Emily Wilkins This is my story, I have an 8 year old Friesian gelding, whom I have had for a good 10 months, I have had horses all my life but have never had a horse with so many problems as him, he was so scared of everything, which made it unbearable to ride, his head was so high he would never relax, he would not go out on his own as he would be on his toes ready to bolt at any time, he would be in your face trying to climb your legs whenever he had the chance, he would take a few steps and then freeze and then run off, I was looking into ‘’natural horsemanship’’ and came across a lady called Melanie after looking through her website I decided to give her a call, I was so nervous as I thought she would judge me and think I had something to do with the way he was….after the first few seconds of talking to her I felt so happy, she understood my situation and never judged me or him, when I told her what was his problem the replies were ‘’he will change’’ the response I needed, it was never ‘’he might’’ or ‘’I can try’’ it was ‘’he will’’, I was so excited for him and for me, so late march my sister and I took him down to her yard, after a big cuddle and a warm welcome off Melanie she met dyago and got straight to work and told me the reasons he was like the way he was, the way she explained things were amazing she put this in perspective and her methods were easy to follow once you truly understood them so after weeks of intense training, manners, making dyago move his haunch, shoulders and head, backing him up and making him feel safe, lowering his head he was a different horse he had become more confident, wanted to go out, wanting to look at the world through his new eyes and different state of mine, the best part was seeing my baby lowering his head in submission and feeling like he was in a safe place, I can’t thank Melanie enough she is an inspiration and she truely knows her stuff, so after 4 weeks of being with her, I have left there with a new horse a new me and an amazing friend, she is a special person in my life and what she has done is a miracle, and I will miss her dearly

One of our latest training horses in is a big impressive 17hh+ show jumping “Warmblood“(Germanic bloodlines) gelding called Maverik. He is supposed to be a very talented jumping horse and his whole career has been centred round that particular sport. However talented a competition horse may be and in whatever sphere that talent may lie, they are worthless if the owner cannot load them up in the wagon and take them to a show.

Most professional Show-jumping yards will take a minimum of 3 or 4 horses at a time to a show and the loading /travelling must work like clockwork. Apparently Maverik has never loaded easily in his entire life and he has never accepted a towed horse trailer. His whole transit life has had to be in wagons. I guessed that the confines of a trailer had always been too claustrophobic for him or he had been panicked inside. Even in a wagon he would instantly turn round and leap back out before the partition could be closed on him. This is a huge towering horse weighing 700 kg….

He was on loan to a top class junior rider down in Suffolk from his owners in North Yorkshire. Their yard was one of perfect facilities with a huge 70m by 70m ménage, hot water horse showers and heat lamp drying rooms for their residents! (More than my lot get! “Nowt” wrong with a cold hose! J)

However, for all the aesthetic charms of a yard, their inability to load him up to go to a show was proving far too time consuming and incredibly frustrating. I heard how it was always 2 hours there and at least 3 to get home. They tried loading with an old pony alongside, tempting him with his favourite food, cajoling, shouting, pleading! …..however they did promise that they had never hurt him. It took 3 ½ hours to load him to come to me! I think that they were, understandably, very glad to see the back of him despite his jumping talent.

When I start to work with any new horse, there are certain things I do which will give me a good idea of what has happened in its past and why they do what they do. One thing is for sure, HORSES NEVER LIE.

This was one seriously, dangerously, angry horse who’s issues were brought to the fore by attempting to load. His general attitude to Humans was one of dominance. His height and his weight gave him a power to move us about and out of his way at will. He had perfected his set of nasty tricks over years and years. He spat his dummy out with me massively the very first time I went to work him. Without any warning whatsoever he went in to attack me the very second I lead him into my school to start his ground training. He leapt at me with all his force and ears laid back and fury in his eyes. This forced me to instantly back off in order to avoid his attack. This perfected move on his part then gave him the power to rear up to full height, spin on the spot and let drive with both hind legs straight at my head. Nice! It worked because I moved! J

More by luck than good judgement I managed to avoid being touched, it would have broken me in two. The trigger for this horrendous violence I later realised was because I had picked up the lunge whip on my way in to the school.

There can be only one conclusion to this reaction to the whip, he knew all about the feel and pain of its bite when used in temper in a human’s hands. I don’t blame the owners, the loaners or any other past owner. He must have learned to fight the loading by fear in a trailer a very long time ago. His first owners had a trailer but he was sold on with the rules of a wagon only….that in its own right poses the question why? Each and every person in his life since had failed to realise that force will simply never work long term and that horses with a predilection to aggression will learn anger so deep, it will consume them and will then appear in so many other directions. Resentment builds into hate… Self protection builds into defence…..a violent downward spiral develops.

Maverik had learned to control people on the ground when something did not suit him. My method of training him was to reclaim control of his feet…forward, backward, left , right and to ground tie (to stay where I put him through my body language command.) I had an interesting few days! I use a whip as an essential extension of my arm for control and drive…not for punishment. The whip needed to give him pleasure from scratching motion. By reverse pressure training I now have him relaxing while I throw the whip all over him, he moves forward, backward, left and right by certain subtle moves of my body and the whip. He has learned to trust it in my hands and no longer shies away or gets angry when I ask him to yield his body and go where I ask. It has been hairy 2 weeks to say the least.

When we first reintroduced the trailer he immediately reverted back to anger.  He came at me, he reared , he spun round , he lashed out with those hugely long hind legs but because I did not get cross with him and rewarded every tiny correct move on his part, he calmed down. He slowly started to follow me in but could not bear to stay inside for any length of time. Again through reward he started to stay in it and relax for slightly longer periods of time. When we first tried to fix the bar behind him he instantly panicked and collapsed to the floor while reversing in pure panic. That was so horrible. It upset me greatly to witness his complete instant fear. I at least had my answer as to why he had never been travelled in a trailer. He was terrified of being shut in. It also answered as to why he always tries to turn round and leap back out of the wagon the instant anyone actually got him in.

My next aim was to give him the confidence to load himself inside. If I could get him to want to go in all by himself then this would change everything. Following me in was a really fantastic result but not good enough for him to accept staying in it through his own calm acceptance. This is done through drive….by working him in trot left, right, left, right…..always moving and controlling his feet and direction. He finds that the trailer is where he gets to rest. He reverted back to fury as he fought my control over him and I had 2 near misses again. However the desired change happened. He found rest if he took himself up at ramp. He found relaxation and praise and reward every time he entered that space…..to the point of not even wanting to walk out of the front. All his anger disappeared. His ears pricked and he started to enjoy that space.

He is relaxed, happy, calm, enjoying praise and has let go of all that fear. We can now just show him the trailer and he puts himself in before we are that fear…..a lifetimes worth. We can shut him in from behind now and he is allowed out of the front door…where I might add, he is no longer in a hurry to walk out. He stood on that open ramp yesterday and decide that the hay inside was too nice to leave so he stepped back inside for another few mouthfuls! We all had the biggest smiles on our faces! What a result and what a huge change in this angry horse. His life in everyday terms now will be such a nice life. To no longer feel the need to fight and fear will be heaven on earth for this horse.

He goes home this weekend. The real test will be a short journey first. Fingers crossed he will be able to cope. He has taken such a huge leap forward in trust of humans. His acceptance of that claustrophobic space where there was fear is now soft and willing.  Stationary is one thing but motion in transit is another.

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!

I want to add something here for all the car drivers who think that we horse trailer drivers are going slow to simply annoy you in your hurry to get from A to B. Horses find it very hard to balance in transit so we have to drive slowly and carefully especially when the horse inside is a baby learning or a damaged one like Maverik. Please don’t hassle us or be cross and impatient. Simply understand that we ask a big ask from the occupant when we travel horses and we want them to learn to cope and relax. When you cut us up, blast on the horn while passing or stuck behind and worst of all force us to brake hard, you cause collateral damage to the horse and frighten us owners to death. We cannot be in a hurry and apologise to you for any inconvenience caused to temporarily hinder your progress. It’s our world too.

MUTUALLY RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS.

Does this sound like the kind of basis that one hopes all children will grow up to recognise? By respecting each other there is a perfect base and opportunity for friendships, partnerships and any form of future relationships…whether they are of the heart or of your purse!

That same ethos applies to Human/Horse relationships….by finding the way into mutual respect. Horses need leadership…..not a best friend.

I have met 2 horses this first week back at work after my long injury rehabilitation (YEEEAAH!!!!…am happy to be back!)

Jess is a fine coloured mare who has moved to a new yard. The unsettling change to her regime and routine has led to her getting much attached to another mare…to the point of becoming very agitated when that other mare is not in sight. She cannot think of anything else but getting back to her and as such her work brain and attention to her owner has totally gone. Jess is a nice horse who is normally compliant but has always had a defiant/independent streak. Separation anxiety is in itself a very common problem amongst horse owner’s especially in ex racehorses, which missed the chance to form relationships through their formative years because of the way racehorses are kept and trained.

Jess became very anxious, bargy and argumentative while her owner Nikki was becoming increasingly dispirited. We have spent a week doing work in the round pen using Natural horsemanship techniques to bring Jess into a real form of attention and respect for Nikki. We train the horses by using the same moves, the same techniques and the same body language that horses use towards each other…..it is all about understanding exactly what body language  and mind set you are seeing as to then deciding what you intend to do about it.

During this week Nikki has learned to master a whole load of new techniques and has found the way to keep Jess’s respect and attention. We brought in liberty work (free of any rope or physical restraint) where the horse can choose to stay and move everywhere the human goes and at any speed. Plenty of changes of direction and pace as well as moving across into the big school where the horse is free to clear off at will. Jess chose to stay! Nikki now even has a party trick too where she can climb on a high fence and her mare simply places herself in the correct place to be mounted…like magic! All these moves we have introduced require complete attention, submission and relaxed thought from the horse. Jess has to yield her body in many ways…forwards, backwards, left and right, sometimes the haunch, sometimes the shoulders…and always with Nikki having the ability to control the distance…This could be from directly in front and inside your own personal space to being 30 yards away or more.

They have returned home today where Nikki will need to put in place all the rules they have learned together this week. Jess will be delighted to be reunited with her best mate again only now she should be happy to leave her at any time Nikki chooses. Jess has learned to “LOCK ON” to Nikki now and show respect and harmony. Fingers crossed it will make all the difference to this budding partnership and give the both of them confidence in each other.

The photo is of Jess showing Nikki calm body language and complete respect. She has dropped her head in front of Nikki and is stood quietly “GROUND TIED” away from her at the exact distance that Nikki dictated.

The second horse is a 6 year old unbroken pony mare called Bliss, that has been taken on by a lady called Vicky. I used to teach Vicki when she was just a child at Willerby many moons ago…now she is all grown up, married and mum to a gorgeous little boy! Yeah, yeah, I feel old! J

Vicky has decided to go back into horses after many years away from them and Bliss is her challenge. Bliss still holds many natural defence mechanisms found in the wild. She strikes out in front, rears right up in order to get away, is fairly nervous of some forms of touch and is quick to worry. Vicky called me in to help her get her going in the early part of starting any young horse… called lunging. This is where you ask your horse to walk and trot round you on command obediently and happily. It tests you ability to control distance, speed, build trust and puts the young horse into “work mode” mentally.

Bliss had point blank refused to even start to cooperate! Well why should she in reality? She has been free to roam at will for her entire life after all…. but hey school catches up with all youngsters!!! Life is developed through lessons and learning for us all…horses are no different.

After a few hissy fits, tantrums and wayward behavioural moves Bliss soon caught onto what was being asked of her…she even started to enjoy the experience despite herself! I will pop in and out of Bliss’s life from here on in just to support and teach Vicky how to maintain and move forward with training this pretty but impetuous youngster. I will keep you all posted as to their progress.

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.

I designed this because I could not stand messing about either changing a lunge cavesson prior to riding or else the polaver of changing the rien by pulling the lunge rein back over the poll and through the bit….blah, blah!

This Easi-lunge is so simple to fit and use. No messing….change rein just like that! The Easi-lunge simply fits over the poll (with a detachable/washable fleece poll protector) and is attached onto the bit on one side and is pulled through the bit on the other. You fix the lunge rein to the ring provided and you are away.

Click here to go straight to view the video and buy this invaluable product.

Prices ….

Small pony      £11.99

cob size             £13.99

Horse size        £15.99

Xtra large may be made as bespoke. Please feel free to ask.

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.

The mechanism for lengthening and shortening the kit to fit your horse/produce good work/increase degree of difficulty as your horse strengthens its outline muscles etc is incredibly easy now aswell as secure.

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

This is such a useful product. I have been using 2 this winter and would not be without them now.

They have saved haylage waste when fed addlib out in the winter paddocks. They are injury safe for the horses and have with stood serious weather and the bad table manners of my wintered out horses! They are durable, user friendly and strong.

As I liked them so much they are now available to buy on my website for only £69.95

Click here to buy

There will be a video posted shortly…..

Hello

Just to let you know how Ellie is getting on after over a year of you coming to see her.  She was based at Aldham Mill (I am sure you won’t forget that place!).  Anyway I moved her last Christmas to a lovely little yard near me which immediately helped in her behaviour as she hated Aldham Mill!  There are only 4 mares at the moment and she is in a much bigger outside stable and very settled.  Unfortunately she got hit by a car in July but thank God she survived.  I don’t go out on the road now.  However, I think due to this incident we have bonded – I do neck stretches with carrots with her every day which she loves as you can imagine!  She has quietened down and I just laugh if her hoof comes up at all or she shows her teeth.  Anyway she is a lovely horse.  What your training did is give ME confidence so I was no longer afraid of her.  Once she realised that she stopped a lot of what she was doing.  As I said she still ,smiles, at me but not very much now.  She is mine for l  ife and I love her!

All the best and Merry Christmas.

Janine

Background On This Testimonial:

Bess was a sweet horse but was a nightmare to handle. She did not tie up in any way shape or form and could not be stabled. She came out over every door, climbed walls, threw herself on the floor and as such had suffered many awful injuries. She simply did not accept being put anywhere she did not accept and was afraid and angry of being confined.

I had her a week and in that time made her face all her fears, was given strict rules and given positive reinforcement for every little correct form of behaviour.

We taught her to ground tie, lunge beautifully, tie up and relax and accept the stable as a safe place to be.

Linda had an intensive week on a massive learning curve too ,with her body language, expectation of obedience and all these new techniques to learn. She did extremely well as did Bess.

Now home and happy Linda is  still completely blown away at the changes that can be made in such a short period of time. Fantastic week!

Testimonial:

Dear Melanie and Team
From purchasing my dream horse, albeit wild, untouched and running with the herd, a beautiful pure bred Friesian Yearling.
After six months of hard work and best efforts Bess’s testing and strong willed behaviour had become dangerous to us both. Her tantrums had stopped me performing even the smallest of tasks i.e. tethering her or even walking away from her in a stable, the consequences were sometimes horrific! I had run out of ideas and quickly realised that Bess and I needed professional help before something tragic happened.
After reading Melanie’s website and recommendations I rang her to have a chat, telling her of my problems and asking if she could help. She assured me that she would be able to help us, and more.
I must say that I did not have Melanie’s confidence as the turnaround she suggested would be just short of a miracle!
Well, the reason I have written this testimonial is that, yes! Miracles do happen!
Spending time on Melanie’s Yard being involved with Bess’s training is the certainly best thing I could have done for us both. From watching her work on new horses coming into the yard as well as mine, accompanied with the open friendliness and support from her team is awe inspiring.
My wishes and expectations were exceeded; I have learnt a lot and have walked away with a different horse, a horse that is happy in her own skin.
I can honestly describe Melanie as a guardian angel and cannot thank her and her team enough for all the help and advice received.
Linda Shipley x

Hi I have brought a young mare 5 year old very green think only been back this summer taken her out first time and kicked the horse behind but not that close though and second time car went pass slow and kicked side of the three times what should I do thanks becky

Melanie’s Response:

Hi Rebecca.

Thank you for your email.

KICKING OUT AT ANYTHING TOO CLOSE….This is quite a problem and is sometimes hard to fix. She cannot cope with being hemmed in and as such kicks to distance herself from what she considers is too close for comfort.

To kick out at company horses whilst out riding or cars that are too close will inevitably lead to injuries and no friends!

Try a hormone settling product as this may just be a mare-ish trait and her body may need some help to become less reactive. This can make a huge difference…HORMONISE is good. (liquid Chaste Berry) by the Animal health Company.

In extreme cases I have gone down intensive de-sensitising programmes……where eventually  we can lunge horses with huge plastic bags/weighted blankets/plastic bottles on top, which flap round their hind legs etc and they no longer feel the need to kick out. ( You must NOT try this at home because it is only as an end result  of a great deal of work prior. It is just that we slowly but surely invade the mares space with objects which touch and cause the same reaction….the lunging only comes after a lot of associated ground work.) We NEVER frighten them as this would compound the problem.

She  cannot have much confidence in herself and has an inability to make contact without feeling a need to protect herself. She may well have been badly bullied in her past or is simply naturally very dominant.

Is she aggressive out in the field and does she have a close friend who she lets come in close for mutual grooming? Probably not, or else only on her terms.

Build her confidence with other horses by familiarisation ….lots of riding with others but slightly apart. Make her want to keep up and catch up.

Keep a red ribbon on her tail so that it reminds others to give her space. Avoid the collecting ring as she is not safe enough to be put in that closed environment yet.

Join group lessons or a riding club where she becomes part of a gang! Bit by bit she will learn to relax as it all becomes more familiar and not so intimidating.

Good luck.
Kind regards

Melanie

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.

Hi Melanie,
Just to say a big thank you. As you know i called you about Patrick we had not had him very long he is a 13 year old welsh section B only cut and broken just over a year and he had been with his previous owner all his life.
This was a huge wrench for him and he just was in chaos we couldn’t ride him, he bullied us in his stable kicked and tried biting, he was very angry and behaved like an unbroken pony. Then you turned up, we didn’t think anything was going to be happening anytime soon just thought it was going to be a long term problem. How wrong we were, it is a weak today and Patrick is following us round the yard like a puppy he tries really hard to please and he is ridden most days. His trust in us within a few short days is nothing short of a miracle and although he throws an occasional paddy it is more out of frustration because he tries so hard and they are not to hurt you as they were before you came.
Thank you once again Melanie I would recommend you to anyone whatever the problem,you have given Patrick his confidence back as well as teaching him good manners and My daughter the tools she needs to make her pony really special. Can i just add watching you work and how much pleasure you get from the transformations you create is an inspiration.

Thanks Diane, Georgia and Patrick

Dear Melanie,
I’ve written this recommendation of your work to share with other LinkedIn users.

Details of the Recommendation: “I can’t speak highly enough of Melanie and her staff at Skidby.

I turned to Melanie many years ago with confidence issues in my riding and having bought a new young horse, I needed help. I had fortnightly lessons, building on both mine and my horses confidence. Melanie was both inventive and creative in her methods, and I found that without realising it, we were improving beyond anything I had hoped for.

Nothing was too much trouble, and Melanie understood both mine and my horses needs. She has an immense thirst for knowledge, and applied every ounce of patience she had in teaching me. She has remained a true friend, who stepped in to help when I had an older horse put down, was there when I needed a wall to bounce ideas off.

Melanie is a true business woman, having started from nothing, she has been resourceful in learning new ideas, shows tact and understanding, is a great leader by treating her staff with respect and as a result they have been there forever and its a really happy environment to learn in.
I have no hesitation in recommending Melanie as not only a teacher of horse behaviour but now as a great friend and someone who people can learn a lot from.”

A friend suggested that we contact Melanie, when we bought a 15.3 fully feathered black and white Gypsy Cob called Rolo.  Rolo was great to ride but very bolshie in the stable and also when taking him in and out of the field.  After being stood on and knocked over we urgently needed a solution.
 
After discussing Rolo’s behaviour on the phone, Melanie came out to visit us and Rolo at our yard.  We had a very educational and enjoyable evening.  Melanie suggested that Rolo and us should spend a week at her yard for some behaviour therapy.
 
On day one Rolo showed his true colours and tried to get out of his stable when the other horses were being put out.  When being lunged he had a good work out with Rob the trainer (lol).  We were told that this behaviour continued for a couple of days until Rolo realised he would be rewarded for good behaviour and not bad behaviour.
 
On our return the change in Rolo’s behaviour was amazing. Melanie and her team then started to teach us some of the techniques they had used with Rolo…we needed to keep up their good work.  We decided to leave Rolo at Melanie’s for a couple of extra days so that Rolo and us could learn more from Melanie.. Pete and Rolo also had fun learning to ride western.
 
On our return home Rolo was a different horse… the horses and everyone at the yard couldn’t believe the change in Rolo’s behavour… even John the farmer said what a good lad he was now. 
 
If you have a horse with behaviour problems we would strongly recommend that you contact Melanie and her team. There are no hidden agendas and you are always welcome to visit the yard and watch them at work.  They are very professional, caring and supportive.  On your return home Melanie is just at the end of the phone if you have andy further questions or need any extra help.
 
Thanks again Melanie, Lucy (the dog) and the Team… Kylie and Rob for all your help and support.
 
 
Lis, Pete and Rolo

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.

Hi Mel,
 
Just an update to let you now how Lucky is getting on now that I have had her for 6 months.
 
Firstly can I just say how accurate your description of her was when I came to try her. For once someone who tells the truth and is completely honest about a horse. I was VERY nervous looking for a new horse due to the bond I had with Boysie my previous horse who I made the very hard decision to sell after 3 1/2 years due to not being able to hold him when he decided he wanted to go (17.2hh warmblood – 5ft3 female )
 
I came to try her and spent more time worrying if you thought I was riding correctly than concentrating on Lucky. I know how special she is to you!! Well for some reason and i still cant put my finger on it I liked her and wanted to try her again. Her attitude seemed to click with me and although unsure about getting a new horse thought that she might be the one. After taking her to an arena to do some jumping I decided that she was going to be my new horse.
 
Well I picked her up and took her home without a moments bother. She settled in fine and owned the field. After 10 days I took her to hire a cross country course and show jumping arena. To say I was shocked was an understatement. She flew around the open course on the cross country and popped over 110cm jumps for fun. Knew I was onto a winner. Took her to a competition after 3 weeks and she flew around a BE event course without a care in the world.
 
Since then we have mainly concentrated on show jumping. Affiliating her and starting at British Novice. She has clocked up some wins and placings always being soo willing to jump. Never has she stopped with me, even when I ride her like a pony and take some very strange jump off angles!!!! We recently travelled up to Richmond to show jump and decided to try the 110cm class. Slightly nervous I took her in the ring and thought, if nothing else it will see how we are doing. Well, the bigger the jumps the better she was and it resulted in a lovely clear round. I was one very happy person. We had two down in the jump off but I couldn’t have cared less. Once very happy horse and rider.
 
With Boysie I competed in team chasing, a member of the Barnsley Babes ‘open’ team. I still wanted to do a bit of team chasing but with my job it can be hard working the shifts I do (police officer!!) I took her round a fun class with my friends children and she didnt bat an eyelid. Decided to step her up to an intermediate when I could next go….My original team was short so I don’t know whether I was drunk or concussed but agreed that Lucky and me would have a bash at it on the understanding if she didn’t like it I would pull up. Team happy, one very nervous Amy. Well, today was the day and when we arrived we walked the course, I was very worried as the hedges were so much bigger than I remembered. Thinking I had made a stupid decision I got on board and warmed up, agreeing with the team I would ride in 4th spot incase I had to pull up. Start time came around very quickly and off we went. After the 2nd fence she went into 3rd place and onto the hedge I hated, a 5ft wide hedge up a hill out of the woods. I misjudged take off completely but Lucky being Lucky didn’t care and took off only to land short and catch the hedge buckling on landing. Having sat that and picking herself up she continued and popped the next hedge like nothing had happened. What a horse!!! The team was slightly apart at this point with the lead rider going off 4 fences ahead. This however did not worry Lucky, up she stepped to lead the other two members round. We completed the course clear and have qualified for the national finals. She took it all in her stride as if she had been doing it years.
 
Having Lucky hasn’t always been plain sailing though. Her moodiness is very annoying at times and we have had our ups and downs. Now we have reached a happy medium and get along brilliantly, Lucky obviously putting me in my place when she feels I am in the wrong. She now has a brand new Bateson trailer as I think she felt she was above my older one, lol. However, its great that she is as big of a bitch as I am!!!!
 
Hopefully we have plenty of years to come of having fun and competing which we will keep you updated with.
 
Amy x
 
Oh, Lucky sends a kiss and lick as well xx

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.

Growing up I always had ponies but due to work commitments I had about a 10 year break. When I managed to free up some time I decided it was pony time again. As I was now 10 years older I decided maybe a nice happy hack would be the way to go. Bill was a 4 year old Fell Stallion who had started life in a wild herd and was now being used to pull logs on a farm and as a breeding stallion. This was nowhere near the happy hack I had decided on, and quite unsuitable. He was advertised as broken but when I went to try him it was clear he had no idea. I did what all prospective purchasers say they will not do, I got carried away with his good looks and home he came anyway.

Once home it quickly became clear not being broken was the least of Bill’s problems. He was scared of everything to do with life around humans. I do not think Bill was intentionally treated cruelly by his then owner as he seemed very fond of him. He still calls about him now. I do think Bill had lead a harsh working life and perhaps been handled roughly by the workers.

Small things in everyday life like walking past him with the yard brush or the wheel barrow were the end of the world to him. He would tremble and quiver with fear of being hurt and if it got too much he would panic breaking the rope and be away! So we gelded him and set about treating him kindly, waiting for him to come around.

Six months later he had not made much progress so I sent him away to be professionally broken in. He spent 8 weeks at a lovely stables, who were very kind to him, and he came back ride able. But all the old fears were still there. He was so tense when being ridden he had no flexion or bend at all. The hardest part of riding him was the smallest thing would freak him out, (including his own shadow sometimes), and he would jump straight up into the air and then shoot off away. After a disastrous hack I decided it wasn’t worth his neck or mine to be out on the roads. After that we just rode in the field but he wasn’t much better there. The worst part was when you looked at his face you could see he was constantly on the edge with fear. What an awful way for him to live. Something had to change.

I had never considered Natural Horsemanship and had thought it be a bit of old crock, (sorry Melanie)! But I needed to help this little Man so I was willing to have an open mind and try a new approach. My first hour at Melanie’s yard had me 100% sure that I had done the right thing and she could help Bill. Melanie and her staff, (Rob, Carly and Vicky, thanks guys you were all great) have created an environment where horses and people alike feel safe and can learn. The best thing is Melanie wants to help you too so you can learn what to do with your horse when you get him home. I spent 3 very, very informative and fun weekends at the Skidby yard and learnt so much. The methods used are amazingly simple and Melanie explains what to do so well I believe anyone suited to try it.

Bill is now home. He spent 3 weeks with Melanie. Three weeks, such a short time for such a big difference! Bill now loves to hack out and we trundle calmly around the village. I can brush up all round him with the yard brush while he stands, hind leg cocked, scoffing a hay net. Last week our blacksmith was amazed with the change when Bill stood totally relaxed to be shod. Usually the sight of a metal rasp in the hand of a man would have sent him into a panic. He still has his issues with people, but he is trying to face them now rather than panicking and running away. Those 3 weeks now mean that Bill has a chance of a happier life and when we have completely mastered this part of his training I will certainly be going back to Melanie to try and take him further. If you are considering trying this method of training do not hesitate you will not be disappoint.

Joker is a welsh section D x Highland pony, born on May 22nd 2006. He was homebred out of my pony mare who I have owned for 11 years. I decided that I wanted Joker to be bred to become a driving pony and that I would eventually show him.

Joker did drive but seemed to be very nervous whilst with other people around him, especially when being touched near or around his rear. I was beginning to feel as if he could not trust anyone round him at all….including myself. I could handle him fine but the moment another person joined in he would simply panic and try to run. Once I realised that this was happening too frequently and that he was showing no sign of improving I ceased the driving. I therefore had to rethink the choices I had regarding his future.

I now decided the only way was to back him and try him ridden. After a few weeks we were leaning over him and bringing the leg over him. Although slightly nervous, we decided to carry on. This was a big mistake! He could not cope and I fell off twice in the process….we called it a day at this point. I really thought I had been beaten. I have backed several ponies and horses before but never have I come across one so challenging and complicated as Joker. I really felt it had come to an end, especially after working all those hours and hours in my sand school with Joker on the ground. I still felt he had very little trust in me whatsoever, if any at all. This made me incredibly sad, as I have a good relationship with my mare of 15 years as well as Jokers mother, who again I have a strong bond with.

How could a pony that you have bred yourself become so nervous around you and other people? I had no answers…….

I was then told about a lady called Melanie Watson who I believed to be a trainer who concentrated on “Problem horses”. I met Melanie and arranged to take Joker to her yard in Skidby in November 2010. Joker I knew would be a challenge. Although understandably anxious, I did have faith in Melanie as everyone told me she was excellent. I wanted this to work so much as I knew that this was Jokers only and final chance.

I left him for 2 weeks before I returned as I wanted to give him time to settle. I freely admit that I was not prepared for what I was about to experience! Melanie explained to me what de-sensitising work she had been doing with Joker then took me round to the school…..we then did what people would call “Join-up”. I found the whole “Join-up” process incredibly moving, I had to fight back the tears and a huge lump in my throat as I watched. I was incredibly moved to then watch Melanie climb all over this pony from every angle and side of his entire body with no panic, no worries and no “I’m going to run away”! It seemed a complete miracle! Joker was finally completely at ease with people and within himself. I cannot describe how, as an owner, this felt! …..Especially after so many disappointing months of running, barging and sheer panic.

Back home and 6 weeks on, my pony “Joker” stands beautifully at a mounting block, accepts any rider and hacks out through all the villages around with so much confidence, it puts a massive smile on my face! He has ridden alongside a motorway, takes on large Lorries, motorbikes, double decked buses….there is nothing he will not go past! We even rode down the lane at home with a helicopter taking off not far from us.

Although I have ridden and been around horses for 34 years, it just goes to show that you never stop learning, especially when it comes down to horses. I will now look on this whole experience as a massive learning curve. I cannot stress enough to any owner out there, who is or has had a similar experience as myself, to never give up hope. There is help out there…and it can be done!

Emma Long, South Cave, East Yorkshire.

Liz Harris has endorsed your work as Owner at Instinctive horse training/ Skidby Training and Livery yard..

Dear Melanie,
I’ve written this recommendation of your work to share with other LinkedIn users.

Details of the Recommendation: “I met Melanie in 2010 when I contacted her after a recommendation from a client, as we are both interested in the rehabilitation of ex racehorses. I visited her yard and watched her work with various horses and was very impressed with her approach – no nonsense or faffing about, just direct communication with the horse.

I have since come into ownership of a “dangerous bullet case” who I took on as a project to rehabilitate. Albie has been passed through countless homes over the last 6 years and has an attitude to match! I spent several months working on the physical pain and when he was ready Melanie came out and worked with us both for an entire day. I was quite shocked to see how much temper came out of this little horse, which had been pent up for years – but Melanie calmly worked him through this. By the end of the day I had a relaxed, attentive horse – literally like a different animal. His conformation even looked different as he had finally relaxed psychologically and physically.

Thanks to Melanie’s training, I now know exactly what to do should Albie’s temper get the better of him in the future. This means that I feel safe and confident and in control of the situation.

The best thing of all is that he now looks at me with trust, rather than wariness. I am absolutely delighted – thank you Melanie!”

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!!!!

Dear Melanie,

Thank you so much for today. I learnt a lot with James and I think he has learnt to have a lot of respect for me as well!

I would have NEVER have thought that I would of ended up riding James in a rope halter! I would have said you were mad if you wanted me to ride him in one….say yesterday!

+ when I am rugging him up, he just stands there until I tell him to do otherwise!

The loading is just amazing as well! I honestly never thought that he would load into our trailer without me…even just going up that ramp with him!

The lunging is amazing too + the leading, basically everything!

Thank you so much and I hope to see or hear from you soon.

Love from Lauren and James. xx

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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!

Hi Melanie.

Just to let you know that Harry and chums are now at ETA in Dover in nice pasture awaiting transport to France in January.  I just wanted to say how well Harry is doing.  I had him in for a couple of days prior to them going jsut to make sure they were nice and dry and relaxed.  Harry simply could not put a foot wrong.  Remember how he usd to turn his back in the stable? He willingly stood with his head over the door happily letting me put his halter on.  So gentle when I lead him out, never failing to stop with me and never trying to barge.

If something spooks him, he doesn’t go bananas, just stays with me or if it’s a bit more I bring him around in a circle ’till he stops.  He’s been super great.  I can groom him all over, all around his middle and back, he just stays happy and relaxed.  I loaded him into the 12 horse box and he was relaxed and ears pricked when I called to him through the window to say goodbye.  So 5 stars once again to you Melanie!!

Thank you very much.
Jennifer Milligan.

Hi Melanie, thought I’d give you an update on the pony. Well she’s been a star. She’s never bothered a bit with coming in or going out, walks lovely to and from the field.

On the odd time she gets a worry no longer am I dragged or spun on she’ll do this little jump forward and almost check herself. so we just stop and wait then move off when I’m ready. I pick up her feet every morning and check her heels and have a good feel, she’s so much better with them.

We’ve even had no face pulling in the mornings she waits quietly to have her halter put on and waits to be asked out of the stable. We still play at moving her around the stable, but now i just have to point where I want to her to move to and sometimes reinforce it with gentle wafting of my other hand, all without the halter and rope.

She’ll looking well not bothered by this snow and cold.

The yard move hopefully will happen before Christmas weather permitting. So hopefully she’ll settle and rule the roost with the boys. Although have been warned one of them is a bit of a tit has no manners, but hey ho.

Thank you so much for all your help.

Sharon

I first contacted Melanie in January 2010 to ask advice on re-training my ex-racehorse. He was extremely unwilling to work in any gait and this really puzzled me. I knew that he retired due to an injury and that he had spent 3 years at grass before i bought him.

His protests to work were quite severe, he would half rear up whilst being asked to move into trot and really slam his front feet down. Even on the horse walker he would rear and buck.

I do manage to bond with my horses very quickly as i did with this horse, but the problems really stumped me.

I spoke to Melanie on many occasions to work out a training program for him, which i carried out exactly as discussed with Melanie.
Unfortunately he did not respond. My concerns and Melanie’s concerns were then, that he must have some underlying injury. I spoke to the Racehorse Trainer and the Vet that looked after him whilst racing, and sure enough he had suffered an injury so bad that he could not been ridden ever again. The injury was not evident in any way, and the trainer thought i had been made aware of this upon purchasing him, unfortunately i wasnt informed.

Melanie was an absolute Rock for me through this whole process, I had a gorgeous horse that couldnt be ridden and i was absolutely broken hearted.

Melanie sent me details of where i could purchase another ex-racehorse, but right at the last minute, Melanie told me that she had an ex-racehorse that she had retrained and was ready to be sold on.

I received photos of the horse and i fell in love with him instantly. Melanie’s yard is in Yorkshire and I am in Berkshire (approx 6 hours drive away), so I asked her if I could have him on loan for a month to try him out before I bought him. Bless her heart, she said “Yes”.

Before I knew it my horse was on the lorry and on his way down to me. He arrived late at night and it was dark so i couldnt really get a good look at him, but in the morning he greeted me through the yard gate.

What a gorgeous boy. I had my trial month and absolutely adored him, there was no way he was travelling 6 hours back to yorkshire. He was my boy now and will stay with me for the rest of his life.

I have now had this horse for 5 months and he is exactly as Melanie described and much more. He loves me so much and i love him so much, we have a great relationship and enjoy lots of quiet time together and lots of fussing and love.

We are now enjoying a life of dressage and practicing our show jumping.

I can honestly say if it wasnt for melanie i really dont know where i would be now.
She is the most decent, honest, trustworthy person i know. She willingly gave me advice over the phone, she willingly loaned me her horse to try with a view to buy. She gave me more confidence and self esteem, i have even passed my BHS stage 1.

If anyone has training issues melanie is definately the right person to contact, she is very successful in her training methods.

thank you Melanie – ive never met you, but we will be friends forever.

Deborah.

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

Since my daughter was 5 yrs old she’s always wanted her own pony, I’ve always said she could have one when she was 13 and old enough to look after it properly. She accepted this well and concentrated on reading every horse book/ magazine that she could lay her hands on. She went to riding lessons regularly every week.

Her enthusiasm never faltered throughout, so when she reached her 12^th Birthday last June I gave her a challenge, I would allow her £500 to invest/trade in any way she wanted, and if she could turn this initial sum into £2000 before her 13^th Birthday then I would bring forward the time when we would start looking for her pony, to the date she fulfilled her challenge. She duly completed her challenge just after Christmas, having earned all the money herself without any gifts at all, save for the original £500…!!!

We looked at many ponies across the whole of East Anglia, when it looked like we might never find one we stumbled across “Smokey” a lovely 3-4 year old New Forrest x Connemara she was only about 5 miles from where we live. She had a lovely temperament and was gentle and easy to handle. After a couple of days thinking we bought her. Lucy soon began riding her and quickly fell in love with her new best friend. Everything was going along brilliantly; Lucy’s weekly lessons were now carried out on “The Smoke”. Things couldn’t be better if they were a fairy tale.

Then one day out of the blue Lucy was riding along side our farm track, when a white van went by too quickly and Spooked Smokey badly, she threw Lucy off and trampled her. Luckily Loo only suffered a bit of bruising and was ok. “The Smoke “however was particularly upset by all this and didn’t want anything to do with anybody….!!!   She became bad tempered, and over the next few weeks the pony that our daughter had so ably earned the right to own had turned into a vicious animal, that was both intimidating and unrecognisable as the lovely pony we had bought a month or so earlier.

. My wife and I are complete novices when it comes to our equine friends; we hadn’t even a solitary idea what to do. We do however have lots of friends who have ponies and horses but I quickly learnt that they all had different ideas, as to how to tackle the problem. My poor daughter in the meantime was pulled first one way then another, by all the competition to help…..!!! During this time Smoky was getting worse and worse, she was now unable to be ridden and was frightened of her own shadow. When faced with this, my daughter true to her character, dug her heals in and battled on, trying desperately to regain control and Smokey’s trust. With very little help from us she stayed determined and unwilling to give in. Tears were flowing freely now from a small girl that had laboured hard to earn her money, and had fulfilled her dream of one day getting her own pony. What would we do?  It was getting increasingly unsafe for anyone to go in the field with Smokey now and we had to tell Lucy to only go in when we could be there as well.

I decided we needed some impartial professional help, and we needed it straight away. I set about searching the internet for a trainer/behaviourist; it was there I first saw the name Melanie Watson. I looked her website up and was impressed with her work, and also that she had her mobile number readily available, I rang the number and straight away it was answered by a friendly Melanie who spoke with an accent that I instantly recognised as one from Humberside.

We booked an appointment for Melanie to come to our farm in Cambridgeshire and have a day with us training Smokey and more importantly our daughter Lucy. She was almost uncontrollable in her excitement and anticipation, when the day finally came.

I have to admit I was a little sceptical about one days training having much if any effect on this ever deteriorating situation. Ours was a situation of desperation though, and anything was worth trying. What was to follow though totally blew me away, within an hour or so Melanie had started to make progress, and by after dinner the pony was transformed. At no time was the pony hit or any cruelty dished out, better still my daughter was then trained to carry on the work in the coming weeks and months.

It has been just over a month now since Melanie’s visit and Smokey is improving all the time, Lucy spends many hours a week training and riding, not once have we seen any nastiness from our pony again.

Thank you Melanie for the brilliant job you did for my daughter, and for Smokey. Lucy has a permanent smile on her face now and can feel safe and confident with “The Smoke”

We now have back the Pony we originally bought, more importantly my daughter can move forward with the knowledge of how to train her pony properly.

As for my wife and I, we not only have the wonderful addition to the family that Smokey is, we also have a very confident little girl who is living her dream thanks to you Melanie.

George and Jane Munns

Zoe from Lincolnshire asks Melanie:

Hello Melanie, I’ve stumbled across your website after searching for local natural horsemanship lessons.  I have recently taken a lovely pony on loan, she is a cob with a hint of Arab(!) which makes her sensitive and spooky.  I’ve been riding a long time but am no expert – I would love to create a parelli/MR type relationship with my mare so that we could do groundwork together that would enable her to relax when we ride and become less spooky.

She is kept in North Somercotes near Louth in Lincolnshire – I have limited travel options at the moment, could you let me know if you would be interested in spending some time with Misty and I to get a great grounding in these techniques?

I look forward to hearing from you, thanks Zoe

Melanie’s Response:

Hi Zoe. I will happily come over for a day to work with you both…..or you could come here, either with or without your horse, for a day.
Come the summer you could bring your horse and keep her here for a few days and have a thoroughly horsey few days. You would work with other horses for part of the time . See what you think. Kind regards Melanie

Melanie has recently featured in the East Riding Journal.

Melanie Watson uses the herd language of wild horses to tame disturbed equine creatures. Will Ramsey discovers the part cows played in her training – and learns why Melanie hates the term ‘horse whisperer’ . . .

You can read the full article here: http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/thejournal/features/Harnessing-herd-instinct/article-1721075-detail/article.html

Phyllis from West Yorkshire asks:

My husband and I bought a 7 yr old 15.3hh Warmblood x Lippizaner in Feb 09. We have been told he is more like a 4 year old. Soon after we bought him he got an infection on his sheath. He spent a week at Ledston Equine Clinic and lost loads of weight.

Long story but we were then told that he had a bad back which has been treated but we have been told that my husband (14 stone approx) is too heavy to ride him. I am a 60 yr old novice rider with a confidence problem. I’m finding it difficult to carry out the training myself, especially during the winter months. I use the small indoor school at the livery yard and although he is quite well behaved but to be honest on occasions he scares me.

He is stabled full time at the moment and turned out with another horse for brief exercise in the outdoor school. With the weather the way it is at the moment, would it be best for me to wait until spring to arrange training with you as I feel it may be difficult for me to carry on with
the training whilst he is as lively as he is at the moment?

Melanie’s Response

Hi there Phyllys. Happy New Year. I could not agree more in your stopping working your horse. It is an impossible time of year at the best of times without having a horse that pressures you on top. There is much to gain and very little to lose, in waiting for the conditions to become consistently more favorable.

I have , for my part, stopped working 2 of my youngsters. They are not suited to being picked up and put back down again. There fore the wise choice is to simply wait. That way I have not created problems or tensions by trying to keep them in work. I do hope I have been of some help. Do not let anyone tell you that you have made the wrong choice. We all choose what is right for us.

All my horses go out for virtually the whole day……that way I keep them all sensible. All I can advise is as much turn out as poss and the least amount of time stood in. My 5 year old is now turned out full time (as of last week). I am not cruel; she is well fed, well rugged and has the permanent company of the others that live out full time. Everyone needs to remember that a horse is a horse at the end of the day and extremely well equipped

Anna from Buckinghamshire asks Melanie:

“Hello, I have recently been having troubles with my horse Spider. He is normally very uneasy in his canter and charges at the jumps. I think he was broken to drive a cart, but he has only had 3 owners. The girl before us mainly used him for competitons and what my instructor calls a ‘typical teenagers pony’ And thinks he was potentially just jumped too high and fast. And the lady who had him before we were not told much about, but that she bred himWhat could i do to help him? – Anna ”

Melanie’s Response

Hi there Anna. Happy New Year.

Your instructor is most probably right in her assessment of your horse. Quite how much difference can be made at this stage is down to you.
Your instructor has most probably started trotting pole work and grid work with you. That is the way forward. Patience on your part alongside repetition.

Learn how to use the passoa and train endless canter transitions using that once you have your horse working happily in it. All this takes time and patience on your part but you can train this horse of yours out of these old habits by being methodical. I sell a training dvd on how to use the passoa properly. It explains everything you need to know and do with it to get it right.

I do hope I have been of some help.
Kind regards Melanie Watson

Kimberly from Leicestershire asks:

Hello I am just making enquiries and looking for some advice I have recently bought a 2 year old colt, he has been gelded and is a very kind natured horse, he is calm and easy to handle, he is a pure bred Spanish horse, someone has told me that when he reaches 3 years old I will have to send him away for breaking in for riding, I can not bear the thought of it he is like my child I spend hours a day just loving and caring for him I can not imagine being apart from him for even a day.

I do not know what to do about this I know it is a little way off yet as he is only 2 but I keep thinking about how quickly the years go, is there anything that could help me without sending him away your advice would be most grateful.
Thank you Kimberley

Melanie’s Response

Hello Kimberley. I am a little confused here. When you bought a youngster, how did you envisage getting him trained when the time came? Do you think that all trainers are cruel or harsh?

It is a very important thing for your horse to be sent to a good trainer for him to be started. You must not do this yourself, as you are too close to him. The first thing that will happen will be for the trainer to get rid of all the bad habits that you have allowed him to develop. He is very likely to be in trouble for things you have allowed by treating him like he is a baby or puppy… he is a horse.

Please, your horse does not need a best friend; he needs you to be his leader. Kind, calm and firm. He is a horse at the end of the day and not, as I have seen so much in the past, a horse ruined by being perceived as a child replacement.

It is right and proper for your horse to experience new worlds in his time. That way he will develop confidence and gain pleasure in all that he comes across in life. Hide him away and he will always fear the unknown and that is both wrong and greatly unfair on him. He has a future ahead of him where he needs to stand tall and be seen, not shy away in fear of anything new or strange. You will think I am being harsh but I am being very true and fair…. please don’t take any of this the wrong way… gain from what I am telling you.

My sincere best wishes Melanie

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.

A question from Debbie, Berkshire.

Hi Melanie. I am 40 yrs old and have been riding since aged 5 yrs, I have had a 5 yr break to have my kids and bought an ex racehorse in September this yr. He’s adorable, 23 races and retired 3 yrs ago with a tendon injury. He’s quite well mannered but has a few problems and I am scared of doing the wrong thing, so wondered if you could advise me a little.
Putting the bridle on is a problem, I have to bribe him with a polo mint to bring his head down he throws his head really high and threatens to rear up.

I have ridden him approx 3 times per wk up until about 2 wks ago, due to bad weather and my kids being poorly, so he wont get much riding over the Christmas period until kids back at school. He is stabled and I put him on the walker once a week and he has 1/2 hr run in the field and maybe 1 session lunge work per week at the moment. He throws his head a lot even when I ride him and when I watch back his races on the track he also did this, he is in a snaffle and no extras. He is stubborn, he pretends he doesn’t know how to walk or trot, we have tried following another horse in the school, it helped a bit, but I cant get him to canter!

I have been doing natural horsemanship with him, so lots on the ground, he follows me, and sometimes charges at me and stops at the last minute a bit scary…. I haven’t ridden him out on the road yet, as I am a bit concerned that he and me are not ready, I also think I may need a stronger bit. I don’t know if you can help I was looking at your courses but in Newbury Berks – along way from you. Do you have any advice or maybe a training planner I can use, so I have goals and targets that I need to achieve with him. My aim is to dressage him, as when he does trot he is lovely and bouncy, he is 8 yrs old. Any help would be much appreciated

Thank you, Debbie

Melanie’s Response:

Hello Debbie. Thank you for your email. I have lots of ideas to help you…too much to put down on here.

Please give me a ring on 07720758425 anytime and I will be very happy to talk you through a training plan. All that you are experiencing is very common to the type and his past life.

Please do not put a stronger bit in him. He is already in fear of his mouth. There is much I can help you do.
Speak soon. Kind regards Melanie.

(ps. read through my blog posts… there is a lot on the subject of help with ex racers.)

Natasha from Surrey asks Melanie

“I’ve got a nearly 5 year old tb mare. She didn’t had a good time in the racing yard. She puts her ears back on anything (it is better now then it was 6 month ago) she also bites. She just bites after everybody who walks past when she’s in the stable. I really do love her and I want her to stop that and enjoy her self. She’s aright when she’s tacked up she even puts her head on my chest and wants a cuddle. Please can you help me and my mare?”

Natasha.

Melanie’s Response

“Hi Natasha, thank you for your email. Your mare bites out of habit stemming from a time where she felt she had to defend herself. Life has not always been kind to her most probably. Some mares, on the other hand, are very dominant and habitually bite as a role play in being in charge of you and what they consider to be their space.

I would really claim to be able to stop your mare from biting forever in 1 days work. During this day we will turn your relationship right round to where she looks to you as her leader and a really safe place to be.

You would have a great day with plenty of laughs and smiles as well as the serious side.”

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.

We are pleased to announce that Melanie will be holding a ‘De Spooking’ workshop at Active Rider’s event being held on 18th – 20th February 2010 at the South View Equestrian Centre, Cheshire.

The workshop will be a mixture of a sit down workshop, with a demo horse – looking at what typically spooks show horses, why things spooks them and what we can do to help avoid/prepare & react to this. After this workshop Melanie will be staying around for ridden sessions to help coach people on a one-to-one basis.

On the second day Melanie will be holding 1-1’s with attendees, giving you the opportunity to speak to her and receive some personal coaching, planning and advice.

Find Out More About Melanie’s Workshop

The event on Active Rider’s web-site:
http://www.activerider.co.uk/camp_details.php?id=140

Active Rider’s Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24462944820

Melanie’s profile on Active Rider:
http://www.activerider.co.uk/visitors_detail.php?id=91

Vanessa from Cumbria asks Melanie:

“I am having problems with my 20mth old Warmblood colt (Fernando). I believe the problem is there because my colt had been ‘hand-reared’ (his dam died before he even had the chance to suckle from her).

I purchased him at 7mths old and the problems began at about 1 year old.  I myself use Natural Horsemanship and I indeed used my knowledge with my colt, but it seemed to have no response to him whatsoever, and he simply became more and more out of control.  His actions include ‘nipping’, ‘charging’ and ‘rearing’.  In the end I sent him away for some intensive work as I wanted to Show Him and attend Young stock Evaluations as I bought him to keep entire and breed from him.  When he came back he was a lot better but there was a ‘whip’ involved and during the handover I was told to “always keep the whip in his eye line, and don’t feel guilty for using it if he tried it on”.  On his return he was definitely improved but we always had to be ‘one step ahead’, anyways he had a accident ‘got his back leg over the bottom of the electric fence and cut the front of his back OS Hock) 1 week before his Evaluations.

So we treated his leg, rested him appropriately and then turned him away for 2 months. The day quickly came around for us to start working with him again, all we do is a little walk out in hand (10mins) and lunging (5mins in walk & trot), on the occasion Fernando was extremely aggressive and he kept challenging my partner, definitely not out of confusion as he knows how to lunge on both sides, and indeed had lunged as expected for a couple of minutes, but then he seemed to just wanted confrontation, the 8th confrontation he got the better of my partner and reared up and then charged at him with his head back and ‘decked’ him (in fact hospitalised him).

So then I tried the tactic of COMPLETELY IGNORING him, of which I did and Fernando’s attitude completely changed, he was respectful, walked up to us with his head low and things finally were on ‘the up’…. But 2 days ago he started again, and is so bad that I cant even lead him to turn him out, or even get in the stable to change his water, rugs, hay-nets without him trying to bite and trying to barge me out of the way at the door. Please can you help?”

Melanie’s Response

Hello Vanessa. Interesting email from you. One for me to really get my teeth into!

Unfortunately my first thought is how unsuitable the basic nature of your horse is to ultimately become an entire or future-covering stallion. They don’t all make it that far, by any means, for the very real reasons you are talking of. Think 2 years further on down the line when he is under saddle and you are starting to ask real questions…. not merely manners, as is the case just now.

Once he covers (which you must never do until he is trained and doing a job) will he be able to relax working and cover when required?. On the face of it just now then I think not.

Sadly my words of wisdom as seen from outside of your box , will not be what you want to hear.  I feel that your boy has a strong and very dominant character and will somehow always be in trouble for feeling how he feels naturally… simply because it does not suit our dreamed of plans.

Look at Winnie Jackson. He had a miserable life as a dressage stallion abroad. When he was completely sick and virtually un-ride-able he ended up with Malcome Pyrah to try show jumping. Same thing till they finally cut him…now he jumps for the Irish team.(hopefully happy)

We had a 4 year old here last year…So out of control, angry, dangerous, huge (16.3), strong and impossible. Sure we changed his way of being and he became more settled and easier BUT as a career dressage horse he had to be cut…. (.not long after he left me) not because I had failed in any way but because his life was always going to be miserable because he could not help feeling the way he felt naturally. He was always in trouble and found it so hard to work and concentrate as needed and expected. He is now being groomed, hidden away from public glare, for the London Olympics. (Hopefully happy)

Sorry for telling it how I see it . I will be very happy to help you guys BUT just think on 1 or 2 or 3 years down the line…… How trainable is he if he stays entire? How will he ever find pleasure in simply being alive?

Please don’t feel that I am choosing the easy path, I’m not. Saying all this to you is extremely hard but I need you to think on and be completely honest with your selves.

If you feel that I am wrong then I will concede happily and help all I can.

My fantastically bred horse Yorkie was bought to event… He turned out to be agoraphobic! Not helpful. I tried for 2 years (and a huge amount of money I hasten to add!!)! It did not suit my plans to fail. How ever he is now working at Advanced Medium and I show jump 1.20m with ease. NOT MY ORIGINAL PLAN!!!!!!! But he is happy all safe in an arena!

Please get back to me when you feel you can. I will support you any way I can.

Kind regards Melanie

Carol from Lancashire asks

“I have just imported a 2yr Pre Andalusia Colt just turned 2yrs 15/06/09 from Spain he his very calm and well mannered in the stable I am just getting him used to me being around he will tie up while I muck out around him picking his feet up he is getting used to his rug he loves being brushed he has stopped trying to nip me now, I am really pleased with him in the stable he will lunged but I am not doing too much with him.

The problem I am having is walking him on the halter he has not had much halter training he tends to drag me not as much going out to the paddock but going back to his stable, I don’t seem to have much control, with him being around 15.1 and I am only 5.4 I am finding it hard he tends to go in front of me and ends up with his head and neck in front of me and I am having to keep stopping to move him over I was wondering if one of your rope halters would work and how do you use them?

I am hoping to keep him entire as he has such good breeding and I am hoping to do dressage with him and any advise would be much appreciated I live in Wigan Lancs .I am hoping to get him professional broke, I have had lots of experience with horses been riding 40yrs and broke two of my own horse in but Charlie is different I want to compete on him as my others have just been ponies for hacking my gelding was 24 when I had to have him but to sleep 5yrs ago Megan my Mare is 9yrs old I have had her from being born she is a brill hack hope you can help me as I don’t want him to know he can just run over me. Looking forward to hearing from you”

Melanie’s Response

Hello there Carol. Thank you for your email.

Your young horse sounds wonderful and I can see why you would chose to keep him entire for choice.

He is a real candidate for the rope halter training and you will bless the day you learnt it, as he gets older and more mature! This training is perfect to both produce and keep complete respect for you as handler and keeps you as his herd leader forever. (Such help when there is Testosterone floating about!)

I will happily come over for a day and work with you both. When I leave you will be fully armed and 100% confident in all aspects his further development. He will be respectful and in complete attention when you have hold of him.

Send me your postcode and I will let you know how much your bespoke training will be. I have just been to West Yorkshire to turn a very wayward and dangerous colt round. The results are fantastic.

Kind regards Melanie Watson.

Lisa from Norfolk asks:

“Gosh where to start! I bought my 14.3 seven-year-old mare in July after careful consideration, as she is a mother daughter share. She was born at previous home so obviously very relaxed there, since been moved to a new yard she has now become un-rideable, she naps badly even getting her away from the barn is impossible, I have had her teeth done, sharp points were found but since the teeth were sorted she has got worse, I have bought a new fitted saddle which I am still waiting for, the plan was to go back to basics and long rein which was going well. She throws her head forward yanking you out of the saddle. This stopped with the long reining for a time, last week when long reining in the school she spooked and bolted I let go thinking she won’t go far but she jumped the 5 bar gate and went back to the barn.

Now long reining has become a battle she gets so angry she bites the grass! Sick of been told to sell her for about £200 (I paid £2500) suggested to my daughter we sell her and she cried for 2 days till I said we will try and sort her out, I think she is scared and don’t want to fight her all the time, have done join up with a dually which went well, she also tries to bite me when being groomed and cinching up girth, really don’t know what to try I waited 20 years to have another horse and seem to be living in a nightmare, any advice would be great, thanks.

Lisa.”

Melanie’s Response

Hello there Lisa. Thank you for your email.

Your pony is suffering from separation anxiety. All that was safe and familiar to her has gone. She only feels safe when she is back at the stables with the other horses. There she has made bonds.

However she has not bonded and does not feel safe with you or your younger daughter as yet despite your best efforts. It is all a matter of relationship building. If she felt that you were a safe place to be then she would happily be where ever you are…ditto your daughter.

This pony has been badly affected by this move (total upheaval in her eyes), which has happened to her, not because of her. That is the way of their world, the choice is not theirs to make. Most cope fairly well.

Yours must be a little fragile in her make up which is why she has not adjusted well and is now manifesting itself in violent behavior. All she wants to do is feel safe and protected.

I think the best way forward is for me to come down there and work with you all in your own environment for a day. That way I can change how you all feel about each other, your relationship with the pony is the most important one to harvest.

Then I can start to change the way your pony feels, thinks and reacts in and around her “home”. She will let go of her fears and look more to you for leadership. If you send her off for re-schooling now then this still does not sort out the issues at home or the way you all feel about each other.

Have a think and let me know.

Kind regards Melanie

Vicky from East Riding School has asked the following:

“Just recently my 19yr old TBx (Garth) has seemed a bit depressed, he has become very clingy to people whilst he is in the field & stable and seems to stand at the gate all day waiting to come in yet he is not cold and there is grass available. He is eating and the vet has had a quick look and didnt find anything wrong. Is he feeling his age and should i fully retire him or should i continue to take him out hacking? He doesn’t like being in the field by himself so he goes out in the field with my 2 youngsters could this be part of the problem?”

Melanie’s Response

Hi Vicky. How nice to hear from you.

I hope your dad was ok after his lesson.!!!! Your old boy is most certainly feeling his age. He simply does not want to be in a wet cold field all day any more. No doubt he would be happier doing less time out and more time in…though this is not really always a good thing. If he is happy hacking then great, keep going.

The more active he is the better for his overall well being…. he may disagree! You are not doing anything wrong with him in general. If he could have just the morning out then he may be happier. Not always possible I realise!

Keep in touch.
Kind regards Melanie

Hi, I have a Mare who was given to me as she was going to be shot by her previous owners because they couldn’t load her (polo players who had no time for her and couldn’t sell and unloadable horse!). I don’t know the reason she stopped loading but i suspect she had a fall early in her life in a lorry (she is only rsing 6 now). She is lovely in all other respects (although a typical flightly tb!) I am slowly building up trust with her and have started being able to take her on short journeys etc, but would like an expert to come in for a period of time to work with us to just make sure everything is heading on the right track and to try to work through her tension when loading anywhere apart from home (getting her on at home is easy it is getting her back on once we have been somewhere that will prove a challenge). She will make a lovely PC pony for someone if only I can get this cracked. Do you do call outs to yards? If so how much do you charge working alongside me and my ho
rse?
Hi Alex. You have just asked me to do my favourite job!!

I will happily come down for a day to spend with you both. She will be very happy in that space and maybe putting herself in by herself too. You will learn a whole new way of thinking and in turn, will improve your relationship as a result. Its such a fab process to see your horse putting all her fears away and grow in both understanding and confidence.

We do this in 3 sessions as a rule.We need to get the ground work done so that we can test it by travelling some where to play, then you load her easily to come home. A dastardly plan!

Sarah Has sent me this problem.
hi. i have just recieved 2 5 month old foals yesterday and to be truthful dont know where to start with halter training. i have never had foals before and have only had experience with my 2 shetlands. any advise would be much appreciated.
thanks.

The first step is  obviously getting a halter on them in the first place, which wants to fit them comfortably. They may have to live in them for a while depending on how unhandled they are. If they haven`t been tied up before then this is one of the most important steps in any horse`s life. They must accept being restrained in this way. Done quietly and with care, this procedure  does n`t have to be too traumatic. They will pull and tug…DO NOT LET THEM BREAK FREE. (unless its an emergency) It will not take them long to accept this but it requires patience and time from the owner to achieve the result. Daily tiying up is essential in the early days and so is their whole  routine in general. Loads of quiet handleing, brushing, leading around in general inc next to traffic etc. When you let them go in the gate way of the field, have them turn to face you before you release them. All these little things help create a peaceful future and happy horses. Have fun and good luck. Keep me posted with progress!

Watch the highlights from Melanie’s first live Instinctive Horse Training event at Bishop Burton College in Spring/Summer 2009. You can also watch this video directly on Melanie’s Youtube Channel.

Dianne asked me this question.

In May I  purchased a cobxtrotter 5 year gelding. aged 4 he was in an accident on the road in driving trap. This has obviously left him very traumatised and he was turned away in a field for six months although he had an injury to his muscles in his groin (which were not dealt with at the time but he has now been treated by a horse sports therapy lady as he was one-tenth lame so he is not now in pain and sound and beginning gradual straight line work. He was backed to ride in Jan 2009 by the lady I bought him from. He is friendly, likes people and is good to hack alone, company, no problem to mount up and not nervous of rider in the saddle. He had two panic attacks with me on him, started off by noises behind him. He bolted and bucked until I came off on both occasions.  He has panic attacks. Can you advise if he can get over this traumatic experience.

When I get horses it to retrain after traffic accidents or that are terrified of certain things like tractors ,then we go about it by reversing  the pressure.  The panic/flight mode which is deeply instilled in any horse comes to the fore at momments of fright or perceived fear. All horses will instinctively turn and run away from the noise, image or imagined threat. If your horse lacks self confidence in any way then even the armour-plated,Teradactyl type sparrow may cause an unexpected shy or threat to bolt. This inturn can frighten the rider, who will most probably react badly themselves…..usually by grabbing the reins(causing an afirmation for the fear)… this is usually an instinctive reaction from the rider too. Can you start to see a pattern imerge? No one is at fault here. The rider has to do whatever they can to gain control back.

We work our horses through the natural system ground work to gain their respect and their trust. Next we start to set up scenario`s which will potentially cause the flight response. We get the horse to face the fear and take 1 step towards it…at the same time the “fear” itself will move away. The more the horse gains confidence towards the object or noise, the more it moves away.  The horse ends up feeling empowered because it has faced the fear and pushed or chased it away! We then build on this over the days to real life situations. Always praising the horse for making the right decisions. This method anyone can do at home but please feel free to ring me for advise before you attempt this  at home.

Watch the teaser for Melanie’s upcoming Television Show on Horse TV. You can also watch ‘She Saves Horses‘ directly on Melanie’s new Youtube Channel.

For more information about Melanie’s upcoming television show, keep an eye on Melanie’s blog.

I have this question from Eilidh.

“Hi there, i am having some problems with my 5 year old dutch warmblood. I have had him nearly two years now and he has come on leaps and bounds since he arrived. However i find that these days we seem to be hitting a wall! He is generally a calm horse on hacks or in the school but has lately become cockier. His first and only show we went to a year ago was a nightmare. he looked around excitedly and a moment later he had reared up over backwards damagin both our egos.”

I do a mixture of lunging, schooling and hacking to try to keep things interesting. I ideally would like to do some showjumping and a little dressage. the problem is that he can out of the blue be very boysterous and be hard to control. I am finding it hard to teach him to come onto the bit and to stop running with his face in the air.

He also is finding it hard to understand the concept of schooling calmy and can at times be very overpowering. I am thinking of sending him to a professional for some extra work but have no idea of the implication or costs of this.
Can you help us at all? Thanks for listening!

 
Well…where to start!! Given the information you have offered up I would have to say that this young horse  does not see you as his leader just now. It is time that his energy was directed into something he really enjoys.. eg jumping. It is very hard not to make a real issue out of a problem sometimes. The art of knowing what to do and when. Because this horse is starting to flex his adult muscles ,so to speak, I would advise that you seeked professional help. 2 weeks away with a very good trainer will bring him back into attention and put some new respect rules into place.

That gives the trainer enough time to learn to understand your horses` strenghts and weaknesses and find how to channel them. The horse should be more established in the basic work and be feeling confident in himself and this new role!!! The 3rd week is about getting you 2 back together as a team..Very, very important that you give your self that time to learn what has been done and how to do it yourself.

You will not have done anything wrong up to this point. Just like children, horses mature and get stroppy. Try not to be his beast friend . Dont put up with a lack of respect from him. Keep his attention and dont resort to pain or violence,. That, like children, will make him angry with you…not respectful.

 
I`ve had a question form Jodie….
I Have a 11year old mare tbx, 16.1hh. we think she has done point to point before, or racings, as she will not school andd she always jogs. it has got to a stage where i cant school her because its a big circle, soon as i give the rein she bombs and when i take she fights. is there anthing i can try to help me to be able to school my horse, and have a good walk trot and canter, because everything i do she just wants to bomb around!!! thankyou

Jodie`s problem is a very common one. There are 1000`s of ex racehorses out in the public domain because they are sold so cheaply when their racing career finishes. These horses do not have any basic training for this new life they have found them selves in. They have no streering, balance, bend or brakes. They blow up with stress and lose all rational thought at times.

We start retraining these horses on the ground. We use the natural approach to calm them down and allow them to let go of stress. That way they can learn to think things thro and start to make decisions. They are then immediately nothing like as dangerous. We teach them to bend and stretch both latitudinally and longitudinally. We teach them how to be calm in halt by ground tieing them (A mental not a physical tie up ) We teach them to lunge in the PESSOA set long and low , to teach them to use all their top line muscles for the very first time. The PESSOA  is a great place for all you owners to start. Used correctly it will do nothing but good. I have a training step by step guide in the use of the PESSOA on video available on my site. How to fit it, use it and when to increase its degree of difficulty. I have gone out of my way to produce this so that the help is out there for everyone who has a similar struggle.

Starting by usung the PESSOA will give your horse voice commands, rythem, balance without the weight of the rider to contend with and start to give longitudinal stretch. A great place to start!!!!