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Comment by Amber J. on May 31, 2009 at 8:08am

(click here) Sheba Horse Shop

Comment by Rachel Heysen-Smith on May 22, 2009 at 6:26am

hello
I am getting a liver Chesnut!

RAch

Comment by Amber J. on May 18, 2009 at 3:24am

sorry i havnt been on its just i got a new keyboard because before my space bar wasnt working

but yess i have herd of people saying the colour makes a differnce i think not ! i have heard people say chestnuts a so called "crazy " but mine is not at all crazy !

Comment by Caroline Scott on May 16, 2009 at 7:10pm

hey horsey girl im in your group

Comment by Cindy Jeffery on May 4, 2009 at 6:27pm

Me too....having 5 others it's really hard to give Sammy the attention he needs. But I figure since I rushed him before it will be better going slow with him, since I tend to always be in a hurry by nature. Training horses has taught me how to control that need to fix, overdo or accomplish something. I am learning to wait especially in that part of the program where I have to wait for them to digest what I just showed them.

Comment by Fiona Hill on May 4, 2009 at 4:36pm

Hi Cindy
You are very welcome. I have not come across Doug Mills, but I will look him up. The figure 8 (or infinity symbol if you like) flexing is amazing and the results are instant - it just taps into something that they can't help but respond to. I notice you are not a million miles away from Chris' home in Canada - and I know there are definitely Irwin trained trainers in BC, so you should have no problems finding anyone to help if you need them. I know what you mean about being 'buried in your grave' - don't want to depress you but I've had my horse for 6 years now (he's 12) and the longer it goes on the more I start to think I'll never get it sorted! Trouble is, i can't spent anywhere near as much time with him as I'd like, so it's two steps forward and one back each time. Never mind, I had the last horse for 25 years so i don't quit easily ...!

Comment by Cindy Jeffery on May 4, 2009 at 2:33pm

Hey Fiona that is so great I'm proud of you guys. Thinks for your detailed reply earlier, your horse sounds just like mine, he to had a bad scare to do with the first ride when he was 4, he is now 6. So all that stuff to do with putting anything on his back gives him the "wilies". Anyway I have started working with Doug Mills methods which sound similar to Chris Irwin's. But Chris's massaging figure 8 sounds interesting, I'll check it out. I am seeing improvements but very slowly and I sometimes think I'll be buried in my grave before this guy comes around. It's true he has nothing against me, it's just the stuff which have become big issues in his life, like post traumatic stress syndrome (never new what to call it, but makes a lot of sense). Good advice! Thanks!

Comment by Fiona Hill on May 4, 2009 at 9:27am

woohoo! Breakthrough yesterday - got the saddle on without needing help. Long story and it took quite a while, but I'm very pleased... I told him to get over himself and it seemed to work!

Comment by Fiona Hill on May 2, 2009 at 3:10pm

Hi Cindy he sounds very like mine.

My horse braces, holds his breath and waits for the bad things to happen, ready to explode when the saddle touches him (and he has completely exploded in the past, so the memory of the fear is very real). It is all to do with what has happened to him in the past and how he has been approached, but he holds on to that memory (similar to post traumatic stress response I guess) and expects the worst every single time we bring the saddle near him.

I've been working with Chris Irwin's methods for a few years now and I would totally recommend you to look into it further. Chris advocates that 'frame of body equals frame of mind' so that when the horse's head is up (above horizontal) there is adrenaline pumping and when their head is down (the lower the better) they are getting endorphins. So the trick is then to have his head down when saddling so he starts to associate feeling good physically with having the saddle put on... This doesn't mean forcing it down, but 'flexing' it down using a figure of eight movement like a gentle massaging, and don't even bring the saddle near him until he is low headed and dreamy... You may need someone else to do this while you put the saddle on, and be ready to take it away the minute he tenses up - he needs to learn to associate those feel-good endorphins with having the saddle on. You also need to consider how you are approaching him and make sure you come in on an arc to his shoulder, not approaching him on a straight line through the 'no go zone' of his head. It's hard to explain this here, and it sounds complicated - but trust me it works!!! Have a look at Chris Irwin's website if you haven't already - or his blog on this website... learning his methods has totally changed my relationship with my horse and I hope I'm a better person for it, too!

Forgive the long reply - but it's a subject close to my heart and I feel for you in this situation ... don't take it personally, his reaction is related to how he feels in that moment and I'm sure he knows you mean him no harm really. He is simply being a horse. ;-)

Comment by Cindy Jeffery on May 2, 2009 at 1:04am

I worked with my chestnut boy Sammy tonight, he's the one in the picture. What a sweet heart, totally submissive until I start putting stuff on his back. He gives to the halter lovely, moves his hip on command but stiff moving his shoulder, he literally tightens up and arches his neck then moves his whole body away. He is not mean or nasty just gets tensed up like he thinks I'm going to eat him. I told him I don't eat horses although some people do. Anyway, spent an hour with him in the round pen, finished on a good note. I'll work with him again tomorrow to see how he is after time to think about what we did.

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