Hello again. Today’s blog post is the second in our series from Margaret and her best friend Autumn. For those of you who missed her first tale, you can read it here Tales from the mountains – part 1.

So that just leaves me to wish you a good weekend and speak to you again next week.

Carolyn
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Well…I’ve been waiting for the big chapter 2 of our mountain tales to come to me and I think I’m looking too hard. I think that’s my major problem with myself. I’m always waiting for that big epiphany,that moment that just transcends all others but sometimes they’re so small you can miss them when they are right in front of you. If you’re waiting for your horse to start side passing at liberty you might miss the moment when he’s standing next to you breathing deep into your ear.

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Continuing on from Monday’s post, I would like to give some tips for amateur trail riding.

It is often more beneficial to grain your horse out on the trail than at home to help barn-sour horses. If the horse tries to go home faster, turn him around after an eighth of a mile and ride him back to the spot you grained him and give him some more grain. You can repeat this several times on a daily ride. This could fix your horse from wanting to get home in a hurry. It is so much fun watching the horse change his mind and reconsider his options.

Another tip is to always walk your horse home. Do not trot and canter. Many beginning trail riders enjoy playing ‘pony express rider’ on their ride home but it builds up bad habits in the horse to allow the horse to run home as well as to build bad habits in yourself.

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Hi again. Here are some tips on how to connect with your horse on a daily basis so that you can warm up the working bond between you before you ride.

1. Before you get to the barn remember to clear you mind and make a mental outline of all the things you are going to do with your horse. Be prepared however to change course depending on how the connection with your horse goes and how he is feeling. Be in a good mood and happy to see your horse. Remember to give him your full attention as a horse finds it hard to follow your lead without your full attention. Try to see him around the same time each time so he looks forward to your arrival.

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A client of mine called me for some advice on how to get her stallion to cross a bridge, a bridge that he was used to crossing. She housed the stallion in a barn at night and put him out in a field with his mares during the day. The mares came in with him at night and were put out first thing in the morning to make it easy to take him out to the field later.

For some reason though, suddenly he would not go any further when he got to this bridge he had to cross. They did not want to get into a fight with him on this issue and had tried many different training methods before they called me. I asked them, “What happened at the bridge that might have caused him to not want to it?”. She told me, “One day when the stallion was in the middle of the bridge, a stork flew out from under it and scared him badly and ever since that time he has become more and more resistant to crossing it.”

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Today I want to tell you a story about one man and his horse. This story sort of suggests that not everyone should ride a horse. Certain people can certainly ride no problems but Webster was not one of them and I think you’ll understand why when I tell you his story.

Well, Webster had two horses, one was a pony and other was a nice older horse. He’d had lots of failures with riding the pony and this one time had got thrown off onto the pavement and hurt himself quite badly. In fact, every time he seemed to get on a horse, he seemed to get thrown off. So, we decided that what he needed to do was ride the older horse so nothing would happen to him because that mare never did anything wrong, just never.

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As every one knows, I had an unusual life growing up in the desert with horses. Our horses were able to run free most of the day in a herd and go where they wished. They were loose and there were no fences to keep them in from doing exactly what they wanted to do. The freedom, connection and performance I shared with them caused me never to really accept the conditions horses are faced with today. Horses are not free anymore and we keep them in captivity. This is one of the reasons I invented the Waterhole Rituals. We have taken their land, called it our home and horses haven’t any claim to the motherland that frees their spirit, leaves them to raise their families and keeps them together as they wish.

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Hello. Today I would like to conclude my thoughts on how we can help racehorses by looking to the future.

The strong permanent change we can make is to guide children to be compassionate and caretakers of horses. A great way to start with children is to ask them what does the horse’s world look like when humans are supportive to their needs? Go to schools and ask this question. Remember, ask and it is given!!! This is something I have done in the past and you might consider to facilitate change.

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