Ask Ann –
Problems with my Trainer

I had some one ask if I could give them some good tips for the show season.   This is a good question and yes, as a veteran of the show ring I certainly can give you some good tips.  It doesn’t really matter what discipline you are in, as showing is showing and it takes its toll on both the horse and the rider.  (the horse in this photo was my 27 year old…

It’s not easy, what some of us have lived through.  We lose ourselves in the humdrum process of daily life, we become someone we hardly recognize.  What happened to the girl who knew who she was and what she wanted?  Where did she go?  Who are we without the house, the kids, the husband and the laundry?  A very good question.

In these past few years I have faced many challenges, as many women have.  I left a man I had loved…

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

Well it could have been worse, the horse could have been stolen!  My leasing experience is not as bad as some but bad enough, the horse is reasonably okay but the people were quite a nightmare to deal with.  I thought I had got a wonderful long term lease for my school horse Bandit with a novice adult rider wanting to get back into shape after years of being away from riding.  I knew the trainer and she seemed like a decent person, albeit less experienced than me but I was willing to give…

Well today is Thanksgiving in Canada, and don't we always have so much to be thankful for?  Really we do, but we find so many things to complain about, the beauty is lost.  Today is  day to celebrate gratitude for cell phones, your child's smile, the loving partner in your life, the horse who tolerates your lack of skill!  Just think about it, most of us here are not in the African desert starving with no medical care and no rain in sight.  Just imagine being one of those people for a day,…

Imagine you and your horse sharing  the same air, then in the same way we share the same energetic environment.  If the air you are breathing is polluted, then both of you are breathing polluted air. Now let's apply that to a barn environment.  When you go into some barns the horses are all happy, in good weight, friendly and interested to see new people.  In other barns they are all standing with their backs to the stall doors, or running around terrified inside their stalls, or totally…

Whether we know it or not, we all walk around inside an energetic bubble.  I knew this long before the Natural Horsemanship folks coined the phrase, for those of us that are sensitive to the "vibes" both horses and other people give off, will feel it.  Much has been talked about, keep the horse outside of your bubble, but the fact is that we have to share the bubble to be able to get close to a horse, or we would not be able to get  closer than 10 feet!  It's more about sharing space and…

Transform - what does that word really mean?  It means change from one state to another.  I am constantly watching people ride, and in amazement I see the conflict between man and beast show itself in so many ways.  All of us try to achieve balance in our riding, but balance is emotional, spiritual, physical and mental.  If any one of those 4 elements are out of whack, the other 3 are also. We as humans have to grasp this connection, as the horses already know this.  If you are drawn to…

You know, when someone passes out of your life, especially someone close to you, it reawakens you to the world and who you are.  My older brother Austin, aged 65, died a week ago on August 27th.  It came out of nowhere, a rare blood disorder, he was into the ICU and on life support within 3 weeks of  getting ill and then he went.  It was all so sudden, unexpected and sad. 

Long ago I realized the power of gratitude, and one thing I know, I have no regrets about my…

A friend of mine just adopted a dog called Bobo that was rescued from a hoarding situation.  He was one of 16 dogs being kept in a basement, belonging to an elderly couple, and when the husband died, animal control was called in to find homes for the dogs.  Bobo we think is a Siberian Husky/lab cross, and he has one blue eye and one brown eye.  He arrived at the house a month or so after being rescued, but he had to leave the dog he was used to living with, so of course he is insecure and…

Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if we asked the horse what they would like to do?  Just imagine if they really had a choice in life, My first riding teacher was a lady named  Pamela Goodwin and she was on the Irish showjumping team.  It was her that said to me "imagine what you want the horse to do and they will do it for you".  She also said "let the horse pick their job and they will always do well".  I have never forgotten those words and have lived by them all my life, maybe it's the…

Well it seems I am meant to once again be breaking open boundaries and doing things that no one else is doing!  I should be used to this by now, after all I have always been a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.  Last week I lost my old grey mare Silver at the age of 21, and of course I cried rivers.  However, it was she that came to me in meditation and told me what her gift to me was, and quite frankly, I was blown away!!

Silver has offered to help me from the world of…

After 33 years of marriage, I decided to leave my husband in June of this year. We are still living together and our farm is up for sale so we can go our separate ways. This is why you have not heard from me for a while, it has been hell to say the least, and very hard on both of us. Sometimes people just grow apart and I realized that I wanted more out of our relationship than just being business partners. It has been the saddest and hardest decision of my life, but I feel a right and…

Last weekend, our May long weekend here in Canada, some friends and I drove 6 hours up into the interior of BC. We rented a cabin for 6 and we took 3 horses. It was a place called The Hills in 108th Mile House. The altitude is 12,000 feet, the air is clear and the trees are not as big and lush as our famous "wet coast". I loved the serenity, no people, traffic noise or cell phone towers! I took my new horse Bandit, who has spent years on the Hunter/Jumper circuit, and he has never done much…

Here is a topic that everyone can relate to, the dreadful habit of cribbing. And I have an aversion to cribbing collars that a lot of people use, as I have seen horses have swollen heads from them being adjusted too tight, and also there is risk of damage to the oesophagus. It can also create pressure in the bones of the neck, creating nerve pinches and even sometimes nerve damage. Horses can also get caught up in fences in them, and break their neck. So hence I never use…

Talking about the Good old Days, this one is really old! My Classical Equitation trainer Craig Stevens has been working with an Italian Nobleman called Pucci, who is bringing a centuries old method of training horses to the world from the island of Sicily. Sicily was a melting pot between the east and west, and has retained this method of developing trust with humans. It is done from the time the foal is weaned, and involves the gentlest touch and the lightest pressure you can imagine! You…

You know I see and hear so many thoughtless comments about horses, the good old days need to return! So many people are missing so much because they are not being taught to care for their horse's emotional state and not just his body. Riders are so interested in what they can get out of their horse, but what about what they put into the horse?

Let me explain what I mean. Years ago as a young teenager I was taught by a marvelous lady called Pamela Goodwin, who was Irish, and…

You know all my life I have owned chestnut geldings with attitude and grey mares who were like a mum to me! It's funny how we attract the horses into our lives that mirror the lessons we need to learn. For some reason, I always get horses no one else wants to deal with, usually because they are labelled "hot and dangerous" or "wild and crazy". In every case, I just saw a horse that was grossly misunderstood and treated inappropriately for their personality and history. They usually had a…

Well I took two of my 4 horses to a sleep over at another barn for some lessons in Classical work, and I was very proud of them. Stonee, my giant horse, is afraid of everything and very insecure, due to being kept in one barn for 8 years of his life and not really getting out. He was much better this time, the anxiety is lessening. And Indy, my 4 year old Appendix was an absolute star! She loaded well after having inspected the trailer, and travelled well. After the lessons she hung out with…