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)

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

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

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

To bit or not to bit? That is the question.

You may have seen the recent video entitled "blue tongue world cup" which exposes the horror of Rollkur (hyperflexion). I warn you, it’s tough to watch. However, hopefully the outrage expressed from this will lead to changes in dressage competitions which are long overdue. If you want to take action I suggest subscribing to eponatv to reward these two women for their bravery in challenging the establishment. Also, there’s a petition to sign to ask the FEI to ban hyperflexion in competitions. Epona TV also have a good discussion on this in their editorial.

For myself, I’m completely at the other end of the scale although I have the usual goal of perfect horse/human connection; I’m just taking the slow route to get there. So in a couple of weeks I’ll be entering my second dressage test in my life. Walk/trot and I hope to beat those little nippers on lead rein!! But will I be able to? I want to enter in a bitless bridle…is this allowed? Do I have to do rising trot in the test? My sitting trot is better connected and I get better collection so isn’t that the prime goal? I’m even hoping I’ll be brave enough to ride in a Baretek pad as James Shaw has banned me from using stirrups this winter (nice man) but is that allowed? Rules, rules, rules.

I draw inspiration from  Marthe Kiley-Worthington doing dressage to music at a workshop I organised 8 years ago. No bridle, no saddle, and performing piaffe, passage and one-time tempi changes. Achieved by letting horses be horses and training them using positive reinforcement and immense respect. Pity you can’t bottle that and sell it.

Rachel

Clicker Training day a success

Our Intro to Clicker Training day on Sunday went really well. India, Toby and Murphy demonstrated beautifully how to introduce clicker training to a young, unbacked horse, how to take it further on the ground and into the saddle and then progressing to collection and in-hand work.

Clicker Training Level One starts this Sunday. This course will teach you how to start clicker training your horse with theory and practical sessions and is taught by Hannah Dawson and Rachel Bedingfield. There are still places available so contact us now for more info!

James Shaw on Horse Hero!

 

Click here to see him work with Grand Prix dressage rider, Hannah Biggs

Here's what Horse Hero have to say about it:

This video has the power to transform your riding! American Tai Chi expert James Shaw offers insights that will trigger some 'light bulb' moments. Working with Grand Prix dressage rider Hannah Biggs and her stallion Weltzin, James explains the root causes of tension and a system for riding effortlessly. He shows Hannah how her breathing controls rhythm and timing and how she can use her seat bones as weight aids. James says "by lowering your centre of gravity, you set the horse up for collection". His main aim is to use the horse's force and shape it, not block it, or use leverage against it. Hannah and Weltzin change before our very eyes. Amazing!

Click here for info about James Shaw in the UK

Click here to visit James Shaw's website for more information and his international programme

Equine Touch is for horses, VHT is for humans.

I attended an advanced VHTcourse last weekend, which gave me another chance to learn from Jock Ruddock, founder of Equine Touch and VHT. Jock's interesting history includes a career as a wrestler where he discovered his talent for bodywork. He has since developed his Equine Touch and VHTmodalities, which he travels the world teaching with his veterinary wife, Ivana.

3 common riding problems that VHT can help are:

Lower back pain

Stiffness after riding

Arthritis

But what is VHT?

VHT stands for Vibromuscular Harmonisation Technique. A bit of a mouthful, but it makes sense if it's broken down. The VHT move consists of sending vibrations through muscles and other soft tissue, hence vibro-muscular. Harmonisation is about bringing the body into a balanced state where the innate healing processes can kick in. This combined brings about incredibly powerful results helping a whole host of problems.

Click here for a list of common ailments VHT has been known to help.

Hannah

Feed for the Spooky Horse: Five Top Tips

A common horse problem is having a spooky horse...over half the audience at the recent Kelly Marks Masterclass raised their hands for this one. Make sure you don't feed the problem by following these top five nutrition tips:

1) Minimise sugar consumption. Sugar makes horses hot and grass can contain lots of it. If the local farmer is making silage, then the grass is bursting with sugar. Graze over-night, use a grazing muzzle, strip graze or try to find longer grass for grazing.

2) Don't buy sugar!! Use feeds naturally low in sugars and starches...less than 15% is ideal and less than 10% for fatties and laminitics. Starches convert to sugar so avoid oat feed, wheat feed, maize, molasses etc etc too.

3) ADHD: kids get given Omega Oil supplements and their behaviour improves. This is the equine version so do feed a good Omega supplement. Horses are vegans so the best source is linseed. Simple System Instant Linseed is easy to feed, nice to handle and they are the only feed company approved by the Vegan Society.

4) High fibre diets are good for horses as well as humans. Buy feeds containing at least 25% crude fibre. It is a legal requirement to state this level on the bag, so check the label, not the hype!

5) Two great horse supplements are Brewer's Yeast and Magnesium. They help manage sugar metabolism and are very calming. But you can feed too much so choose a supplement such as Lunar Eclipse where they are supplied in balance.