Natural Horse Company

DREAM HORSE : DREAM RIDER

Still dreaming of having your perfect horse? Suspect your horse dreams of having a better rider? Find out how to make your dreams come true at an Evening Presentation this month.

Speakers will be James Shaw whose unique approach teaches perfect rider bio-mechanics for confidence, collection and performance.

Hannah Dawson will show you her wonderful positive training approach which creates a happy, calm horse, able to learn anything from loading to piaffe.

Download a poster here to put up at your yard, fill a car with friends and take advantage of our special offer: 4 tickets for the price of 3.  Download FLYER 

The evening starts at 7pm on March 31st at the Scotch Corner Hotel, near Darlington (junction of A1 and A66).

Both speakers will be following their talk with weekend workshops at my farm during April. Check out their pages for more details.

I'll be there, getting closer to realising my dreams, and I'd love you to join me!

BUY TICKETS NOW FOR ADVANCE PURCHASE DISCOUNT AND 4 FOR 3 OFFER!!! (Single ticket advance price £10/person. On door price £15/person. Limited seating so advance booking highly recommended. Payment by cheque or card following email reservations)

Baucher says: "Open your Laogong!"

I love getting the last word in: exiting on a killer line with a flick of the imaginary blond tresses. So deathbed sayings fascinate me.

Reading Racinet, talking about the great horseman Baucher, I came across Baucher's deathbed instructions to his friend General L'Hotte:

"Remember well, L'Hotte: always this (and he pressed L'Hotte's hand in his); never that (and he pulled L'Hotte's hand towards his chest)"

Well, maybe L'Hotte had heavy hands so it was important enough to remind him at the last. For me, Baucher, Racinet and co are developing my understanding of what I've been learning with James Shaw for the last few years. And one vital thing is the vexed question of "good hands".

One thing I know is that I don't have them naturally. I have a well built propensity to pull, hold fast, get rigid in the right hand, and a left hand that resembles Elvis's trembling hips, it's so out of control. 

One of the main teachings that James brings from Tai Chi is the understanding and use of energy gates in the body. He goes into this well in his book so look there for more detail. They are areas of the body where we classically hold tension and need to learn to consciously release them and then control them. For riders, the first block is usually at the small of the back, an energy gate known as the Ming Meng. Other typical spots are the back of the neck, known as the Upper Pass and the hands, known as the Laogong. Releasing these areas causes major changes in the horse as they release them and so can collect naturally, without any force or artificial aid. Learning to do it is both simple and hard!

When I open the Laogong in riding the feeling is of pressing into the rein, almost like giving someone a gentle connecting hand squeeze. Roisin softens, drops her head and chews. 

So I reckon Baucher was in touch with his inner Tai Chi master and knew well how to open his Laogong and probably, all his other gates too.

Thanks to Lynne Gerard for permission to use the book  illustration, which she designed. Her website journals the story of the Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve and is really worth visiting.

 

 

Clicker train shoulder-in

This video is another excerpt from a clicker training demo I did, showing the progression of shoulder-in from teaching it in-hand in walk and trot to performing it ridden. Clicker training creates a horse that is amazingly soft and light, while moving forward correctly and willingly.

Toby is 20 years old and for him to be moving this way is incredible! For the first time in our 13 years together he is truly moving properly, with the back lifted and free, soft through his head and neck without tension in his body. Teaching this with the clicker has helped him hugely, as he has long term physical problems causing stiffness and unevenness in his hind quarters. Not any more!

This is also supported by the work I've been doing with James Shaw, ensuring that I am balanced and free in my back so Toby can continue moving in this way while ridden, without being blocked by the rider. 

This means Toby and I have years left of riding together, which is great! At least I think it is. Toby is naturally inclined to do very little, so would quite like to retire to mind his herd, I think! The clicker training and Tai Chi riding have meant he is much more eager than ever before to work, though, and he has been thoroughly enjoying his gymnastic jumping workshops recently!

Hannah

Backing a young horse with Clicker Training

This video, from the demo at Jodhpurs riding school, shows saddling and mounting a young horse using clicker training. The clicker demos last week went really well and Toby and India were both brilliant. Thank you to everybody who attended them!

India is my 3yo warmblood and I've taught her everything with clicker training, from leading nicely, standing for the hoof trimmer to stopping her spooking and being great loading and saddling. This was only her fourth outing, and I put it down to clicker training that she is so calm and able to cope in new situations. For those of you who attended the demo at Stannington, which was the first demo we did, she kept herself calm despite the newness of the situation. She was full to the brim of new experiences but she didn't spook or misbehave at all which, at 3, is all I can ask of her. 

By the time we went to Jodhpurs, she was thoroughly enjoying herself, marching straight into the horse box the moment I opened it and saying hello to everyone during the interval (She doesn't like chocolate but is quite interested in tea). She also met herself in a mirror for the first time which was lovely to watch, especially when she pranced back to me with her tail in the air!

Toby was super too, watch this space for an excerpt of his beautiful performance, showing lift and collection, shoulder-in ridden and in-hand, collected and extended trot at liberty and more. All using positive reinforcement only!

Hannah

Ex-battery hens

The latest additions to our home are 4 ex-battery hens. They were going to be slaughtered at a year old as is the practice in these farms, so we've offered 4 of them the chance of a better life. 

They arrived from Hen Rehomers in a bit of a sorry state, big bare bums, pale floppy combs and wonky beaks. Having previously had very little room to move in and a lack of socialisation, it's great watching them learn to peck and scratch, have dust baths and snuggle up together every night. 

We bought a fantastic hen house from one of our customers. Jane (aka Mrs Cluck Cluck) sells hens with hen houses and runs and has a wealth of knowledge and experience in hen-keeping to get anyone starting their own back-yard egg production! The photo shows our 4 girls in their hen house in our back garden

My boyfriend and I are currently debating names, but we think (egged on by me, pardon the pun) they're going to be our pink ladies; Sandy, Frenchie, Rizzo and Marti. Fitting, as they arrived the weekend we held a Grease-themed party!

Hannah

Horseman's Evening

Hannah is also doing a presentation on clicker training at Horseman's Evening .

This event looks set to be a great night with a range of talks on feed, training, worming, barefoot, saddles and more. Speakers in include Jane Van Lennep, founder of Simple System Feeds and Dan Guerrera, prominent american barefoot trimmer.

Click here for more info and get the date in your diary!

Clicker Demos!

White christmas and an equine ski lift!

The snow here at Masham has been a mixed blessing. We had a lovely white christmas and have been thoroughly enjoying playing in it, skiing and sledging down the yard on boxing day, making snowmen, feeding horses and riding when we can. 

Take a look at this video to see Toby acting as an equine ski lift while I went snowboarding down our field! I wasn't going any where fast but it was a lot of fun anyway!

I've also had the time to get some clicker training in and taken some gorgeous photos of the horses and dogs in the snow as well as the gingerbread house I created for christmas! Check them out here.

The only problem with the snow has been getting in and out. The roads to the farm haven't been gritted at all and are very hilly so we've not been able to get the big van out or the small van to within about a mile of the farm. This has obviously affected feed deliveries but we're doing our best to get feed out now that the snow is starting to melt a little. Just give us a ring if you have any queries.

Hannah

Classical Lusitanos in Portugal

Classical riding, in particular Portugese classical riding, is very popular right now. It seems that everyone's working with classical trainers and everyone's dying to own a Lusitano. As I was already in Portugal it made sense to have some classical lessons on a Lusitano stallion...

It's fair to say that it wasn't quite what I expected. Yes, the horses are beautiful and well trained and I was doing passage and half-pass with no fuss but something was lacking. It seemed to me that the horses took no enjoyment in their schooling, in fact the second horse I rode was practically dragged to the arena by the groom and, when riding, they lacked a certain joie de vivre. There was little expression, emotion or freedom in the horses.

Talking to a groom there I found that these horses live solely in a stable from 2 years of age, when they start their training. No grazing, no playing, no rolling, no mutual grooming, no movement at all without a human handler or rider. These are vital activities for a horse to be a horse. So this performance comes at what cost?

My own horses showed me exactly what I was feeling just a few days after I got home. This video shows them playing with each other, being horses. From this happy, healthy behaviour I have developed a great relationship with super training results as I've maintained their curiosity and joy.

This is the movement and expression I love so much.

(sorry about the filming...it was an impromptu moment the horses offered me and I had an excited dog on a lead at the same time as filming!)

Hannah

Clicker Training and Equine Touch in Portugal

I've just returned from a week in sunny Portugal where I was working as an Equine Touch Practitioner and teaching clicker training.

A big thank you to Sophie who organised my trip and for putting me up in her wonderful yurt at her lovely organic smallholding, www.portugalsmallholding.org. She also organised an Equine Touch demo and took me to visit various equines in need of some healing, including one horse who had fallen through a wooden floor, a lovely rescued mule and a lusitano stallion with a bad back. Everybody was very friendly and enthusiastic, and now want to learn some Equine Touch for themselves, bringing ET to portugal.

Sandra was my host in Lisbon, based at her livery yard and riding school, www.centrohipico.pt. The clicker training workshop went really well, leaving them inspired to teach their horses new things in a postive and fun way. Equine Touch meant I met more wonderful horses there, my favourite being Anke, a lovely dressage mare.

Click here to see the photos!

Hannah

Shamanic Journey gets me On Track

Click here for details on upcoming healing workshops!

Got passed the annual milestone of my birthday last week and no recourse, yet this year, to the St John's Wort. Having a history of depression and SAD, I am delighted and put my energy and optimism down to the Shamanic Journey I had with Mary Trost at our Healing Workshop in August.

Mary Trost
Not that I had any expectations of such an outcome. I just went for it because Mary offered and I thought "why not?" The thing that amazed me about the experience was how much fun it was. Mary has such a great sense of humour and we laughed loads about the coincidences and meanings that came up. For example, I had organised the Workshop but hadn't participated, for many good reasons. At the start of my Journey I took ages to decide which way to go and was very definite in describing places by their compass orientation. Eventually I turned South. Afterwards Mary pointed out that South is considered the path/direction of the healer, much to my rueful amusement as my mantra is "I am not a healer and I do not want to be healer!" Some things may be beyond our personal control...

Well, this not-a-healer is hosting another workshop with Mary and Maggie Roux in January, plus some really interesting days on healing and working with animals. Mary brings her joyful self, along with an astonishing breadth of experience, having participated with the Lakota Sioux, Navajo, Caquilla and Quetchua (Peruvian) Indian tribes in their medicine ceremonies. She holds a Master’s level in Usui system of Reiki and has incorporated many other healing techniques in her unique style of healing with incredible results.  She uses Pranic Healing as taught by Master Choaka Sui.

Her workshop partner is my sister, Maggie Roux:

Maggie also brings a breadth of experience and knowledge, having lectured for over 20 years on Myth and Popular Culture. I am not a great film watcher (I'd rather be outside!) so, although I've enjoyed what Maggie has to say about meaning in films, it's often passed me by. But her take on my shamanic journey was revelatory. For example, I met a tawny owl on my voyage and Maggie encouraged me to explore owl connections in myth, particularly Celtic mythology, which is my personal interest. It was amazing and gave me loads more connections to other parts of my journey, such as the gold I kept seeing or the standing stones I found myself in front of.  

I know it sounds crazy if you're not into this sort of thing. The amazing result for me is a sense of the deepest calm I have ever experienced. My history of mental health problems has led me to hospital, psychotherapy and lots of medication over the last 22 years. This winter I feel calm, happy, able to cope and that, in a really strange way, I have come home to myself. I can't wait for Mary to be back in January and for us all to continue with this fun and exciting way forward in our lives. Join us if you can!

Rachel