Blog: Djarra, travelling together

For Djarra I have found a new family in the Netherlands.
In 2019 I emigrated to Northern Ireland to follow my passion and dream to only work with horses. I will describe my encounters here.

Wednesday 28 December 2022

Molly getting some gentle bodywork

What a beautiful session today with Molly.
We were in her stable to do some soft gentle bodywork. Starting just behind the poll and moving down her mane. Softly massaging and a little bit of rocking. She responded, told me where work was needed and relaxing deeply. Read more »

Wednesday 5 October 2022

Team work in training a horse

How to get a happy healthy horse often is team work. So I will share the journey I had with Hudson to give you an example of how teamwork can really make a lasting change. It took us more than three years.
When I met Hudson he was not happy and not healthy and very difficult to ride. Read more »

Thursday 23 June 2022

Working with a herd

Working with a herd
 
Mongolia (1998)
My first experience with horses living in herds was during my stay in Mongolia. I was following herds of Prezwalski horses or Tahki’s ,as they are called over there. We were staying in a base camp in the Hustai Nuruu nature reserve. Read more »

Monday 14 February 2022

Introduction to training in liberty VIDEO

So I have been working with this lady for over a year now. Molly is a 30 year old thoroughbred with Cushing. She was volatile and needed careful handling. Also she was not one to be touched with out her full consent and she hardly ever gave that. Read more »

Sunday 26 December 2021

How about treats in training?

Using treats as a means of positive reinforcement during training. I am all for it, but I have been struggling with it myself. Even having had good training in how to use treats properly as a positive reinforcement during training and seeing the results did not warm me to the concept. Read more »

Friday 13 August 2021

VIDEO Molly on SURE FOOT

This morning I had Molly on the SURE FOOT pads and made a little video about it.
Now Molly is/was a highly reactive horse, with lots of Thoroughbred blood. This means that when anything happened around her, noises or movement, she would react. Often her adrenaline would shoot up and she would need to move then. Read more »

Sunday 4 July 2021

VIDEO – Faith getting her first Guasha treatment

Take a sunny afternoon and lots of time to spent with a horse. Working with a herd has many advantages for me. Horses are keenly aware of anything that is going on, in and around the herd. So introducing Guasha to them in this setting gives a more shy horse the time to watch and feel how a more confident horse responds to me. Read more »

Saturday 29 May 2021

Trailer loading (part 2)

Last time I wrote about how trailer loading problems not always are a problem with the trailer. I used Hudson as an example. Now training the horse is just solving half the problem, because in most cases the human needs to make some changes as well. Read more »

Wednesday 12 May 2021

Trailer loading problems or not … (part 1)

Trailer loading is seldom a problem with a trailer …
I will use Hudson as an example how escalating problems with loading him on a trailer had nothing to do with the trailer.
So what was happening and why did the loading into a trailer got so challenging? Read more »

Wednesday 7 April 2021

Sure Foot to the rescue

After some really nice sunny spring days the weather changed. It was at Easter that we got an Arctic wind storming down with snow, hail and lots of very very cold air.
When I go up to the yard the wind is howling in between buildings, Read more »

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