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Feb 23
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February’s 2017 Blog

By Blog

MapMarker It has been a good start to the new year with young horses and cattle work. My course schedule started off recently with a 2 day course at home in Central Queensland, everyone made a lot of progress and the riders were a great group to teach. There is another 2 day course planned for May 20 & 21, this will be a horsemanship and cow working course.

I am now in New Zealand and have just finished a great 2 day course in the North Island at Russell Higgin’s facility, Brumby Farm. I have not seen Russell and Ruth for some time, so was great to catch up, and thank you for your hospitality. There is now a 3 day course this weekend in the South Island near Timaru, details are available on the website.

Also there are still a couple of young horse places available for my next intake in May in Australia. Places can go quickly, so if you are interested then please email me at [email protected]

I have included a small horsemanship article below, I trust that all will enjoy.

A young horse from the U.K.

A young horse from the U.K.

In reading a recent interview with Carl Hester, he spoke of situations where riders have a horse that has impulsion at the canter, but is not in balance and how riders then slow the horse down to where there is more balance in the canter, but no impulsion. Equally you could say this is true of other gaits as well.

Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance spoke of Feel, Timing and Balance. As a rider, and as your position and effectiveness as a rider improves, so to will your feel and timing. You will not use the reins for your balance and you will gain a feel for when the horse is in balance.

If you can count strides with your horse’s feet, at the different gaits, you will develop your feel and timing. Equally an exercise to try, might be to count how many canter strides to a marker and as your eye for a stride develops you can increase the strides. This exercise will also help you to develop a canter that is adjustable and one that you can lengthen and shorten.

With time you will continue to refine and redefine what a good saddle horse means. Most of all, we need to enjoy the process and realise that this is not a race and there is not a finish line.

 

 

Nov 13
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November’s Blog

By Uncategorized

MapMarkerIt is hard to believe that we are in November and nearly at the end of another year. The last months travel has taken me to W.A. and recently Braidwood in NSW, Wamboin just outside Canberra and Bowral. Next week I am back home in Qld  and will have the last course of the year at home. For those that are interested in this course please email me.

The image below was from a course that I had in Serpentine in Western Australia with Jenny Jackson at Horsemanship First.

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Past Reflections: The first Ray Hunt course I went to was in 1986 and I promised Ray that I would work really hard on my horsemanship. I did not understand his reply at the time when he said don’t work to hard at it son, I am still working hard on my horsemanship , equally though I now have a better understanding of what Ray meant by those words. I have also had many that have helped me over the years some very well known and others not known at all.

In reflection over past years it has been interesting to watch the evolvement of the horse industry and horsemanship in general. You now see where many riders have some sort of ground work repertoire, many are wanting to consider and understand things from the horses perspective. Riding has in general changed for the better and riders now have more access to information and knowledge than ever before, whether this be in the form of books, DVDs or internet.

Again in my travels I have had the opportunity to meet, many people from all over the world. Some have been leaders in their respective fields and others leaders of large companies and leaders of families. Many have an interesting story to tell and many have become good friends and if they choose to  give advice I really try hard to listen and act on this. I know they are going to ask me if I have done my homework. These people also have a huge desire to learn and improve. They have a real fire in their belly, that is very hard to put out.

Those that really progress with their horsemanship are ones that continue to educate themselves, do their home work and keep the fire stoked. As Ray could not do “it” for me, nor I for others. If you can learn to do “it” for your horse and yourself , what you will lean, will be more valuable.