which we don’t have where we live so is classed as a treat!
It was lovely to just relax, sleep in and read, and Fred and the kids did a fair bit of fishing. We did catch up with one horsey friend down there and Fred just couldn’t help but have a ride on her two lovely horses. I did laugh at him in sneakers and baseball cap hooning around the paddock!

The kids at Whale World

We got back a fortnight ago, ready to get back to work and now have a totally new group of horses in for starting and work. Before I write about them though, I should finish with the horses that still here before we went away and were mentioned on the last blog entry.

Obe was the last to go, from memory, and I wish he could have stayed. We did ask his owner if we could swap him for her bill, but for some reason she wasn’t keen. Obe left with a much better mouth on him so hopefully his owner will find riding him a little easier now and he can eventually be a riding pony for her two lovely kids (who by the way were the BEST babysitters whenever they came to visit!).

Max went home and has been a very good boy ever since. His owner is doing a fantastic job with him and has been having some great rides. She made us laugh the other night though. Max had been consistently great for about a month when he suddenly started being a bit hard to catch. When she went to the paddock to get him he would run off and canter around her until he decided she could catch him. She emailed us for advice and Fred said “take a stockwhip in and do a join up and make him face up”. The next day, she went in with the halter in one hand and the stockwhip in the other. Max took one look at the stockwhip in her hand and walked straight over to her to be caught. Funny boy and obviously a smart one too! I can just imagine the look on his face.

Jett and Harry both went home with their lovely owners. We’ve since been sent photo’s of Harry at his first show where he did very well. Jett’s owner wants to put one of her mares to our Tommy so hopefully we will catch up then.

Zeca was a lovely big girl and her owner seemed really happy with her progress here. Lana has gone home for a spell and we’ll be seeing her again for a short refresher in July. And Bless, one of the cruisiest horses I think we’ve ever started, went home and last I heard was going great. So all good.

Well, a fortnight ago we started with all new horses and they have all been fantastic. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a straight forward group (touch wood!). Some have had a few little issues, as all young horses do, but they are all such characters and are coming along great. Infact, I reckon I could nearly have a riding school set up here with these guys!

First we have Basil, a five year old Quarter horse. Bas is such a character. He’s very laidback and can be a bit lazy but is very quiet and great to ride. On his first ride I was amazed as Fred got on him, did about half a lap in the roundyard then opened the gate and off they went! Normally all the new breakers have a few rides in the roundyard, then a few rides out with Roy so that they can develop the confidence to go out on their own. Not Bas. Fred knew that he was ready and was also sick and tired of the roundyard after his first week, and I watched the change in Basil as he came out the gate. He was instantly more forward with ears pricked and went on to have a nice calm first ride.
And today, on his fifth ride, he went out as a lead horse with a few babies. What a good boy!

Basil, first ride.

We also have Amber here, another Quarter horse who is the most stunning dark chestnut with lots of white. Amber is a total sweetheart. She has actually been to two other trainers in the past, both of whom were quite negative about her, but so far she’s been wonderful here. She’s a sensitive girl but if she’s treated kindly she will do anything for you. She’s latched onto Fred big time, which is cute. Amber had her second ride today out with Basil, the breaker/leadhorse and they went out along the roads and into the bush.

Then there’s Ledger, a thoroughbred that has been bred not for racing but for general riding. He’s a three year old and whilst a little bit opinionated, is also coming along well. He will have his first ride early next week.

We also have Cherry who I think was a rescue and has turned out to be totally gorgeous. I probably sound like I’m exagerating but honestly, the temperaments on the horses we have at the moment are amazing! Cherry is another chestnut mare, an Anglo, and she went out with Roy for her second ride today. She has a bit of an upside down neck, so Fred has been doing some lunging with running reins on her and now she is well and truly thinking down, which is great not just for safety but also for her muscle development and future show career.

Cherry's first ride.

JD went home today, and we’ll miss him. He was the coolest horse, a huge 4 year old Clydesdale that came over from the east last week. He had had very little handling and had only had a halter on before he came to us. In the week that he was here, Fred did general handling with him to make him safer and more comfortable and confident with everything. He was leg restraint trained and had his first proper trim yesterday with our farrier. He was also taught to lead, tie up solid, float and was mouthed. Fred didn’t ride him but that would have been his next step.
JD’s owner is going to put him on the market and sent him to us so he could have a good start. We have never met such an honest, gentle,willing and kind horse. JD belongs to Lara at Golden Sunset Horse Tours, so anyone looking for a totally unspoilt, lovely Clyde should give her a call or get in contact with us. JD has very good breeding and would be fantastic in harness but also under saddle as he’s athletic and forward with gorgeous movement. Highly recommend this one!!!

JD

JD having his first trim.

We have Owen here too, another Clyde but crossed with a Welsh. Owen’s owners also plan to put him into harness but want him to have some work under saddle for a bit too so he’s been started under saddle and had his second ride today out with Roy. He’s gorgeous to look at and is a lovely example what I think is another good cross.

Owen, second ride.

Good looking Owen.

We have the very stunning Delta here too. She’s a Warmblood/Welsh Cob cross and is the most beautiful looking girl. I REALLY like this cross. She has the funniest personality and is a like an old woman who’s been around for 30 years, just that she’s rising three! Nothing fazes her and she’s such a nosy parker. She picks all the gear up in the roundyard and carries it around while Fred’s working her. I’m using her as a baby sitter tonight as she has a new arrival horse on each side. She’s so sweet to her neighbours and very welcoming and happy so helps settle new ones in.
Delta had her second ride today and was like an old pony clubber. She will eventually be put into harness also which I think is a crime as she is made for dressage. No, not really, but she will be ridden for a bit before she’s trained to harness and I’m sure will do very well.
Fred has only ridden her twice but I think basically taught herself to be ridden just by watching everyone else, she is that quiet!

Delta, first ride. Not at all bothered by anything!

Delta on her first ride.

Drop dead gorgeous Delta.

Chloe is another lovely girl. She’s a nine year old that was booked in to be started. The first few days Fred was working with her, he kept saying “I’m sure this horse has been started already as she knows all this!” Turns out she was started a long time ago and just hadn’t been ridden for years. So Fred re mouthed her, hopped on and off they went. She is a one in a million horse who will go anywhere, do anything and isn’t bothered by anything. Not even our resident peacock that hides in the bushes down the road and likes to jump out at horses. She’s also pretty as a picture and is a Welsh/Arab cross. The last two days, Karla has put her on the float and taken her out for some bush rides, just for fun and to explore new bush.

Karla on Chloe.

We’ve had Abby back all this week, a little Trakehner filly that was here last year for leg restraint training and some general handling. Abby had run through a few fences at home when she got a fright, so came to us for some work. We organised for her to then go to our vet’s property to be paddocked with her “herd” of young horses, and it’s been so good for Abby to have that experience. She goes home with mum tomorow after being up at Bakers for nearly a year now. I think she’ll be fine now and it will be nice for her owner to finally have her home again.

We have Joeanne here now too, a very pretty Riding Pony/Thoroughbred cross for starting under saddle. Jo is a born show hack and is very elegant and lovely to look at. She’s so friendly and her owner has done a great job so far with her so she’s loving her work here. Fred is working on Jo’s mouthing at the moment.

Today we had three new horses come. Heidi, a very classy warmblood for starting. Finnie, another lovely warmblood for starting who Fred has already nicknamed Cadbury as she looks like picture on a chocolate box, and Scout, a Standardbred who needs some desensiting work and general riding. Scout looks very warmblood himself and has the most amazing neck!

So, all in all it’s been busy since we got back, but now that we have Karla it’s great to be this busy as our waiting list is heaps more managable, and Karla is just the best. Fred and Karla have been doing a bit more floating out with all the horses and it’s such good experience for them. They load them up, take them out to some bush, unload and solid tie them to the float to saddle up, then off they go. All the horses love it and it also saves lots of road miles. We have great bush riding where we are but it’s about 20 mins on the road first to get there. All the horses get plenty of work on the roads but this is good as something different and to prepare them for shows and travelling around.

We also have a new addition to the family, well working family anyway. Karla has adopted a gorgeous little kelpie/border collie cross that was at the pound and then went to Sheila’s down south to be re homed. She’s a wonderful dog and she goes out on all the rides with the horses, also very good for their training and great fun for her. Schnitzel gets a bit jealous when Poppy goes out on rides as he’s not allowed, only because his inch long legs would only do about 1km and then he would have to be carried!

Poppy.

Schnitzel (photo by Jaana).

We also brought Tommy back with us from down south, our gorgeous little Silver Dapple brumby stallion. He has settled in great and is living with Jack and the sheep. He’s just had his teeth done so will be getting some rides next week which I know he’ll love as he looks at all the horses going out for rides with envy. He’s such a little star and everyone loves him and goes and visits him over the fence. We have already had a lot of interest for the up coming breeding season so he should be busy.

The only other news around here is that Fred and I are hopefully about to put an offer on our own place. It’s still early days but very exciting all the same. It’s only a few km’s from where we are now so won’t affect anyone with bookings coming up, don’t worry, plus an actual move won’t be for many months as there will be a lot of set up involved.

Catch Up Time

I feel very embarrassed. I thought I hadn’t updated for about three weeks and I cannot belive it’s been nearly two months!!! So much has happened since the last entry and we’ve had lots of different horses come through and go home. I won’t comment on them all as it would take forever, but I’ll mention a few and maybe now focus on who we have here now.

Let’ see……. Well, all the horses that were here when I last wrote have gone home. Flor left about a week ago. Her owner had a great ride here and was really pleased with her, but unfortunately Flor suffered a bit of an injury a few days after she got home, so is on sick leave at the moment. She will be fine after a break though I’m sure as she is a quiet girl….plenty of attitude but not in a bad way, plus a very capable owner.

When Flor’s owner picked Flor up, she also dropped off Zena (the warrior princess), another lovely mare of hers who had just weaned a foal for Fred to do a week work with. She wanted Zena a bit lighter and also more forward and last night emailed to say that she had had a lesson on Zena with her instuctor and they both thought we had swapped Zena for another horse as she was so much improved! Always nice to hear, although I must say to her owner, it’s also in the continued riding of the horse once it gets home! I don’t have a photo of Zena unfortunately as she is a stuning girl. Schnitzel chewed through my usb cord so there’s about a weeks worth of horses missing photos unfortunately.

Flor with her owner

Bronzewing also went home a few weeks ago. He is a magic pony and we absolutely loved him. It took Fred and me about a week to get over it when he left! He is going to be on the market soon and is one pony we can HIGHLY reccomend for having the best temperament, best work ethic and most quiet nature. Still a green horse but such potential as a young persons horse or a small adults horse. I could totally see him doing pony dressage too! I wish Tom, our little boy, was ready for something bigger as Bronzey would be ideal. Sadly, Tom prefers to talk about riding rather than do riding lol!

Bronzewing and fanclub

Peanut the QH filly had a light start, only two weeks from memory, as she is still a real bub. She was great though and handled her work really well. Her owner was able to have a little ride just in the roundyard before she took her home. Peanut will now have a break and grow up a bit more than her owner will start her work again. Actually, Peanut will probably spend her break rounding up and organising cattle in her spell paddock down on the farm. I’ve never met such a stickybeak before who couldn’t stand doing nothing and loved her work!

The lovely chestnut filly I had a photo of in the last blog “Euro” went to her new owner over east to become a champion eventer. She was a stunner and one of the nicest quality warmbloods we’ve had here in a while…I don’t like to think what she would have cost but well worth every cent as she’s a hugely talented and beautifully natured filly.

Euro the future eventer

Euro again

Ticco also went home about a month a go. He was the coolest horse! His owner was happy with him and I believe he has continued to be a good boy since going home. Actually, I must send her an email as we usually do a bit of follow up. We love hearing how our horses are going once they leave us and nothing gives you more of a thrill then seeing them out years later competing and having fun.

Some of the horses we’ve had in in between this post and the last have included Oscar. I think Jen has spoken on Stockies a fair bit alot about him and the few issues she was having with him before he came here so I won’t go on heaps except to say that he had a bit of a ‘flight from fear’ thing going on and hadn’t been backed yet. Jen was lacking the time and facilities to sort this out so Oscar came to us for some desensitising and also to be ridden. He’s a gorgeous little man and he responded beautifully to all the work Fred did with him, including leg restraint training, leading off Roy, riding and some other stuff.
Poor Oscar is only about 12hh so Fred being on him was pretty hard on Oscar (but bloody funny to look at!) When Jen booked him in with us, we knew he would be too small for Fred to do too much with, but given how capable Jen is, she was happy to start riding him after he’d had just a few rides with Fred.
I passed Fred and Oscar on the road in the car one day going up a hill and Fred was leading him on foot. I thought “Oh shit, what’s happened…Oscar must be lame”…Fred explained that he got off and walked Oscar up all the hills as why should Oscar have to carry his weight? I think Fred got more exercise than Oscar while he was here with us!

Oscar and mum

We’ve had so many other horses here but another favourite would have been Flynn, the beautiful Oldenburg bubby that was here for general handling and leg restraint training. What a stunning boy and one of the best natured colts we’ve ever come across. A credit to his owner and he loved the challenges here and coped so well with everything.

Flynn...another wow!!

Oooohh I can’t not mention Nitro who was with us for a couple of days for leg restraint training. Didn’t he brighten the place up??! We had people coming here just to see him, sort of like his own fan club. He has the most amazing nature and manners and his owner’s done a great job with him in the short time she’s had him. He’s coming back in June to be started which Fred’s looking forward too. He’ll need a big bucket for geting on. The horse is like a giraffe! A very goodlooking giraffe, mind you.

Nitro...Wow!!

We also had Thor here, a lovely Standy for re mouthing. Now, I don’t seem to be able to find a photo of Thor but he belongs in the “Most Stunning Standardbred Club” that Apollo started, that now has quite a few members. Thor is a lovely big boy with equally lovely owners that do the best by their horses. We loved having Thor and he would have to be one of the biggest moving horses we’ve ever had here. He would be the perfect Endurance horse as he covers the ground so well. When his young owners legs grow a bit, they will be a fantastic partnership!

We’ve had ‘Pete the Pally’ here for a re mouth and some work as he was taking off a bit when frightened. He was stunner too with the most beautiful dapples.

Pete the Pally

We also had Gypsy-Rose here, an Appy X for starting. She was a lovely straightforward girl with a fun owner. When they had a handover ride, Fred came back laughing and said “Wow..that girl (her owner) is a hooner!” Great to see such confidence in riders and Gypsy has the perfect home.

We’ve had Monty here, a big Andi X who was so baroque looking, just like the pictures in the breed books. He had a lovely owner too, infact we’ve had so many great new clients lately plus alot of our repeat clients that really look after their horses so well and are so dedicated to their care.

Monty

On that, obviously by the time a horse is booked in to us here, the owner has already decided to spend some money on their horse and has also decided to seek some help, especially with re education. However we do still get the odd attitude of “here’s my horse…it’s being a shit. Please fix it and I’l pick it up in a week” ( and I’m serious about the “it” part) So it’s been nice to have some really involved and interested owners.

Who else have we had……….we’ve been assisting in two potential court cases and are currently assisting in gathering information for another client. Obviously I can’t go into detail here but basically horses that have been totally misrepresented at sale or after training. Sometimes we are asked to do a professional assessment on a horse which involves providing an opinion backed up with video and a written opinion. We are always very happy to help in these situations as the horse industry can definately be a fickle one that has it fair share of crooks and people that are happy to take advantage of other peoples trust and generous nature. It’s good to be able to provide an unbiased assessment and help out where we can as some people need to be stopped. It is no longer a buyer beware market which I think is a good thing.

Ok, horseys here at the moment….well there are a lot! I think I mentioned a while back that we had employed Karla, our fulltime worker. Our waiting list was getting completely out of hand and we were actually starting to loose business as people weren’t prepared to wait 6 to 8 months to have their horse started or worked with. Fair enough too.
Anyway, employing Karla has meant that we can have a few more horses here for training and shorten up the waiting list as not only is Karla an excellent rider (she was a 1 star eventer in NZ), she also saves us so much time with all the other jobs we were getting caught up in doing. Fred can just focus on training now as Karla is great at all the other bits and pieces. It’s also brilliant that she has such amazing riding and handling skills as it means she can ride the horses here with Fred and give them the experience of another riders’ feel before they have mum (or dad) on board. Fred and Karla have also been working the horses together out in the bush alot which is great fun and good experience for them. Plus Roy has the best manners in the world since Karla has been on his case. She is the funniest person we’ve ever met and has us in stitches most of the day!
The point of all of that is to explain why we now look alot busier and have been putting in more shelters and new fencing. It’s so when you ring up to book in your horse, I don’t tell you we have a place available in December 09!

Fred...nicest eye ever!

So, to the horses here at the moment, we have about half in for starting and half for handling or re education. I don’t have photos of all of them but will focus on a few.

Kenny and Euro

We have the gorgeous Jett and Harry here at the moment, both for a re mouth and a bit of further education. I think of them as a pair for some silly reason as their owners are friends, they came together, and they are side by side in the yards. Obviously they’re different horses with different responses and temperaments but I can’t help thinking of them as a pair! Jett is the stunning black stallion, who you would think is the worlds quietest gelding, he has such good manners! And Harry I think of as his side kick as he’s a bit shy and careful but so sweet, an equally stunning Pinto. Their owners are going kill me as the photos I took the other day are all useless, thanks to a big piece of something on the edge of the lense. Soooo sorry, I will put some on here when I take some some more and have told Fred I need photos of both of them today.

We also have Maxamillion here, actually called Max but Fred’s name suits him. He’s been here before and we love him. His owner is super busy and Max hadn’t been ridden for a bit so he’s come up for a refresher, just to get him going again. He’s been an absolute joy and has the worlds best ground manners thanks to his owner. If you don’t invite him in to have his tea once he’s been fed, he will stand there and wait for ages….something I accidently remembered when rushing around last night. So funny, this 17.1hh horse standing there looking at you like a little boy waiting to open his Christmas presents.

Max with Karla

We have Obe here, a gorgeous little Welshie for re mouthing as he’s become quite strong. He’s taken a bit more work to lighten up but is coming along well now. I think he may actually be smaller than Oscar but he’s coping really well with it all.

Obe

We also have Zeca here, another huge big horse at about 17hh. She’s a bit like Max as in she’s been out of work for a bit so has come up for a bit of a refresher. She’s a lovely quiet girl with a rather ’school marm’ personality which amuses me. She likes everything a certain way and gives me dirty looks if I don’t fold her rug up beautifully after it comes off her in the morning. She belongs to the same lady as Monty who was with us a few weeks ago.

We also have Bless here, a filly for starting. Absolutely nothing to report on her either as she’s been very straight forward so far and has taken everything in her stride. Fred has ridden her once now and she’s going really well.

Then there’s Lana, a lovely Warmblood filly with a bit of a story, but basically here to be started. She was having her third ride out with Roy yesterday and she is still a little bit jumpy with things which is totally normal. Fred was swatting flies and she was putting her head up and seemed a bit worried. Fred kept on swatting while giving her a pat to let her know it wasn’t scary, but then he noticed a funny noise behind them. When he turned around to look, Lana had an enormous branch caught in her tail that she was towing along. It was longer than her and really big and leafy. Fred hopped off, pulled it out, got back on and off they went! What a sweetheart she is and such a brave girl.

Lana out with Roy

We also have Wrangler here. He’s another stunner, dark grey with huge white polka dots. He was started about 9 months ago but wasn’t mouthed as he was just ridden in a headcollar. His owner wants to do some more with him and probably some polocrosse, so Fred will mouth him and also get him going again after a long spell.

We also have Joey here for some re education, another nice standy. His owner is a novice rider and wants to know whether Fred feels Joey is a suitable horse to learn on, as they’ve had a few spills. Joey’s quite young and has a lovely nature but I can’t comment yet as they are all out on a ride right now as I type!

There are a few other horses here now but some are just about to go home, so I’ll focus on the ones that will be here for a bit.

Nice colt

The only other bit of news that’s happened since my last post is that Fred and I have bought the little stallion Gunadorrah Tom Thumb from Sheila Greenwell. Tommy is a brumby and was rescued from the same mob as D.J. our lovely Pinto mare. He’s always been a bit special to us as Fred started him under saddle and we also took him to the last Horseproblems clinic where Linda rode him.
He’s an absolutely stunning horse that has a lot to offer as a stallion. While we normally feel that alot of stallions would be happier and better off as geldings (lol!), he truly is special and is a great example of everything we love most about wild horses. Plus he’s a beautiful colour and has amazing conformation, movement and temperament.
Fred and I have always had a bit of a dream about breeding some really suitable kids ponies, as we start so many pony breeds here destined for kids that we believe are actually very unsuitable. Lovely horses, but often too flighty or ‘hot headed’ to ever be truly suitable for kids, or not until they’ve had alot of work under saddle at least. I do feel that Tommy fills a bit of a niche in the pony game and his foals from his first crop have all been stunning and have his incredible nature. So we’ll see what happens in the future. The plan now is to get him out and about and my friend Robyn has also promised that she will do some ridden stuff with him.

Gunnadorrah Tom Thumb

That’s about all the news for now. I’ll do my best to update more often, now that I’m aware that so many people actually find this blog interesting. Unbelievable (and so nice)!

Lots of Photos to Apologize for a Late Blog.

I haven’t been able to get on here for ages so have put lots of photos on tonight to apologize!
We’ve actually had horses come and go since I last updated. We’ve put Karla on fulltime now so have taken on a few extra horses so we can pay her properly. Great, as it’s shortened our waiting list a bit for people, but extra busy with more mouths to feed and more poo to pick up!

Ok, to old horses first:

Toppa went home last Saturday. His owner was really pleased with him and he’s continued to go very well at home. She wrote us a lovely letter which I will put on our website on our Testimonials section. Toppa is one of those fun horses that was rewarding to break in as he really loves his work and was always looking for the next adventure while he was here. A great attitude and he’ll be a fantastic Endurance horse for his owner.

Toppa's owner having her first ride before going bush

Class has also gone home now, and Maya went last Saturday. Maya’s owner is so dedicated and determined to the right thing by her horse. Maya is one of those fairly dominant, challenging mares that always turn out to the best horses, if they have the right owners. Maya’s owner is well aware of this and impressed the pants of us with a Parelli display one day when she was out to ride Maya. She will be fine with her and rode her very well here.

Two buckskins...Roy and Maya

Spinifex arrived late Saturday night a fortnight ago so I can’t remember if I mentioned her or not yet. Her owner hadn’t ridden her for a while so wanted Fred to get her going again and also get her a bit more confident under saddle. She’s been the best horse to ride and seemed totally fearless up until today when she met some Alpacas for the first time! She coped well though and now that she has a great lateral mouth, her owner will be able to put her anywhere she likes and have full control.
Yesterday we had the most enormous thunder and lightening storm here and Karla was out in the bush on Spinifex. Fred was so worried, he took the car and float out to find them as really, no one should have been riding any horse in it and it came on so fast. Karla found her own way home and said that Spinifex had been perfect in the storm and didn’t actually react at all until she hopped off her. True confidence in her rider, I think that demonstrates! Spinifex is going home on Monday at this stage and she’s been an absolute pleasure to have around the place.

Spinifex

[caption id="attachment_431" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Spinifex re mouthing"][/caption]

We also had Lily here during the week, a thoroughbred mare here just to have a re mouth to put a one rein stop on her. Lily’s owner is one of our favourite clients and has brought two other horses to us. All thoroughbreds and all stunning. It’s funny how some people just find stunning horses. Apollo, the beautiful big black Standy stallion that we had here a few weeks ago has an owner like that. She has four ( I think) Standy’s and they are all beautiful.Some people have a very good eye! Lily was only here for a week and went home yesterday.

Lily re mouthing

Ticco is still here and goes home on Monday. He’s my secret favourite at the moment, just because he’s such a sticky beak and wants to be involved in everything. He’s such a sweet horse and has been fantastic to start with no real hiccups at all. No news on him actually as he’s gone consistently well ever since he arrived.

Ticco having a sticky beak

Now to new horses:

We now have Bronze Wing here, a purebred Connemara to be started. He only came yesterday and is so cute. Like a mini heavy horse really. We haven’t had a purebred Connemara here for starting yet, only part breds. I do believe that this is a breed that deserves more reccognition, especialy as a kids horse. We have so many Riding Ponies, Arabs and Welshy’s come here to be started for kids and we never really feel confident in reccomending these breeds for kids. You get acceptions in every breed of course and also, Fred and I never think any green pony is suitable for any kid, but I have a feeling this guy has a steadier temperamant with none of the highly strung behaviour that often comes with the other breeds I’ve mentioned above.
Fred started on him today and can’t wait to get on him. He just looks like he’s going to be heaps of fun.

Bronze Wing

Peanut is another new one. She’s a Quarter horse filly here for starting and is another darling. She’s in the yard next to the round yard and spends all morning glued to any action that’s going on, just like she’s watching a football game or something! Peanut is another horse like Toppa who’s always looking for what’s going to happen next when Fred works her. She truly loves her work, has a great attitude and is stunning as well.

Peanut having some leg restraint training

Peanut watching horse TV

We also have Flor here for starting now, a 3 year old Andalusian filly. Fred’s actually riding her now, it’s been that long since I updated! She is also very sweet and has been so worries so far. Fred gave her her second ride in the round yard today and she’s going really well.

Flor having her first ride

[caption id="attachment_433" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Flor"][/caption]

We have a couple of other newby’s here that I wll update on next time.

A nice filly here at the moment

[caption id="attachment_438" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Another gorgeous horse here now "][/caption]

I often wonder if people read this blog and think that things always go perfectly around here, and all the horses are always fantastic. Most of the time things tick along pretty well, but we also have things go wrong like in any business or job. Fred got bucked off three times last week, a new record. He is human and does come off occasionally, but it’s always been an average of maybe three times a year, not three times in one hour! He has a few bruises this week. And we’ve had to reccomend an owner not continue with a horse, always a very hard call that comes with huge responsibilities.

But most of the time it is great fun, especially with cute puppies around to help out!

Schnitzel being cute with a client

All Good!

End of another week so I finally have some time to update things here. It’s been very busy but we’ve had a great week with all the horses coming along really well.

Toppa is coming along great and will be ready to go home next week. His owner came out today and rode out on Roy with Fred on Toppa. She couldn’t believe the places Fred took them both and commented that it being Toppa’s fifth ride ever, she thought they would just go along the flat and have a little trot here and there. They were gone for over an hour and went bush and through the big river gullies and up and down the gravel hills. Toppa loves his bush work and was out in front leading for the entire ride.
It’s funny though as most of our breakers are doing that sort of work by this stage and are happy and confident with it. Some need a bit more time but most, if they are never allowed to be any other way, are forward, confident, relaxed and totally happy to be at this stage. It does make me wonder again what these other breakers that keep horses for six weeks or more do with the horses they take on???

Toppa's owner out for a ride

On that subject, Umi is going really well too and is nearly ready to go home. He’s been with us for a week now and was brought to us as he hadn’t been ridden for around five years. His owner wanted him going well under saddle again and taken out to have fun and gain some confidence, as he has a bit of seperation anxiety.
The reason I’ve said “on that subject” is because Umi’s owner was telling me yesterday that she approached another breaker about Umi when she was looking for help. That person wanted Umi for a minimum of six weeks and quoted around $2600. I could not believe it when she told me that!!!!! Umi is lovely and just needed to be ridden kindly and confidently and have his lateral work sharpened up a bit. That’s all and that’s taken 6 days here with probably only another few to do a handover with his owner. Fred is a very clear communicator with his training, but six weeks for some re education, not even starting under saddle?? And this is a well known breaker. Do your research people!

Umi re mouthing

[caption id="attachment_405" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Umi out for a ride"][/caption]

Maya is also going well. She had a little bit of a contact issue for a few days and Fred suspected she might be a bit sore, as she was resisting softening and using her back when he asked for a halt. She would hollow and lift her head up and resist. Her lovely owner said to go ahead and get some treatment and have it checked out, so Maya had a Bowen session during which Sue discovered she was a bit sore in the wither. She’s been getting better and better with her halts and “front brakes” since then and is now really using her hindquarters properly, so we’re happier now. Her owner will be riding her on Monday which will be nice as Maya hasn’t been under saddle for over 18 months now.

Beautiful Maya

Class is still here and is also going really well now. He’s a pretty girthy horse, as I showed in the last blog! He has gotten heaps better with this though and is alot less sensitive now. We still have to do the girth up slowly and lunge him in between doing it up, but he canters well now with no kick ups or bucking. It’s not something a girthy horse can ever just “get over” but we find with patience and gentle handling, most horses will get past this over time. My own horse is a girthy horse, even though he’s seven now!
Class is now going out for some big rides on his own and in company and is going to be a very nice boy. His owner will come out for a ride early next week.

Classy Class!

Ticco is also going well. Initially Fred said that Ticco was about as brave as a butterfly which Karla, after riding Roy out with him one day, said was an insult to butterflies! He was a very spooky boy but has gotten better and better over the last few days. He went out on his own today for the first time and was great, despite lots of jig jogging. Poor Fred did nothing but stop and back up for the first 500 metres but once Ticco understood he wasn’t allowed to jig jog, he developed this beautiful big walk and didn’t try it again, even heading for home. He’s such a character and plays with his ball in his yard everyday. He kicks it in between his legs and then jumps on it so all the air shoots out. Very funny to watch!

Ticco

We had Rosie here for three rides during the week and she went home today. She’s a beautiful little QH/SH mare that Fred started before Christmas. She was no trouble at all and took about two weeks to fully start from memory. A very smart and confident horse and stunning, jet black with a white star. Every 12 year old girls dream pony!
Her owner is very capable and had done great work with Rosie before she came, hence her only taking a short time to start. Once Rosie went home, her owner did exactly the right things with her, bush riding and lots of variety and even a couple of shows. Rosie then had six weeks off over Christmas and her owner decided she wanted Fred just to hop on first and give her a few rides, something we’re always happy to do.
Rosie was quite funny on her first day and did a few kick ups when asked to move forward, the only thing she ever had an issue with. I had to laugh though as once she was going well and Fred was about to take her out into the bush, his saddle suddenly slipped and came right around her side at a canter. Fred managed to stay on, partly thanks to the one rein stop and also Rosie’s very quiet nature. It was hilarious to watch!! Also nice to know that even pro’s sometimes make rookie mistakes like not checking their girth properly!

Rosie

[caption id="attachment_403" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Whoops!"][/caption]

We have Max here now too. Max is here for exactly the same reason as Rosie, just to have a few rides after a spell. Max is gorgeous and HUGE, about 17hh. We had Max here a few months ago and he was fairly “out of his box” back then and needed a fair bit of work on ground manners and respect. He went home a very nice boy with lovely manners and a changed attitude. The very first thing Fred and I noticed with Max is that his manners are still wonderful, infact even better than when he left us. It’s so nice when owners maintain what their horses learn here and are able to also improve on what we teach the horses here. It makes the job worth doing!

We have a new horse coming today, a mare called Spinifex that’s coming with Notables sometime this arvo from Kalgoorlie. She is a bit like Umi in that she hasn’t been ridden for awhile. I can’t remember, but I think she’s an interesting colour which will be nice. I like a bit of colour around the place although Maya is improving the scenery alot at the moment, being a beautiful buckskin!

We also have Flora coming on Monday for starting. I’ll write about her once she’s here, but I think she’s a Warmblood/Andi from memory. She looks lovely anyway.

Spud is still with us. He was supposed to go home a fortnight ago but we just fell in love with him so I asked if we could keep him here a bit longer to try and find a suitable home for him. We have such a huge client base now and I spent hours going through everybody, trying to find that right person for him. And I think we have! She’s a new client and is lovely, very kind and serious about doing the right thing by Spud, given his history. She’s been up everyday for the last four days to ride him and spend time with him. Today Fred went out in the bush with her on Spud and they had a great ride, so fingers crossed Spud has finally found a permanent home. I have a good feeling about it anyway.

We also have a new edition to the family, in puppy form. He’s called Schnitzel and is a mini red short haired dachsund. He’s tiny but has a heart like a lion and is already trying to take on the horses. We’ve never had a puppy before, having always taken on rescues and older dogs before. Our last little dog, Maggie, was a rescue and was a mini black and tan dachsy and we had her for 13 years before we lost her to old age. I’ve always wanted another little dog like her so for the first time, we have a puppy. Great fun, with toilet training and chewing everything including the kids ears and hair, but he’s very sweet and is settling in well. Sammy hates him but I’m hoping that will change in time.

Schnitzel

I’ve attached an article about Leo and Vicky Hamilton that was in a Down South newspaper last month. I think it’s a great article, although I want credit for showing Leo to Vicky in the first place. It wasn’t bloody Fred, it was me! Nevermind, it’s fantastic exposure and is a good read. I hope it doesn’t take ages to come up and clog up people’s computers!
We saw Leo last week at Vicky’s and I swear he’s grown about a hand since these photos were taken. She finally has him eating green grass after much patience and training! He didn’t know what it was at first, having come from a drought stricken Station, but now he’s loving it, the lucky boy.

Things have cooled down a bit here now thank goodness, both in temperature and how busy we are. We still have eight horses in for work but they’re all going really well and Karla has been helping out alot too.

Leo went down to Ascot for his xray on Monday. Fred and I took him down and he was an angel. I had mentioned his history to one of the nurses when I booked him in and I think they were expecting this feral wild horse. They all couldn’t get over how amazingly calm and well behaved he was.

He had some films taken and the vet was able to clearly see that there is some bone reaction in his leg. But no fragments or dead bone which is really good news. He must have given the bone a big knock with the original injury so we’re lucky there wasn’t more damage done. He will be fine with time and just needs to be being a young horse out in the paddock. Which is where he is now at Vicky’s.

Leo at Ascot

[caption id="attachment_377" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Such a good boy."][/caption]

Apollo is still here and is just the best horse in the world. He loves his work and is a big playful baby (at nine!) He loves his paddock ball and I got some great photos of him playing with it the other night. He is totally consistent and confident with his transistions now and has started to develop some very nice new muscles. He goes home on Saturday and will be missed.

Apollo and his ball

[caption id="attachment_380" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Having fun!"][/caption]

Toppa is going well and is still being mouthed at the moment. Fred will be on him in the next few days. He had his teeth done on Friday and I told his owner she could make a necklace out of what came out! Nothing out of the ordinary, just some huge wolf teeth and four caps, but all really big. He’s a lovely horse who acts like he’s lived here forever. Very relaxed and happy.

Toppa mouthing

[caption id="attachment_383" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Toppa\'s amazing trot"][/caption]

Elle, the little standardbred filly is going home on Saturday too. Fred decided she was too young to start so has just done a weeks handling with her. She’s had leg restraints done, ties up solid, leads off another horse and is good to catch, lunge, float, hose and have her feet picked up and handled. Her owner is going to do some led in stuff with her and she may come back in six to twelve months to be started then.

Ticco is also going well and started his mouthing today. He’s had everything else done and is a really confident happy boy to work with. He’s so goodlooking, very Andalusian and classy! And he’s a character and is always picking up and tossing stuff around when Fred works with him.

Ticco chewing on stuff

Selene is going home on Saturday too. Fred rode her a few times in the roundyard and has decided that’s enough for her this time in. She’s three but is still really immature mentally. She’s done well here and has learned some big lessons in the three weeks here, but it wouldn’t be fair to push her anymore now. She can go out and think about her work and maybe come back in 6 months or so. Her owner is very capable so may continue on at home herself once Selene has a break. Now that she’s mouthed properly, her owner will probably be fine with her.

Fresca has stayed an extra week with us and will go home on Tuesday. She’s been fine but her owner decided another week would only do her good. No news with her actually as she hasn’t put a hoof wrong!

Spud was meant to go home but was doing such a good job as a leadhorse here, we decided to keep him for a bit. We were also so impressed with him and how lovely he is, I felt I wanted a bit more time to try and find an owner for him. We have some very nice sounding people coming to meet him tonight, so fingers crossed they will get along with him and be suitable for him. He deserves the best, that horse He’s out in the paddock with Roy and has come in for a few rides during the week and been perfect as always.

We have Class back now too. He’s a Warmblood that Fred started about six months ago. He was a bit immature so just had a few rides and stayed with us for two weeks. He’s come back in and looks fantastic. Huge and with a much calmer, more mature attitude.
Fred did some groundwork with him the first day then hopped on today and Class was fine. Hadn’t forgotten a thing and it was like Fred had been riding him the whole time. He did seem to forget about the back girth though and we had a very impressive bucking display before Fred hopped on. Karla was filmimg and made me laugh as she said “Oh, that reminds me it’s the rodeo this Saturday, isn’t it?” It was rodeo quality bucking but he didn’t even try to have a have a hump once Fred hopped on.

Class, from this.......

[caption id="attachment_385" align="alignright" width="300" caption="To this!"][/caption]

We also have Maya here now who arrived today. She is the prettiest horse with such long black eyelashes. She’s a buckskin like Roy and I can’t wait to get a “pairs” photo of them together. They’re very similar in colour and build but Maya is a fair bit fancier, no offense Roy!
Maya is here to be mouthed and ridden. She was started under saddle about 18 months ago and had a fair bit of work, but was just ridden in a halter and not with a bit.She seems very sweet and affectionate and Fred will start her work tomorow.

We had a bit of a setback this week but were very lucky. Last May, Fred seriously hurt his back and we had to send all the horses home so he could have two months off to heal. He really looks after his back but has to be very careful, especially with groundwork where he can get jerked off his feet. He was riding Selene on Monday and she suddenly did a huge buck from a standstill. Nothing unusual for a girthy horse on her second ride, but she actually caught Fred a bit off guard. He really jerked his back and all his stomach muscles. He immediately shut the buck down and continued to have a good ride on Selene, but once he got off he had to come in and take some serious painkillers and lie down. We thought it had gone again as he was in so much pain.
After another days rest, he’s back riding again but I thought it was going to be shut down time again there for a bit! I went and got him a special brace yesterday to give him a bit more support with situations like that, which he says is great, but it was a warning.

We have a couple of new horses coming on the weekend so I’ll write about them next time. Off for a UDL!