I have now just finished a tour of NSW and Central Qld completing both horsemanship and cow working courses. The images below were taken from one of the courses. As an observation of the Horsemanship / Cow Working courses,  riders that have established forwards in their horses and ride this way find the cow working much easier. The cow working in many ways tells the truth. There is much merit in slow and right, when you add speed, again you get to see the truth. The horse that I am riding is one that Jayne James from Jericho kindly lent for me to ride when I was doing the course out there recently.

The Jericho course was more on the rider and the horse learning not only how to rate a cow but positioning on a cow. Once the horse finds that position on the cow and the rider knows the position, then it is easier for the horse to stay there. Essentially if the horse gets out of position they have to work harder to get back into position. Essentially the lesson is to stay in position and it is then less work for both horse and rider.

The young horse intake for April is now  underway with 8 head of horses. In some cases the horses may have more frequent flyer miles than myself with the distance travelled in their arrival. To date the horses have had 5 rides, being ridden outside and in different surroundings. Back home in Australia I have a different setting to that of England. At home I can use the young horses for checking stock waters and stock or gathering when required. These are experiences that I believe help to improve a young horse’s self confidence , while giving a sense of purpose to what is taking place.

On the weekend a lady from England will be arriving at home. Having attended courses that I have run in England she was wanting to improve her horsemanship. A cattle station will be somewhat different to the manege s of Europe. On a limited bases from the end of the year I am offering riders, who are wanting to improve their horsemanship an opportunity to come and spend short amounts of time here at home.

In England where riders have come to the yard that I work out of in Shropshire and ridden out on the Lonymynd Hills many have progressed their horsemanship. I am hoping that this can also be the case here in Australia on my family s cattle property.

Presently I am in the U.S. with good friends Mike & Jill Bridges. At the start of my U.S. travels I was in Las Vegas for the Legacy of Legends event. This event is held over 3 days and is about preserving the ideals of Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt. Buck Brannaman , Melanie Smith Taylor, Lee Smith and Wayne Robinson were the presenters for the 3 days and all did a wonderful job of showcasing the importance of what Ray and Tom spoke of.

It was also good to see that many had travelled from Australia and the U.K. and other countries to be there. Next year this event is to be held in Australia and I hope that everyone will do their best to support this event. It is a great 3 days of education and horsemanship.

The last few weeks I have been on the road with Mike in Oregon and Montana. Mike had a horsemanship course in Oregon where it was good to see many friends from past years.There was also a cow working at the Beverhead Ranch in Montana apart from being very cold it was great to see all the cowboys and girls up there again. Thank you to Ted and Joyce Harrison for looking after us while in Montana and running me to the airport on Monday.

To the right is an image of Mike’s new trailer. The horses playing cards down the back has attracted many admirers from fellow road travellers. The left image above is taken in Pendleton Oregon in a park.

Tonight it is back to Sydney from L.A. to start my Aust schedule with courses in the Sydney and Hunter Valley. When I left Australia the rain had been coming down and from what I hear it is currently still raining. Still better than the droughts of a few years ago.

It does not seem that long ago that I was adding my first blog in February and here we are in December. As I look back on the year that was, and reflect on horses, courses and travels, I can say it has been fun. The past few weeks have seen my Australian schedule start with courses in N.S.W. , W.A. &  QLD.

It was a great 5 days with Heath & Kellie Stewart at Salt River Performance horses in Western Australia. I presently  have 6 head of horses in for this young horse intake so early starts and late finishes for the days ahead.

Last weekend I had a 4 day course for the Qld Pony Club in my home town of Nebo. It is quite unusual to be able to go home in the evening after the day. It was a warm 4 days with temperatures in the 40s on a couple of the days. We covered quite a lot in the 4 days from handling horses on the ground to establishing ground manners and self confidence within the horse. We also covered young horse handling and colt starting. It is really good to see young riders taking an active interest in their horsemanship. The image to the right was taken at the end of the day and shows a couple of the riders that took part in the course.

Other News: In the New Year I have a magazine article coming out on foal handling in Horse Deals Australia. While being hard to put down in a couple of pages everything that there is to know about the handling of foals , perhaps there maybe some information that may help people. In January I also have courses in Southport at the Pony Club State Conference and a 5 day course in Biloela in Qld.  Over the next few months I will continue to update the course schedule , so please check on the website course schedule for new courses.

While those in the U.K. are being washed away, we have been having 40 degree days and the dust and fires are a plenty here in Qld and other Australian states. I would again like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support this year and wish all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I have now finished my last intake of young horses for this year in the U.K. It has been a very wet year to say the least but we have still managed to get all the horses out onto the Longmynd hills. The image to the left is of one of horses from the last intake. To have the owner Chris Kynaston now out and riding this horse is really pleasing and both horse and rider continue to make progress.

Chris is a great example of someone that understood the importance of improving her horsemanship in order to make it with this horse. The link shows a collection of horsemanship clips from the last few years Horsemanship Clips

While the start of the young horse is very important, many owners /riders will not start their own horses. What happens next is equally important. This is sometimes referred to as the foundation stage.

Most horses after they are started are going to need a spell, depending on the horses age. In the early stages I encourage riders to ride their horses outside and help the horse to gain confidence with not only a rider but in different environments. It is a lot easier to go from  riding predominantly outside to an arena environment than the opposite.

In the early days a young or green horse may spook, buck, shy etc. For many riders there is a tendency to focus on the “bad things” e.g. spooking, bucking etc, while not ignoring these situations try not to make an issue out of them either.  As your horse grows in self confidence and you can show that you are there for your horse then your horse will check back with you. To see how quick these horses can make a change or pick up on something is really interesting.The image on the right is of one of the horses and riders on the 2 day course from Augusts intake.

We are now halfway through my U.K. schedule.  At the start of August I was in Scotland for a week with courses and horse starting demonstrations. Thank you to all involved for your hospitality.We are now in our second week of this months young horse intake.

Last weekend we had a 3 day course and demonstration in Wiltshire. Both the course and demonstration were well attended and again thank you to Clare and her husband Lee for all your efforts. Next weekend I am again back in Wiltshire at James Roberts facility, I am sure that it will be a good weekend. In the first weekend of September I travel to Sussex to catch up with the polo guys and gals , they are always good fun.

Over the last few years I have done quite a number of horsemanship presentations showing young horse starting. In recent presentations I am also trying to show a little more of what you might do after your horse has been started, to many people this will be more relevant.  The link                   U.K. Demonstration shows a little of what took place at a recent horsemanship demonstration.

I enjoy seeing the many familiar faces out on the road in my travels.