The victim has set up a webite with advice about tracking animals and working with the police and other organisations, albeit UA based there is some useful information here, although I hope you never find yourself in her situation..

UK contacts will be added here later

The importance of animals in our lives is significant, yet the impact of world disasters on them often does not get reported. Do you know of any charities working to help them?

For me, Natural Horsemanship’s claim of joining up and backing a horse in 20 minutes, is a short cut too far.  It also does not work too well with the sharper temperament of a bright, fit thoroughbred or warmblood type!   They need to learn to use their bodies differently with a rider than they do when loose with other horses.

When backing my youngster Connie  I will be working with Greg Drummond and we will probably take 20 days over the process.  This allows the horse time to mentally process the developments day by day and for a very gradual introduction of the different steps. 

She will then be turned away for a month, then be ridden again for another month and so on, allowing her body to adjust to the changes. Follow Connie’s progress here.

Greg was brought up on a TB stud farm in New Zealand, and has developed his own process to slowly back youngsters over many years.  He is in much demand in racing yards in the South West, and will be coming over to the  Surrey/Sussex area over the summer to back Connie and some others in the area.  If you know anyone with a youngster to back at their own yard, please contact me.

Breaking a cycle of lost confidence in horse and rider

Jenny used to love jumping, but a series of incidents had left both her and her mare nervous at the thought of jumping. The horse would sweat and start napping, if they went near the jumps in their schooling field. Of course this made Jenny tense and nervous too and the cycle just escalated.

It was important to break the cycle with a change of states – for once the rider has changed her emotional state from fear to confidence, the horse will quickly follow.  This is a key part of  why an instructor can ride their pupil’s horse better than they can!

In our first session together I asked Jenny to remember a time when she had really enjoyed jumping – a magic moment. She described it to me and by asking questions about it we intensified the memory. Then we ‘anchored’ it so that whenever she pressed her thumb onto her forefinger the memory and the feeling would come back. It was easy to see it had by the way her posture changed and her face lit up!

By using it during the lesson she was able to keep the good memory as she came to the jump. The horse, of course, picked up Jenny’s new found confidence and relaxation, so she also calmed down and relaxed significantly and we were able to work over trot and canter poles.

As we moved to small jumps, Jenny admitted that she was seeing a horrible image of crashing among poles, which was interfering with the good anchor we had set up. 5 minutes later the ‘collapse anchor’ technique to shift it left Jenny incredulous! ‘I can’t believe it, it’s just gone’ she said! Try as she would, she couldn’t get it back either…..  They finished that session with some low jumps approached in trot and canter, a huge smile on both their faces!

Note :

This example summarises just one aspect of the relationship between instructor and rider. NLP techniques need to be used in context and with regard for horse and rider safety.  My pre-assessment ensured that the issue with jumping was not due to back soreness, poor fitting tack or other issue with the horse.   I was able to assess the rider’s competence and balance.  Therefore, in this situation as an experienced instructor I  knew that the jumping would be safe, enjoyable and appropriate for the horse and rider at their stage of training.  Please beware of working with these techniques with people who are not qualified – or insured - to train riders and their horses.

This is because in her work as a sports psychologist for riders, Liz Morrison has found that a focus on self awareness and learning  is a great way to build confidence and work towards goals. It also helps to build the humility and openness that horses need from their riders. 

The new website will be open to genuine equestrian specialists and organisations to publicise their workshops and clinics – Please ask your instructor or riding club leader to send us details by emailing us here.  It is being optimised to make it very easy to search by county and topic.  Please let us know the sorts of courses you are interested in attending too by registering with us here – we will email you when courses are added. 

Here are some of the topics that will be covered on the pages of ‘TheHorseMatters.com:

ABRS, Accupuncture, Action Learning, Alexander Technique, Animal communication, BHS training, Biomechanics, Breeding & Youngstock, Child protection training, Chi Qung, Coaching & Teaching, Conformation, Core stability, Dressage, Driving, Endurance, Eventing, Exam Preparation, Goal Setting,  Holistic horse health, Management coaching with horses, Natural Horsemanship, NLP Sports Psychology, Para equestrian, Pilates, Preliminary Teaching Test, Polo, Racing, Riding for Disabled, Rider confidence, Shiatsu, Showing, Show Jumping, Side Saddle, Sports Psychology, Stage 1 & 2, Stage 3 & PTT, Stage 4,  Trec, Tai Chi, Therapy through Horses, Experiential Learning, Reflective Practice, Working with Metaphor, Life Coaching, Riding & Road Safety, Stable Management, UKCC Coach training,Veterinary care of the horse, Visualisation …..  and more!

We heard that you have children here to help on Saturday mornings,’ she said. ‘We wondered if you would have our daughter Sophie?  ‘Her father and I are very worried. She’s 13 and has stopped talking — she hasn’t spoken a word for two years. She likes reading books about horses and we heard about you.’  Sophie stepped out of the car. She was sullen and overweight, with baggy, ill-fitting clothes and lanky, unwashed hair. She was hunched, as if there was a heavy weight pressing down on her. 

Something inside me knew exactly where to take her. ‘Come with me to change the dressings on a horse called Darcy,’ I told her.  Darcy Day was one of 30 or so retired racehorses we had rescued and given a home to. She had come to us in a terrible state a few days earlier, saved from a neglectful owner.  Bony and with her head hanging low, Darcy’s coat was matted and discoloured. Her eyes were dull and streaming, her bones protruding through her coat, her hind legs swollen and oozing a dreadful yellow discharge. Her tail was a tangled mass of wet hair and manure, her hooves long and overgrown.

Darcy was clearly very distressed and had broken out in a heavy sweat. Her temperature was above normal, her hind legs were hot and swollen, and her skin had split in several places. The vet gave her painkillers, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, and Michael cleaned and bandaged Darcy’s hind legs as best he could, then bathed her eyes and put in eyedrops. But the poor horse seemed to have lost the will to live.

However, as Sophie walked into the barn, Darcy astonished me by going straight over to her and lowering her head to be petted.  ‘She never comes over to me — and I feed her,’ I complained gently. I could tell Sophie was pleased. She held out her hands and Darcy put her nose into them. Despite how ill Darcy was, she was able to make a connection with this silent child.  

The following Saturday, I was surprised to see her parents’ car pulling into the yard. This time Sophie followed me eagerly, and again Darcy came over as soon as she entered the barn, making a gentle whickering sound. She didn’t do this with any of the other children.

Sophie began grooming and Darcy was enjoying it so much that her eyelids began to droop. She almost nodded off on her feet. That’s a huge compliment from a horse, implying absolute trust, and it was yet another sign of the growing bond between them.

Sophie started coming every Saturday and slipped into the rhythm of work on the farm, devoting herself to Darcy, laughing and smiling with the other children, but never joining in their conversations. Meanwhile, Darcy continued to recover. Her legs healed, her coat improved, and she started to take an interest in life. They were getting better together.

Find out more about Greatwood or make a donation at greatwoodcharity.org.

Buy the book: ‘When Sophie Met Darcy Day’ by Helen Yeadon, published by HarperTrue on March 3 at £6.99. To order a copy (p&p free) call 0845 155 0720.

Read the full Daily Mail article about Greatwood 26 Feb 2011

Working with visualisation & metaphor

Mel loved working with horses and had set herself the objective of taking her British Horse Society exams with a view to becoming a BHS Assistant Instructor (equivalent to level one International Instructor). The problem was, when she came to jump, or even think about it, even the smallest fence would look like a huge brick wall. And it was definitely not jumpable!  On one hand she wanted to jump, but then she would just panic and pull up the horse.

She came along to one of our one day courses, and volunteered to work with Liz  Morrison to demonstrate how NLP helps change such unwanted behaviours. We started with Mel describing the imaginary fence, and went into some detail about how high it was and the colour of the bricks. This was about developing the visual imagination. We made it higher and wider and then put it back to its original size – This gently loosens up the ‘stuck’ thinking - for the imagination is a wonderfully quick at making such changes!

Liz then asked Mel to look more closely and she realise that in fact the bricks were so perfect in their repeating pattern that they had to be wallpaper. With the earlier stretching of the jump to being bigger and wider, she had brought the image to conscious attention and therefore in her control. So what would she do with the wall now?

We considered whether she should just burn it down, jump through it like the police horse demonstrations or trample it down or whatever. She decided that she would dowse it with water until it became a soggy mass.  With the jump dissolved, she was able to think about jumping in a really positive manner and there and then she  happily booked a lesson for the next day!  Everyone in the room could see that she meant it, she was so happy; her old fear really had gone in the space of 10 minutes!

 She rang Liz the next day to say how well the lesson had gone, how the old brick wall had never even appeared and how much she had enjoyed being able to jump again. A few weeks later she passed her Stage 2 and several months later rang to say that she had just passed her Stage 3 – she was well on track for her goal again.

Note:

By bringing the issue to her conscious attention , Mel had asserted her control over it and such was her motivation that it just took this simple intervention to get her back to where she wanted to be.  Other parts of the one day workshop included further coaching to ensure that the changes being made are congruent and build motivation.

 Keen show jumper and BHS instructor Liz Morrison was very concerned when her horse Todd came in from the field with a thorn embedded in his lower leg.  Todd a 16.3hh part bred Hanoverian show jumper was put on box rest but only part of the thorn could be removed. The leg began to swell and his vet monitored the injury by scanning the leg every two to three days.

 Scanning confirmed Liz’s worst fear; that the thorn interfered with Todd’s tendon. Surgery at this point was suggested but Liz decided against it. The situation remained the same over the next ten days and the thorn became engulfed in a cavity as the body reacted to the foreign body and tried to isolate it by healing around it. 

At this point Liz was unsure of the next step so decided to contact homeopathic vet Nick Thompson to see if he had any suggestions. Nick immediately came over to assess Todd and prepared a homeopathic medicine which included high potency Sulphur and low potency Silica.  The swelling seemed to subside and three days later Todd had has his leg scanned again. The scan left everyone speechless as it revealed that the thorn had completely vanished and the cavity had reduced in size and appeared to be healing!

Said Nick Thompson: “I was delighted to hear the news that Todd had responded so well to the homeopathic medicine and was able to return to full work without any damage to his tendon.”

 Added Liz: “I think it is amazing that the homeopathic medicine eradicated the thorn so quickly, I am so grateful Todd didn’t need surgery and made a full recovery.”  Liz has since used homeopathic medicine on several of her horses when traditional veterinary medicine is not yielding the desired results.

 The British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons (BAHVS) offer a service to animal owners seeking homeopathic help and can supply names and addresses of veterinary surgeons with homeopathic qualifications. For further information please visit www.bahvs.com.

articles

Think about the stage you are both at, imagine where you would like to be by late autumn, and then think about the steps needed in between…  If you have a spare calendar or can create a spreadsheet, put down those key competition dates and all the qualifiers…    Then add in any holiday plans, things that might interrupt preparation like flu jabs and work or family events…  

As the picture of the year builds up, you may decide you need to adjust your plans or realise how early you need to start because of other influences.  So you will have time to make some adjustments and can start to get the training you need booked in too. 

I did this for a little horse I have  who  can be rather spooky and lacking confidence.   I realised I had been putting off taking him out, yet he should be able to do a nice elementary test if we could get used to working in some new venues.  So last Saturday we went out for a novice test and just got 6′s throughout because he was tense and made a couple of mistakes.  I’ll taking him back to the same venue a few times, then another and see if he can relax a bit more….

 “.. Previously I used to work teaching IT, which I loathed. To add insult to injury, I ended up paying someone else to ride my horses, which is why I was working in the first place!  So I took the decision to stop working to concentrate on the horses and teach at local riding schools part time. However, it wasn’t adding up financially. It was so frustrating and I was losing my confidence that I could make a go of it…”

One of the biggest impacts was to get her teaching business going. From the goal setting exercises, Karen became determined that this was what she wanted to do:

“…Before I only had one or two lessons to teach a week, now I am kept busy with teaching and running my yard, and I am able to afford to keep my horses, have training, and improve the yard to really build the business….”

“..Looking back I was not focused on getting pupils and giving lessons, I kept looking at different options to make ends meet. I was able to pin down what I really wanted, so now I stick to one path and do it properly. I have advertised and feel more confident because I believe I can help my pupils, before I didn’t really have that confidence. I’ve stuck to it and talked to everyone I know about it and am very positive.