Author: fran

“In the Middle are the Horsemen” by Tik Maynard

“In the Middle are the Horsemen” by Tik Maynard- a book review.

Image courtesy of Trafalgar Square Books

“He studied the horse, and human nature, and how the two can find balance. And in that journey, he may have found himself”

I was offered the opportunity to write this book review through the blogging support group #Horsebloggersmeetup.

“In the Middle are the Horsemen”

The title of the book was immediately alluring to me; my main obsession over the last few years has been to make myself into a better horse-person. This is a book I certainly would have bought for myself, had I not received a free copy courtesy of the fabulous Quiller publishing.

The blurb says “In 2008, 26 year-old Tik Maynard faced a crossroads not unlike that of other young adults. A university graduate and modern pentathlete, he suffered both a career ending injury and a painful break-up, leaving him suddenly adrift. The son of prominent Canadian equestrians, Maynard decided to spend the next year as a working student. In the horse industry, working students aspire to become professional riders or trainers, and willingly trade labour for hands-on education. Here Maynard chronicle his experiences- good and bad- and we follow along as one year becomes there, what began as a casual adventure gradually transforms, and a life’s purpose comes sharply into focus.”

I’m still a kinaesthetic reader: the feel of a book in my hands is very important to me. This is a classy book: although paperback, the outer cover is glossy and sturdy, the front a peaceful photo, the paperback thick enough to look crisp for a good few years. The paper inside is good quality and the layout nice and clean.

He spares us the details of the injury and the break-up: the story of “In the Middle are the Horsemen” begins with the hunt for a job. Tik’s criteria are simple enough: a central riding location (in North American terms), the trainer must have a deep understanding of the classical foundation of horse training, and the trainer must be a leading rider or trainer in whatever discipline he or she practised. He starts writing to all the great and good, asking for a job.

Tik manages to land jobs at some of the best yards in the world. He works for Johann Hinneman, Ingrid Klimke (unpaid and all too briefly), the O’Connors, Ian Millar the showjumper, for a day, Bruce Logan the cowboy, Anne Kursinski, to name a few. He learns some hard lessons, from people and horses, and as with all those who reflect on their time spent with horses, the lessons help him grow into a better human, as well as a better horse-person.

“In the Middle are the Horsemen” started life as a series of magazine articles and this does leave the narrative slightly disjointed at times. Tik is a very entertaining writer, with a good eye for detail and an ear for dialogue which allows the stories to flow. I read the book in one sitting; it certainly kept me absorbed and entertained, I laughed with him as well as at him, and I liked him a lot more at the end of the book than I did at the beginning!

Photo by Kathy Russell, courtesy of Trafalgar Square Books

Tik initially struggles to separate good horsemanship from good riding; the crux of his learning and the theme running through the book is that you need to be a good horse-person to be a truly good rider. This is hardly a startling revelation, and his lack of clarity on this point, especially in the early stages of his story, leads to frustration for both author and the reader.

In the same way, he never truly defines classical horsemanship and he seeks deeper knowledge in trendy books and DVDs such as Mark Rashid, Buck, Parelli, Mclean: horsemanship and some attempts at science, whilst apparently bypassing the seminal books written by the truly classical trainers of recent times. For example, Rashid’s books get 2 mentions, Klimke only 1!

“You just need to be a better rider” does finally morph at the end of the book into “I wanted to be a great rider, now my ambition is greater, to be a great horseman”

His quest for adventure seemed to surpass the thirst for knowledge. He’s a young man, on a planned quest, who sometimes preferred to follow his master plan rather than go with the flow, leaving seemingly golden opportunities for unknown pastures greener. I wanted him to stay at Ingrid’s for longer; but I guess that would have been my dream, not his.

For a book about horsemanship, in the end, most of the lessons seem to come from people not horses. Most of the stories are about people and human-human interactions, not human-horse.

There are a few good quotes later in the book

“Then there was just the being with horses. Which is nice. But without the training, without the communication, we just happened to be with each other, there was no dialogue. It is like sitting next to Elizabeth Gilbert on a plane. Cool…but you are still strangers until one of you starts talking.”

I did get the impression that Tik would always be the one to start the conversation.

“A horse’s cost never reflects his worth”

And some great questions

“What’s good to a horse?”

It’s not a book about training, nor could it be used as a training aid. It is the entertaining, well told, rueful and truly funny account of of one young man’s learning. There are a few tips disguised within stories that might open the door to self reflection, to make people sit up and question aspects of their horse-human interaction.

The book ends where he finds love, and peace and purpose. And the horses in his part of the world are surely better for his quest, as it would seem he now works as a horse trainer, for competitive riders but with a strong Natural Horsemanship bent.

“In the Middle are the Horseman” is a good and entertaining read. The honest tales of life as a working pupil on an equestrian gap year or three made me wistful; what a wonderful dream to live out, and I’m so glad for him that it has had a happy ending. The writing is crisp, the pace lively and the book is peppered with good anecdotes as well as increasingly honest self reflection.

Is the book a keeper? Yes, for a while.

Will I read it again? Yes once or twice.

Will I pass onto a friend? Yes for entertainment value.

Would I recommend “In the Middle are the Horsemen” to my friends? Yes, as a fun equestrian book to buy for a holiday or a rainy weekend.

Would I read another book by him if he wrote one? Yes for sure

Thanks to Sam at #Haynet for organising me to write this review, to my virtual friends at #Horsebloggersmeetup for their group support and encouragement, to #Quillerpublishing and Trafalgar Square books for the gift of the book, and to all you readers out there for taking the time out to read my blog.

Buy the book- it’s a 3.5 out of 5

Buy the Book here

  THE MONGOLIAN BAATAR EXPEDITION 2018

THE MONGOLIAN BAATAR EXPEDITION 2018

I’m still processing and digesting the most fabulous trip away- here for starters is the official Trip Summary by none other than the legend himself- John Blashford-Snell

Dawn had broken and the sun was peeping through the craggy outcrops on the hills above our camp as we set out hoping to catch sight of the world’s last wild horses.

Discovered by Russian Army Colonel Nikolai Przewalski in 1878 these stocky ancestors of the modern horse were hunted down and distributed to zoos around the world. By 1968 they were extinct in Mongolia but by careful reintroduction from an original stock of only a dozen held in international zoos, the population now exceeds 400.

Our zoological director, Professor Terbish of the National University, reckoned we might have a glimpse of the Takhi, as they are known, watering at the Tariat stream that winds its way through steppe and birch forests of the Hustai National Park rising to 1843m above the broad Tuul river.

We were lucky and soon saw a dozen or so of the pale coated horses browsing quietly on the hill sides. Then rounding a bend in the trail was the sight we shall not forget.

Along the meandering stream and on the slopes above it were over 50 Przewalskis. Mares with foals were being shepherded by their guardian stallion, who kept trotting back to chase off young bachelors eager to reach his harem. Others bathed in the dark waters whilst several rolled in the dust to protect themselves from ectoparasites and insects. Some groomed each other, but with much whinnying, kicking and biting a number of stallions fought as they attempted to win control of their own mares.

Parading across our front, they paid little attention to our team that could approach within fifty metres. A photographer’s paradise and a remarkable sight which few will forget.

This was in the closing stage of our Mongilian Baatar expedition that had begun on 6th July with the arrival of our twenty-four international members in the rapidly growing city of Ulaan Baatar, where modern skyscrapers tower above ancient Buddhist temples and converted communist era apartment blocks echo to the roar of the modern traffic.

Flying some 1400 km west to the former Manchu outpost of Khovd, we made our tented camp on the banks of the fast flowing glacier fed Buyant river. It was here that the Scientific Exploration Society’s Operation Raleigh had camped in 1992 and liaised with the local college. Now we presented the newly founded university with much needed text books.

The national festival of Naadam was in progress and battling with the infamous mosquitoes, we watched the ‘Manly Sports’ of archery, horse racing and wrestling accompanied by military parades and dancing. A truly colourful event.

However, our task area was to the South East and driving to the Mongolian Baatar mountains we clambered up a steep path to the dusty Khoid Tsenkher cave that contains some remarkable palaeolithic era rock paintings, depicting cattle, ibex, argali (giant sheep) and gazelle and one illustration that looks suspiciously like a kangaroo, but is probably a camel. Directed by Mongolian archaeologist Dr Munkhbayar we struggled through dust clouds rising from the floor to photograph and sketch these for his research.The next day we headed South to meet our horses in a sheltered valley that cuts into the Baatar Khairkham mountain and set up camp at around 9000 feet. Our horses began arriving in the late afternoon and straight away it was clear it was a lively herd. Judith Barker, Bridget Grande, Fran McNicol and Jane Lewis, all of whom own horses in Britain, acted as ‘Horse Mistresses’ to select mounts suited to the skills and experience of our riders.

To our intense relief the old Russian Army lorry that serves as our mobile kitchen reached the valley albeit with some difficulty but our cook and her team soon had dinner ready.

From here mounted groups were deployed to locate and survey bronze age burials, study the wide range of plants and seek birds and mammals. Our old friend, zoologist Munkhnest put out the camera traps on the ridge above the camp and an intrepid botanical trio even managed to reach the snow fields and glaciers at around 13000 feet.

Our strong willed ponies were not all easy to control and an early casualty, fortunately not serious, was our Mongolian botanist, Dr Darikhand who was hurled off by a ‘bucking bronco’.

Dr Tsetsegmaa, a dentist from Khovd had joined us and was soon hard at work extracting the local people’s rotten teeth. Children received dolls and puppets as a reward after losing a tooth and were encouraged to protect the wildlife.

Our doctors also ran a simple clinic and we distributed reading glasses, donated in Britain.

A nearby ger or yurt sported a solar powered TV and a dish aerial which enabled some of our enthusiastic football followers to watch the final of the World Cup in Russia.

We even found a place a few kilometres away where our iphones could receive a signal, enabling us to send emails and photos home.

Around all our camps the camera traps recorded the wildlife and we also used a couple of drones for photography. Some traps revealed wildlife but others just showed curious goat herders!

On 16th July we rode south west carrying out more scientific quests. A 30km ride took us through a storm to camp by a shallow lake. Indeed, the weather varied with periods of hot sunshine to short lived squalls bringing drenching rain and biting cold winds.

At the scattered village of Bayanzurkh a health post served as a base for our medical team to hold a well attended clinic. Once again, the dentist was especially busy although a few of the men took some persuading before they’d submit to her treatment!

Here, we sketched ancient stone memorials known as deer stones which were quite remarkable and John Leach did useful dowsing surveys.

Our frisky mounts and their helpful owners left us at this point and gale force winds struck our camp, fortunately after our mounted teams had returned. Free at last, our horses led the herdsmen a real dance as they were being rounded up for their return to home pastures.

As the weather calmed, the sky cleared and being at an altitude of nearly 8000 feet we endured a bitterly cold night. Next day the wind had dropped and we drove on to present books to a local school at Most village. Clearly these were much appreciated.

Heading east we pitched our tents on a featureless gravelly plain whose only inhabitants seemed to be the ubiquitous tubby marmots. However, survey teams in four wheel drives and Russian minibuses were despatched in all directions seeking the endangered snub-nosed Saiga Antelope. At one time this species numbered in millions but today less than 4000 are thought to exist in Mongolia.

Working with our energetic zoologist Munkhnest,

Paul Lodge’s team made the first sighting, spotting a small herd in a valley leading into some hills. Other teams caught glimpses of larger groups racing away in the distance but the following morning, over a hundred were located. Reports and photos were provided for Prof Terbish and the Mongolian department of the World Wildlife Fund, who are seeking to conserve the species.

Back in Khovd on 21st July we bid farewell to most of our Mongolian helpers including the enthusiastic botanist Dr Darikhand, the dentist Dr Tsetsegmaa, archaeologist Dr Munkhbayer, as well as our interpreters, drivers and hardworking cooks who had fed us so well.

A morning’s shopping in the local market enabled many members to invest in traditional Mongolian national dress, including the elegant, three-quarter length gown known as the deel.

A three hour flight back to Ulaan Baatar ended with a bumpy ride in a thunderstorm, with lightening flickering around the tossing plane. Safely on the ground there was a night’s stop and a hot shower at the Bayangol Hotel before we headed out to the Hustai Nuruu National Park to study the Przewalski horses and the abundant wildlife.

Apart from the numerous marmots, voles, bats, ground squirrels, hare, tiny rabbit-like pika, Siberian jerboa and numerous raptors, including Golden Eagle, we counted up to 80 Red Maral Deer. Earlier, one night patrol thought they’d spotted a wolf.

Over the whole expedition we had counted and recorded 59 types of bird, 19 species of mammal and 80 species of vertebrates.

Our camp in a flower strewn valley surrounded by rocky crags, provided an ideal setting for us to hold our usual final dinner in commemoration of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Stahly’s haggis brought from Scotland and a liberal quantity of J & B whisky was served together with local dishes. Traditional speeches, some reeling and singing with our Mongolian friends went on into the early hours before we returned to Ulaan Baatar. We are deeply grateful to Great Ghengis Expeditions who organised the programme and logistics and all the Mongolians who did so much to make it a success.

Grow your own….

When you can’t get hold of the organic, GMO, low sugar forage you need, one alternative is to grow your own…if you are lucky enough to own your own land.

We are very lucky; we have a consistent supply of organic meadow Haylage from a producer large enough to keep our little herd going all winter, although it was close this year! It hadn’t occurred to me that we could grow your own…

This summer is the horses’ third year of living on our field. After a couple of years of experimenting, we now track around the edge in summer, growing the grass in the middle long for winter foggage, also known as standing hay.

Over the last couple of years I have learned more about how natural biodiversity in the horse’s diet is vital for good hindgut function. I have been following the wonderful work that Carol Hughes does at Phytorigins, using the wild Carneddau ponies of North Wales and their environment as a source of inspiration and study. Carol is very generous with her knowledge and shares much priceless information on her public Facebook page

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1862115997153052

Sarah at Forageplus has also been a big part of my learning journey and introduced me to the work of Albrecht, an American agronomist who was all about preserving the diversity of the micro-ecosystem within the soil itself, vital for the health of all animals and for our survival.

Forageplus offer a soil testing service and advice on soil mineral balancing to Albrecht principles. As far as I know, they are the only company in the UK to offer this service.

I wrote a couple of years ago about our early experience trying to explain Albrecht to our local agronomist-

https://www.nelipotcottage.com/albrecht-and-the-agronomist/

Since then we did manage to soil test and treat as per the recommendations for two years, giving ourselves a budget break this year because treating your land isn’t a cheap fix, although much cheaper than vets bills!!

I have also been reading about re-wilding, and the remarkable ability of the land to heal itself if left alone. Our land would have started life as a lowland meadow

http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/UKBAP_BAPHabitats-29-Lowland%20Meadows.pdf

With a bit of mere and moss thrown in

https://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/our-work-wildlife/living-landscapes/meres-and-mosses

A work colleague recently bought a house in North Wales with a 3 acre native upland hay meadow. Talking over coffee about the recommendations he had to follow for the preservation of this incredibly rare habitat made me think- could I get our field nearer to its original ecological state? And how much healthier for our horses would that be?

So, no chemical fertilisers or weed killers. In fact

Encourage and embrace plant diversity. Rik gave us some seeds from Wales, and I bought some native wildflower seeds from https://www.meadowmania.co.uk/

A single hay- cut followed by grazing, but the grass clippings must be cleared not allowed to rot and thereby fertilise the field.

Regular aeration- we have not achieved this yet- seems to be he hardest job to convince a contractor to do, but it is vital as it gets oxygen into the soil for the roots and the root dwelling organisms.

After cutting, grazing by herbivores is allowed and harrowing the dung. Ideally the herbivores should not have been treated with wormers as these kill the dung eating insects. We don’t worm unless necessitated by faecal egg counts and tapeworm saliva tests

https://www.nelipotcottage.com/targeted-equine-worming-programme-action/

So what changes have I noticed?

We had over 10 species of grass that I could differentiate in the field this year. We have had almost no ragwort this year – 15 plants pulled to date in the improved area, the track has a few more tiny rosettes but has not been treated as per Albrecht.

We have lots of new herbs and wildflowers, including this wonderful Prunalla Vulgaris, also known as ‘self-heal’.

Wild flowers return

The huge expanses of clover were not evident this year- instead we had swathes of new grass.

And we had enough grass to cut!! I was thinking we would have to pay someone to cut it and take it away as there wouldn’t be enough to bale but in this funny spring the grass just grew and grew.

And then shrank again in the heat…

Nonetheless it was still worth a go.

It doesn’t look like much once it’s mowed and rowed

However the baler kept spitting out good sized round bales

So there we have it- 3 months worth of home grown organic meadow Haylage. I am both delighted and gobsmacked. If you can’t buy what you need, do think about whether you could find a way to grow your own… there is no more satisfying feeling than seeing your own land produce a crop.

Although strictly speaking, we grow horses, not grass.

I hope I have inspired you- it is possible to grow your own hay or Haylage, to suit your own horses’ needs.

Next time, I’ll be able to tell you all about these guys

And what I will have learned from meeting them in their own natural habitat- in the wilds of Mongolia 🇲🇳

Big fit horses in reasonable work can get laminitis too…

Laminitis is not just a disease for small natives: big, fit horses in medium work can get laminitis too, as I discovered to my chagrin a few weeks ago.

I was chatting about our recent troubles at the area 20 qualifiers yesterday and the lady I was chatting too said “Oh, he’s a big horse, we forget they can get laminitis too” as if this was rare?

It had never occurred to me that laminitis was mainly a disease of small ponies, although I do associate it mostly with good doers. Cal is a good doer, but he is also a big, fit horse in medium level work and had been eventing the week before he showed that big fit horses in reasonable work can get laminitis too.

The causes of laminitis are now known to be metabolic, either associated with Equine Metabolic Syndrome ( a sort of type II Diabetes for horses) or Equine PID, more commonly known as Cushing’s disease. Metabolic causes means that laminitis is a disease of the whole horse, the cause and the treatment are not limited to the foot.

I’m pretty sure Cal has EMS, although I’ve never tested him properly. How do I know this? Because he has been such a tricky barefooter over the years. For those of you who do not fully embrace the barefoot concept, let me share with you my paradigm.

Any horse with the correct diet, environment, exercise and trim should be able to go barefoot and work hard barefoot.

Those 4 simple sounding words are not simple things to achieve in the U.K. Cal is an Irish Spirts horse, so he is half Irish Draught, and he looks like he got quite a lot of Connemara in the mix, so a dose of Spanish blood too. He didn’t get much TB in his phenotype, that’s for sure.

Diet-  Cal is finely tuned to survive in the Irish peat bogs, or possibly also in Spanish scrubland. He doesn’t get much green grass, a sniff makes him footsore so a good bellyfull would probably kill him. He is the main reason our horses are track dwellers, and his story is partly why we bought our house and land, because traditional livery yards simply could not cater for his needs. This horse loves fresh thistles, bashes down nettles to let them wilt, eats a bit of bracken for the insulin like compound, goes for ivy, again for the sugar busting properties. He is pretty good at managing his own condition, as long as he is offered the variety of herbs and plants he needs to offset the green posion. He gets a small bucket feed which contains salt, Phytorigin GI, a hindgut balancer ained at feeding the good bacteria, Phytolean plus, a plant based supplement with lots of anti-oxidants designed to support the immune system and homeostasis of tricky metabolic horses.

Environment: he on a track system or paddock paradise. His main needs #friendsforagefreedom are met as best we can. He lives out 24/7, in a stable herd with his mates, to groom, play, commune with and boss around. They have access to constant ad lib forage, and are safe from stress. As he is pretty dominant he is the safest of all from stress, especially as Paddy is the lookout.

Exercise: he’s my main horse. He lives on a track so does about 5 miles a day mooching around on there, he also gets ridden 3-4 times a week, a mixture of hacking, schooling, jumping and fast work every 10 days or so. Of course he could do more, if I had more time.

Trim: trim has always been tricky. But that’s mainly because Cal has been tricky. The more I learn about feet, the more I think there difference between a good trim and a bad trim is a bit like a clip: two weeks!! Bad feet are impossible to trim into a healthy shape and function, and good healthy working feet are really hard to trim into bad shape because they just wear themselves correct again with work and movement. Cal has been footy on stones for his entire barefoot career. We use nice little euphemisms but make no mistake, a slightly sore foot is a slightly weak or a pathological foot. That’s why I would never call a horse sound unless it was truly sound without shoes: if the horse is sore when you take the shoes off, the shoes are disguising a problem. It took me a few years of looking at hoof photos to realise that Cal was a sub-clinical laminitic.

When I bought him his feet ran so far forward the whole foot sat in front on his legs, but he was sound as a pound in shoes! When he broke his carpal bone and we took the shoes off it took 3 full years to get a hoof that actually had hoof under the leg bones, and 4 years to get the heel bulbs in line with the middle of his cannon bones. The under run heels, the slipper like toes, the occasional growth ring, these were all subtle laminitic stigmata. Yet he had worked hard, team chased, hunted, evented, with the only sign of challenge being on very stony ground. So many people said I should just shoe him, as if that would solve all our problems, and that advice even came from some barefoot trimmers and vets.

Had he been shod, I might not have spotted the mild attack of laminitis until it was a full blown disaster.

I had brought him down to the house ready to compete at the weekend. I had ridden him in the school, bathed, cleaned tack and left him in the stable at the house for an early start. Normally when at the house they get Horsehage HiFi Haylage,

but our local shop had run out so I had bought some West Lancs Haylage instead. I gave him a good feed and a good big section of Haylage to last him overnight. The next day he was pointing a foot at me, and shifting around behind.

It took me a few days to twig what was going on: because one foot seemed to be worse I thought abscess first of all. And I was still feeding the West Lancs Haylage. It was only when I realised it was pure Ryegrass Haylage that I put two and two together. After a few days at the house no abscess had appeared and he wasn’t actually a welfare case so I moved him back to the field. He got better there but after 10days was still not looking rideable. He had palpable pulses in all 4 legs and was moving very slowly and appeared miserable.

I got the vet out, who agreed with me that it was laminitis, but very mild, to the extent that, I quote, “a lot of owners wouldn’t have noticed there was anything wrong”. He gave Cal a shot of i.v. analgesia which allowed me to get hoof boots on his front feet so he was comfortable enough to walk back to the house, and then to march him up the big hill. I kept him at the house, rationing every mouthful: no grass at all, a section of Hifi or a tiny feed very 4 hours and walking up the hill once or twice daily. All this strict diet and exercise was aimed to sharpen his insulin response again. He had Phytorigins Rescue Remedy which is a 5 day course, double dose PhytoGI, double dose Phytolean Plus for maximum antioxidants and a sachet Danilone twice daily.

http://phytorigins.co.uk/Phyto-Rescue-Remedy

After 4 days he was much improved, back to hacking out and schooling again at 10days. He went back to the now very dry sandy grass free track (thanks weather) on about day 5 (more to do with work than precise symptoms).

The vet offered to do a glucose stimulation test to see if it was definitely EMS- I have declined this. The blood test says it’s not Cushings, there is no really effective treatment for EMS other than really tight management which we do already, and there is a significant risk of laminitis from the stimulation test.

I now know that every mouthful counts, that I will never switch Haylage again for my own convenience, and that this horse needs to work every week, no matter how busy I am with my job.

It’s been a bad spring. I have another medical friend whose horse got laminitis because she was a bit busy with work and didn’t ride for a week: nothing else changed. And I have heard local tales of other big, fit horses in reasonable work who have succombed to the condition after a seemingly innocent change in diet or management. The grass this spring has been bonkers, wet and warm and then sunny is a great combination for really rich Cheshire cow grass. Our track looks totally bare now but it’s the scorching sun that has killed the green stuff the last couple of weeks, before that it was the horses munching away that kept the grass looking poor.

Do you check your horse’s pulses every day?

http://www.ironfreehoof.com/equine-digital-pulses.html

Shod or not, a palpable pulse might be the first sign of impending laminitis and feeling a change early might just save your horse from a full blown attack.

https://thehorse.com/111374/10-early-warning-signs-of-laminitis/

Do you watch every mouthful your horse eats?

Keeping a tricky barefoot horse sound, healthy and in full work is a sure way to turn into a feed geek; Paddy could eat more or less what he liked and still trot and canter on any stony surface in the forest.

Since having Cal my rudimentary knowledge of horse physiology and nutrition is now more or less at degree level; of course it helps that I am already an expert in human physiology so the proper equine textbooks are legible to me. I have tried every supplement on the market, tried every supposedly healthy bagged feed and have come around to the acceptance that maintaining a healthy hindgut is key, and that all is really required is hay, water, salt and enough variety in their environment to allow them to forage for what they need. in the absence of variety, supplements might be required and it’s the Phytorigins approach that makes the most sense to the cynical scientist in me.

Do you reduce the bucket feed if your horse is doing less work?

Cal isn’t on anything rich or high in protein or sugar, we use Agrobs, but I have cut down significantly from what I was feeding and will cut down even more if he has a quiet week. He wasn’t fat, but his condition hasn’t really changed on less food so I think feeding the minimum required to keep him fit is definitely the way to go. Even in a busy month, he will never be in hard work like a polo pony or a racehorse.

Cal fully recovered at BRC area qualifiers

Operating within a false paradigm

Fallacies and paradigms- 2 of my favourite new words. Are you operating within a false paradigm?

First question – what is a paradigm?

operating within a false paradigm

Are you operating within a false paradigm, i.e. a false belief system? How does this relate to horses? I hear you cry…

Let me use a personal example of operating within a false paradigm.

Some years ago there was an incredibly successful black dressage stallion from the Continent. He and his rider posted record breaking scores. His movement was spectacular- his forelegs seemed to reach for the sky, stretching far beyond where his nose pointed, and the crowd gasped and cooed. And the judges also gasped and cooed. The record breaking scores led me to believe that this sort of movement must be sought, a result of the pinnacle of skilful and careful dressage training.

At the time, I wanted to learn more about how to train my horse, from scratch, all the way though to magnificence. At the time the black stallion was the epitome of competitive magnificence in my eyes. He was scoring over 80% and winning every gold medal around.

So my paradigm: because this combination was winning everything, he must be the most correct rider, and the black beauty the most beautifully trained horse out there.

As I read and learned more, I started to read about Rollkur. This rider is a well known exponent of Rollkur, or LDR, or deep stretching, or whatever fluffy name the proponents choose to use. This is an abusive training method where the horse’s head is hoiked in behind the vertical to achieve control and submission. This deprives the horse of his sight and also the use of his neck. It was first used by Nicole Uphoff and a big horse called Rembrandt who was too hot for her to handle in competition situations. Rollkur allowed her to ride him under control. And she won…lots.

Rollkur also has a strange effect on the movement of the forelegs. It accentuates flinging of the forelimbs while failing to engage the hind limbs. It creates or accentuates spectacular forelimb movement, but not in a biomechanically sound way.

Rollkur for prolonged periods of time was banned by the FEI in competition and warm up in 2010, on the basis that it is abusive, and that training in this position is bad for the horse’s health and soundness.

https://practicalhorsemanmag.com/health-archive/hyperflexion-in-horses

But the effects of Rollkur, the unnatural spectacular gaits on a hollow back and an overbent neck, continue to be rewarded.

So as an amateur learning dressage, I studied those high scoring tests. I tried to reconcile how this hero of dressage, a sport espousing harmony and partnership, could be considered abusive? How could the results of an abusive training method be winning rides, when dressage is an art as well as a sport, and is all about harmony, and improving the physique of the horse?

I did this weird thing in my head- maybe Rollkur done skilfully isn’t abusive? Maybe he wasn’t actually doing Rollkur, but something very close to it? Maybe it was possible to train a horse to show that degree of forelimb extravagance without using Rollkur? Maybe the horse was bred with that movement and he was simply harnessing it? May be we needed better horses to win, not to be better riders?

BUT DRESSAGE SHOULD BE A TEST OF TRAINING? Alerich, Wily Trout, these were thoroughbreds with ordinary movement, who were made more magnificent by correct training.

At my sister’s riding club in Germany, a Fjord pony used to win regularly at their equivalent of PSG, because he was trained to be the best athlete he could be.

I watched the black stallion’s tests on YouTube, over and over. And as I watched them more, and read more, and learned more, I began to notice other stuff.

The black stallion actually had very good, large moving, but correct gaits as a youngster. The trot in the later work wasn’t regular. The diagonal pairs didn’t match. The hind legs were uneven, one almost hops behind. The head is mostly behind the vertical, not mostly in front occasionally coming to the vertical as required in the FEI rules.

There was little harmony- the curb was torqued horizontally on tight reins and the stallion straining to escape. And his eye still haunts me, now I know what pain looks like.

I was struggling to understand how something that didn’t fit the FEI’s own definitions of the movements required could score so highly. The judges are the protectors and guardians of our sport- why would they reward incorrect work so highly?

When I want to learn something, truly learn and understand something, I go to the best textbooks.

I’m a surgeon- to know how to operate on a human, one needs to know the anatomy, the physiology, the function, and the likely effects of intervention. When we are schooling our horses, we are doing daily mini operations, working to improve the form and the function. To do that we do need detailed knowledge.

The first book in my dressage collection was a gift, and a key find.

Yet the details it contained of correct movements and exercises were not evident in the tests I was watching, nor in all the photos in this book.

Then came Aachen. The black stallion by now had another rider- who was struggling to ride him as successfully. More ominously though, his gaits looked very uneven by now. He was deemed fit to compete at Aachen, but the videos of that test show obvious lameness. How could the best equine vets in the world have passed him fit to compete?

http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2015/08/dressage-at-aachen-not-so-great-for-the-sport/

Then came Rio. Another Continental horse was passed fit to compete despite having been on intravenous painkillers and antibiotics overnight, having had a temperature of 40C and despite being in obvious, glaring pain in the warm up. The cause of the injury was first reported as fractured jaw, then a spider bite, but the cause is really immaterial. How could a true equestrian even contemplate competing their horse after a night like that? A human can choose to go out feeling ill, a horse needs us to speak for them.

And the vets should have spoken for the poor chestnut horse. The team vets did their best to get him into the ring- dubious but possibly understandable; their job is to look after the horses for the team, after all. But the official vets, those adjudicating, how did they let him warm up, let alone enter the arena?

http://taviannaomi.wixsite.com/indubioproequus/single-post/2014/05/01/The-Glass-Cieling

So the best vets in the world, employed by the FEI to monitor the competition, to make sure our equine partners are happy athletes as stated in their directives, allowed a very ill horse to be saddle up, ridden in obvious pain, and proceed to the competition.

My paradigm at that time- these are the best horses in the world, trained to the highest standard, protected by the rules and by the most experienced professionals in the world, whose job is to uphold the rules.

It would seem that paradigm was false…

Are you operating within a false paradigm? What are your beliefs regarding your role as a trainer, rider and protector of your horse? Have you examined those beliefs, checked them against your knowledge, discovered the gaps in your knowledge and sought to fill those gaps? Or do you blindly accept, as I once did, that the experts must know best?

And most importantly, have you twisted the observations of your own eyes, ignored your own feel, to fit in with your current belief system? I know I did, I denied the evidence of my own eyes, argued with others who didn’t know much about horses, yet who saw discomfort and weirdness more clearly,  until the cognitive dissonance within my own head was churning me up inside.

BTV, on the forehand, clawed left hand, C2/C3 highest point- at the time I was proud of this photo.

Luckily for me at the time, I had a very clear and outspoken horse, whose body and mind did not tolerate training that caused physical or psychological damage, no matter how much I loved him, and how genuine I was in wanting the best for him. For Paddy, and now for Cal and Rocky, trying hard wasn’t good enough, I have to learn to do it correctly.

BTV, short reins, short neck, hollow behind the saddle. Around the time of this photo we scored 72 in a test but Cal was turning his back on me when I presented him with a saddle.
Hands better, my position improving, neck coming out of shoulders correctly, chest broadening nicely, topline filling out, hindleg stepping through better

I was operating within a false paradigm.

I don’t have beliefs any more, or heroes, or idols. I have growing knowledge, an expanding skill set, and I have learned to listen to my horses.

Horses don’t have paradigms 🙂

Baby Rocky- neck and back need A LOT more muscle to support that head but floppy ears and nice steps. And I have elbows and a back!

Thank you Thursday

Behind every horse and owner there is a team helping to keep the horse sound and happy- I thought I would do a thank you Thursday for our fab team.

We do our best to feed clean, organic straights. Our feed comes from Equine and Pet Feeds Knutsford

https://www.facebook.com/equineandpetfeeds/

Our supplements are bought from Phytorigins. Since switching to this philosophy and using these products, my horses’ health and feet function have hugely improved

http://www.phytorigins.com/

Our fabulous trimmer is Emma

https://hoofmanship.weebly.com/price-list.html

she also fits hoof boots- we love Scoot boots- simple, comfy, good price, great spares kit, easy to change straps

For massage we use Babs

https://www.facebook.com/happyhorsetherapy.co.uk/

Massage, craniotomy-sacral and Myofascial Release Therapy. The horses love her.

And for teeth Alan has recently gone solo as an equine veterinary dental specialist

https://www.facebook.com/alanritchieEVD/

And finally for training, the cornerstone of all correct work, Ms P herself

https://www.facebook.com/Equestrian-Journey-450062835466/

I am clinic organiser and facilitator for the Cheshire/Wales/Shropshire group.

Team work makes the dream work- thank you all

Just do the homework

It’s been a long hard winter. I’m sure some of you have been really organised and managed to do lots of riding and training?!

I decided this winter that we would be kind to ourselves: I gave the horses January off to concentrate on eating and keeping warm out in their field. Rocky, our 5 year old Hanoverian, did some extra growing, which wasn’t quite in the plan. Then the rain came.

What I did do this winter was lots of studying. Just do the homework.

Riding is a physical activity. Training your horse correctly for longevity requires theoretical knowledge as well as physical skills.

I read and re-read a few of the Classical Dressage texts: Charles de Kunffy is a perennial favourite: his concise prose is so clear and the illustrations chosen are always completely inspirational.

https://g.co/kgs/qUETn4

His little but perfect book “The Ethics and Passion of Dressage” should be in every equestrian’s library, in my humble opinion. I feel very fortunate to have audited several of Charles’ clinics, at Dovecote Stables and at the now defunct TTT, as well as riding with him for a couple of lessons.

I did quite a lot of Facebook discussing- on sites such as Classical Horsemanship. Contrary to the modern defensive dressage divas, I find these sites incredibly informative. Once one starts to learn who to listen to, who really knows their theory, and how to spot others who just spout catchphrases without really understanding the nuts and bolts of correct training. And those who do know their stuff will always answer questions, really helpful and unfailingly polite, while those just spouting politically correct jargon but not actually doing the do cannot explain themselves and get defensive or offensive when questioned.

Just do the homework.

Facebook and online discussion are a fascinating exercise in communication too- do I understand my problem or the horse’s dilemma well enough to phrase a question that will lead to a useful answer?

Thomas Ritter has done a fabulous series of “Facebook lives” over the winter- these are still available online as a really generous free resource, and some of the mini challenges have been great, even if I didn’t manage to do the physical manege work yet to make the most of the exercises shared. I will be doing more of that homework now we have some light nights to enjoy.

I’ve found a yoga teacher I like, and that teaches just around the corner, which is great. I will have functional, unlocked hip flexors one day before I die…

But the main thing I did was to just do the homework, to make sure every ride counted. We don’t have an arena, so a lot of the winter riding we did was hacking in the forest, between snow and rain and hail.

I didn’t slop around on a loose rein, enjoying life. I didn’t ride my horse around in an artificial outline, stifling his urge to go forward. I made sure every step was taken with the longest possible forward and out neck that he could balance, with a relaxed jaw and poll, and I thought about my equitation absolutely every step that I could. Are my buttocks soft, have I got one on each side of the horse, are my knees level, are my legs rotated so I have thigh bones not fat in contact with the saddle, are my elbows pointy, are my upper arms a vertical part of my back, is my back flat not hollow, are my thumbs holding the reins, not fingers, are my fingers folded not grabbing….and most of all, can I stretch my lower leg back so it feels like my heels are collecting the hocks of the horse, I get a slight kneeling in church feeling and the angle behind my knee opens up?? None of these are positions to be held- the magic happens in the movement of change, the transition, so it is replace, replace replace, on a loop like a computer programme, round and round my body.

I made sure Cal was straight from tail to poll, no funky kinky stuff, and I tried to think about him stepping with even weight through both forelegs, and I did a little bit of shoulder in, haunches in, half pass as we walked and trotted around, but mostly I just worked on me.

And a big change occurred, suddenly over a long winter.

A soft, inflated lifted top-line developed. His neck and lumbar back look amazing. The contact became incredibly consistent, although he still head shakes on windy days. His stride has got longer, he has cadence and suspension developing.

And he is absolutely just a pleasure to ride. Keen, alert, fun, sensitive, self motivated, jumping all sorts of awkward crazy logs off a one stride turn, just for fun.

Just do your homework folks- it’s worth it.

But do the right homework- practise only makes perfect if the practise is correct.

You are either improving your horse or breaking him down.

and there is no try, only do or don’t.

Your horse will tell you when you are doing enough.

Enough is always much more than you think- if it ain’t changing, you ain’t doing it.

And don’t bullshit yourself, you are doing yourself and your horse a massive disservice if you do anything less than your best.

Just do the homework, with a big massive smile 🙂

If wishes were horses

“If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride”.

As a child, all my wishes were for horses. All my dreams and all my games involved horses, and all my wishes were horses and all my prayers were for a horse of my own (just in case there was a kind deity out there who could dish out real life miracle horses).

If wishes were horses, then I would have ridden every single day of my childhood.

I did OK. I had some riding lessons aged 7, which stopped pretty quickly once my mum realised that this inconvenient obsession would not be cured by increased exposure. The bus to secondary school passed an equestrian centre, as well as Mill Hill Boys School. While all my friends were getting off the bus to flirt with real boys, I was racing down to the stables, mucking out in return for the privilege of a fleeting bareback ride, bringing the horses in from the field.

If wishes were horses…I wrote poems about horses, practised drawing horses, covered every exercise book with doodles of horses’ heads.

If wishes were horses, I would have had a full stable!

I wonder how the books we chose shaped our equestrian dreams?

I read/devoured/memorised the Colt from Snowy River series, the Black Stallion series, the Thunderhead trilogy, the Shantih series. My horsey idols all lived out, in fields on the moors, or on the range, were often ridden bareback, had their natural instincts and characters kept intact, and seemed to have a mystical connection with their human hero/ine.

I dreamed of jumping, and galloping, mane and hair flowing in the wind, communicating by mind meld, not of fighting, or struggling, or arguing with my horse to achieve results.

I didn’t dream of rosettes, or winning. Just of being out with my horses, day after day, enjoying freedom and fun.

My mum took me to see the Spanish Riding School in London in the 80s. In those days, they were still the bastion of correct classical training. The advanced work looked effortless, the horses appeared magical, the synergy between horse and rider invisible. Years later, when I started competing, and having ‘proper’ lessons, the difference between what I had seen that evening and what I was being told to do seemed completely incongruous.

I didn’t dream of pulling my horse’s head in, of making him rounder, of making him submissive. I had dreamed of a willing partner, of being able to ride with my seat, without force, without pain.

I didn’t dream of whipping my horse to make him do something. The theory that your horse needs to be more scared of you than of the fence is just nonsense. I want my horses to trust me, so when they see a scary fence they check in, ask is it OK, and then go for it because I say we can. And after good training, I want my horses to be so confident that when they see a scary fence, it isn’t scary because they have seen similar stuff before, been allowed to work it out, and learned that they can. In the long run, I want my horse to be saying “it’s OK mum, I’ve got this, let’s go”. We don’t get to that point by force, but by education.

Anna Blake wrote a fabulous blog about that process

https://annablakeblog.com/2018/03/09/the-middle-path-peaceful-persistence/

Anna writes with a lot of wisdom: her blogs contain life lessons as well as horse lessons. Most of us need life lessons first 😉

And most horse lessons are life lessons, in the end.

I do ride with a schooling whip, as did the masters, for communication to say “this hip”, “this shoulder”, “lift your belly”, or to see “hey, I’m talking to you”. A whip is never to be used for punishment, never against the horse. It’s a communication device, for very specific aiding moments.

‘Aider’- verb, French- to help, assist, support, to help to do

That’s what the aids should be…

I also do lots of exercises where the whips are used as flags in my hands to show floppy wrists, or held down behind a straight back. My horses tolerate all sorts of waving whips around, because they know the whip won’t hurt them, and also because they know intent. They know when the whip is something to do with them: pointing at a particular body part during in hand work for example, or when the whip is absolutely nothing to do with them.

I do also wear spurs, but again they are for refinement. I have done years of work on my legs, with many more years to go, so that I can give an aid for energy with the inside of my foot, not my heel or calf. That means I can use my spurs for specific aids- currently “Cal, lift your belly!” I am nowhere perfect- our work as a rider is never done, but I can choose, leg or spur?

I do jump in spurs, but was surprised to find that cross country times became much more achievable once I loosened my legs and learned to balance on my legs not grip with my calves. Cal’s hindleg could then come forward into the space allowed, his stride got longer and smoother, and hey presto, the magnificent half draught learned to gallop.

When I recall my early reading choices, It’s no surprise our horses live out, unrugged, in a herd, with their key needs catered for #friendsforagefreedom.

Winter on the big field

And a dog. Every horse should have a pet dog😂.

Our horses have 6 acres, so cannot be described as free range, but they have as much freedom and movement and equine free time as we can allow them. As well as ample forage, a field with an increasing number of plants, grasses and herbs to choose from, and plenty of life to watch.

Our summer Paddock Paradise style track along the bottom edge of the field

l’m not trying to tell anyone how to do things- we all find our own path and our own compromises. And we should all continue learning and examining our “truths” every day.

But what I would ask is that you look back to your childhood dreams of horses and just reflect on how close you are to those ideals? Did your wishes turn into the horses you dreamed of? Did the horses turn into happy, healthy, willing partners?

And did you turn into the owner your horse would dream of?

Would your horse pick you?

Cal and Lilly, our neighbour. Every horse deserves to be loved by a little girl- looks like Lilly is going to be Cal’s little girl…when she’s a bit bigger

 

Lilly is about to start riding lessons, at a local riding school where children aren’t given whips. I look forward to hearing about the ethical riding lessons as she learns the basics, properly.

Another ethical establishment – East Devon Riding Academy- blog regularly about their approach to teaching children the joys of horsemanhip.

http://www.ridingacademy.co.uk

Because who remembers falling in love with horses and then somehow, along the way, we are taught that it is OK to hit them, OK to tie their mouths tight shut, OK to force their heads down, rather than allow them to express their opinion about our riding?

When I dreamed of horses, my childhood dreams were full of sound, happy horses.

Now that I have learned to listen to the horses I have, to allow them a voice, an opinion and a good equine life of their own, now all my dreams are coming true.

And I hope Lilly’s will too.

The best things in life are free

The best things in life are free…or are they?

Epona TV was launched in 2007. It was the one of the first subscription based video streaming service in the world.

www.epona.tv

And the platform Louise and Julie created is unique in that www.epona.tv doesn’t just stream competition footage or carefully managed PR opportunities for equestrian wannabe celebrities.

From it’s inception, www.epona.tv has looked critically and scientifically at every aspect of modern horse management, media and sport. And have reported factually, dispassionately, for the good of the horse.

The best things in life are free…except TV.

Breaking news….

The blue tongue photos? www.epona.tv/blog/holding-one-s-tongue

Farewell Falsterbro? www.epona.tv/blog/the-path-of-most-resistance

The warm up at Aachen? Epona

www.epona.tv have also contributed huge amounts of positive information to our understanding of equines. They have reported on Ethology studies of feral horses, have shared Dr Carol’s fascinating work on the feeding habits of feral horses, who seem much healthier than their laminitis, stressed domesticated cousins, have shared Dr Bowker’s videos on hoof anatomy.

Since I discovered www.epona.tv a few years ago, it has been my go to TV channel for interesting, accurate and fun video based horse content. The subscription was always well worth it.

www.epona.tv/blog/the-bare-necessities

I have questioned, agonised, cried, rejoiced, and even rejected- stimulating discussion is what good media seeks to achieve. It has amazed me what people find acceptable in managing their horses. And has led me to understand that to some people, and to some horses, the balance I have found between riding and husbandry may also be a step too far. I learned to check in with my horses more often, to read their bodies and their faces, and ask/ look for feedback from them- and that simple change in mindset has changed everything.

Thank you www.epona.tv

And now, as of March 2018 it’s FREE!!

The best things in life are free…. now

Epona.tv have generously opened up their content to the world! This is HUGE.

www.epona.tv

I’m sure this reflects our increasing need to educate ourselves and seek deeper understanding of these fabulous animals.

From the www.epona.tv website

“As the years went by and the scandals piled up, we became increasingly aware that the problems faced by equestrian sport were not about a few rotten apples spoiling the barrel. The sport itself and its governing bodies were not at all interested in protecting horses.”

In Gallo-Romanian religion, Epona was a protector of horses, ponies, donkeys and mules.

Julie and Luise have worked very hard on behalf of their namesake. Their content is interesting, sometimes difficult to watch, may challenge our long held beliefs, but it is never stale or boring.

Horses need their humans to stand up for them, to protect them and in order to do that, we need to understand them.

Epona.tv try to bridge that gap.

Have a look- you won’t regret it!

www.epona.tv

Because the best things in life are free…

Except horses…

but healthy, happy, sound horses are much cheaper.

Working on a perfect seat

January and February have been challenging from a riding point of view here in the UK; I have been making the best of the worst conditions by working on my leg position and tone, part of the lifelong task of working on a perfect seat.

There is often a theme to our learning. This winter, I have been doing a lot of background reading, and whilst perusing the photos, I have found myself fascinated by the photos of jumping and dressage heroes of old, all with a perfect seat balanced to the ground, and a really good strong leg position.

Eddie Boylan on Durlas Elile from Einar’s personal collection- world champion 3 Day Eventer and also successful at GP dressage
Arthur Kottas from “Kottas on Dressage”

Leg positions with good angles between ankle, knee and hips.

Photo from “Creative Horsemanship” CDK
Photos from “Creative Horsemanship” CDK

For me the key feelages have been that the it is the outside muscles of the legs that are engaged, not the inside. A rotated thigh allows the thigh bone to lie flat against the saddle; there should be no muscle in the way. For me this is legs off saddle, an inch up, an inch out and away, and then thigh rotation and heels out and back as if they are connected to the hocks of the horse. Piriformis, a pesky little muscle in our hip-joint,  screams at me when I have done enough.

There are other key feels for me: I have to stretch my weight down and over the top but along the outside of my thigh- like kneeling in church.

And I have to push my legs back and my toes up- I found a great way to access this feeling on the ground the other day- I stand in riding stance, and then, without changing anything else above, I move my feet back several inches so they are well underneath me. Imagine kneeling in church to get the feeling of down the thighs. Or the feeling that your knees are pressed up against a bar or a wall. That last feel finally got my kneecaps rolled down a fraction not opening forwards . When I do this ‘enough’ in the saddle, Cal stretches his topline and reaches forward to carry me beautifully on a softly lifted back. And that fabulous lifted stretching topline has nothing to do with the reins!

This work has involved a lot of stretching my hip flexors, through yoga, Pilates and with regular attention from a really good physio  who does Myofascial Release.

For those of you who haven’t yet discovered the magic that is MFR, this video gives a good overview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdRqLrCF_Ys

Draped legs, gently framing the horse’s sides.

Shana Ritter – from “The Biomechanical Basis of Classical Riding “

The degree of tone in the lower legs, required to support a horse in collection.

Thomas Ritter – from “The Biomechanical Basis of Classical Riding”

Jumping position with the back flat, the shoulders up, the bum pushed back, the legs still grounded, and above all the hands giving towards the horse’s mouth, not balanced on the crest for support.

Above are some of the photos from my winter reading that have inspired me to work harder.

Sources-

“Creative Horsemanship” Charles de Kunffy

“The Biomechanical Basis of Classical Riding” Dr Thomas Ritter

“Kottas on Dressage” Athur Kottas- Heldenberg

for more reading suggestions https://www.nelipotcottage.com/books-i-am-glad-i-found/

Hoping my seat is up to inspection 😉

Homework for my long-suffering readers:

Someone asked a really simple question the other day

“what motivates you?”

and the flip side is “what limits you?”

Be really honest with yourselves: if you don’t know what limits you, you can’t move past the limit.

For me Cal made it really obvious I had to learn to ride him better to get the best out of him.

I wanted a novice eventer, and inadvertently bought a seat horse. Who would insist on me working really hard, every ride, towards a perfect seat.