A phenomenon, a hinderance, or simply a survival mechanism? Eniola Odurinde looks into Fear.
Fear. Stress. Anxiety.
These are all negative emotions. People say that riding is the ultimate stress buster, but does the stress that you carry through the yard gate have an effect on your horse?
It does.
Horses can sense fear. They can feel the hand that holds their reins tremble. They can feel the quick pounding of nervous hearts and they can sense that something is frightening the rider. Horses are flight animals and we are their guides. Wild or feral horses survive in herds, but we have taken the place of the herd leader. If the herd leader is afraid of something, you should be afraid of it too. What the horses dont know is that what is (usually) scaring the riders is the horses themselves. At other times it may be a black binbag that the riders think the horses will be scared of, so they tense in anticipation, and the horses feel the rider tense up and spook at the black binbag because they think they should be scared of it because of the riders fear. It is a vicious circle, but many people dont realize the effect, and smack their horse because they think the horse is being naughty. The horse gets confused and does not quite understand, and the rider becomes even more fearful because they anticipate the ‘bad’ behavior.
Some riding school horses are used to the negative, anxious vibes that they receive from beginners, but most horses, especially young ones are extremely sensitive to these vibes.
If you are suffering from stress, be it over a divorce, or a hard time at work, you must not take it through the yard gate with you. Breathe deeply. Even though it sounds obvious to keep breathing, sometimes people just stop breathing. To avoid not breathing, sing a catchy, happy tune such as you are my sunshine. When you get to the yard gate, breathe deeply and close your eyes. Visualize your problems, grab them and stuff them in a bag. Seal the bag so they cannot escape and put it aside. Then enjoy the time spent on the yard.

Countryside Blog horse riding, ride without fear, riding tips

Once the horse is 100% comfortable with all the harness it is time to long rein him in full harness. Once he is comfortable with this, attach traces to his harness and have one person lead him amd another two to hold the traces. The leading person trots the horse along and the other two people hold on and get ‘pulled’ along. Some people recommend getting the horse to pull a tyre, but these can bounce and hit a horse’s rump or legs causing him to take off. If you do choose to use this method great care should be taken to ensure there are no bumps to spook the horse.

Some people get the horses to pull railway sleepers, others prefer to use hay bales.

One person should get the carriage near the horse and bang and clatter it a bit to ensure the horse is comfortable with the noise.

Once your horse is ready, under the instruction of an experienced driver it is time to get your horse pulling a sledge. Your guide will take you through the steps of going about it correctly.

Once your horse is doing all of this calmly and confidently’ it will soon be time to put him to. But before you do this, get him used to the shafts against his sides to avoid problems by getting two wooden poles, old broom handles will do, and stand behind him ( out of the kick zone of course (even if you trust him with your life, he may still be spooked by wooden poles touching his sides)). Carefully rub the poles against his side, to recreate the effect of the shafts.

Once all of these steps have been sucessfully completed, the time has come to put the horse to. For this activity you need at least three people, one to hold the horse, and the other two to carefully lift the shafts over the horses back and gently slide them into place.

Once you have him put to, slowly walk him forward so he can feel the shafts against his sides.. With time and careful handling, you will soon be able to put weight on the carriage and then you will progress to actually driving the horse, teaching him to obey your voice and rein aids and you will be truly off and away!!!

good luck and happy times with your hose!!!

top tip: you will go so much further if you talk to your horse. Dont feel stupid about it, say whatever you like in a calming tone and he will trust you much more.

For more information on carriage driving visit http://www.hddg.co.uk/ to check out other carriage driving aspects and events

Your can read part one of this article here.

Countryside Blog carriage driving, training, young horse

A man who is probably extremely fond of his pony seem to have discarded the convention of using horse box and horse traillers to move horses and ponies about when he was seen trying to buy a ticket at Wrexam train station with his grey pony in tow. Picture of the man and his pony captured by CCTV was released by the train station.

Shocked staff watched as the man tried to get on the train at Wrexham General station with the grey pony in tow. Apparently a train conductor refused to let him board the train with his pony, he then return to the ticket booth where he tried to buy two tickets – one for himself and one for his pony.

Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) said horses were not permitted on safety grounds. The RSPCA said it was concerned and was viewing the CCTV tapes.

The man tried to travel on Saturday’s 1902 BST service to Holyhead on Anglesey with his four-legged companion.

The ATW spokeswoman said: “Arriva Trains Wales allows dogs and small animals to travel on board trains.

“All animals, except dogs, must be conveyed within a fully enclosed basket or pet carrier with dimensions not exceeding 85 x 60 x 60cm.

The man has also been reported to have been seen with the pony at accident and emergency of a hospital and at a pub.

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The Queen has been shown around the Irish National Stud horsebreeding centre on the third day of her historic visit to the Republic of Ireland.

In a speech at Dublin Castle on Wednesday, she offered her “sincere thoughts and deep sympathy” to victims of Ireland and the UK’s troubled past.

She went on to praise the “lasting rapport” now between the countries.

An apology had not been expected, the BBC’s Nicholas Witchell said, but the Queen came “pretty close”.

BBC Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson said that having reached “half-time” in the Queen’s four-day trip, there was now “no more politics – just horses and showbiz today”.

The Queen is due to attend a variety show at Dublin’s National Convention Centre on Thursday evening.

source/full story: bbc

Countryside Blog Horsebreeding, irish horses, queen horse lover, the queen state visit to ireland

The new from BBC below is quite interesting. The lambs thieves seem to have an interesting ways of tranporting what they stole:

Some of the animals were on the back seat of one of the cars while others were discovered packed into the boot.

Officers have now located the owner of the lambs which were found near Oldbury in the West Midlands in the early hours of Thursday.

Six men were arrested on suspicion of theft after the Vauxhall Cavalier and Rover cars were stopped.

Police said the lambs’ owner is from Toddington, Gloucestershire, and he will be reunited with his flock.

The police spokesman said officers found eight lambs in the boot of one of the vehicles with another three on the back seats.

In the second vehicle, four lambs were found in the boot and one in the foot-well.

“The lambs were found to be tightly bound and were obviously distressed,” he said.

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