It is so much better if you get the chance to familiarise any horse, at any age to accept traffic . The younger the better.

As a foal at foot it is perfect to have them in a field very close to moving traffic….the busier the better. As most people tend to hide their youngstock away in idyllic quiet and calm paddocks, away from the hubub of modern life it can come as quite a shock later on. I realise that it is sometimes not possible to have this chance so you have to then make your own chances. I stand my mares and foals at the end of my drive so that all the passing traffic comes and goes as normal but the mare and foal are safe. The foal gets to no longer worry about the noise and the sudden appearence of double decker buses, lorries, vans, motor bikes and cars. Making the point of being in that same position on a few wet days. This is such a good idea because it exposes the foal to increased road noise. General traffic on wet roads are really noisy.

I am lucky because I have a plant hire business on site which is simply perfect for acclimatising young horses to the shear size of these large vehicles as well as all their coming and goings. I stand them up to diggers and tractors regularly so that they become bored or investigate the smell, feel and size all for themselves.

Once any horse is starting to relax in these situations then walking out in hand is the next stage. I keep someone walking between the young horse and the traffic…usually on or near the white line . This person becomes the buffer to keep both the horse safe from the close proximity of the vehicles as well as keeping the traffic safe from an unpredictable young horse. It is very important that this lead person makes the point of thanking drivers as good curtusy.

Spending valuable time in this way is simply worth its weight in gold in the long run. There is little pleasure in ridding a traffic nervous horse out on our increasingly busy roads…always worrying about what might appear round the corner and how best to find an escape route….or being haunted by what may loom up behind!

Constant voice commands as well as praise is always important so that the horse in hand gets positive reinforcement all the time. Patience and repetition is the key. Although this ethos is time consuming and requires tremendous patience it is an investment worth doing for a lifetime of pleasure to be had from both horse and rider. Confident horses are simply the best.

Please click here to view a previous case of traffic training with a young horse (Jester)

I am proud to introduce my newest product.

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I am delighted to be showing the horse world my Instinctive Lunging System. I have redesigned an old idea based on the Pessoa to become a really accurate aswell as user friendly product.

Previously it has been impossible to work your horse Bi-laterally equally where as know you can be completely confident that the work you are producing from your horse is as perfect as it gets.

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Click here for the promotional video and to purchase this invaluable training aid for £69.95

We plan for the future in all sorts of ways. What we think is a good idea one day can turn out to be a millstone another. I met up with a very typical case of this yesterday up in North Yorkshire.

A very lovely lady called me up needing help with her problem horse. Jo’s desire to breed a good quality home bred foal from her much loved mare has ended up with the said offspring an 18 month old filly holding her to ransom in a strange sort of way.

In normal circumstances a foal will be weaned off its mother at 5 to 6 months old. The usual way is to stable the foal up and take mum away; sometimes all in one go; sometimes by degrees ie stable next door to each other for short periods of time. The more self confident the foal, the easier it is to wean it from the mare. Most mares are sick to death of their off spring by 5 months and already encourage separated time. Some mares simply live their lives to smother their foals with attention and will tolerate really rough and disrespectful behaviour without chastising…..they are all different and how best to wean depends on so many criteria.

Best laid plans can go wrong simply because of circumstance. This stunning Irish Draught cross Connemara filly, who stands at a good 15 hands high and weighing some 400kg, is still on its dam at 18 months old because there was no way of getting her out of the field to take her anywhere. The field which she has always lived in is surrounded by water and access is across a ford. Despite many attempts and real team work no-one had managed to get this youngster to put so much as a toe in the water!

Her self-confident and hugely independent streak has unfortunately always won through…..Never once has she taken the mind set to simply followed mum across. Strength wins through in the wild thus this filly learned that she was stronger than all around and would defy all who tried.

One of the very first things I teach my foals from a young age is the unquestioning leadership of the human kind. Mine never feel stronger than me because I quietly tie them up early. All feelings of worrying about being made to be somewhere not of their choice dissipate as routine tying up, grooming, feet/body/and leg handling occur. Always leading them to and from the field helps to keep control issues at bay and encourages confidence under control. You move-they move. You stop-they stop…it should be as simple as that.

Poor Jo has not been a bad owner in any way, she has simply been unable to do any of this being on her own mostly and having the horses live out in a very large acreage a significant distance from home. As this filly grew bigger and physically stronger, so the task in hand has got harder….to the point of being impossible.

The time has come now however for changes to be afoot…hence my intervention!

This filly was sweet, inquisitive and unafraid….however she did rule the roost. I started with the basic ground work I use whereby I have the power and the tools to control the ground that she occupies…not the other way round as it was! Moving her about on the spot, having her yield her haunches away from me (big issue!) and imprinting on her juvenile mind that she simply had to be and stay where I put her all helped her to see a human in a new light.

These lessons in “tough love” are no different to how we have to come down ( in a really strict way) with our own children at times. No pain, no punishment- simply totally black and white rules…which inturn earn praise when the correct decisions are made and submissive, calm and quiet behaviour is offered. At this point she was allowed time out to roam free again for an hour to reflect on her mornings wake up call. I needed her to compute all the lessons!

When it comes to shear strength then no human can hold a horse or pony….I have seen tiny Shetland ponies floor 6ft+ men, dragging them off till they have no choice but to let go! Hilariously funny but not funny at all if you know what I mean!
It is a huge risk to tie up any grown horse for the first time and should be done with great care and in a really calm and quiet way.

I found a perfect tree in the middle of the field which I wrapped my rope round twice. I personally never tie them up and leave them as in the ways of old. If anything goes horribly wrong then there is not time to untie and un-taffle a panicking animal. I choose to stay holding the rope in close quarters so that they really do think that it is I who is the strongest. One has to be quick thinking here and light of foot so as not get mushed! Harsh as this may seem to some of you, it is essential that horses never learn to use their strength against a handler. Huge dogs can walk at heal of a frail owner without taking said owner out for exercise as one so often sees! It is all a matter of correct training in its early years.

Nothing went awry in this session. The filly had a few expected tantrums. She reared, leapt up high, threw herself around a little, grunted, pulled back a lot and then finally spat her dummy of her pram! Having gained nothing bar arguing with herself, she then started to think rationally…..this lead to her walking towards me and as such was given significant praise.
At no time was she hurt in any way nor did I raise my voice or my hand against her at any time. My hand is always for gentle touch and the session was no longer than 10 minutes.

When we quietly walked away back across that field and went ahead of her mother and other companion horse, I led her out of the field where she simply followed me quite happily through that ford. Jo was simply lost for words!

I walked her through that ford several times, allowing her to stop midway and investigate it for the first time. She dug and pawed and pushed her muzzle through the chilly water. Ears pricked at this adventure she drank from it too.

Now Jo has a charming young horse which she can bring home, separate from mum and start to handle her in all ways…. thus preparing her for her future in a safe, controlled and calm way. They now have a relationship to build whereby each one has something to give each other….trust, harmony and mutual respect.

The weather has made us all sit up and think that there is no such thing as a perfect English summer….those long heady days of sunshine and perfect balmy evenings round the BBQ surrounded by friends, have waned. The reality being of rain and chilly winds……Just for once it would be nice to have had a proper summer especially after the last 2 years of proper winters! August should be hot and dry and not as it has been!

Depressingly, I always tend to think that Christmas is on its way when the terrible Big Brother and X Factor return to our TV screens. Everything appears to be so inevitable…..

What are never inevitable are the end results of our work with some of these problem horses. They come in so complicated and frightened and damaged.

Sometimes we are really not sure where to start. Where we finish is beyond my control. We lay the foundations for trust, acceptance, possible pleasure for the horses and hope. The animal in question however has to have the ability to forgive.

My last article touched briefly on Tom and his mental implode as a result of previous harsh training and actual physical damage and extensive pain. There is no one more disappointed than all members of my team when we find we cannot convert him into being safe and reliable as a riding horse. Everyone has invested so much time, patience, energy and effort into trying to bring him back from the brink…..however he has crossed a line….. The same line to which a good dog crosses to becoming a savage…..he simply cannot find his way back across.

The end result is that I cannot allow him to leave my care, custody and control. His beauty, height, youth and promise of potential would end up killing or maiming someone. I have to stand by my rules and responsibilities, once I have drawn that line, abhorrent as they are to keep sometimes. Our sympathy must go to his owner.

Perhaps we should stop taking on these terribly difficult horses. For every one we lose/fail with we do win over 10. The 10 saved don’t seem to make up for the one failed…..such a bitter pill for us all to swallow.

I have a choice with these articles to paint an idyllic picture of a life with horses. I choose to tell it as it is….warts and all. The livery side of our work is a delight as those horses have been our care for years and years. We call them our “geriatrics” and we adore them. They have their own field and their own routine. Their owners are so much part of the fabric of life on the yard, which has become a sort of family. Everyone helps everyone else and everyone is equal.

The training horses are our challenge and interest. We all love starting young horses and giving them a fantastic start in life. Each individual poses it own challenge as its past life experiences will affect how well it accepts school life. Some are well handled, some are wild, some are stubborn and some are timid.
They are our favourite work.

The remedial horses come with all the variety I frequently describe. Like the moth to the flame, I open my door to them all. Racehorses/ Road traffic accident horses/ physically and mentally damaged. They test my ability to laterally think as no one way fixes all, that’s for sure. My past experiences with past horses give us the tools in my tool box to try to find the way forward with each new one.

There is great pleasure to be had in success, great satisfaction in healing and enormous pleasure in helping owners heal their partnership with their horses. They always keep in touch once home. We still help and advice when needed, give moral support and take great pleasure when they achieve things like competitions etc. That is why we do what we do.

There are times when we should simply take the easy path, but the consequence of that is finality….euthanasia.

We have a horse in at Skidby called Tom. He is a beautiful, homebred 16.3 quality animal with fantastic movement and conformation. He came to us last summer as a newly broken in 4 year old with a really vicious, unpredictable and totally unseating buck. It was simply not possible to sit astride and stay on. Out of nowhere he literally hurled the rider sky high with such force that the rider landed on hands and knees….extremely serious.

When he first came he was worked through our way of training which empowers the rider to be able to turn the horses head back to your knee at any time…giving control back to us and a consequence of action to the horse, without pain. On Tom there was no time to do that as you were already flying through the air. He did not give any warning with which we could use for our own protection.

We had his spine examined, x-rayed, scanned and using all the high tech methods available with expert Equine Vets, found that his early training had been so harsh that the huge ligament which runs from Poll(top of his head) to the top of his tail had suffered a significant sprain….so much so that shivers of bone had been lifted off the top of the Spineous-Processes, which make up the back bone.

Thus identified he has had a year of treatment – including steroid injections directly into each affected section(to reduce inflammation), Shock wave therapy (which increases blood supply and oxygen supply to the damaged areas) and months of longitudinal and lateral stretch physiotherapy to enable him to repair the shortened and damaged musculature. He was turned away for the end of winter/spring and early summer to just be left alone and live a herd life of normality and to chill mentally.

Having just gone back to the Vets for an extremely thorough work up, he has been given the all clear (pain gone and healing completed as best it can)

We have had Tom back in work for 2/3 weeks. He maybe better in his body but his mind is still traumatised at remembered pain and his fear of being ridden again is enormous. There is nothing else veterinary wise that can be done so it is down to me and my staff to try to turn him into being a reliable ridding horse. This is a monumentous thing to try to achieve. Tom is horribly haunted, which is simply so sad for such a young horse. The reality is that he has already bucked off and trampled my head girl. We are now going down the route of using sand bags and a dummy. He has completely destroyed my Scarecrow dummy (nick named JUDITH!) So poor Judith is no more! She was systematically flung into pieces, having bravely lasted the course of a whole week of abuse!

I was reduced to buying a blow up doll (hilarious in its own right!) called JaLo! Dressed in correct attire, she is proving to be worth her weight in gold (or air!). Tom is starting to accept the unacceptable. We are consistently working him with patience, great care, praising him throughout and it is starting to pay off. He has not exploded for over a week now and is calmer in his own mind whilst we go through the laborious task of placing and tying on sand bags and securing JaLo.

There will however come a point in time when one of us has to climb back up on him. The short straw will come out of a hat. It fills us with dread for fear of getting badly hurt but either Carlie or I will take that leap of faith that we have covered all the bases and that he is ready. If Tom cannot lay his past to rest then he will be put down…..that is how it has to be but we are putting out heart and souls into trying to turn him back to trust. He is one of the most extreme cases I have ever had to try to retrain.

Each month I try to bring you all on board with how life is in the reality of our little yard, in the team effort and work of my staff and the stories of owners and problem horses that come our way. All of us input into each horse and invest heavily in each owner. The challenges are different with each job…. the circumstances of fright and fear, of accident or pain, the manifestation of anger or aggression.

They are all complex and provide real variation in both our personal and professional challenge. This all makes life incredibly interesting if not somewhat exhausting! I do hope that the variety is interesting to most and that you have maybe gained a little insight and empathy along the way.
I would like to tell you of a whole horse’s life to date. Some are born lucky in the greater scheme of things.

Many years ago (1986) I bought an impossible mare off a local trainer who was a monster to try to get on and who required nerves of steel to try to ride. Her name was Vicky and she was the end result of the harsh treatment metered out in the professional show jumping world. Time is money to the big boys and horses with very real talent have to conform and perform with excellence quickly….too quickly for some. Because of the pressure they fall by the wayside, just like 1000’s of racehorses each year, when the expectation does not turn into fruition or the horse fights back and becomes too difficult to carry on investing in. Vicky was a real tough cookie who started out as my nemesis but who ultimately became my soul mate and a true and special partner. We found something in each other to both bond and gel completely…we were inseparable, unstoppable and unbeatable…and in all those years I could never get her to accept another Jockey. She terrified everyone! My staffs were reduced to gibbering idiots if I ever asked any of them to try to exercise her…seriously!!!!!

When she suffered a significant injury I retired her from jumping and she became a broodmare. I bred 3 foals from her….the last one being Norman.

Now Norman was in no hurry to come into the world and Vicky was quite content to keep him in the warm! She could hardly wobble down the field, graze and wobble back in at night yet she kept her son warm and snug inside to a ridiculous degree. 11 months is the suggested length of time for a foal gestation… Norman appeared at 1 year and 1 week!

I had spent 3 weeks of sleepless nights watching a TV screen from the camera in the stable ,at ungodly hours on the settee of my very good friend Norman Porter (alias Norm the bus) here in Skidby. I used his stable as it was quiet, large and private, away from the hustle of the yard. I had just gone home to Lincolnshire to get more clothes, see my partner after work and generally readying myself for yet another bleary eyed night when…..

Norman rang me, minutes after I walked in through my back door, to say that he and our friend Naomi had ably assisted in a word perfect foaling….much to their surprise as they had only stuck their heads over her door for a nosey! I guess the lecture that I had given the mare before I left had worked or was it the insult of my description of her as being an inconsiderate old witch? Non -the –less, the brand new and aptly named equine” Norman the horse” stood on his own 4 feet, for the first time, without me!

I guess it was the time he had wasted in vitro or that he was simply Vicky’s true son but Norman was as sharp as a bag full of monkeys from day one…just like her! He proceeded to go through life hurling himself whole -heatedly into every challenge thrown at him. He was a monster to break in at 4 years old….and a nightmare to back. Just like his mum he was so quick on his feet that hanging around long enough to allow me to get my backside into the saddle with any security proved to become a re -run of my early days with his mum. He too turned out to be an amazing jumper and his career took off when he discovered the joys of the Show Jumping and National Eventing .

I, however, suffered greatly at his whim over the years sporting numerous concussions, varied broken bones, an Internal fixation of my already beleaguered collar bone, a shoulder dislocation ( of which I still pay a heavy price from) and in reality I became on first mane terms with the members of the x-ray department in Hull Royal. He was so sharp on the cross country course that he would deposit me at will and at great speed with absolutely no warning…never from the fear of an oncoming huge, imposing treble telegraph pole tiger trap built over an equally huge, gaping, cavernous ditch. NAH! That was easy…it was the “Pterodactyl” type Black bird or an armour plated plastic bag which dared to innocently flap in a hedge and whoosh, he would be veering off at a tangent!

At 8 years old I made the decision to sell Norman to an extremely tall young man of title and affluence, who not just provide a fantastic Event home with a life style to which Norman had the right to aspire but who also had really long legs! This was a very real advantage to my little short ones and would guarantee that there would be no more parting of the ways on course!

Norman and Alistair had a fabulous few years together and clocked up an impressive array of wins and rosettes. However, a niggling injury to a fetlock meant that at 12 years old Norman had to retire from the front line. The Family offered him back to me and so home he came! With time, patience and care Norman resumed full health and still has an active and fulfilling life back in Skidby where he was born.

Norman now belongs to Jackie and will hopefully be in my care for life. Jackie did not know it at the time but she needed this horse to heal all her accumulated fears from her previous horse experiences. He taught her to canter, to cope with traffic without cardiac arrest and how to have fun. She has achieved so much, competed in Dressage (which to her had been an unattainable dream) and has much to be proud of. They have the same partnership and soul deep affection that I had with his mum all those years ago. Norman has come home in so many ways and is one seriously lucky horse.

I just need to add that at 18 years old he is still frightened of “Armour plated” plastic bags!

Hi Melanie,
can you please explain to me what traditonal methods of training are?

Thank you for your question.
Age old traditional training ways with horses are based on things happening to the horse , which they accept by repetition.
A good trainer will not brutalise or force proceedings but allow acceptance with voice training commands and patience.
When things go wrong, the tendency is to strike, hit, tie down and force as a way of curing the problem eg rearing, napping, bucking etc. This usually reaffirms to the horse that it cannot trust you .

Natural training is based on the horses own way of communication and herd physiology… changes are then made by allowing the horse to re think why it does what it does without force or punishment….it changes its mind and how it feels. Fear is replaced by confidence and trust.

I use a balance of all in my yard……lunging in side reins, Pessoa training, voice training, long reining in traffic etc…..for starting youngsters or retraining race horses for example I cure the awful behaviour of my remedial horses via the natural approach to break the chain of events which habitually happen……to stop why a horse feels the need to bolt or attack you. These are both at the extreme ends of the scale….we want softness and harmony and a happy horse at the end of it all. That cannot be done through force and is usually as a result of force in the first place.

Horses just want to feel safe…that’s it basically….. So do we.

Fear creates reaction, confidence and trust create partnership.

I do hope I have been of some help.

Hi Mel,

Sorry its taken me so long to get in touch – I’ve never stopped since and wanted to write with news of how we were getting on!

First of all thanks for all you showed me on the day and for your straight talking – which helped to sort me out and think about where I’m going with Ted.

Sharon has been a great help and someone to bounce off for ideas and to keep me right.Like you said he had no expectations and neither did I so…having had a kick up the ass I sorted out a plan! I put him on the lunge and began to ask him for the walk I wanted.I had to use a lot of pressure in the first session so he knew I meant it but by session 3 he was offering a lovely walk and maintaining it. So then moved that in to ridden work and agin initially needed a lot of pressure to maintain walk. 2 weeks later he offers that walk with only an occassional reminder – because he always throws in a ‘do you really mean it?’ test. I have been asking for left and right bends in a figure 8 with the straight a release and doing serpentines and he has maintained that walk throughout. He’s doing good and I no longer hate being the school.( also been asking for that same walk on hacks)

Then moved on to asking for transitions on the lunge – quick response up and down and again transfered that to ridden. Going to start working on the trot this week on the lunge. We also put some side reins on and he is looking really good! Can’t believe its my pony! Really pleased with how he is going. And I’ve let my stirrups down!

He was brilliant for the Trimmer. I tied him up short and stayed out of the way. Trimmer said he was relaxed and literally never put a foot wrong. SOOOO pleased – so thanks again!

Really hope we can get you to come back up soon!

Be in touch again soon

Kerry x

As I sit looking out of my window, absent-mindedly watching my dogs play, it is a good scene. The sun is shining; the grass is growing and has finally started to turn green, instead of brown. Everything is starting to improve from the weather and the promise of spring to the land drying up and becoming workable. I can hear the tractors rumbling past my house with harrows, rollers or fertiliser spreaders at the rear.

When these changes start to happen, we seize on the first opportunity to get out there on the land. It now needs help after the ravages of winter in order to both recover and subsequently yield its promised crop…..mine being grass. How I wished it grew for free! It will in its own way of course but not to the extent I need it too. There is a balance of maximising potential yet allowing nature to take its course in natural development……whilst not meddling too much or spending too much time and money in investment.

Could not the same be said of a horse? I have this balance to make each time I take on every troubled equine that comes in to the yard. I cannot give false promise yet I must give hope. I have to produce results in the shortest possible time in order to keep the cost down for the owners, yet I must let each animal develop and let down its defences at its own speed. The depth of its traumatic history is a massive part of the ensuing dictation in time.

We have 2 problem horses in for training just now who have imploded big time, with all encompassing fear behind their eye line…… Un-rideable, stressed to handle and awful to catch. Both are from different backgrounds, but both fear touch on their haunches which in turn is all about defence.

Jazz is a beautiful 15hh native bred chestnut mare, and has been owned by this family for 7 months.

They have had so many traumatic incidences in that time whilst trying to ride her. She basically hits a panic button in her head which sends her into a blind run with violent bucking until she gets the rider off. This always leaves her in a terrible state afterwards. She has eyes out on stalks, nostrils flaring and her heart races so hard that she visibly shakes. She is then hard even to approach and catch….never mind get back on. She has been with us for 2 weeks now and has come on extremely well. The rope halter work has given her a feeling of safety and an ability to relax when being asked questions. She worries still but now has the tools to start to let go of tension and relax. We have just started to back her and it is going well. Her owners come over from Doncaster regularly and are delighted with her ability to calm down after a freak! No one can force the change of attitude; it has to be her decision at the end of the day. We do not try to stop her fear by masking what we ask for….she is fully exposed to my requests and must find it in herself to trust me and my staff. Every day we move her forward and today has been my best success yet on her back. I can now jump up and over. I get on one side and get off on the other without her feeling the need to react….. Real progress.

Finn is a 16.3hh Irish sports horse. He is a fine upstanding dark grey horse who has suffered greatly in the hands of scum bag dealers. Because he has probably always been a difficult personality he has hit the downward spiral that so many do. He has been passed from pillar to post, harsher treatment each time to try to tame the beast. The unsuspecting new owners have unwittingly inherited a whole life time of abuse because they fell in love with the picture of beauty that stood in front of them.

The story inside the story is that although he has come to me from Sheffield, I have seen this horse before…. being roughly ridden by a local dealer after the last decent owners found that they too could not manage him. Drugged up at point of sale sells the animal, the reality is after a week in its new home and the drugs are out of the system! A common occurrence I am sorry to say. The dealer denies all knowledge and says that they have ruined a good horse by doing something wrong. Blah, blah, same old, same old. Those owners did not send him back to that scum bag dealer, their conscience for the horse did not allow. They sent him to a local trainer who sold him to another scum bag dealer who has been banned by the courts and the RSPCA from ever owning another horse. Again very local…..he gets round this ban by saying that his girl friend owns all the horses. Who has the power to stop all this?

Finn(formally BUD) is an absolute psychological mess. I have no idea if he can be brought back from the brink. If I cannot make a significant impact into his ability to trust a human ever again then he has no future. He will how ever be treated very well, be shown great care and I, alongside his beleaguered new owners, are determined to give him every chance.

Undeniably as important as training a horse is the time, energy and cares that myself and my team put into the owners. It is not just the animal that arrives traumatised or damaged but often the owner and or the rider too.

It is true that owners can occasionally and unintentionally allow their horses to develop bad habits. More often though, it is that life throws unexpected, undeserved and confidence ruining accidents and incidents at all of us at times, no matter what walk in life we take. Partnerships between people and partnerships between animal and owner are no different. Once trust in the other has gone then the damage is very real, hurtful, saps ones confidence and needs careful thought as far as your future together is concerned.

The owner loves that horse with all their heart, they want to keep the horse but it has to mend its ways and mutual trust with viable expectations must be created. That`s where I come in…..An equine marriage councillor no less!, although I`ve never quite thought of it in that light before.

My retraining of any horse is always open to spectators. We do nothing behind closed doors. It is very important that I share as much information as is possible with the owners especially if they cannot always be present. Distance and work commitments mainly limit the time that they can be actively involved. Hence the time that I do get to share with the owners is very important. All applicable methods are taught and testing the trust by creating scenarios which push the partnership…..eg, fear of large traffic and being able to be positive where there had only been fear (on both sides). Making sure that it is the owner in charge throughout all those times or circumstances where previously the horse had been holding its owner to ransom.

Considering I went in to horse training in my early working days with the blinkered vision of my becoming some form of Mother Teresa for horses, thinking that all the wrongs which an individual horse had endured at the hands of its owner could be blamed on cruelty or ignorance, I was so very wrong.

The people I meet care deeply. Their love for their horse has been sorely tested but they hang on in there despite both personal and, sometimes, physical injury. Apart from as a result of an unavoidable accident, I have rarely met an owner who is the original cause.

You will have read in past editions that most problems are inherited at point of sale. Sometimes an inability to cope or an incorrect but understandable reaction from the handler or rider can compound the issues already there……but they are rarely the cause.

I was delighted last week to receive a letter from a lovely woman called Cath. In this letter was her profound thanks to both Carlie( my head girl) and myself for the care, time and patience we showed her earlier on this year. As a result of which Cath is back riding again, which she had previously thought physically impossible. Her impish but delightful horse, Harvey is now showing her great respect and gentleness where before he had been on his own agenda and that as a result of which she has just the most perfect few months. Fantastic…. If I ever wonder why I do what I do then the lovely people that I meet, like Cath, simply confirm that (despite the wind and the rain)….It is a good life!

This has been an interesting season so far and we have been busy at the yard starting youngsters and sorting out the wish lists of various owners and their problem horses.

We recently met a young woman called Laura who intended to buy an un-handled , 18 month old gelding called Oscar. It was arranged for me to go with my trailer to try to load him from the shed where he had always lived, alongside a group of other equally unhandled horses. The episode was a nightmare for all involved. I could do nothing to help as it turned out. The situation, set up, and lack of any sort of handling meant that the subsequent fiasco, which the owner had created, was a disgrace. The less said the better. I was just so glad to get that one young horse away.

Oscar was shell shocked at this upheaval and his move to my yard. Bless him. We spent the next few days teaching him that we were not part of his past nightmare. He learned to trust us, tie up and be stroked via a very long stick with a glove on the end. Once we found where his itchy places were, we were able to give him pleasure being touched. He stopped lashing out with both hind legs and he stopped biting and striking out with his front legs too….eventually! In the 2 weeks that we had him, he was taught to lead out to a paddock with freedom, grass and fresh air. We gave him the company of a gentle horse as a companion so that he could learn to socialise with other horses.

We spent time standing by the side of the road so that he could become familiar with traffic. He proved to be an amazing little chap and started to lead up the village, completely un-fazed by all the sights, sounds, hustle and bustle of village life. His curiosity was my main help in his rehabilitation to our expectations of normality. He simply had to know everything….. What it was, how it was and best of all, he wanted it all “NOW”! Perfect.

Great care and thought was put in as to how we approached training him to accept the trailer, after his previous experience at the hands of his previous owner. Funnily enough, his companion horse led the way there. We parked the horse box out in the middle of paddock where Oscar was loose. When we opened up the ramps, both front and back, I put a bucket of carrots inside. Robert, the companion horse marched straight in and started to devour those carrots with gusto! Poor Oscar ran round a few times with his knickers in a twist then his curiosity and love of carrots got the better of him and he loaded himself! There he stood, alongside his mate, stuffing his face with chopped up carrots…all on his own volition! Fantastic! After that we loaded Oscar up every day and took him for short journeys. Job solved and Oscar was no longer frightened of the confines or feel of the trailer.
One of the biggest hurdles for any handler of any wild, terrified or unhandled horse to overcome is the defence systems put in place by the horse for his own self protection. This is a comprehensive list of violent actions by the horse to send perceived predators at bay. Do not forget that all horses are born wild. As a result of which, we handle them from birth in order to never allow these understandably dangerous traits to become entrenched. It is a dangerous task to try to handle and tame the older horse. Strength and weight becomes the enemy.

Oscar put up a good fight; I wore his front feet on my hip and shoulder more than once in those early days! Once his barriers started to come down then he became receptive to my personal advances on his body! He started to allow me to touch his legs and eventually he allowed me to lift his feet without wearing them!
By the time he went home, Oscar was a changed character for good (and for the good). Laura had learnt how to handle him, lead him, groom him, pick his feet up and had a good relationship with him. He consistently tied up quietly and was content with this whole new world and his whole new life. Laura is a lovely, sensible and caring person. Oscar had all his dreams come true the day she bought him.

When I wrote last month’s article everyone was so fed up with the cold and the wet…. As such I tried to be so witty by commenting on the reality of the moment. Having gone into great descriptions on the said subject, the reality was that when the magazine came out we were living in Sahara like conditions! I got so caught out! You must all have thought me a fool for an inability to look out of my window at that time! Funny!

The same can be said for decisions made at work. I was complacent last week in presuming on a young problem horse and its new found ability to cope (or not as the case may be) I asked Rob, a member of my staff, to leg me straight up on this youngster after days of careful backing. Big mistake! She took off before I was properly on, leaving me hanging on for grim death! Fortunately I managed to sit the explosion out and settled her back down with the rest of the session being very successful. Rob (all of 26 years old) made a hilarious comment on this old birds ability to still sit tight, (despite my age!)…praise indeed! It was a classic case of presumption and the old wise words come to the fore….Vanity comes before a fall; a horseman must have been the original author! Phew!

This particular horse is called Storm. Her story is a sad one as she has paid a heavy price as a result of a classic accident. She is only 4 years old, an Arabian mare with a Welsh accent! She has come to me from Port Talbot in South Wales…a 6 hour journey and a huge leap of faith on behalf of her owners. Lorna and John are hill farmers, sheep being their livelihood. They broke and trained Storm themselves, slowly and carefully, with consideration. Life was pretty perfect for a while. David rode Storm up the mountain daily, with his sheep dogs in tow, to check on the wellbeing of his stock. Storm learnt to move round the sheep while the dogs worked the flock and she allowed John to open and shut gates whist on board. She loved the mountain where her life was a perfect harmony of very natural pleasure balancing a proper job to perform.

The accident came and blew everyone’s world apart. One day, whilst leaning out over her side to shut a gate, the saddle slipped. The girth under the horse was not tight enough and John’s weight dislodged the saddle. Storm panicked at the strange feel as the saddle slid underneath her. John was badly thrown and that was her main fright….John falling off. In her panic she fled off down the mountain at brake neck speed, heading for home. She hit the concrete yard at full gallop with the saddle underneath her and tried to turn right into her stable yard. The shear speed prevented the turn and she lost her feet on the slippery surface, ending up on her side. She slid sideways into 2 industrial metal doors, the impact of which was horrifyingly massive.

Her injuries were appalling, one knee joint was totally exposed with the huge flap of skin (thankfully still attached at the bottom) hanging down. She had torn her stifle joint wide open on her hind leg, with the hole being so large that a man’s fist could enter; exposing the entire workings of the joint, ligaments, tendons and all. Unsurprisingly she suffered broken ribs too.

It has taken many months of tender care, nursing and rehabilitation to bring Storm back into full physical health. The amazing thing is that the joints were not structurally damaged and no limb bones were fractured. John and Lorna adore this little horse; she is a testament to their love, physical care and patience. Emotionally however, Storm remains extremely damaged, not unsurprisingly. Despite many hours on John’s part, Storm would not allow him back on with her worry starting with the arrival of the saddle. John has my greatest respect as he has now got her relaxing in her tack. However, the riding bit is now down to me and my team.

She has been with us for just over a week and we have been doing well. I have been climbing on from both sides, carefully! The panic has not gone yet but as a result of using natural horse training methods, Storm trusts me and my staff completely. I make her feel safe when I am alongside and as such, she is allowing me up despite her mental anguish.

I will have to add at this time the impact of the environmental culture shock! There is little similarity to her Welsh mountainside here in Skidby…we have cars, Lorries, buses, noise and a frenetic energy to life not found in the peace of her Welsh world! My ménage, where I train her, is directly on the main street for instance. She is, however, coping beautifully and her natural curiosity is being more than satiated! I did lead her up to Mr Harrison’s flock of sheep, opposite the Wind Mill, the other day just to make her feel more at home!!

Watch this space as they say and wish all involved luck. How wonderful will it be if I can turn this little mare back round so that her devoted owners can have all their wishes granted.

I never saw myself as a Fairy God Mother before!!!!

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The weather is always a good topic of conversation whoever you are and whatever you do. For those of us who choose to work outside it has an extra, hugely horrid impact when the weather is bad! In all the years I have been working with problem horses or on farms in general, I have simply never known the land to be so drenched and so damaged as it is this year. The gateways and access points are literally knee deep in mud. Trying to get the large Haylage bales out across land to horses that are wintering out, is like an army expedition each and every time! The tractors sink as soon as they enter the field and the ensuing mess is enough to break your heart!
As dismal as the conditions are now, the good lord usually allows us the opportunity to heal the land come spring and summer. What appears a vision of desolation in mud now will bounce back to life come late spring time. That thought is sometimes the only thing that makes me feel better when I am on my mobile phone beseeching someone to please pull me and my tractor out of the field as I are stuck fast (again!)
The horses themselves do surprisingly well as a rule. Providing they are supplied with supplementary fodder in the form of adlib Hay, Haylage and, or, hard feed if needed as well, then they have no reason not to thrive. They however, just like us, hate the wind and the rain. They shelter themselves against a tall hedge, backsides to the weather and their heads down! In that position they will patiently wait for the rain to pass, though the sight of them always brings the words THOROUGHLY DEDJECTED to mind!!
For my part, I always have my horses wearing thick waterproof rugs……sometimes 2 as is the case right now. These keep my animals warm and dry ( as well as making me feel less guilty that they are not in nice warm, dry stables! )
There are some health issues associated with wintering horses out. Vigilance on the part of the carer is essential to keep the risks to a minimum. If a horse sustains a cut in a wet and muddy environment, then the chances are that it will get infected. Daily attention with first aid will hopefully be enough to allow a good heal to take place…..all dependant on the severity of the cut of cause. Sometimes the animal has to be given a coarse of antibiotics and, or brought back inside for the time it takes to heal.
Other ailments associated with these horrid conditions are “Mud Fever” and “Thrush”. The first affects the skin on the leg which breaks down as a result of being constantly covered in thick wet mud. The skin becomes open to a fungal infection which becomes very painful, the leg swells and the skin becomes encrusted with deep scabs. These scabs become the umbrella for the bugs to live under and hence have to be removed. The affected horse needs to come in for a few weeks to be nursed.
The second ailment “Trush”affects the underside of the foot. This is basically a foot rot as with sheep and cattle. A mixture of both these ailments was the torture which our soldiers suffered as “Trench Foot” during the First World War. Totally impossible to treat effectively in such conditions but hopefully one can keep under a measure of control (or again bring the horse in to a dry environment with daily treatment.)
Different breeds of horses cope better than others. Obviously the hardy Native type horse is better armed to thrive than say a Thoroughbred. However, if the carer provides adequate forage and is diligent in their observations then it merely needs a hand from a “Higher Power” to help improve the lot of the wintering out horse!
On that note I will leave you with a picture of my little herd doing what they do best……eating! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and I wish every one a happy, successful and DRY New Year!!!!

As the seasons move on there are always changes to be made in how you care for horses. The weather has a chill to it now, especially in the evenings and during the night. There is increasing rain fall which makes us all feel colder too. As a result of which we have started to rug up some of the more vulnerable horses. The Thoroughbreds and the older horses now need a bit of help to keep their summer condition on. They will lose weight quickly being wet and cold. These early season rugs are very thin and lightweight, just enough to keep the chill and wet off their backs. The heavy breeds, native breeds and the Mountain and Moorland types do not need this early help. They are designed to live in tough terrain and as such are much easier to care for, all ways round. The finer the breed, the more attention is needed. The huge diversity of horse breeds now present in the UK are not dissimilar to dogs. I keep seeing the weirdest looking dogs out on leads which hail from far flung places like Outer Mongolia, Russia, Iceland and heaven only knows where from! The horses here now are mirroring that same diversity. However, they all have the same brain and mind set at the end of the day…..a horse is after all a horse, it’s just that some need to learn to speak English!

The summer has been a strange one for farmers and horse owners alike. After such a cold, icy winter and then a tremendously wet spring, we had the longest dry spell for years. The result of which was that the grass did not grow. Any agricultural crop of any type comes at a significant expense. We, who rely on the ready supply of grass for forage or for grazing, try to maximise yield by fertilising, to feed the root system and flush the leaf. We spray off weeds to maximise the crop of grass, not nettles and docks! All this costs a great deal of money….in my case I have to pay a contractor to do this work for me, on top of the cost of tillage/spray. The one thing that money cannot buy is the need for rain at the right time. We got it when we did not want it ….but there was none when we all needed it so badly. Crops of every kind have been badly affected across the nation in general. Yields’ are down by a third. Hay yields were exactly the same. I got 70 big round bales from land which normally offers me up 100.
In an attempt to rectify this shortage, I re fertilised the land for a second late crop…..but yet again, it did not rain, the grass burnt off and remained static until only recently. This late rain has been too late for any significant difference to be made. I may as well have poured that money down a toilet!

On top of the fact that there is less hay about, we have had to have been feeding our winter’s supply out in the fields since July, because there was not enough grass on the land to support the horses whilst they lived out. No win, No win! Hay will now be at a premium all winter as stocks get reduced, the price is all ready sky high. Such joy!

This summer has been good for us in relation to the work that has come in. We have been working with some very interesting cases. Alongside the complicated problem horses, I am glad that we have had the opportunity to start some really nice youngsters for people. I love bring the babies into work and seeing them mature in front of your eyes. From rough looking and unhandled into brave and confident riding horses, which then happily carry their owners up through the village with their ears pricked (that is the horse, not the owners! I think!)

There is much to be said for taking pleasure where you can. The simple things are so often the best or most rewarding. Watching owners face and overcome their own personal demons is one. Like watching an infantile and uneducated equine mind grow into a confident and forward thinking individual. Quietly watching my staff handle unruly and abusive horses with care and compassion….not with the brutal ways of old.

I consider myself lucky to have found the Natural/ rope halter way for training and retraining horses. It gives me and my team a whole new set of opportunities to reach into a closed or damaged mind. I can start youngsters who then go on to greet life with expectancy having been broken in embracing their strengths not punishing their weaknesses…..as was the way of old.

Apart from the obvious sun shine related rise in the “feeling better in your own skin” type category, my return to an old story will hopefully cheer a few heart cockles!
I am aware that I do try to tell the reality of my life with problem horses as honestly as is possible…..hence the inclusion of Star’s sad story in the last edition. There is, however, always something really good as a balance.  Remember “Zander”? I introduced him last summer early on in my articles.
Zander came to me as a last chance candidate….his owner could no longer handle this horse. He was angry, resentful and unwilling to cooperate with mankind. He bucked riders off, he reared up on his back legs without warning and was extremely dangerous to ride. Without stating the obvious, he was on death row.
I decided to take this horse on as a project for his own sake. He was always going to be a drain on my resources but I guess we should all put something back in at times. I usually take on a racehorse so Zander (who is a “Warmblood”or Germanic type breed) was a different challenge altogether. He was big in frame and stature, possessed real strength in physical terms and was so angry in nature.
Bit by bit, we took him apart piece by piece in 3 ways….emotionally, physically and mentally. This was in order to find the real cause of all these issues he carried about. With time on our side ,we were able to slowly work away at breaking down all these barriers.  Over the past 10 months we have treated back pain and sciatica. We have resolved joint stiffness as a result of moving in a protective and incorrect way. Finally, Zander has allowed himself to trust people again and has even shown a soft and submissive side to his nature. Both physically and mentally Zander is as good as he is ever going to be.
He will never be a show stopper and will not qualify for Wembley as a puissance show jumper!!! He will, however, now make someone a nice riding club type horse who loves jumping big fences and is good out riding in traffic and galloping through the countryside. He willingly jumps anything you put him at and really enjoys that side of his work. Unfortunately Zander is still, and never will be, a particularly brave person so providing he has an equine companion by his side he can face the world in an orderly and safe way.
I am about to put him up for sale on the open market. He will be advertised in an honest way. The most important thing to happen now is for me to sell him to exactly the right sort of person. My hope is that he will go hunting and show jumping, as this will be perfect for him. I just know that he will excel in these fields and will be a total pleasure to his new owner. It is highly unlikely that I will recoup all the money and time that I have invested in him. Just the hours I have paid my staff to ride and care for him would be a formidable sum, never mind his feed, vet. physio and farrier bills etc. My time spent on him was given freely however and we will see what comes his way as to his future.
Wish him and his hopefully new owner well.

One very confident young pony and one very happy child wended their way back to York…. A new team had been forged. Alfie took on board all his lessons and turned out to be a real little gem. It was a bit like letting a child loose in Hamleys Toy shop.! Alfie discovered a whole new world and he loved it. He tried so hard to keep up with his accompanying horse out riding. His disadvantage being extremely short legs of cause!!!! Therefore he had to work hard to keep up.! This in its own right meant that he became forward thinking . Instead of worrying about not having a leader on foot to make all his decisions for him, he started to think for himself and accept this new way of going.

When he came in ,he had only ever been on a lead rope with a young rider on board. As such he had never really had to make any decisions for himself. Very often “lead rein “ponies never make “first ridden” ponies. They can not and do not accept that the child on board is a good enough security blanket after being so protected by an adult alongside. Alfie , however , proved to be a confident enough character to retrain to this new way of going.

We introduced jumping small fences, individually at first, then building a coarse of them. Carlie Hillion, my head girl, was chief jockey !! Alfie had her in stitches ( and us ) as he was so “go get”!!!The whole thing was so funny to watch and poor Carlie had a job to stay on for laughing at Alfies pure enthusiasm as he bundled round these fences with ears so pricked the touched at the ends. Bless him, he turned out to be a swan after being such an overweight ugly duckling!!

A SAD REFLEXION OF THE TIMES.
My website creates alot of enquiries. I hear from people from all over the country who are having problems with their horses. I spend a lot of time trying to give good advice freely and helping where I can.
A lady called Jenny from Cheshire asked me if I bought horses that have significant problems which I don’t. We got talking and I did what I could to talk thro “Zander`s” issues.

This young lady has had nothing but heartbreak and serious expense with this problem horse for 4 years. 3 trainers later, vast amounts spent on X rays and physio`s trying to identify where there is or might be pain. (Pain being one of the main reasons for horses to go off the rails). My format with every new case is…
1. Are they in pain?
2. Have they known pain?
3. Do they expect pain?
One of those criteria invariably fits the bill I`m sorry to say.

Zander is now in my yard. He is angry, he has significant pain in his sacraliliac joints on the top of his haunches. He is in self protection mode and is offering me nothing as yet. Why should he? To him I am a new threat to his wellbeing and he does not trust me.

If I were stupid enough to try to ride him now then his full repertoire of violence would be flung at me. Rearing up to the point of going over backwards is his main ammunition. His is past caring if he gets hurt in the process. All very sad.
Jenny could not face having this beautiful powerful horse(which despite all his failings she loves) put down. I have decided to take him on as my own..financial suicide for me….but I equally cannot countenance euthanasia without giving him a chance.

If there is anyone out there who would like to help sponsor this horse through his treatments and training, then I would be extremely grateful. He is a risk but one I felt worth taking. If there is no way of giving this horse pleasure in his life then I will be prepared to put him down. There is a long way to go before that though. PLEASE WISH BOTH ZANDER AND ME LUCK!

His story will be updated over the next few issues.

It is extraordinary that despite all the years of experience that I have gained, I can never presume to “fix a problem” in any blasé or “one way fits all” approach. It would be so beautifully uncomplicated if that were so. Each and every horse can arrive with apparently the same habitual violent or terrified reactions and behaviour. They are invariably extreme cases, as I have said before. When faced with each individual, an in-depth case study must be built up with as much background information as is possible to glean. The cause will stem from many different bases….past injury, bad treatment, accident or maybe just as simple as an emotionally weak or mean temperament.
This summer we have been presented with 3 similar situations in 3 different problem horses….they all bolted off when being mounted. With each one we have had to take a completely different tack….as the reasons behind these reactions were from a different set of circumstances affecting completely different individuals.
The pony we have in just now is terrified of your leg coming over his back, so we are feeding him a piece of carrot at the same time as I lift my foot over. Instead of running for the hills, he has to turn his face towards my foot on his right hand side and stretch towards my foot for the tempting treat. That way he is starting to accept the unacceptable. The downside is that we are in danger of making him greedy but one step at a time I say! If we get the result that we are after then the problem of being mounted goes away and he becomes happy….with the added bonus of him becoming extremely flexible!
One of the others we had to approach by slow but sure desensitisation of the rider’s weight. She took fright at the sight of the rider being above her head. She was a very tough horse to teach to let go of that all-encompassing fear. Not nice to be up there that was for sure! She came round by shear repetition in the natural rope halter technique which allowed us to keep her is a spin until she could stand and breathe away the tension. If we had once fallen off then all would have been lost.
The other pony had to be kept in a small space so that bolting off was not an available option. His confidence came by our calm use of voice filling his head with reassurance. He was so scared that if you touched him he felt that you had given him an electric shock. Poor thing, he came to enjoy the feel of our hands and took strength from the sound of our voice.
Life on our yard has had to be profoundly changed with the introduction of one of our latest additions….WOW!…in more ways than one! Wow is a purebred, rising 4 Irish draught stallion who hails from Barnsley. He has come in to be broken in, ridden away and ultimately produced for the National Irish Draught Stallion Grading in February. I have never produced a stallion for that before so yet another learning curve on its way! He is a lovely boy and is not too much trouble. However on an open yard like mine, there are new rules to follow for everyone. No loose horse’s on the yard is the most obvious one as we need to keep rape to a minimum!
Joking apart we do need to make sure that no one is complacent when dealing with him directly or by making the mistake of bringing other animals in too close. If you ever walk through Skidby then chances are that you will meet him. His favourite occupation is hanging his great big head over the ménage wall to greet pedestrians on the foot path and to watch the world go by! Skidby Main Street is his very own, personal Coronation Street!

The weather is always a good topic of conversation whoever you are and whatever you do. For those of us who choose to work outside it has an extra, hugely horrid impact when the weather is bad! In all the years I have been working with horses or on farms in general, I have simply never known the land to be so drenched and so damaged as it is this year. The gateways and access points are literally knee deep in mud. Trying to get the large Haylage bales out across land to horses that are wintering out, is like an army expedition each and every time! The tractors sink as soon as they enter the field and the ensuing mess is enough to break your heart!

As dismal as the conditions are now, the good lord usually allows us the opportunity to heal the land come spring and summer. What appears a vision of desolation in mud now will bounce back to life come late spring time. That thought is sometimes the only thing that makes me feel better when I am on my mobile phone beseeching someone to please pull me and my tractor out of the field as I are stuck fast (again!)

The horses themselves do surprisingly well as a rule. Providing they are supplied with supplementary fodder in the form of adlib Hay, Haylage and, or, hard feed if needed as well, then they have no reason not to thrive. They however, just like us, hate the wind and the rain. They shelter themselves against a tall hedge, backsides to the weather and their heads down! In that position they will patiently wait for the rain to pass, though the sight of them always brings the words THOROUGHLY DEDJECTED to mind!!

For my part, I always have my horses wearing thick waterproof rugs……sometimes 2 as is the case right now. These keep my animals warm and dry ( as well as making me feel less guilty that they are not in nice warm, dry stables! )

There are some health issues associated with wintering horses out. Vigilance on the part of the carer is essential to keep the risks to a minimum. If a horse sustains a cut in a wet and muddy environment, then the chances are that it will get infected. Daily attention with first aid will hopefully be enough to allow a good heal to take place…..all dependant on the severity of the cut of cause. Sometimes the animal has to be given a coarse of antibiotics and, or brought back inside for the time it takes to heal.

Other ailments associated with these horrid conditions are “Mud Fever” and “Thrush”. The first affects the skin on the leg which breaks down as a result of being constantly covered in thick wet mud. The skin becomes open to a fungal infection which becomes very painful, the leg swells and the skin becomes encrusted with deep scabs. These scabs become the umbrella for the bugs to live under and hence have to be removed. The affected horse needs to come in for a few weeks to be nursed.

The second ailment “Trush”affects the underside of the foot. This is basically a foot rot as with sheep and cattle. A mixture of both these ailments was the torture which our soldiers suffered as “Trench Foot” during the First World War. Totally impossible to treat effectively in such conditions but hopefully one can keep under a measure of control (or again bring the horse in to a dry environment with daily treatment.)
Different breeds of horses cope better than others. Obviously the hardy Native type horse is better armed to thrive than say a Thoroughbred. However, if the carer provides adequate forage and is diligent in their observations then it merely needs a hand from a “Higher Power” to help improve the lot of the wintering out horse!

On that note I will leave you with a picture of my little herd doing what they do best……eating! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and I wish every one a happy, successful and DRY New Year!!!!

Melanie.

Melanie’s website is now set up so that any new blogs, events or updates are added to the website, will automatically be published to both Melanie’s Facebook page and Twitter. You can now stay up to date with Melanie’s activity by either subscribing to the RSS feed, becoming a fan on Facebook, or following Melanie on Twitter.

Melanies Radio Interview

As spring is on the doorstep, watch your horse,s diet so that he is not a candidate to get laminitis on the spring grass

Question:
My horse won’t stand still for me to tack up or when I want to mount.

Melanie’s Answer:
Your horse is showing behaviour concernment with one of 2 things.

1. Stress and the fear of what is to come ( a bit like a visit to the dentist for us! ) by association with the arrival of the tack.

   He could be uncomfortable with his mouth or jaw, or maybe your saddle doesn’t fit very well and is causing discomfort.

   If may well be remembered fear from his past life causing him to worry.

   He may have pain somewhere in his body.

   If the arrival of the tack is the only time he fidgets then this avenue needs exploring. Equally if being mounted is the trigger then one is led to the fear of pain, impatience or some past historical incident.

2. The Other explanation is a general lack of manners. If the horse tends to be rude in his stable, or just in general then there are probably too many grey areas in his training. He doesn’t need to be harshly dealt with but the handler always needs to give clear instructions, backed up by positive reinforcement.

   Make him feel comfortable at all times. Do not be impatient – just be firm and repetitive. You must be comfortable place for your horse to be at all times but he is NEVER the leader.

I have returned again and again to Melanie for help, advice and schooling since buying a horse from her over 2 years ago. The horse was everything she said it would be. Always on the end of a telephone her advice is simple and true, at all times with the best interest of the horse at heart.

Melanie’s a breath of fresh air when it comes to horses, brutally to the point and honest, her experience, wisdom and understanding of how the horses mind works, the close connection she has with the most awkward and problematic of equines and how she resolves them is inspiring to watch. But it doesn’t end there as more importantly Melanie also imparts the techniques and understanding thus making sure that you understand why and how to manage situations when they occur so that you continue the positives to guarantee that your horse continues to be happy, willing, calm and obedient in every circumstance.