“Many Roads To Rome?” – Email 5

Hello ,

I hope you had a good weekend?

The family went from supporting Daisy and Hugo at Boomerang Cross Country to spending the afternoon watching The Magnificent Seven with my Mum in Henley. Pure escapism. If you love it you love it – I'll put a link to the music and promo at the bottom of this page. I put a lot more detail on this Facebook post (Yul Brynner’s horse was called Pie which was one very important fact).

Back to Hugo, it's so nice to build a bond with a horse and just be able to take your time and do what you think best. Daisy hasn’t ridden much in the last 18 months and is just getting going again. You know the story of Rehab Hugo by now? It’s all in the Intelligent Horsemanship magazine! He’s had to spend quite a lot of time relearning to use his own body.

I remember when he first came and after the operation he got quite confused when I was picking his feet out. I seriously thought at one stage he might be neurologically damaged – I thought ‘how complicated is it to pick each foot up as I ask?’ Actually, very complicated if you’re having to learn everything as new again.

We’ve done loads of ditches and up hills and down dips on our happy hacks – and we’d practised ditches at home (remember the food on the fence?) but for some reason he came to this tiny drop at Boomerang and came to a halt.

Now there are many roads to Rome (it’s said) and I just popped up behind him, where he could see me, to see if I clicked my fingers/tapped my leg that would work to encourage him off. It didn’t. You can tell pretty quickly if what you’re doing is going to work as you see them preparing their body and their facial expression shows they are figuring it out.*

*See if you can notice any of this in the videos..

As soon as I could see patting my leg (from an angle behind where he could see me), wasn’t going to work I went to Plan B and gave him a little lead (not always easy off reins) from then on we were Good to Go.

Then we went to some Proper Ditches! (Below) Do any of you remember when Monty used to do the ‘Lake and Stream’ at demos? He’d have a horse that wouldn’t go over a tiny piece of tarp and then he’d put a huge piece of tarp in the roundpen – and crucially – Not Try To Get the Horse to Go Over It. He’d go round and round and sometimes the horse would ‘accidentally’ step on the corner and then – before you knew it the horse was walking on the huge tarpaulin alongside Monty – without even a lead line – Advanced Horse Psychology!

So going round these ditches like this was the same principle “We don’t want to go over no ditches” (For some reason the Ghostbusters Theme Song came into my mind then 🤷‍♀️) When you feel your horse (and you) are completely relaxed it’s time to ask for what you actually want (with a Plan B if necessary).

On this occasion I used food in a bowl as a reward like last week. This won’t be a permanent thing but you could see his whole attitude change when he heard/saw me calling with the bowl. It also stopped him rushing after each ditch as he had to stop to get the feed. Then once we were on a roll we continued onto ditch two, three and finally to the biggest ditch number four.

While I'm not denying whipping a horses over jumps can work, you and I need to think what we want from our time with our horse. Do we want a horse that will attempt to jump anything even if he's really fearful? What could be the downside of that? There's a possibility that they might crash through a fence even when they know they're on a wrong stride. If they try to go and then have to stop instantly, it will be what's often labelled a ''dirty stop' that has the rider off over their neck.

If our aim at the moment is to jump round a 80 cross country and maybe going up some levels. Does it have to be life or death?

When you learned to drive did your instructor immediately prepare you for Formula One driving in your early lessons? No. Their main aim was for you to be safe on the roads. That's our aim with Hugo, to have a horse who is relaxed, confident, safe and going to last a long time. Like Pie.

Talking of Pie (!) remind me to tell you about when Daisy first started competing Pie in the bigger Working Hunter classes. It was one of their first big Open Classes at the Peterborough Championships. It was pouring with rain. I’m a nervous watcher at the best of times. As he went in I whispered to him “Now look after her Pie”.

I can’t tell the story in real life as it always makes me too emotional. I'll have write it up sometime – I think you'll find it useful!

My quick reminders for this week are the up and coming prize draws and webinars featuring Meadowmania, Red Horse Products, Dr James Cooling and myself! Do go and check these out if you haven't already.

Anyway, Abi and Sharron have told me I must keep these stories short. They have indulged me in letting me tell stories on a Wednesday because that's what I most enjoy computer wise. Meanwhile Abi and Sharron are going to tell you more about our educational content and exceptional benefits on Sundays.

Having the memberships means we can pay our vets bills 🙄 and with the wealth of information from a wide range of experts we'll keep yours to a minimum and ensure you have the maximum amount of fun with your horse!

Lots of Love,

Kelly xxx

PS Probably you need to be over 50 years to remember this film? Tell me if this music gives you goosebumps! It's a good clip to watch when you need to feel brave.