Spring at Last! SPRING 2009
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The Listening Post Magazine for the Intelligent Horsemanship Association Spring at last! SPRING 2009 In this issue Spotlight on Ian Vandenberghe Perfect pastures www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk Presents: Sarah Weston A day of Intelligent Horsemanship To be held on the 19th April 2009 from 10am to 4pm At Henden and Lanhill Stud, Sparrow Farm, Lanhill, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6LX Sarah Weston is a Recommended Associate of Intelligent Horsemanship and the holder of the Monty Roberts’ Preliminary Certificate in Horsemanship. She will be demonstrating a variety of techniques from handling untouched horses to training youngsters to desensitising spooky horses. The Caspian Horse is a rare breed of small horse standing around 11.2hh originating from Iran. The Henden and Lanhill stud is the base for the Caspian Breed Society which aims to preserve and promote this wonderful breed. Come along to meet these fascinating small horses and enjoy an exciting demonstration of Intelligent Horsemanship! Tickets are £15 per person (£10 for under 16yrs) including lunch Caesar - our ‘Little Star’ will be looking and must be booked in advance. for a new home in June Book now by sending a cheque (made payable to the Caspian Breed Society) to He can be viewed at the May Masterclasses. Angela Leadbetter, Redroofs, CHAPS registered 5 years old and around 14.2 hh. Lancaster Rd, Preesall, Poulton Le Fylde, Father unknown. Great mover, excellent feet and open to Lancashire FY6 0HN any vet. The right IH home will be our main consideration. or by telephoning 01253 810305. Contact the IH office at: [email protected] or 01488 71300 and speak with Lou. Limited numbers available! Make sure no-one misses Kelly Marks’ May Masterclasses! If you have any other ideas to get the word out – do get in touch! Your chance to be part of the team! Volunteer at the May Masterclasses. We love (and appreciate) IH members coming to help us at demonstrations. There’s quite a band of loyal helpers that turn up to a range of demos now but if you’ve never tried it before, don’t be shy, everyone is friendly and 1. Please email your friends with the demonstration you’ll soon feel part of the team. Plus you’ll get to meet American Pie and details from our website. his ‘little cousin’ Caesar! 2. Please pin up Kelly’s tour leaflets/posters, available It’s a great opportunity to experience what goes via the discussion group and the IH Office on ‘behind the scenes’ and so next time you 3. If you would like extra leaflets just contact the hear something crazy like ‘all the horses are office on 01488 71300 or email [email protected] You can also download them from our website on trained beforehand’ or ‘they only chose the the Demonstrations page. You can then pin them easy ones’ you can give your first hand report of up EVERYWHERE local riding club, saddlers, feed what really happens as the owners and horses arrive! stores, livery yards, show centres, doctors surgery, We ask that helpers stay to help pack everything up and bus stops, traffic lights… your evening should finish by 12 midnight. Yes, hard work 4. Don’t forget to tell your local gossip and swear but fun! If you are interested in helping, please email her to secrecy! [email protected] or call the IH Office on 01488 71300. 2 The Listening Post Letter from Kelly Hi Everyone Advertisments Page 2 I hope none of you have been Letter from Kelly Page 3 letting the doom and gloom on the news get you down too much. The almost perfect pony Page 4 If we look for some positive aspects of this ‘credit crunch’ it Your letters Page 5 might be that we all appreciate more what we do have and what’s Feeding fibre at grass Page 6 most important to us rather than constantly worrying about getting IH Courses 2009 Page 8 ‘more’. Maybe we’ll have less money but more time to spend Wip Wop or Giddyup? Page 9 with horses and people so let’s make the most of that. Ask the experts Page 10 I’ve already planned some great things for 2009 and I’m looking forward to IH members joining me. In May Pie and South Africa 2009 Page 12 I are competing at Royal Windsor (see page 19) and later in the month we have our ‘masterclasses’. We have our IH A bit of an issue part 1 Page 14 Garden Party planned for the 27th June. I hope we can be as lucky with the weather as last year. I’m travelling to every Remedial loaders and travellers Page 16 part of Britain for the BHS this year and looking forward to introducing ‘Intelligent Horsemanship’ to their instructors. The Equus competition winner Page 18 Monty and I recently had a fascinating time doing preliminary science trials at Hartpury College comparing Announcements Page 19 Join Up with other methods and look forward to continuing Journey towards Stage Two Page 20 with that effort. We’re also in discussion with Horse and Country TV to provide more film footage to support their Spotlight on RA channel which has such great potential for us horselovers. I Ian Vandenberghe Page 22 hope you’ve got great things planned for 2009 – if not make sure you at least come and join us having fun! Riding with confidence Page 23 Best Wishes and see you this year I hope. Contents Do you have a contribution for the Listening Post? Do phone, email or send your carrier pigeon to the IH office! Intelligent Horsemanship Office: Address: Lethornes, Upper Lambourn, Hungerford RG17 8QP Phone: 01488 71300 Fax: 01488 73783 Email: [email protected] Website: www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk On the cover: American Pie (Kelly Marks) and Caesar (Louise Austin) enjoy a canter on White Horse Hill. Photo by Matthew Webb. The Listening Post 3 The almost perfect pony By IH Recommended Associate Sally Hamilton Tilly was a horse who I felt would benefit now there are four people who Tilly will hugely from Join Up™. But the farmer had allow to stand beside her in the field – and specifically banned any form of loose touch her head. schooling in the sand school, and all the fields Two more pieces of the puzzle fell into place. were big. So I decided to take the risk of The first was that Anne noticed that as she using tall fence posts and a double circle of was stroking Tilly round her head, she kept white tape. There are definitely safety issues flinching on the near side, and there were with this method of working, but I feel that occasional clicking noises coming from the with a horse who has a calm outlook on life atlas bone, just behind her ears. She took and knows that white tape is usually phone advice from an experienced equine electrically charged, the benefits outweigh vet who diagnosed trigeminal neuritis. Anne the risks. had had it herself, and knew that it caused The first Join Up we did was classic. Anne excruciating pain, explaining why she would videoed it, and was astounded that I had be so sensitive sometimes but not always. achieved a reasonable Join Up with some nice follow up circles. However, the next two times I tried she would not come to me. I had efore I met Tilly last August, I had to decide whether in the circumstances it been e-mailing her owner for two was justified to send her away for more than B months. So I knew that despite five minutes, but chose not to - Tilly had almost perfect ridden behaviour, she had one become expert at avoiding humans and I did problem. She hated to be caught and had not want to stress her unnecessarily. The arrived with a ‘health warning’ to this effect! breakthrough came with the fourth Join Up. Her owner Anne tried every method of This time I did some foundation exercises in catching she could find. Tilly had improved the sand school before we moved to the from the terrified little mare she tried to round pen, so she had completely accepted The other connection that Anne made was catch on the first day in her new home, but me as her leader. I also gave her a long stroke when she noticed there was a definite each year brought several lapses and Anne and spent some time standing quietly with correlation between her feeling angry was tearing her hair out. Rewarding her with her before I unclipped. So when I did, she and Tilly keeping her distance. The anger pasture mix in the stable brought about a stuck to me like glue. It would have been would be nothing to do with Tilly but if remarkable change in attitude, but after a pointless to send her away, so I just walked, anything had rattled Anne, hyper sensitive month away on holiday in July when she and wherever I went, the brown horse came Tilly would react. At some stage in early life allowed no one near her at all, it was clear too. It was a very touching moment. someone had taught Tilly that angry humans that was not to be enough to solve the Phase one of making Tilly want to be caught are dangerous. problem and I went over to meet her. was desensitising her head and body. Anne Now we are in January, nearly six months on. My first impression was of a little dark horse soon took over the work of stroking her all Tilly now stands still long enough to be with huge, worried eyes trying to make over with a variety of plastic bags, and also walked around in arcs and responds herself invisible in a loose box.