September 2010

Woody has now had a nice summer holiday, relaxing and sunbathing down at my friend Andrea's farm near Probus. He had been doing really well with all his schooling, but like any good student, Dan felt it was important that he had a bit of a break and the chance to absorb and assimilate all that he had learnt! So he had a good few weeks 'off' and then headed back up to Goldhill Farm to start the new term at School!

He is now back with Dan enjoying his education and doing really really well. Dan has been riding him and though he isn't too keen on having his girth done up, he behaves very well once Dan is on board. He remains a very happy chap and seems to be thoroughly enjoying all the challenges Dan is giving him.

We are all really pleased with his progress, physically he is very good, he has the odd bit of muscle soreness and niggle here and there, but that would be expected from any horse you are getting back in to work, so all in all he is proving to be an A+ student!

April 2010

Woody is doing really well, he is still enjoying life at Dan's yard and has properly been enrolled back at 'school'. He is such a genuine horse and tries really hard to do everything that is asked of him. Dan has been taking his reschooling very slowly as none of us are in any rush and we want to make sure Woody is ready for each stage of his education. He is pretty much taking it all in his stride......

He hasn't had a rider on him yet but Dan has had a saddle pad, surcingle, stirrups, bells and other things (including some pretend human legs) attached to the surcingle and Woody has dealt with it all really well - no bucking whatsoever! When the legs were first put on, Woody tensed slightly but he has built such an amazing relationship with Dan that he trusts him entirely and so allows him to do pretty much anything!.

Here are some pictures of Woody and Dan working in the roundpen..

As you can see, he is extremely relaxed and content.

Physically he is coming on really well, I am so pleased with his progress. The problems he was experiencing when we bought here are pretty much a thing of the past now which is brilliant news. He still has the occasional niggle as his body is changing so much now that he is back in work but we deal with them as they arise and so it never really causes a problem. I am really proud of him and so so glad that he found Dan and I that night.

More updates soon!

November 2009:

I would like to introduce you all to my new friend Woody. I found him, or rather I think, he found me, two weeks ago at a Monty Roberts demonstration.......

I have never been to one of Monty's demo's before, and had been looking forward to it for weeks. Me and my friend got there in plenty of time to get a good seat and settled ourselves down ready for a good night. Kelly Marks introduced Monty who then came out and started telling us about the first horse he was going to be working with.......a grey, 10 year old ex-racehorse, called Woody, who had a severe bucking problem.

Once in the roundpen, Monty started to do a bit of join-up with Woody, who responded pretty well, though he made it clear that his manners could perhaps be improved a little. His story started to unfold, and it turned out that Woody's owner had bought him about 4 months ago, and had a lot of trouble with him bucking - and even when she had called out professional riders to help, Woody had just bucked and bucked until he got them off. She was now so concerned, as obviously he had become quite dangerous, that she felt her only option was to have him put to sleep - something that was booked in for the following week. I do not think at this point, Woody quite realised the seriousness of the situation, as when Monty put a saddle on him, he gave the most amazing display of bucking. Round and round he went, going up vertically and then exploding. If it wasn't such an awful situation it would have been an impressive sight.

As soon as I heard what was destined for Woody my brain started working over-time, as in my line of work, I am of the belief that when a horse misbehaves, 99.9% of the time it is because they are trying to tell us something - and that is usually that they are hurting somewhere. Having watched Woody in the roundpen I had an idea of where his sore spots might be, and with the hope that I could help him, I decided I had to intervene!

Though I can help Woody with his physical problems, it was pretty obvious that he had some major psychological issues too, and I knew that I needed the skills and expertise of one man - Dan Wilson, who is a Practical Horsemanship trainer and young horse started based in St Neot, near Liskeard in Cornwall. Dan has trained with Monty and now works as one of his riders, travelling all over the World, as well as taking horses at his own yard for breaking and training. I highly recommend Dan to any one who is having problems with their horse, or just needs someone to get it started. If you would like more info about his work please have a look at the Positive Horsemanship website -

www.practicalhorsemanship.co.uk

Anyway, on with story......I knew Dan and I would need to work together with Woody to help him, so in the interval I tracked him down and luckily he had been thinking the same thing, so the decision was quickly made to buy Woody. A good friend of Dan's, Erica Hoskin, who breeds horses, had also been touched by Woody's plight and so the three of us decided we would split the cost of him and buy him together. It was all then sorted very quickly and Woody went home to Dan's yard to get settled in.

There has been quite a lot of interest about Woody as so many people saw him at the demo, so I am going to try to keep you all as updated with his progress. So far he is doing really well. I have found there are quite a few physical problems, which I am treating and he is responding very well. He is an absolute gentleman and a pleasure to be around. He loves his treatments and falls asleep pretty much as soon as you start! He is starting to feel his feet a bit more now, always a sign they are feeling a bit better! So Dan will be starting to work him soon, now we have dealt with some of the 'pain' issues.

I am so pleased that we found Woody that night, and that he has been given another chance. I have totally fallen in love with him and cannot wait to see how he progresses. I will keep you all posted!