Saturday, December 30, 2017

Clinic Woes...

Navar and I attended a Natural Horsemanship clinic last October and I have been ruminating over the experience ever since.

Over the years I have attended several clinics and feel quite proficient with my groundwork. I am now looking for more opportunities to transfer the natural horsemanship principles to create a better connection in the saddle.

There were a couple of reasons I wanted to attend this clinic; it was advertised as an advanced clinic with an unquestionably skilled horseman; and two of my favourite people were also participating. While I recognize I am nowhere close to being the horse person this fellow is, we have had some similar influences in our past. We both rode at the first Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Clinic at the Calgary Stampede, we both attended a Ray Hunt clinic, and he competed at the Road to the Horse colt starting in the U.S. the year after we had gone as spectators. Yet try as I might to connect with this fellow, it became apparent that his primary focus throughout the weekend was himself.

His program offers 8 levels of achievement which can be evaluated on-line. I overheard one of his loyal followers state that this was their fourth clinic and they were resigned to staying at Level 1 forever; or another person asking which would come first – passing Level 1 or Heaven. The journey toward exceptional horsemanship undoubtedly takes commitment to practice but I found these statements very discouraging for folks who are starting their journey later in life.

I did my best to practice the techniques being taught at this clinic which were somewhat different than how I do things. However, even with years of practice and success handling hundreds of horses, I would have been hard pressed to pass his Level 1.

It was discouraging to hear his response to folks who were asking questions; "that he had previously answered their question “many” times". Clearly, they had either not heard or understood his response and were seeking more clarification. Nobody should be treated in a condescending manner when they are eager to learn. I truly believe it is incumbent on the instructor to reiterate and demonstrate until the answer becomes clear.

There was much time spent standing around while the clinician “fixed” a confused or worried horse. However, it was especially frustrating when it was the clinician’s daughter’s horse. He insisted that everyone watch what he was doing rather than continue practicing with their own horses. Unfortunately some of what I “had” to watch was rather unpleasant and I remember thinking – this man is not touching my horse. In fact when I heard him asking for an introverted horse and an extroverted horse for a trailer loading demo, I excused myself to the biffy to ensure Navar was not chosen.

I even found it difficult to watch him ride and handle his own horse as the horse seemed overly reactive and nervous. It made me think of a recent article I read in my Linda Tellington Jones newsletter about being an advocate for your horse when others are handling them – whether it is a clinician, boarding facility staff, farrier, or veterinarian.

I have no qualms about increasing pressure when a horse is not being respectful but whacking a confused or worried horse across the head with a stick is not the kind of pressure I would encourage unless the situation became life threatening to the handler. There were folks in this clinic that were new to horses and/or Natural Horsemanship methods and if they were to go home and apply that much pressure without knowing why or when to release, they would undoubtedly cause more harm than good. Folks need to learn methods they can take home and work on to improve their confidence, not erode it further. It is for this reason I have spent much time studying a variety of philosophies and techniques. This allows me to offer my students solutions that will help a wide range of folks and horses progress safely and with joy.

Interestingly – most of the Ah! Ha! moments came during the group talks given first thing in the morning rather than during the time spent with my horse. At least there were a few things I will be able to share with others and I thoroughly enjoyed spending 4 days with Navar away from home. However, for the money spent, I would have liked to come away with more enthusiasm and inspiration and not have to listen to hubby say "I told you so".

Tovie and Navar


Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Equine Osteopathy for The Boys

Earlier this spring I heard very good things, from a couple of unrelated sources, about an equine Osteopath fairly new to our area. Lena and Lisa were both excited about how their horses had responded to this therapy so when I discovered they were talking about the same person, I just had to have Vickie Keam out to work on our horses.

Although this year has been thankfully uneventful with regard to the well being of our horses, I had Vickie check out Gord's horse Magic, who is 21 this year; and Navar, because of the catastrophic hock injury he sustained last year. Sherri's horse Magnum is also a senior and so she had him checked over as well. There were a few things Vickie was able to detect; and it was rewarding to see the horses respond so well to her therapeutic touch. Since none of our horses has any serious issues, we considered this visit to be more of a preventative measure.

Vickie is also a saddle maker who mentored under renowned saddle maker, Andy Knight; as well as a knowledgeable saddle fitter. When I mentioned that Navar had shown some unusual twitchiness under saddle recently, she asked to see my saddle. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous that she would find something glaringly wrong with my beautiful new saddle. Over the years, I have bought and sold so many saddles trying to find a good saddle that would work for me and my horse and certainly didn't want to head down that path again. My fears were unfounded as she reassured me that if she were making a saddle, it would be very similar to the saddle I am using.

Always being one to question tradition when it comes to management, training, or handling of our horses, I was ecstatic to learn something new with regard to cinching a double rigged saddle. We have all been taught to do up our front cinch snugly first; and then our rear cinch so it just touches the horse but is NEVER as tight as the front cinch. In fact, you more often than not, see 6 inches of daylight between the rear cinch and the horse. I was astounded to learn the exact opposite - the rear cinch is done up first, very tightly and the front cinch is snug but not tight, tight, tight. Vickie had me place my hand into the gullet, under the saddle pad while she tightened the front cinch. I could feel my hand being squeezed as she tightened. She then had the horse flex its neck to each side and I could feel a definite pinch. She then loosened the front cinch and tightened the rear cinch - moving the horse around with each hole to ensure the horse was not worried by the new sensation. As she tightened the rear cinch, she had me place my hand in the gullet, under the saddle pad and it was remarkable how roomy the saddle now felt. We then snugged up the front cinch. Vickie proved to me that by setting the saddle in place with a tight rear cinch, it is not necessary to have the front cinch so tight, thereby minimizing any pinching around the scapula.

Navar is all the proof I need - no more twitchiness.

Thank you Vickie for your knowledge and experience!
Tovie, Sherri, Navar, Magic and Magnum

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Divine Intervention for Beauty

Last Saturday I arrived at Lisa & Todd's for our weekly lesson with their horses Beauty and Calista. Experience has shown me that the horses will always show us what we need to work on, so I rarely arrive with a lesson plan. Beauty definitely showed us what we needed to work on because we found her in full colic that morning. Some of the symptoms she presented were sweating over the loin area on her back, panting, frequent flehman which left her mouth dry and tacky, and persistently trying to roll. Her discomfort was also very apparent in her stilted gait at the walk.

Lisa and I have both taken an extensive equine first aid course so she had all the tools we needed to check her vitals, and listen for gut sounds. When no gut sounds were detected Lisa phoned in an emergency call to the vet; only to be told the vet was at least an hour and a half away.

While we waited, I was able to share my knowledge of TTouch with Lisa. Linda Tellington-Jones has developed a series of TTouches that influence and promote healing at a cellular level. The following TTouches are specifically recommended for assisting a colicky horse:

Belly Lifts - using a towel folded to approximately 6"-8", Lisa and I gently performed belly lifts along the entire barrel. Beauty consistently indicated to us she was most happy with one particular area near the flank.

Ear Work - gently taking hold and firmly sliding down the entire length of the ear; paying particular attention to firm TTouch circles on the tips of the ears. There are many acupressure points in the ear that are activated by doing this.

Mouth Work - Beauty's mouth was dry and tacky so I wet my hand in the water trough first and then proceeded to work the gums directly under the upper lip to release endorphins. Once Beauty was certain we weren't up to anything sneaky, she happily accepted the mouth work.

Tail Work - gently working the tail from the base in circles and then using both hands give a gentle pull and push to the tail. Beauty gently rocked back and forth during this process.

Pelvic Rocking - place both fists on either side of the tail and gently press until the horse performs a mini pelvic tilt.

Mane, Forelock and Tail Hair Slides - imagine if you weren't feeling well and someone came along and gently slid their fingers along chunks of your hair. Not sure if it had any benefit, other than feeling wonderful, but Beauty seemed to enjoy it.

I think we were both surprised how quickly Beauty started to relax and become obviously more comfortable. She stopped trying roll, stopped sweating, stopped the flehmen, and started licking and chewing and even relaxed with a cocked hind leg. After an hour or so we started to detect faint gut sounds. Lisa even questioned whether or not to cancel the vet call but aside from a couple small farts, still no glorious poop - which is a sure sign the worst is over.

When the vet arrived, she administered the colic treatment protocol and when she and I left, Beauty was on a wait and see - still waiting for that glorious poop.

Lisa sent me this photo around 5:45 that day titled, "the most beautiful thing in her pasture that day", a glorious poop that actually looked as if it could have been dropped by an elephant. She also attributed my knowledge of TTouch as the reason Beauty survived. I have absolutely no doubt that the vet's treatment protocol was vital to Beauty's full recovery; but I also know that performing TTouch, while waiting for the vet, made a significant contribution to Beauty's comfort and allowed us to feel useful and calm during the long wait. I always say, TTouch may not be a cure all but it absolutely causes no harm.

Colic is the primary cause of death in seemingly healthy horses and depending on the severity, it can be a long and excruciatingly painful end.

Divine Intervention allowed us to be there for Beauty with the knowledge and skills required to ease her discomfort and get her help quickly.

You can visit Linda Tellington-Jones' web-site to learn more about how TTouch can help any person or animal in your life http://www.ttouch.com/aboutLinda.shtml.


Tovie, Lisa and Beauty
 

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Sir Leopold Found His Perfect Person

A couple of weeks ago I advertised Leopold for lease. Hilary was looking for an uncomplicated horse to practice dressage, go over some small jumps and trail ride. Hilary came by to meet him and he was an absolute gentleman. However, when I explained that Leopold is still considered green, she decided to take him on as a project and had already starting thinking about a training plan for him.

In the meantime, I was taking a break at the office one day and searched "gelding" on Kijiji when I came across an ad for a gal looking for a horse. Her list of criteria fit Leopold perfectly so I sent her a response. After exchanging as much information as possible by email, Joanna decided to come meet Leo to see if he was a horse she would enjoy.

I spent most of this morning trimming him and then with Sherri's help, we groomed him to make sure he looked his very best. He was an absolute gem to work with that morning so I'm not sure why Sherri said, "you watch, he'll be on his worst behavior when Joanna arrives".

Sure enough, Leo who is rarely a problem to catch, decided he didn't want to be caught, and then proceeded to plant his feet when trying to lead him. I took him into the arena to show off some of his ground moves which went very well but then he wouldn't stand still for saddling. When we went back into the arena, he exploded into a bucking fit, the likes of which I haven't seen in the 19 months I've had him. He has tossed in the occasional buck on the lunge line a handful of times since I've had him but never when I'm on him. As often as Sherri is at our place, she had never seen him act out and Uli saw a small episode once. Naturally, I thought that would be the end of Joanna but when she said - that's nothing - I knew she could be his perfect person. After he shook out all his sillies, I mounted up and did a lovely demonstration of his movement under saddle. Next we re-saddled him with Joanna's saddle and once again, he threw another bucking fit. When he stopped, Joanna got on him and had a lovely ride.

I can't help but wonder if Leo picked up on my sadness at the thought of him leaving. Selfishly, leasing seemed the perfect scenario because he could stay with us and still have his perfect person. However, my focus this year is to get Navar going well. Yesterday Navar and I competed at the Wareabouts Cowboy Challenge and I was pleased with our effort, considering I'd only been in the saddle a handful of times since the Challenge last fall. However, it is my goal to be an actual competitor at the September Challenge and I simply can't focus on more than one horse at a time. There are just not enough "horse' hours in a day.

Sherri, Uli and I saying good-bye.



Joanna sent me this photo of him quietly checking out her farm in Twin Butte, calm and content. She said he enjoyed playing with the jolly ball and didn't seem to mind the barn at all.
Joanna plans to ride several times per week and has promised to keep me updated on their progress. It will be exciting to see Leopold progress with consistent handling and training.
 
Happy Trails to Joanna and the beautiful Sir Leopold!
 
Tovie, Sherri, Uli, and the "Boys"

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

The Fonz

In the fall of 2014, I had the pleasure of meeting Fonz when his owner, Wendy Ruekema, asked me to come up to Edmonton and help her with him. Even though Wendy had owned Fonz for several years, she had not ridden him for at least 6 years because they simply didn't trust each other.

The following May 2015, Wendy came to the realization that her small window of horse time was better spent with Flash - a horse she was having a ton of fun with. Wendy made the decision to surrender Fonz to my care with the understanding he would only be rehomed to his perfect person.

During that summer with Fonz, I kept having this recurring thought that my dear friend Uli would be the perfect person for Fonz. Uli is kind and gentle and an experienced horse owner and rider. However, Uli already had her horse Hank and she didn't need two horses. At the time Hank had been exhibiting lameness from a stifle issue for several months but Uli was still hopeful she would find a way to resolve Hank's lameness.

That fall I sold Fonz to a young gal who seemed perfect but when it became apparent it wasn't going to work, back he came per my unconditional guarantee. Over the course of that winter, Hank's condition didn't improve and so last spring I invited Uli to come play with Fonz and learn some of the natural horsemanship exercises.

The only time Uli and I could commit to regular lessons was at 6:00 a.m.; when she could stop in for an hour on her way to work. Although Uli has been involved with horses for much of her life; and has had horses in her life she adored - she never anticipated the connection she was able to create using the natural horsemanship philosophy.

In the beginning, Uli would often become beautifully emotional whenever she would "feel" something she had not experienced before. It got to a point that her husband Chris, teasingly asked me to stop sending his wife home in tears - albeit happy tears.

Fonz demands a human he can trust and respect and Uli definitely earned both through her dedication to learning new ways of interacting with horses. There is no question the exercises are hard and we feel clumsy and incompetent during the learning curve but the relationship we establish with our horses makes it all worth while.

Uli continued to come every morning at 6:00 a.m. until we ran out of daylight last fall and Fonz and I were always happy to start our morning with her happy self.

Needless to say, Uli and Fonz fell in love with each other and are now lifelong companions. As for me, I couldn't be happier that Fonz continues to be boarded at our place because he got to stay with the "boys" and I got to keep Uli.

For some reason this post was forgotten in my drafts but better late than never.

Tovie, Uli & Fonz

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Let's Play in 2017

2016 turned out to be one of my worst horse years with the loss of Jack and Dexter, and then Navar's injury. I still mourn the loss of Dexter nearly every day but sweet Navar is fully recovered from his catastrophic injury and doing his best to fill the hole in my heart.

It is important to remember the good with the bad and there was plenty of good. Uli fell in love with Fonz and is having the time of her "horse" life with him. Leopold has been a tremendous source of joy and Navar and I did our first ever Obstacle challenge out at Wareabouts Stables. I had planned to take him up and "send" him over the obstacles but decided to ride him instead. With less than 20 rides under our belts and only the second time for him to wear a bit, I was tremendously proud of him.

Uli, Jaclyn, Lena and I went up to the Horse Conference in Sherwood Park last weekend. As expected, there were some tremendous speakers and for the first time, a liberty demo by Jim Anderson, his wife and 4 of their horses.

I always come away from the conference with better ideas and more inspiration to do better for my horses and this year was no exception. Karen Rohlf has been a huge influence for me over the past year. I don't even recall how I came upon her web-site, Dressage Naturally. I was likely doing some research on behalf of Leopold and how I can help him become a useful dressage partner. Karen is an accomplished dressage trainer, instructor and competitor and she discovered natural horsemanship a few years ago. Her virtual arena and video library are invaluable tools that help marry natural horsemanship with dressage.  Her method and philosophy is exactly the type of influence Leopold and I were looking for and I can't help but think of the saying, "when the student is ready, the teacher will come".

Being a huge fan, I was delighted to meet Karen in person, attend her session, and have her sign my Dressage Naturally book. Her presentation was exceedingly funny, engaging and informative and I couldn't wait to get home and "play" with my horses.

One of my last rides with Navar last fall didn't go well at all. He got absolutely stuck out in a large field and refused to take one step forward. The good news is that he didn't even care that all his buddies rode away. It was nearly an hour of ground work and he would do everything except take one step forward in the direction I wanted to go. When my riding buddies came back, I jumped on and had a lovely ride home. Navar is typically an easy going horse that is a little on the timid side - he had me stumped and I felt an erosion in our relationship after that day.

After listening to Karen's presentation last week there were two takeaways that inspired me. Her story about spending years trying to replace her horse Brave Tom (reminding me not to try and replace Dexter), and a reminder about how important it is to "play" with our horses. Luckily, we came home to a beautiful break in the bitter cold temperatures, so Navar and I started to play and every day I saw him become his wonderful, playful, friendly self again. The transformation in our relationship has lifted my spirits and I can't wait to transfer this new "playful" feeling to the saddle.

Wishing you playful joy with your horses in 2017
Tovie, Navar and Sir Leopold