New Traditional Cob Stud to start at Highland Wildrides

14/09/2011 by admin.

Just as I blogged on here last month after revamping this site, in every end there lies a new beginning. When I wrote that I had no idea what it would be. When we let Gus go last week I had made my mind up that once Brook was old enough we would breed again and continue his legacy, but even last Friday I had no idea that our New Adventure lay just around the corner!

I had tried very hard to ignore photographs of a particularly lovely filly that I kept seeing on different websites. She looked so like Brook in size and shape, and was a cob filly with a very nice head ( I have a real “thing” about cobs having nice heads!), but even better than that she was tri-coloured with my fave colours - white, dun and black. I kept looking at her, and then I kept clicking onto something else as I wasn’t convinced now was the time to be buying.

But it was no use - I couldn’t resist that colouring and I had just one last look at a post and picture of her on facebook……from then on a new beginning began. I saw that she was the first foal, and to date only filly of a particularly gorgeous young Stallion I have admired over facebook for about a year or more. He is a beautiful homozygous Traditional Cob stallion called Mickey Marley. He has a fantastic head and hair to spare -which I had to admit so did the filly so I contacted her owner, and, well, you can guess what happened can’t you?! Ellie, the filly was soon ours.

I was due to collect her on the Sunday which helped so much with the grief over Gus as I had something to look forward to instead of thinking back to his demise. I was making arrangements on the Saturday night when her owner told me that she had spoken to Ellie’s breeder and owner of Mickey Marley and she had mentioned she was thinking of selling him. She wanted to get out of breeding as her young family was making it tough to run.

My heart fluttered and my stomach flipped.  I just had an opening in my herd for a stallion, I have also liked this stallion very much for a very long time. Somewhere inside a voice told me this was not the right time, but then another one shouted right back “no time like the present! What an opportunity!!”. Before I could let my RB side have its way I called about Mickey Marley to see what kind of a boy he was. If he was a difficult fella then it was out of the question. It appeared however he was a perfect Angel and no problem whatsoever, probably because his owner had never made a thing of him being a stallion and had socialised and handled him well.

The next few days were frantic with calls and emails and trying to get the time to go see him. I spoke to my father about him, he had already been admiring pictures of him. We chatted briefly about the prospect of starting a Traditional Cob stud here - well bred, well cared for and well started youngstock of that type always have homes to go to - and seconds later he shook hands on it with me as half owner of Mickey Marley if we liked what we saw when we saw it.

And we did - what a head, what markings, what hair, what a kind eye, what a temperament!! 

He is probably RBI but playful and bolder than normal due to being a stallion. We will have tons of fun with him ridden and loose - can not wait to get going at the program with him!! He’ll lap it up!

So now all I need to do is go and get a name for my stud, I’m looking into getting them both CHAPS graded,  I will also be keeping an eye out for the right kind of mare to buy in as a second broodmare - not sure yet if I want to get something sporty or traditional?….

YOU CAN FOLLOW ELLIE AND MICKEY MARLEYS PROGRESS ON PARELLI CONNECT .

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Anguston’s Prince - On loan to God.

09/09/2011 by admin.

Today I am not losing you

I am sending you ahead as a messenger

To tell the others on loan to God

Someday we’ll all be together.

Having a large herd, pack, and group of house pets means you have to get comfortable with the inevitable fact that they will all die one day. All of the 40 odd animals we have here will either be gone suddenly, or as in Gus’ case we will have to make a tough decision.

In the past we have lost dogs that were rehab failure, some to poor health from bad breeding, but none of our original or planned pack members have perished and that is going to be difficult. There was nothing as bitterly devastating as the first horse we lost - our homebred Lottie, our first to be born in our herd, our first to die in the herd, and sickeningly on her first Birthday. A tragic accident meant we had to put her to sleep at the side of the road. Big May was an inevitable as she had never kept well; small redworm disease, cancer, abscesses in her skin where she’d been shot with an air rifle, and finally laminitis and colic, but at least we had the knowledge that we had extended her life by 5yrs and she had been exceedingly well cared for by us. She was the first “Horse” here, Gus was the second (all others were shetland sized ponies) so it did feel like the beginning of the end of something when she went. Byron was just a devastation so painful I can still barely write about it, but perhaps it was worse as he was the first we went to the field and found lying there dead. He was fit and young and bouncing around 12hrs earlier - now he was flopped in the middle of a bush with no signs of pain or illness. Not knowing what happened means you can never really come to terms with it. My way of getting over the loss of each of them has been to learn a lesson and put in measures to prevent it happening again. With Byron that’s not been easy.

Today we are going to send our beautiful Clydesdale Stallion , Gus, off on loan to God. This is the first time I have planned an exit for one of the herd. It’s a very mixed feeling. On one hand he is stood outside, oblivious, and happy to be back on the yard, calling over the fence to me for grub and cuddles. On the other he hasn’t gained the weight he’d need to in order to make winter anything other than miserable and dangerous for an 18yr old giant (that’s pretty elderly for a Clydesdale), his gut appears not to be in perfect working order, he may have a touch of laminitis or his arthritic knee is about to flare up, but he’s pretty lame and his feet are smelly. However, most importantly he is dangerous to handle, especially in the stable, and as he winters in and my baby is due in January I can not take the risk of being injured by him. We are talking about the horse who has crushed me, trampled me, broken my feet and my fathers - deliberately, put me in a head lock and tried to remove my head, charged me down into a ditch, pinned me to trees, trapped me in stables, kicked countless family members, charged through 3 electrified fences to attack a horse and it’s owner trampling their dog in the process, had two vets refuse to treat him, and is utterly impossible to inject with anything - worming him takes hard hats and 3 people.

He came home from summer grazing yesterday. We put him there to give him the best opportunity to gain weight and prepare for winter whilst we spent all summer looking for another home for him - but who, in a recession, can offer an elderly, but dangerous, ton of Stallion who eats 90kg of haylage a day in winter, a home? No one, that’s who. We had some nibbles, but no real offers. Had we had 100 genuine offers it’s unlikely more than one or two would have actually been suitable, but we didn’t even have that issue to deal with.

As we walked him up to the lorry for his last trip home, to a field where a hole has already been dug, I watched his tail and feathers flowing, and his rich liver chestnut roan, glowing in the golden sunlight. He looked magnificient. I wished we didn’t have a reason to do it - I wished I was just talking myself into it, but I’m not. The reasons are very real, and this horrible decision is also the last good one we can make for him. What on earth would be the point in watching him get sore, watching him get thinner as the grass disappeared, seeing him skeletal once spring arrives next May? what is the point in risking my unborn child to keep a horse going that can’t have too long left now anyway? He has no mares to run with, but can smell them on the hill, and will stand frustrated and stiff in a stable for 8 months. There’s no dignity in that.

His last day with us yesterday, where he got to say hello to the herd members he’d not grazed with this year, and he had the sun on his back all day was a totally different kind of day. Today the weather is reflecting my mood, it’s driech outside and somehow that makes it easier to do it on a day when you know he’s not enjoying himself so much. I’ve done everything I can to prepare him and the family for him going, and now we just need to do it because the waiting is agony - with the others there was no waiting any longer than the time it took the vet to arrive, and with Byron none at all. This has been planned, the digging of the grave, the emptying of the field, the last trip to collect him, the prepartion of the tools for the job, arranging for someone to do it - each part of that has been agonising, but at the same time it has helped to know I have had a little control over it this time, and I have been able to make everything right. Byron never got to come home to be buried; my first baby horse lies in a strangers field, in years to come no one will know he is there or who he was. Gus will be laid next to his wife May, and I know that once I plant a tree over the top of the second “Horse” to come to Rhinamain, once that beautiful couple are resting side by side, that the end of the start has really begun.

Thank you Gus for all you have taught me.

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Focus - where are you putting yours?

27/08/2011 by admin.

On your future?

On you present?

On you past?

Focus is one of those things that only half of us are aware of, and even then, only half that are aware of it are half as aware as they should be - let me explain……

I have spent two and a half years training in the Parelli program with my horses. There are lots of things that we are taught to understand through Pat’s perfect little sayings, and one of them is the power of Focus. Entire training manuals and DVD’s have been devoted to it - it’s obviously a really important thing to understand for so many materials to have been brought out about it, but like so much of this program, I just didn’t get it properly until it slapped me in the face - a BFO ( Blinding Flash of the Obvious) was had in the paddock the other day.

It was a while ago that I understood how my focus on my horse could affect him.  I was trying so terribly hard to get Brodie to stand still while I played extreme friendly with him. It wasn’t working, as my frustration and my anger that he wouldn’t accept it was building my focus. I was really thinking about it and concentrating on it. Even with my back turned to him, a relaxed position in my body, and slow rhythmic slapping of the ground with my carrot stick and savvy string he was  like a cat on a hot tin roof. I was pretty perplexed about how I was going to improve this as we’d been trying to get it sorted for a very long time, and I was so unaware of where I was pointing my focus, and was under the impression that body position and rhythm were all I had to help me. It wasn’t until I had my focus distracted that I understood it was the problem.

It was whilst sharing the arena with our Parelli Partners Sandy the haflinger and Sarah his human, who were working round some barrels at the other end of the school. Sandy got his line caught round the barrel, and my attention (focus) was taken away from concentrating on the sound of Brodie tap dancing behind me, and was directed towards Sandy who was possibly going to take exception to being wrapped round a barrel. Instantly the noise behind me ceased and he stood still.

Lesson learned - I don’t have to be looking at him to have my focus on him. He could feel how heavily concentrated on  him I was. Since then I have taught myself to be genuinely focused on other things during friendly game (faking it doesn’t work!! You have to really be watching a bird in the sky/man in the garden next door/ sheep on a far off hill,  and thinking about them or your horse knows you are just viewing the object and you are still focused on them). You have to stop thinking about what reaction you want or what it might be. Now that’s easier said than done I know; when putting the Big Green Ball on his back for the first time you are very aware you may be about to get squished and you may find running through the contents of your fridge in your mind and deciding upon dinner not easy to do. But from my experience you are far less likely to get squished if you can. However, that’s still only half of the lesson.

For about the past year I have been practising this online and getting results……..online. Now I have started doing Liberty, I have had another BFO about focus when my horses kept getting worried and leaving me. One thing I had never taken into consideration was the horses focus on me. I suddenly became very aware that even when they are almost catatonic from a new learning experience, that those moments when they go all thoughtful before they lick and chew and you can hear the cogs turning, they are still utterly focused on you. They are still a prey animal, they are still ready to flee and preserve their life, and any change in your energy is going to affect them.

I finally got the concept of my phase 1 being raising my energy. I had always practised this, I had always heard how you raise your life up and ask your horse to move, I knew it, I did………or did I? I had heard it, I had watched it, I had done simulations with it, I had even spent a couple of years running through the motions of it, thinking I was doing it, but I did not know it.  This happens to me all the time - a Patism I have heard for years suddenly comes into context and has a whole new meaning “Oh that’s what that means!!” I’ll say to myself mid BFO and feel silly it took so long to be revealed to me. My only solace is that I am told the same thing happens again and again with exactly the same Patism as you go through the levels. During one of my BFO’s in Alison Jones’ presence I remember her saying to me “now you wait until you get a level 4 understanding of what that means!”

The reason the horses were leaving me was because I wasn’t recognising how focused they were on me. I had spent so much time teaching myself to turn mine off and then amplify it to get results on longer ropes that I hadn’t noticed that in close quarters, when they can leave, they are focused just as heavily on me as I am on them and my phases need to be so much lighter. In fact, all of a sudden my focus required little or no amplification at all without a rope keeping us together. For so long I had been overloading my sensitive extroverts with energy online. The importance of focus being a two way thing was lost on me until this point. I am now really looking forward to finding out how focus affects contact and ridden work in ways I think I know, but really I know I don’t  - yet!

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Alison Jones Level 2 Course Rocked!

26/08/2011 by admin.

A POST FOUND LOST IN ARCHIVES - THIS MUST HAVE BEEN OCTOBER 2009.

So we just had Alison Jones up for our L2 course and it was AMAZING! The weather was just perfect and warm and sunny, Alison really worked us and we packed masses in whilst having a good giggle!

The first morning we had a chat about leadership and horse psychology, followed by some simulations that helped us feel how training through pressure and release feels to the horse. Although I had done this before it was great to recap and go over it again as some of it I had forgotten and some of it I had never learnt in the first place! It has made me think that I will probably go and spectate at courses of a lower level just to keep re-affirming the program and its teachings.

In the afternoon we did a lot of the obstacles and tasks that Sarah and I had done when we did L2 with Alison at Easterton in June. Although some students had never done a course before they were all very capable horsewomen and picked it up easily and I was using a different horse this time having finally settled on using Hannah as my levels horse. These exercises helped us diagnose whether or not we were ready to progress our play sessions to be more precise (principle before purpose) and we learnt how to adapt the length of the phases, and the relationship of phases to blocks in order to achieve this.

Saturday saw a few more familiar faces come along to spectate and to partake and again the weather was just amazing. We had a quick cuppa and a chat about what each of us wanted to achieve during the day before going straight into the school for a full day of L2 online and freestyle. It was so much fun, and I can’t even begin to list how much we learnt. Several of us had our confidence improved by trying new things and several finally made some head way on tasks that had previously appeared impossible to do.

 

I would like to thank Alison for such a great couple of days – she really is fantastic and has the answer to EVRYTHING! I would also like to thank all of the students and spectators who came from far and wide to join in – not least Shelly from Savvy Scotland who took lots of pictures that I can’t wait to see once they are up on the Savvy Scotland website (I’ll post a link to it here once they are up), and Rachel who had quite lot to tackle with Big Ron, but did an admirable job. It was great to see how much Elaine and Felix and Sarah and Sandy have come on since March, and Ella finally got some lateral flexion out Shadow (Yay!) whilst Claire and Breeze looked beautiful together in the Freestyle riding. I was also delighted that this course put us in touch with Tamara Innes and her lovely horse Clive who has done exceedingly well teaching herself and her horse from the Success Series, and we look forward to some play days with her up North next year.

 

We have already booked dates for late April next year with Alison. We will do a Level 1 -2 day again on the Friday 23rd, but this will most likely be the only one that we organise next year so if you are keen to give it a go then please let me know as soon as possible and send a £60 deposit. There are only six places available on this day. You do not have to be a savvy club member, but it is highly recommended as Savvy Club gives you the DVD’s to help you get started as well as 25% off the equipment. At less than £15 a month for the family it is the best investment you will ever make in your horse.

The other two days are going to be Level 2 Freestyle riding patterns on the Saturday and then Level 3 Online and Liberty on the Sunday – can’t wait!!

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Parelli demo with Scotlands first and only trainee Parelli Professional

07/06/2009 by admin.

On May 7^th we held a Parelli Demo in aid of our RDA Group. We had a great turn out of twice as many people as we had expected even though the weather was incredibly wintry. The demo was given by Claire Adamson who is Scotlands first ever trainee Parelli Professional and was fresh back from 16 weeks of training in the states with Linda and Pat Parelli.

Her horse, Jazz who was a jet black “spotless” appaloosa, was amazing especially considering it was the first demo she had ever done. What she could do at just 5 years old was an inspiration, and proof of how helpful the ground work games actually are at teaching your horse to move and to become engaged with its rider.

The obviously close relationship between Jazz and Claire was enviable as they moved around the school together. After showing us the ground work games Claire then showed us how to saddle and mount with “Savvy” before demonstrating the relevance of what she had done on the ground from on top. She gave in depth explanations of the relevance of bits and their applications pointing out that a bit is not a brake, but a sculpturing tool designed to ask for precision and shape. The best example of this was when she backed Jazz up several steps in a straight line from just a string around her neck and with only the slightest pressure, emphasizing that true horsemanship comes from time spent training not money spent on tack.

 

At the end of the demo we retreated from the wind and hail to the barn for hot chocolate and the opportunity to ask Claire questions. The majority of the spectators had not tried Parelli with their own horses, but were fascinated by its possibilities and keen to get started so it was decided to invite Claire back in June for “Intro to Parelli and the seven games” lessons. Claire will be with us from June 18^th to the 21^st  to give 26 lessons. All the lessons are fully booked, but we are holding a cancellation list. Those who are attending lessons are also invited to join us for dinner at Crannag on Friday 19^th and again for our midnight ride out to watch sunset on one of the longest days of the year on the 20^th. For full contact details go to www.highlandwildrides.co.uk

 

 

AND HERE’S WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING………….

 

Hi Stacie

The parelli evening was brilliant really enjoyed it

Thanks

Enjoyed the Demo on Thursday with Claire, sorry I missed the playday and lessons they must have been good too.

hope your Play Day went well on Fri.  Really enjoyed the demo on Thurs.  Take Care, hopefully see you soon. x

I really did enjoy the demo – let me know when you know the date in June and I’ll do my best to make it J

Ivan and I were very impressed and enthused with the Parelli demo and we would like to hire one of your horses and take an hour Parelli lesson

 

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Congratulations Cuill Pollei and Tobermory!!

05/05/2009 by admin.

Our 100% Eriskay mare, Cuill Pollei, has finally given birth to her long awaited foal out of Eriskay stallion Tobermory. She had a colt at 2am on the very stormy morning of 5^th of May 2009 which also happened to be part owner, Jonathon Wojtunik’s, thirtieth birthday! We have called him Tolstaidh as a name for everyday on the yard, but his show name is Deich ar Fichead which is Gaelic for thirty.

 

He is a decent size of a foal and full of beans. He is black at the moment with a pale grey muzzle but will eventually fade to grey like his parents over the next 5-8yrs.

 

Eriskays are very rare with only around 300 or so ponies having Eriskay blood in them. Every year there are only around 15 Eriskay foals born so Tolstaidh is a very important foal. His father is 95% pure Eriskay making Tolstaidh 97%. His mother is very rare as not only is she 100% but there are only 40 mares left that are completely Eriskay and she is the last mare of her bloodline. We will be looking for another 100% stallion for her this year so please contact us if you know of any that you think may be suitable.

 

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Our First Parelli Play Day

07/04/2009 by admin.

What a fantastic day was had by all at our first ever Parelli Play day. There was a super turn out but best of all the weather was just perfect all day long.

 

We started the day in the school and newcomers were teamed up with horses and they started their friendly game with some grooming. They were then able to watch those who had played the games before.

We had Pat Gardiner (L2) from Kiltarlity come over and join us as a spectator and to meet us all for the first time. Pat has been playing with her horse for 6yrs and had some really interesting things to say. Pat met Elaine who stays not far from her so hopefully they will be able to get together for a Parelli blether! Elaine was playing with Murphy who is of similar horsenality to her own beautiful horse Felix that attended our L1 course with Alison Jones a few weeks ago.

There were also lots of kids playing with our mini Shetlands Swish and Bump and they all did a little of the first few games – well done guys!

 

In the afternoon we moved out of the school and into the woods at the bottom of the croft. There were all sorts of natural obstacles to play with there including fallen trees, old ruins, banks, ponds, ditches, and timber that we have cut from wind blown timber. Troy did some amazing jumps for Stacie so she is going to include more obstacles in his daily play.

 

We are also hoping to get started shortly on some making permanent obstacles, that will be scattered all over the croft, for us to use on future play days. These will include sand boxes, a see saw, “waterfalls” of tarps strips and balloons suspended between trees, bridges and cross country jumps. In addition we will set up paddocks with flags, barrels, poly jumps, ground poles, upright bending poles for weaving through, tarpaulins on the ground, tyres, and pedestals.

 

If you would like to see more photos of our Play Day then please go to www.savvyscotland.co.uk and look in their photo gallery and if you would like more info on Highland Wildrides then please go to www.highlandwildrides.co.uk

 

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BANNERS STORY - STIFLE INJURY RECOVERY WITHOUT SURGERY

05/04/2009 by admin.

At Highland Wildrides we often rescue and rehabilitate horses that have all sorts of problems.

We have had several of our equine friends, that have been ill and thought unlikely to pull through, make a full recovery - not just surviving their illnesses, but managing to become horses that work in the riding centre.

Last year in May our Miniature Appaloosa stallion, Banner, sustained a very serious injury to one of his hind legs. He completely ruptured all the ligament, tendon and muscle around his stifle to the point where his leg could be moved at 90 degrees to the side.  After several examinations and x-rays the vets from the local practice had informed us that surgery was the only thing likely to help him, but that the kind of surgery he required wasn’t available to horses in the UK– only dogs. Banner is just 32 inches and we felt that he was similar to a very large dog so we enquired what his chance of recovery without surgery was and we were told that there was no known case in Britain of horses having healed naturally with this kind of injury, and that if no improvement was made he would need to be destroyed.

Initially there seemed to be some improvement as the muscle repaired itself but the vets felt it was doubtful that the tendons and ligaments could ever really heal, and sure enough his progress slowed to almost a dead stop.

Heartbroken, we decided to give him more time before making the decision to destroy him. Banner was the first pony at Rhinamain and, like many owners faced with this dilemma, we felt that he needed to be given every chance possible to make a recovery, even if it was only a partial one. Banner is just a pet and isn’t worked so he only needed to recover enough to be happy in himself (which he already seemed to be as he was lapping up the attention that being permanently inside was getting him!).Surprisingly he was not in any pain (the painful part is the snapping of the ligament but once that has happened it doesn’t hurt any longer) meaning there was no danger of long term liver failure from medication. After discussions with the vets we agreed that if at any point it got worse, or if it had not made a recovery within a set amount of time that Banner would be put down, but for the time being he didn’t seem ready to give up yet himself and therefore neither would the Wildriders! It was decided to give him a full year to improve as tendon injuries take that long to heal completely whereas it was unlikely that even with time the ligaments ever could.

 

Nursing a sick horse is the most difficult part of any injury or illness. Keeping them from becoming depressed and giving up is the main problem we have faced with any of our seriously sick horses. Initially Banner had to be kept completely immobile so he was given a pen that was the size of him standing up with room for a bucket to be put in front of him. We searched the internet for stories like Banners with a positive outcome to see if there was any product, or management routine that had helped, but sadly there were just no stories out there of any horse having recovered from such an injury.

It was quickly decided to try alternative therapies and as Reiki has had a very positive effect on some of the humans here we called in Reiki Master, Norma Roche to give Banner Reiki and Crystal healing. His stall was gridded with quartz and he was treated on the site of his wound with selenite. He had a session each week and it had an amazing effect as we saw his healing rate begin to pick up quite rapidly from the beginning. It helped him a great deal with the frustration he was suffering from being kept indoors and unable to move. He seemed utterly aware of his condition and he stopped making a play for mares although his interest in them never dwindled!

We fed him mainly on a diet of haylage and Alfalfa chaff or pulp, but we had real problems with his bedding as his boredom would lead him to eat it – even shavings - and on one occasion he got colic after choosing to eat his straw bed rather than the grade “A” haylage we were giving him. He narrowly pulled through this as well – he was on his last possible dose of paraffin when he finally had a gut movement. He has also had a lot of his muscle atrophy as he has had his movement so severely restricted.

In the summer a Canadian vet came over and rode with us and when she went home she did some research to see if there were any cases like Banner. Our spirits were lifted when she got back to us saying that she had heard of one horse that had Banners injuries and, although an operation will be offered to horses with this in Canada and the US, it was elected by the owners not to go down the surgical route but to allow the horse to heal naturally which it did and was eventually fit enough to bear a rider in trot!

Hope renewed, we continued to do the best we could for Banner, and over time he began to get stronger and we were able to give him more room and short walks. When we did his feet he even managed to stand and bear his weight on his bad leg in order to have his good ones trimmed. We are very happy to say that now his year is up he has radically improved with the box rest we have given him and in the late spring he will be allowed out onto pasture. He has still got a limp, but his leg is really mobile and it is hoped with careful management he will be able to live out the rest of his life happily.

 

To this day we have never been able to ascertain what it was that caused Banners injury.

 

 We know how important it is to get help from other owners and how frustrating it was when we couldn’t find anyone out there. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Norma Roche and Kessock Equine Vets for their expertise and support over the last year, but most of all we would also like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the Wildriders who have cared for Banner. You have all helped to make him comfortable and frustration free throughout his long term indoors and I know he really appreciated it.

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Parelli Level 1 Passes in the Pipeline after Alison Jones Course

24/03/2009 by admin.

 

Wildriders and Friends were delighted by the progress they made over the two day course with 3 star Parelli Instructor Alison Jones last week.

 

Alison, who is currently Britains highest qualified Parelli Instructor, made her first trip “to the last page of the map” and Highland Wildrides to teach Staff, Volunteers and other Parelli mad locals a level 1 course over two days. The first day consisted of some very useful theory and simulations, and was then followed by a day and a half of working solely with the horses in the school. The weather stayed thankfully mild and the students, equines and 30 spectators were able to gain so much from Alisons wisdom and experience.

 

There were several Wildrides horses being used in the course including Sandy the Italian Haflinger,  classy Hannah the dressage diva, the infamous Troy, and Byron “Big Ron” of Craignetherty who is to be broken this year. The results achieved with these horses were just amazing. There had been a stake on round the yard as to whether or not Sandy could be “backed up” at all - even by Alison, but she had him doing it, and once Sarah knew the secret she was able to change the big yellow barger into a horse that walks back off a gentle tap or wiggle of the rope. Troy worked hard at his “Friendly Game” and with Alisons help he made a real break through, pointing out to Stacie that Right Brain is not the same as fragile, and all he needed was pushed into accepting her in different zones of his body. Alex and Hannah got a real boost to their bond and Alex was the only person to trot during “Savvy Ride” at the end where several students mounted and rode using nothing but saddles, a rope halter and a twelve foot line that had to be swung round the front of the horses head from side to side in order to turn! Yard Manager Ella used Byron as part of his start to his Wildrides career. He gave as a very impressive display when Alison began teaching him “Sideways” but by the end of it our bolshy teenager had begun to understand what a relationship with a human is really all about.

 

The course gave everyone a new way of thinking and approaching horses and how we deal with them. The results have been lasting, and Troy has started to really bond with humans after a life time of being “scared of being scared” as Alison put it. He now grooms us back when we groom him, and looks forwards to his time with us instead of trying to waste as much of it as possible just being caught! Sandy is happily accepting that he is no longer the boss and seems a little relieved about not having the pressure of keeping us all in line all the time! Hannah is delighted to have a bond with her Mum, and Byron is excited to find that we actually speak “horse” and seeks us out for conversations!

 

We would like to thank Alison and look forward to catching up with her at Savvy Conference. We hope to be hosting a level 2 course with her very soon.

 

And here’s what people said after the course……

Hi,

Just wanted to thank you for letting us sit in on your first trailblazing clinic. Your doing great with Troy, it was quite moving to watch.

Bye for now

Claire.

Hi Stacie

 

Thought I would just drop you an e-mail to say again that I thoroughly enjoyed the two days you arranged with Alison on 17th and 18th.

 

I thought Alison was really good and friendly too.

 

Please arrange some more clinics, etc., soon.

 

Elaine 

 

 

 

Hi Stacie

 

Thanks for a great Parelli course - Penny was really pleased to have come with me on Wednesday and felt she really got a lot out of it (she wished she’d been able to come both days).

 

I learned tons from just being able to stand back and watch others do stuff. Sometimes it’s quite difficult to learn to do things different/better when you’re actually in the middle of ‘doing it’ yourself. I’m sure I will be able to translate what I learned this week to my play with Gin and if work hadn’t got in the way I would have been doing it already after being at yours this week! In fact the first thing I did this morning was scribble out a plan for next time I play with Gin - first time I’ve done this and shows that I’m feeling inspired and probably can be more provocative and interesting to her (my goal in life - be more interesting than grass!!!) as a result!

 

 

We will be hosting two Parelli Play Days on the 2nd and the 23rd of April so please come along and watch or join in - we can lend you a horse of similar horsenality as your own if you can’t bring yours.

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Parelli at the NEC.

07/09/2008 by admin.

At the beginning of August the adult members of the Wildriders Club got together to go and see Linda and Pat Parelli and their amazing horses do a two day exhibition at the NEC.

It was a truly amazing experience that made us feel like we are really right on track with our training methods. As you are probably aware we are very much in favour of natural horsemanship techniques and all our training methods that we have developed are based in horse psychology. We have learnt a lot in the three years that we have been training horses here and not least from the horses themselves. In fact when we learnt about the Parelli’s seven games we realised that our horses had already taught us the first three!

It was great comfort to hear Pat Parelli say things that we have already begun to see and do ourselves. For instance we have already recognised that lunging is not a great way of exercising or teaching a horse, that ground work is so important, nosebands are generally unnecessary, and if you can’t ride a horse in a snaffle - don’t ride it. Pat Parelli says that it has taken him several decades to get to the stage he is at. We can only thank our lucky stars that he has put all his amazing knowledge into nicely packaged DVD’s so that we can save ourselves that time! While we are sure that we would have got similar results in time, it has meant that by applying ourselves to his programme we have got a globally recognised institution behind us that benefits the horses we have now instead of just the ones we would have in thirty years.

It is our aim over time to qualify several adult Wildriders as Parelli Professionals so keep watching this space……………………

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