A chilled Filly

Wednesday 16 September 2015

So much to tell

It's been such a busy few weeks I hardly know where to start ! In fact I think I'll have to split this into several posts and write them as I have time. But to give a flavour here is what we have been up to

1) Silke Valentin clinic

We attended a Silke clinic on the 27th and 28th August. Silke is from Germany and is confined to a wheelchair, or more often and motorised buggy. She has a remarkable ability to train horses despite this apparent handicap. The clinic was all ground work. My wife Ritchie took Bonitao to the clinic whilst I watched and picked up poo ! In some ways watching was almost and advantage as I could follow Silke around and watch her coaching more than one person and horse.

2) The British Rodeo Cowboys Association.

Random web searching took me to this website BRCA . I've always wanted to find somewhere I could work cattle, but was under the impression that the RSPCA in the UK prohibited it. However the BRCA does work with cattle and they have been audited by the RSPCA.
They had a Ranch Horse Event on the 6th September in Kent so we decided to go and see what they got up to. It was an absolute hoot. Great fun people having real good fun with their horses. It was a competition but the only one who seemed to take that really seriously was the judge :).

3) Clinic with Josh Steer.

Ritchie and I hosted a clinic at the yard with livery our horses on. The yard owner was very very hospitable in helping us make this happen. It's so nice to be on such an open minded and positive yard.
Josh was the apprentice of James Roberts and so we know him very well indeed and have spent many days laughing and having fun together. Since James passed away Josh has continued to develop his horsemanship to the extent he has still not even learnt to drive. So on Friday the 11th September I drove 3 1/2 hours to Lancashire to collect him. 
The clinic was held over the 12th and 13th in lovely weather. We had a total of five on the course. Three rode in the morning and then Ritchie and I in the afternoon. We split it like this as Ritchie and I are concentrating on our bosal riding at the moment and felt this made for a natural split of the group. 
During the Saturday lunch break one of my aikido instructors and I gave a mini clinic on aikido and how it can help in horsemanship. Much to my relief this was well received.

4) Barefoot trimmer visit

On the 14th September Mel Isaac came to check on our horse again. She did make some adjustments this time as she felt they had both arrived at the stage where we can help nature a little in shaping the feet. Overall she was happy with their progress and very happy with Fillys' overall development, as am I :)

As you can see lots to tell and I'll try to catch up with it all over the next week or so

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