Mine & Guinness story is a very long one. I bought him as a 7yr old confidence giver as I had lost my confidence being bronced off an ex-racer and breaking my back 16 months ago (Feb 2009). I did everything right when going to try him I took 2 people to ride him before me and got the owners seller to ride him too before I got on him. He went really well and was so good that we decided to buy him, had him vetted and took him home no problems. Borrowed a mate’s saddle & bridle and rode him out on a hack and in the school in his 2nd week with us (gave him a week to settle in).

Then had to give the tack back to friend and waited for the saddler to come. 2 weeks later the saddler came and we put a saddle on him. I got on him and as soon as my bum hit the saddle he freaked and went broncing round the field. I ended up in hospital so couldn’t get back on him that day and tbh was too scared to try. Hubby got on him the next day and he tried to do the exact same thing, we tried for a few weeks with little results so we decided that he could be turned away for the winter to learn to trust us and then try again later when he had relaxed. Meanwhile I did a lot of loose schooling, join up, in-hand walking out etc and in the spring started to take him to shows and do in-hand with him very successfully! Unfortunately I had lost so much confidence that I decided never to ride again!

Well that didn’t work as we all know once a horse rider always a horse rider so I started getting on a lovely Shire X called Dougie who used to be a riding school horse and didn’t care if I had a panic attack whilst getting on he would just stand there but he wasn’t challenging enough so I started riding my husband’s mare and having dressage lessons & even jumping lessons! I even took her to a couple of shows and did well on her! I have now got my confidence back & decided that the time was right to get Guinness re-backed as I was in the right place for it. Guinness has been going from strength to strength in-hand but I now wanted to ride him so I went on the internet and found Melanie Watson. Got in touch with her as she seemed to be exactly what we were after. At first she said he should go to her for 6 weeks which I said no to as I had done so much work with him and didn’t want him going somewhere without me. I would definitely recommend it tho, as now I can see all the advantages. Also the problem was at home so wanted someone to do the work here.

She then said she could come to us for a day and teach me how to get through to Guinness and she also said that by the end of the day I would be riding. So we got her to come to us and she has helped me to learn all the techniques that I need to keep him sane, happy and rideable. The freaky thing about all this is that a friend of mine looked at her video on youtube and noticed a coloured cob at the start of the video. It was Guinness!!!!! He had already been to her for 3 weeks in the April before I got him (30th June 2009). Which is why he was so good today as he recognised her and recognised the techniques!

The reason she didn’t recognise him was that he looked totally different then, he just looked a bit of a mess tbh. I love him to bits and he will be with me for life now no matter what happens! He will continue to do his in-hand shows this year and nxt year he will do county level in-hand and novice level ridden showing then the following year he will do county level ridden & national level in-hand, we are just going to go up and up until we can go no further as I feel he is a very special boy and deserves to get the recognition he deserves! I do think that I needed to in the right place before we started this as if I hadn’t got my confidence back then I wouldn’t have been able to do everything I have done in 1 day! I will forever be grateful to Melani

Spud with the Rope Halter

Spud is awkward to load. He always takes an hour to get in a truck or a trailer and always requires a team of people on hand to help!!

The photos show me gaining his attention and trust using ‘pressure on’ and ‘pressure off’ techniques with the rope halter.

	Working with Spud on the ground to gain his full attention, trust and obedience.
	Note his ear position – it shows he is thinking about me and not what is going on around him
	Spud in complete attention
	This is Spuds habitual response to being loaded. He stops on the ramp, his head in the air – he’s going nowhere!!!
	Reapplying pressure NOT PAIN
	Spuds attitude starts to change
	Spuds head is down, he is relaxed and happily following me
	A happy, soft, forward thinking horse that is actually IN THE TRAILER!!!

The partnership between Raydar and myself.


Loading quietly and happily.

Raydar had been in training with me for several weeks. He is an 18+ hand Hanovarian who used his size and weight to intimidate everyone. He hadn’t been ridden for a year. Raydar was a very unhappy and very stressed out horse – both in the stable and in the field and this displayed itself through his rude and bargy behaviour, he had no attention span and zero trust.

He was almost impossible to load into a trailer or a wagon. He would drag his devoted Mum all over and she would end up with rope burns and bruises from being pulled and pushed around. He would reverse, head in the air, shooting down the side of the trailer. His Mum was amazed to see how quickly he came into attention with me, how soft and relaxed he was. The loading was never an issue with me as the horse would follow me to the ends of the earth, happily and respectfully.

Bebe

Anne brought Bebe to a demonstration to get some advice and help – mainly with the mare’s attitude. She was VERY aggressive – to handle, in the field, in the stable and particularly to feed. She was also incredibly tense and very dangerous to ride. She was bad to saddle, when the girth was done up she would fly round and bite the handler and she NEVER stood still.

You will see from the photos what happened during the demonstration and Anne also got some help after the demo with Bebe’s stable manners and a specific training programme to help the mare lay down her defences and trust people.