There aren't any words....

[Starzaan]

for how ecstatic I am. I just received an email from a client whose horse went home on Sunday after three weeks of intensive schooling. He's a 5yr old ex-racehorse who she was having real trouble with. He's her first horse, and she was having real problems with mounting him, with his bargey behaviour in hand, general bad manners, and the naughtiness under saddle.

He came to us for three weeks, and went home a different horse. I think he needed to go somewhere new and start from scratch again. He learned that he had to respect us, and that we respected him, and since he went home I've had a text every day telling me how well he's doing. Then today, I got this, first emailed to me, and then posted on our yard facebook page.

"Hi guys, i am so impressed and amazed with the work you have done with Dee, i hope you don't mind me letting others know.

My ex-race horse went to Robyn and Alex to learn some manners and to learn how to stand to be mounted. They gave me regular updates on his progress and made sure he was looked after to the highest standard! I was told i could go up and see him whenever i wanted and when i did i was made to feel very welcome!
He had never stood still for me to get on him and i literally had to get on him in canter, he would pull you around the yard, and barge you in the stable, however in less than three weeks hes now back home, he is calm, chilled, he doesnt barge and most importantly he stands like a brick for me to get on him. I never thought he would ever do this! It makes it so much easier to push him on and enjoy him! Its so nice to receive texts asking how he's doing and i know that if i wanted to book future lessons with them they would be more than happy to take us on!
You guys at abbey barn are fantastic and i will recommend you to everyone!!!
Thanks so much guys! Love H and Dee xxx"


I feel so proud to know that we've done our job well, and that the horse that she was saying she was ready to sell is now with her for the forseeable future.

MASSIVE SMILES.

 

[JenHunt]

saw your post on FB - what a lovely report!

you deserve it - you've put a lot of hard work into your new yard already!

 

[Starzaan]

saw your post on FB - what a lovely report!

you deserve it - you've put a lot of hard work into your new yard already!

SQUISH. Thank you! It's so lovely to hear that they're both happy and getting on well.

 

[Pilib]

Lovely, lovely, lovely. You should be really proud x x x

 

[asommerville]

i too saw your post on facebook"! well done you!

 

[JFTDWS]

awwww

 

[Fools Motto]

Fab! Well done you.

 

[Starzaan]

Squish squish squish.

 

[numptynoelle]

massive smiles are well deserved.

 

[Emilieu]

Aw how totally lovely massive well dones x

 

[Rosehip]

I saw it too! Many congrats!!
I still want to come and live in your spare stable btw!!xx

 

[Enfys]

I think that it is great that the owner is so pleased that she wrote that for all the world to see.

Nothing like a satisfied customer to make you feel that you are getting it right.

 

[Ladyinred]

What a contrast to last weeks thread about the poor girl who had sent her youngster to be schooled somewhere!! Well done Starzaan!

 

[Bikerchickone]

That's lovely! Sounds like you would have worked hard to do all that so enjoy smiling about it!

 

[showpony]

Any chance you can travel to Ireland??

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Brilliant, good job!

Pssst! Tell me the mounting technique, my boy can be a little swine and my knees are too arthritic to cope now!

 

[MrsMozart]

What a whole heap of happy squishynesses

 

[tasel]

That sounds great!!!

 

[leflynn]

Me likey

Can you retrain them how not to be accident prone too? (pretty please)

 

[Starzaan]

Brilliant, good job!

Pssst! Tell me the mounting technique, my boy can be a little swine and my knees are too arthritic to cope now!

Right...

we took him back to basics, and started by just getting his respect in hand, so the first week he was with us all he did was in hand work and work on his manners in the stable.

Most horses will stand beautifully if you DON'T put your foot in the stirrup to mount - something that a lot of our liveries and schooling clients find almost impossible to grasp for some reason - as there's a lot less pressure on their backs. So with Dee, we started by just tacking him up, and leading him up to the back wall of our yard - which is flat, and low enough to mount from - and made him stand next to it.

Once he was standing sensibly without needing correction every two minutes, we progressed to leading him up to the wall while someone was standing on it. He then had to stand while said person patted the saddle and lent on him a little, and lifted their right leg up (as soon as whoever was going to mount him lifted their right leg, he would canter off across the yard being a tit) so that he got used to it.

The next step was having him stand while the same person climbed onto the wall, and repeated the above. Once he was good with that, we progressed to him being led by the person who was going to mount him, standing while they climbed onto the wall and did the above. Eventually, by the end of the second week, he would stand while someone led him to the wall and mounted him, so then we worked on him standing once whoever had mounted him was on board. This just meant that he wasn't allowed to move off until he had stood quietly for a minute and was asked to do so.

Finally, we worked on being able to mount him from anything high enough - so we used the mounting block, various walls, the back of a pick up truck, gates, fences etc. and worked on hacking him out, getting off every ten or twenty minutes, and then getting back on.

I doubt he'll ever be able to be mounted by someone putting their foot in the stirrup, but if you just sit gently on him he's a star. I've found most horses stand much more quietly if you do this.

OR, you could just send him to me