I decided to send my horse away to Micheal Peace for training,having read his books ( The 100% Horse and Bombproof your Horse etc ).He has an article in this months Horse magazine, and yes, it works !
She went as she was losing confidence out hacking alone and had become increasingly spooky, partly, because over the winter I'd not been able to ride much due to poor facilities and manic roads at my old yard.She's young, backed just 9 months and a muscly, strong- minded DWB X. So rather than risk a downward spiral on a lovely young mare, my plan was to send her away to someone more gifted than me
and move yards to somewhere with better facilities for safe riding for a youngster.
Mike listened to what I felt the problems were- spookiness and bombproofing and I left her and went home, (awful). I had phone updates and then on the first visit saw him riding her.She was already totally different, she moved differently, her trot was light and springy and open, she was stretching down and working from behind, her former stiff, wooden paces gone.
On each of my visits the progress was marked and I had lessons on her to learn how to keep her soft and how to move her feet and how to keep, her focus on me and thinking.
Now back home to a new yard, she has returned more confident and mature with a different attitude to working things out.Actually rode her in the menege (for 2nd time) with two piglets having a squealing argument in the sty beside us with an angry peacock squawking at them, who then flew into the menege, while my mare carried on working with hardly a second look !
I'm so glad I sent her,I never expected her to return as she has and of course, she's still young with a lot to learn, but at least she's had a gentle and knowledgeable start as her foundation training. We've, so far, hacked out alone in a new area, she is tense but her attitude is different in that she doesn't panic but listens to my direction to move or to stop and investigate.
So, for any cynics out there who think horses come back from trainers worse than they went, here's one who came back happier and smarter from a trainer who listened to her.
She went as she was losing confidence out hacking alone and had become increasingly spooky, partly, because over the winter I'd not been able to ride much due to poor facilities and manic roads at my old yard.She's young, backed just 9 months and a muscly, strong- minded DWB X. So rather than risk a downward spiral on a lovely young mare, my plan was to send her away to someone more gifted than me
and move yards to somewhere with better facilities for safe riding for a youngster.Mike listened to what I felt the problems were- spookiness and bombproofing and I left her and went home, (awful). I had phone updates and then on the first visit saw him riding her.She was already totally different, she moved differently, her trot was light and springy and open, she was stretching down and working from behind, her former stiff, wooden paces gone.
On each of my visits the progress was marked and I had lessons on her to learn how to keep her soft and how to move her feet and how to keep, her focus on me and thinking.
Now back home to a new yard, she has returned more confident and mature with a different attitude to working things out.Actually rode her in the menege (for 2nd time) with two piglets having a squealing argument in the sty beside us with an angry peacock squawking at them, who then flew into the menege, while my mare carried on working with hardly a second look !
I'm so glad I sent her,I never expected her to return as she has and of course, she's still young with a lot to learn, but at least she's had a gentle and knowledgeable start as her foundation training. We've, so far, hacked out alone in a new area, she is tense but her attitude is different in that she doesn't panic but listens to my direction to move or to stop and investigate.
So, for any cynics out there who think horses come back from trainers worse than they went, here's one who came back happier and smarter from a trainer who listened to her.
