It has been two years since Misty had 3 days of schooling put on her and then was taken out on a 20 km trek. She didn´t put a foot wrong, although her breaks were a little sticky!
A stunning colt, now nearly one year-old, is the reason for Misty getting down-time again, and not continuing with her education back then. This week we decided it was more than time to pick up where we left off. So, taken out of her paddock, brushed down, hooves picked, saddle on, and just to be on the safe side, a 10 minute lunging session. Which was actually 10 minutes of standing in the middle of the arena whilst a horse-shaped helium globe performed all many of party tricks in an elevated circle around me! We then climbed aboard and had a 6 km mooch around our valley. Misty was happy to lead, stay behind, hunker down in the middle (between the 2 other horses out accompanying her), and she never missed a beat. Didn´t turn a hair at anything. That´s the way we roll at our yard.
Boys and girls I do not recommend you dash out and do that with any completely unhandled brood mare. This is a testimony to how safe our horses feel with us, how they are treated on a daily basis and how well we know them. This is a testimony to how we interact with our horses, remembering that every time you approach a paddock, long before you think you have made any kind of contact with a horse, you are already working with them. How you approach that paddock tells the horse a lot about you. You can learn how we work with our horses in a +R manner if you livery your horse with us. If you would like to organise training sessions for you and your horse at your current yard, please contact us to set up a schedule. Not to be confused with the -R methods used by many "clinicians" and packaged trainers.
There is a whole world of difference in the human-equine relationship if you use +R methods.