Tag: ethical riding

What can we do when we are stuck in a training rut?

When I google “stuck in a training rut”, pages and pages of stuff comes up, mostly about running or weight training, or weight loss. This pre-occupation with fitness and appearance tells us more about the over-arching consumerism of the internet rather than the obsessions of the rest of non horsey humanity…. hopefully…

Getting stuck in a training rut is a phenomenon that happens in any past-time that requires discipline to develop skill. The easy gains are all found at the beginning of the journey, mastery comes from sustained application. And somewhere in that process of sustained application there will bad days, and weeks, and months. Bad because they are frustrating, bad because they are boring, bad because nothing seems to be getting any easier, bad because it seems unfair to do all the work and still not be quite where we want to be.

I’d like to reassure you ; everyone who ever got good at anything had a period where they felt like they were stuck in a training rut.

I’ve just moved my piano from one friend’s house to another (long story; pianos need a 5′ wall with no extremes of temperature). Once the removal men had gone, I sat down and had a little test. I can’t remember any of my party pieces now but I can remember all the scales and arpeggios (arpeggi to be absolutely correct) that made playing those pieces possible. I spent hours, on the piano and on the baroque recorder, practising scales and arpeggi, making sure the precise fingering was nailed, working on tone, fast, slow, even, syncopated, syncopated the other way….so that when the solo comes up in the concerto, the basics were there.

In sport it is the same. Athletes work daily on form, on flow, on strength and suppleness, on power and endurance, they don’t just practise their main event every day.

Self Discipline is the key when stuck in a training rut

Getting stuck in a training rut with horses is different, because there are two of you. First of all, let’s note that it is unlikely that the horse himself has any idea we are stuck in a rut, because they have no idea where they are meant to be going, or in fact, where they used to be.

The horse won’t say to you that their half pass felt more brilliant yesterday compared to today. They are however peerless at delivering instant feedback.

What you are receiving is exactly what you are aiding, to the best of the ability of that body, on that day.

A couple of ground rules here.

I do not believe that any horses are deliberately naughty.

They are reactive, in the moment.

They also have the capacity to associate, if not truly remember.

They can process experiences and learning. I believe we should appeal more to their intellect, rather than labelling them stupid.

They are communicating all the time, but mostly in a whisper.

And good therapeutic schooling work should effect a body change that feels good to them and which they then choose to repeat, having learned from the feel.

So your horse doesn’t know he’s stuck in a rut. Unless you start drilling a particular exercise, ignoring the feedback from his body and it stops feeling good for him. Unless you get cross and tense and start playing crazy pretzel demon on top of him to get results; then he feels anxious and his body stops feeling good.

When stuck in a training rut, do your best not to let your frustration transmit to your horse

Remember, the first aid is your mind.

When I got stuck on a scale or a sequence, I would mix it up. Play it backwards, play it really slowly, play it in opposite rhythms Dee da Dee da Dee da then da Dee da Dee da Dee.

We can do the same with our horses. Go back to walk. If it’s a trot exercise, how slow can you make the trot? The power comes from the slow stuff anyway. Is there another way in; counter bend on the other rein for example? Are you mixing up circles and squares and straight lines? Are you paying enough attention to the crucial details? Are you doing enough transitions? (no never none of us)

Are you remembering to praise? https://www.nelipotcottage.com/every-opportunity-to-praise-the-power-of-positive-feedback

And most importantly, are you using your everyday vocabulary of training; your scales and arpeggios; every day, every gait, every bend, every length of rein, every length of stride. The emphasis might change but the basic ingredients need to be there every day. And I include jumping and galloping as gaits to be included regularly, and hacking out on uneven and challenging surfaces as part of that foundation for every length of stride.

So yes, go out on the farm ride, freshen yourselves up. Yes, go hacking and break up the arena routine. Definitely jump or do poles, if you can, incorporate them into the regular work. But when you school, remember that the precision of the ingredients is what leads to brilliance.

Brilliance comes from brilliant basics.

https://www.nelipotcottage.com/suddenly-happens-over-a-very-long-time/

Bodies take time to build. No one learned to dance Swan Lake overnight, nor to play Rachmaninov on the piano, or even to run 100m in under 10 seconds. These things take targeted and dedicated practise. We need to be accurate to be efficient- practise alone doesn’t make perfect, Perfect practise makes perfect

But it is allowed to be fun too. And the most frustrating stage is usually just before the next big breakthrough.

When your normally quite careful horse finds his inner dragon- breakthroughs often come after plateaus or training ruts

So don’t be despondent when you get stuck in a training rut.

First, remember to giggle with your horse. They are always doing their best to do what you ask, so we must make sure we ask well.

Second, enlist the help of a friend. Go play out, jump some fences, book a trip to the gallops, borrow a garrocha pole. Try crossing the reins, or Fillis hold, or no reins at all…

I don’t know the lady pictured here but what a lovely piaffe- Goals!

Third, check your basics. Saddle, teeth, bodywork; are they all up to date? Have you done the human self care stuff too? Has your ownback man been recently? Do you need a trip out? Too often the horses get stellar care while we work all hours to provide it.

Four- revisit the basics. Work on your equitation. Work on your equitation some more.

Can you and your horse do a 20m circle in all gaits with even contact through both reins, even balance between the four feet, even bend from tail to poll, and a smooth transition at the exit point?

If your answer to that last question is yes then congratulations!! You have got stuck in a training rut at the most advanced level and you are invited to be my next guest blogger!

So there you have it. Training ruts are part of training process. The big lasting progress will come from daily attention to the discipline of detail. But your horse is mostly just a body…so have fun while you practise, dance, play, mess around. The arena is your dance floor, or your playground. The horses will always tell you what’s working for them.

Charlie kindly gave me permission to share his beautiful drawings from time to time; When I am stuck in a training rut, beauty is a source of inspiration

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This New Year brings in a New Energy

With the New Year come resolutions, statements of intent, affirmations, SMART goals, whatever your preference. I’m sure we all share a feeling, around about this turning of the year that it is a time of change and that we can try to focus this for the better.

My statement of positive intent is that this New Year brings in a new energy.

First things first. Rocky went to the physio for assessment on the 2nd and got a very good report. The muscles in his back are no longer in spasm, and appear to have developed a bulk more in keeping with the size of his vertebrae. This is despite him essentially being left to rest, recuperate and just grow for the last three months.

My friends will know that my life has been somewhat changed over the last few months. I decided to give us all a break and go old school with Rocky’s mild kissing spine injury and try a bit of Dr Green and a whole lot of love.

I’ve probably managed to work him in hand one or twice a week since we moved back to livery in mid-November, he’s been out in the field every day and in at night, and we did a course of treatment with the Arc equine. Rocky, me and all the other animals are also learning about energy healing, after what in retrospect has been a tough time emotionally and psychologically.

Rocky looks really good. So the plan now is to do a couple of months in hand, building a back that one could sit on, and then aim to get back on and hopefully get going.

And hopefully we will find that the new year brings in a new energy, and a new positive start.

It’s a funny old thing, life. It is completely possible to keep trudging on from day to day, keep oneself busy, particularly with a demanding job and horses at home, and completely fail to check in with ourselves.

I liken my recent experience to working in the office at dusk; it gradually gets darker and darker, but as long as we can see the screen and keep typing, we don’t realise how much we are actually struggling until a colleague walks in and turns on the light.

Once the fluorescent striplight is on, it throws everything into sharp focus, the seemingly familiar is briefly and strangely illuminated. If we happen to glance up at that moment of unguarded change, we may get a surprising flash of clarity. The pile of boxes in the corner may seem more intrusive than usual, or the mess more disturbing.

And in that moment of stark illumination, we get to choose. We either blink and carry on, ignoring the familiar mess, or we decide that the situation must change. And from that point, if a decision is made to change, then nothing can ever look quite the same again.

And the New Year brings in a new energy.

I have always said that to learn about horses is to learn about life. Horses are first sentient; however their language isn’t one of words but of energy. The power of positive expectation cannot be over estimated

https://blog.dressagenaturally.net/107-the-power-of-expectation?utm_content=81684869&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-58052143396

nor can the power of negative energy be understated.

https://www.wikiart.org/en/edvard-munch/the-scream-1893

We have to remember our responsibilities

And to look after ourselves first

and to make sure that we spend enough time doing the things that make us happy

Photos by Jo Prestwich

Positive energy gives you wings!

And the greatest energy is love, self love and universal love.

Simple. But not always easy xx

May you also find that the New Year brings in a new energy.

Thanks to the fabulous Jo Prestwich for the lovely photos.

And to Charlie Mackesy for permission to share his wonderful drawings. Do check out his other work.

https://charliemackesy.com/

Every Opportunity to Praise- the power of positive feedback

Finding every opportunity to praise- the power of positive feedback, and the soundbite that summarises my current training philosophy.

I don’t get too hung up on R+, R-, I do use so-called aversives like spurs and whips and bits but I try to use them in the non-aversive way that we are taught is possible by 2000 years of classical tradition. And I am willing to learn and evolve, with the horses as my most reliable and honest teachers. So this article summarises where I am now. It’s a long way from where I was 10 years ago. And we may all read this in another 10 years and think what nonsense?

I seek to share my current understanding because writing it down helps me to clarify my thoughts, and because occasionally it seems to help other people too.

So, I seek every opportunity to praise…the horse, the junior doctor, myself. It becomes a way of being, seeking the opportunity to praise the positive in every action or interaction

As some of you will already have read, my glorious warmblood was recently diagnosed with a kissing spine.

https://www.nelipotcottage.com/the-rocky-road-to-rehab/?fbclid=IwAR0j8hIJFXag31z0ciYySH4UgIRnTSgVYgTPgnoKqFIlU3NaPQslSuz77Ho

As he is still young, green and growing, and as my personal circumstances have been a bit complicated recently, I have made a conscious decision to take his rehab very slowly. To allow the growth spurt to complete, to let him down and let the spasmed muscles relax, to get him pain free and in good shape physically and mentally and then to start again from the beginning. This time I will pay meticulous attention to posture and correct muscle usage and see if we can end up with a better back that will allow me to sit on it without causing trouble or pain.

This rationale also gives me time to completely rebuild our training relationship, from the ground, so we have trust and a good communication system in place before I get back on. And this process has set me thinking about how I train: what is my methodology?

And I have arrived at the soundbite; seek every opportunity to praise.

Proud pony loves praise

I’m not very good at clicker training. Currently I don’t own a horse that is more motivated by food than by praise, so the premise of training to a click backed up by food doesn’t work for my current equine partners. I’m also not as quick to click as I am to praise with my voice, so for me it is much easier to ‘mark’ with my voice. And as horses are basically telepathic, even if they don’ t hear the word, they hear the thought…so for me a clicker just introduces a layer of delay.

I’m also put off by the tragic story of Tilikum- when clicker training goes wrong, the result can be dangerous frustration for the animal.

https://youtu.be/fLOeH-Oq_1Y

I’m sure the horse will come along one day that forces me to learn clicker training and I will have to eat these words, as I have so many others!! But life is a journey…

The key question is what to praise. Now the horses and I are back in company rather than living at home in our little private bubble, we are once again exposed to other humans and their relationships with their horses. One can learn a lot by listening.

The other day our neighbour was grooming her pony. Every other word seemed to be a No, or a Don’t Do That, or a Stop That, or another No.

Now I am a proud survivor of surgical training; in the good old days, you knew you were doing well if the boss kept quiet, and you only got spoken to, or rapped on the knuckles, if you were doing it wrong. When we read about how to raise children, we read that “the average toddler hears the word “no” an astonishing 400 times a day, according to experts. That’s not only tiresome for you but it can also be harmful to your child: According to studies, kids who hear “no” too much have poorer language skills than children whose parents offer more positive feedback.”

Disciplining Your Child Without Saying No. – Redbook

https://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/advice/a2560/how-to-say-no/

But if we just randomly say Good Boy, how will the horse, or the child, learn what was good or desired?

It’s all about timing.

Here’s an example. Rocky, the young warmblood, has really mobile shoulders and very expressive front legs. His reaction to food, to buckets, to grooming, to challenge, is to wave, particularly his right, foreleg around, and for me the waving is often at waist height. There is no point telling him not to do this; by the time we are saying No Don’t Do That the foot is already up in the air. He doesn’t choose to do it, it’s a reaction, an instinct. Horses don’t reason or plan, they react. There is no possible way of teaching the horse Don’t Do That once the action has already occurred.

Instead, how about we teach him to put the leg back down on the ground on command? At first this is opportunistic training; every time the leg hits the ground as he’s scraping or waving, I praise- “Down- Good”. Eventually, we just have to say ‘Down’ and the leg will land.

I don’t want to teach him not to wave the leg around; who knows, we might want Spanish Walk one day, although I’m not sure gymnastically that this particular horse will ever require that exercise LOL; his shoulders are already mobile enough. 

Goofball Rocky with his very mobile shoulders

So the principle is: rather than trying to teach a negative after the unwanted behaviour has occurred, instead we teach a positive correction to the unwanted behaviour, a correction that we can cue and then reward. This has the advantage of not preventing a behaviour or movement we may want to access again in the future, and also gives us the opportunity to praise our horse rather than rebuke him. Horses, like children, respond much better to positive feedback than negative. They enjoy being right, and being rewarded for being right. 

Another common misconception is that we can get a horse to calm down by stroking or patting them when they are on high alert.

Effectively, what we are doing here is rewarding the horse for being anxious or fractious. We are reinforcing the unwanted behaviour. Far better to change the mood and then reward the following calm, which is the desired behaviour. How do we change the mood?

Laughter or yawning are my two favourite strategies here. When Cal was a youngster and we were hacking around Kingsley as the annual scarecrow competition hit full swing, I used to giggle at the crazy stuff in the hedges. The best one was a pair of legs, sticking up out of the hedge, as if diving into a pool; I think it must have been London Olympic year. Cal would be eyeballing the scarecrows and sidling past at speed and I would be chuckling and giggling, but with hands loose on the reins and concentrating on loose legs and relaxed seat. He’s pretty bombproof now.

At competitions with Cal, or handling Rocky recently when he’s been in pain having physio, I focus on boredom and yawning. Boredom slows your heart rate and lowers your energy, while yawning relaxes the jaw and the neck, and therefore the hands, as well as changing the frequency of your thoughts. When the horse comes down in energy, relaxes or yawns, then we can take the opportunity to praise the relaxation and the calm, because that is the desired behaviour.

Now I’m far from perfect. I’m not trying to preach, just to share some stuff I have learned. Tonight was worming night, and Rocky still had me swinging around the stable because yet again I didn’t do enough prep work in between wormings. But I will do the prep work, and it will get easier. 

Butter wouldn’t melt

When I’m riding nowadays, I’m alway looking for the moment to praise, the topline stretch or the moment of throughness or relaxation that I can mark as desirable so I might get offered it again. I am also careful to praise myself- although that’s much more subtle. I don’t vocalise those moments so much, although maybe I should, but a turn in balance or good use of a seat aid will get noted as a nice feeling, or a good moment, with a nod or a smile.

More importantly, I don’t beat myself up for the not perfect moments anymore- I have a giggle, regroup and do it again, better. I no longer hate my disobedient legs, or my flappy elbow, or my gripping left hand, instead I notice them, change them, forgive myself, correct them again…until the corrections become fewer and further between….and then you notice your flappy knee or your sticky out toe and move onto to the next bit of homework.

Finding every opportunity to praise, ourselves and our horses, keeps training fun and rewarding, and beats the winter blues.

So here’s some homework. First spend an evening wth your horse just listening to what you say to him, is it no or is it yes, is it don’t do that or clever boy?

And then spend an evening being really careful to look for the moment to praise, both you and him, for the good stuff, and to replace a Don’t with a Can You Do this instead. And then observe both your moods. I predict your horse will be proud and puffed up and loving at the end of a positive session.And you will go home energised and enthused and looking forward to the next session, no matter what has occurred, because you have both had more fun.

And then suddenly might just happen over a very long time 😉

https://www.nelipotcottage.com/suddenly-happens-over-a-very-long-time/

Because there is pure magic in the power of perfectly timed positive feedback.

Seek every opportunity to praise xxx

The Myth of the Alpha

Or busting the myth of the alpha! I’m learning energy work at the moment. The first few sessions with a new teacher, even one infused to the hilt with energetic information, are always about seeking a common language. No matter how connected or enlightened we are, as humans we still need a framework of communication, and that communication can occasionally be clumsy. Sometimes one might drop a complete clanger.

It may occur as an attempt at shorthand, to convey a feeling, or it may reflect confusion stemming from a different understanding of words. My teacher’s clanger today was “the horse trusts you….you are the alpha in the herd.” There we have it, the myth of the alpha!

Now first, let me just clarify; I’m not bitching here. I spoke up at the time and between us, we found a different set of words that conveyed the feeling required in the moment. But it did get me to thinking…..

The myth of the alpha or herd leader is all pervasive. Depending on who you read, it may be the alpha male, the stallion or herd defender, who fights off all comers to protect his harem of mares and pass on his genes. Or it may be the alpha mare, the real herd leader, who makes all the important decisions in the herd, including when to move, when to drink, eat and sleep.

So much training methodology, in equine and canine training, is based on this flawed concept. We are told we have to be the pack leader, to dominate, to demand respect, if we expect to earn obedience or cooperation. The whole Natural Horsemanship movement is based on repackaging this belief in various shiny guru-based guises- “control the feet and you control the horse”, the use of “pressure release”, the “round pen” work and “join up”.

None of this methodology really stands up to scrutiny if your primary aim is a willing partner, either equine or canine. When an animal shows aggressive behaviour, the others will quietly choose to remove themselves from the aggressor’s proximity. When humans use coercive or alpha based training methods, the animal is never given the chance to remove himself from the unpleasant stimulus. Instead, he is subjected to ongoing dominance behaviour with no release or reprieve. What’s natural about that? The round pen work particularly, if you watch carefully, shows stressed horses, running around, demonstrating displacement behaviour not submission. And who wants submission anyway?

Modern cross country training ethos seems to rely on the fact that the horse will be more scared of the consequences of not jumping the fence than he is of jumping the scary fence. How many sales adverts say “never stops”? Personally, if I completely miss at a fence, I would rather my horse save us both rather than turning himself inside out to take off and hopefully get to the other side. I want him to trust me so when things get scary he asks me, are we ok, are we going, what do we need to do, not just to launch himself in desperation. 

Training classical dressage, especially, can not be done by force. We are incrementally teaching the horse to experiment with new and different ways of using his body; the reward is that the new muscle usage feels better and so the horse will spontaneously offer it again. This relaxed experimenting on the horse’s part simply cannot occur in a coercive relationship.  Classical training, similar to dance, is the very antithesis of the myth of the alpha.

I have spent many hours observing my horses in the field, while doing pooh picking and fencing and other jobs. They are three geldings, a bachelor gang, that have been together now for 5 years, mixed up with various short term visitors. Paddy, the eldest, is 23, Rocky is the youngest at 6. There really is no clear leader among them. They definitely all have different jobs. Paddy is the sentinel- I cannot get within half a mile of them in any situation without him fixing his eyes on me and saying Hi! I have owned him the longest, and the bond is close, but not as close as the bond I have with Cal. Still, it is always Paddy that announces my presence to the herd.

Cal is very controlling about food. He really flexes his muscles and his teeth at meal times; I have always fed him first for ease and safety. This doesn’t necessarily make the others want to hang out with him, and often when he is snoozing, or if I take him out to ride, the other two will spend the Cal free time stuffing themselves at the Haylage feeders. Cal is Irish born and bred, so I guess food has been scarce at some point. That’s resource guarding, it’s not leadership. 

Rocky still loves to play, mostly on two hind legs. Cal and Paddy take it in turns to entertain him, and to chastise him when he gets too annoying. No one in particular decides when to move, or when to drink, or when to go for a mosey to the vantage point; those decisions seem to occur organically and any one of the 3 horses can take the lead.  When we had a little mare in with the boys, she did move them around a lot, I guess because she liked to prove that she could!

All these observations however are based on horses in captivity. No matter how much we had enriched our field environment, it still had fenced boundaries, Haylage feeders and limited grass when they were allowed on the middle; i.e. rationed resources.

Lucy Rees has studied horses extensively in the wild.

“There’s a lot of fiction written about wild horses” says ethologist Lucy Rees. By that, she means that many books and even scientific studies describe horse behaviour in terms of “dominance hierarchies” – something which has never been observed in horses living under truly natural conditions, but which nevertheless form the basis of many schools of horsemanship… even ones purporting to be “natural”.

Her fascinating series of videos can be accessed for free. They should be required watching for all horse owners and horse lovers.

“In this video series, we meet the Pottoka ponies of the Gredos mountains in Northern Extremadura in Spain. The ponies lead a natural life in over 1000 hectares. The purpose of the project is to study natural horse behaviour and also to keep the mountains clear of shrubs which can start forest fires.

 https://www.epona.tv/real-ethology-with-lucy-rees

Briefly, where there are adequate resources, and adequate space, there is no dominance behaviour demonstrated. The wild horses live in peaceful, co-operative family groups, and show cooperative bonding behaviour and virtually no aggression. There might be some posturing at breeding time, but there is no true conflict. Humans could learn a lot from horses.

Likewise the seminal study that led to the myth of the alpha wolf, was based on an observational study in the 1940s, performed on wolves in captivity. Mech then published a book on the theory in the 1970s, which he has recently been trying to get withdrawn! A wolf pack in captivity, a bit like our domestic horses, is a group of disparate individuals who have been forcibly grouped together by their human owners, with no family relationship or accounting for personalities, and who are then made to compete for resources which are controlled and rationed by the humans.  Funnily enough, the captive wolves fought a lot. The study has been compared to learning about the behaviour of human families by observing people living in refugee camps! 

http://www.sketchyscience.com/2014/08/the-alpha-myth-real-science-of-wolf.html

It is not just our animals who suffer from our obsession with this flawed paradigm

https://qz.com/910561/the-myth-of-the-alpha-leader-is-destroying-our-relationships-at-work-and-at-home/ 

Imagine how much less stressful and more fun life at the office could be if we all worked together for the greater good rather than allowing behaviour that would not be out of place in a small shark tank!

So if we are not to be their alpha animal, what role can we assume? How about being their most trusted human? How about an equal relationship between two different species of animal based on mutual trust and affection? Believe me, these animals know you have two legs. Of course large animals need to understand physical boundaries, for everyone’s safety, but we can set those parameters with energy and intent as well as very simple training- rewarding the behaviours we like and either not rewarding or discouraging the behaviours we don’t like. 

Positive reinforcement does not have to involve treats; dogs and horses are first sentient: your approval and love is reward enough. (Although treats do help in the early days when puppies are super distractable.) I’ve never yet had a horse for whom I needed to use treats for simple training tasks. I’ve used food as a distraction e.g. when clipping and trimming, but not as a specific positive reinforcement training aid. I’m not saying I will never need to, but in my current skill set, with my current equines, my timing and marking is best done with verbal praise and a pat or a stroke. Horses are so good at understanding intent, they know when they have done well. 

So please do your animals a favour. Look your horse or dog in the eye and try communicating with the smallest possible whispers or signals. Imagine you are in a war zone, or out hunting, and need to communicate with silent gestures and just a thought. Once you start to whisper, they will start to listen more closely. And once you observe them carefully, and try to only praise rather than constantly saying “NO don’t do that”, you will be amazed at how they blossom. 

So please, join me in going out and help us all bust the myth of the alpha. The world will be much better for it.

Another useful article with a load of references to boot

http://www.eurodressage.com/2018/12/27/usemisuse-leadership-and-dominance-concepts-horse-training?fbclid=IwAR1s4Y325sjrJdoTlMrdUMORX1kP1t7H3mevxQxp4_XNwGD4HKrAcaLkbVQ

Suddenly happens over a very long time…

Suddenly happens over a very long time… this is another of those annoying contradictions that is so true of dressage training, of deep learning, or of developing expertise. How many times have you heard someone say- “we were stuck for ages and then suddenly, it just happened, as if by magic.”

Or the converse, “everything was going so well and then suddenly, out of nowhere, it all went horribly wrong. ”

Suddenly happens over a very long time.

Watching good dressage training

can be like watching paint dry. Cal and I have a fairly predictable school routine now; first we cover the arena with many random footprints, changing direction, weighting different hind legs, suppling the shoulders and the barrel.

All the while, I run through my position; are my legs kicked out of my hip sockets, are my knees down, are my calves long, are my seat bones open and my pelvis neutral, have I got 3 good spines, a good flat back, a solid frontline, and most recently, a seat that moves through my hands.

Then we move on to checking the 4 corners of the horse, have I got control of the 4 corners, is the weight equal between sides, is the bend even in both directions, have I got directional control, is he full from tail to poll, have I got lift and stretch?

Then we start doing laterals, in walk first and then either focus on trot or canter work. We pick an exercise to use as a test, then another to improve on the dilemma we find, then test again. Suddenly happens over a very long time.

It sounds very serious but we actually laugh a lot together, Cal and I. He is much less perturbed these days about having to be right all the time. The key for me is not to mind the moments where we lose balance, or lose steering, or just lose everything. I practise non judgmental observation, then make the change required (hopefully- there’s a 50-:50 chance of being right usually)  and then test the result. It’s taken me a long time to get to that stage- I used to get annoyed by our mistakes, or frustrated by my incompetence, or so focussed on achieving the task that I was rigid in my aiding and obsessed with task completion not quality of gymnastic (riding the exercise not the horse).

I rode last night in my winter jodhpurs, which don’t have a sticky bum, and I’ve been a bit short on riding hours the last couple of weeks. So, when I lost my rhythm, I slithered all over. I’m sure Cal was giggling, but he kindly didn’t drop me, or object!

Now these days I know that while it is important to complete the exercise, because there is magic in the patterns as well as in the aiding,  it is also important to be able to notice and change each step….or at least some of them. Suddenly happens over a very long time.

Every moment I am asking what do we have, what do I like, what do I want to keep, what do I want to change? I say every moment, in horse time it’s probably every 600 moments, in between running the human position check program, doing the steering, checking the bend, the weight, the back, breathe, check my position…you get the idea. We take frequent rest breaks and we accept one or two steps of good initially because we know these few steps will build up to a whole long side one day.

The last time I went to watch Charles de Kunffy teach, I had been playing with canter half pass on the long diagonal the day before. Cal could do about 3 steps of canter half pass before it all fell apart. I practised a good few times across the diagonal and then when we got to 4 passable strides I stopped. Charles asked for 3 strides canter half pass, then 3 straight then another 3 strides canter half pass. The horses were empowered, rather than pressured, and the few strides requested got better and bolder with each repeat. Such a simple lesson, and such a good reminder.

Likewise with your baby horse, if you only have 4 reliable strides of canter, take the 4 strides, ask for the trot, then ask again. The magic is in the transition, the taking weight behind occurs in the moment of change, the shift in the back occurs in the switch of rhythm,  not in the lolloping around.

The trick to make suddenly happen over a very long time is to notice the quality of each moment and then to make the appropriate change. As Charles says so eloquently in “The Ethics and Passion Of Dressage”-

‘There is no neutrality in riding: you are either actively improving your horse or actively breaking him down’

Cal’s neck has ‘suddenly’ got huge. Over the space of a few weeks, it seemed to deepen by about 3 inches. Did I do anything differently to cause this sudden change?

No- we were doing the same work, the same basic regime, although the exercise are getting more advanced, laterals on a circle or curving line, transitions in shoulder in, smaller patterns.

Building muscle, and building a horse is incremental, and exponential. If the foundations are good, and the details attended to at the beginning, then latter progress can be rapid.

Charles writes about this too-

‘we remember that the “finished horse” is born of daily attention to minutia in schooling. Careful consistency, repetition and elaboration are part of that daily work which produce the supple horse.’

I have really done my homework over the last few years. I have worked on my position with every spare brain cell and bit of muscle memory I could muster, I have used any precious arena time as efficiently as possible, I have done thousands of transitions, of bend, of weight, of speed, of topline…

I’ve had a lot of fun as well, farm riding, eventing, charging around the forest, but every moment on the horse I have genuinely tried to ride as well as possible, in that moment.

And suddenly my horse is looking really fancy. Suddenly, over a long period of time, my horse has become magnificent.

And in the process, I have learned a huge amount, about positive thinking, about discipline and change, about body and mind, and about life.

Because once you have seen something, you cannot unsee it. Once the feeling of true flow has been experienced, nothing else will do. Suddenly happens over a very long time. You are either improving something or breaking it down. You get to choose which, every minute, every day. I would recommend that, rather than coasting along, you focus on improving the daily details, the gymnastic, the posture, the flow, so that you suddenly find magic, not despair.

And if you get into the habit of checking every moment for what do you like, what would you keep, what would you discard, some unexpected patterns emerge, in human life as well as in the arena.

And when effecting positive change, in the moment, by choice, becomes a way of life, then the world might just shift on its axis.

Good riding should be therapeutic. It turns out that good horsemanship can also be therapeutic, for the human as well as the horse.

Suddenly happens over a very long time….and then nothing will ever be the same again.

“The horse is indeed the only master of his forces that our own strength is quite unable to augment by itself alone. It is hence up to him to use them to his liking and to determine the way to employ them in order to respond in the best way possible to the rider’s indications. Should the latter want to act by himself, the horse lets himself be carried and adjusts his efforts to those that the man makes him feel. But if the horse knows that he can rely upon his own means only, he will use them without expecting anything but indications, and then he uses them in full, with all his stamina.”

Beudant

Change is inevitable. You can choose

The Rocky Road to Rehab

It’s taken me a few weeks to be able to write about our glorious youngster’s diagnosis and the Rocky road to rehab.

I know all about the road to rehab- it’s almost 7 years since Cal fractured his carpal bone. And I completely believe a good outcome is possible – Cal’s fracture taught me to trust the process and detach from the outcome. He has become the most fabulous horse you could wish for. And the fracture, although well healed, made sure he was another horse I could never sell. (How does anyone manage to sell a horse?)

I clearly remember the early uncertainty, the agony of box rest, the hundreds of miles we walked in hand, and then finally the relief when he jumped his first course and stayed sound.

I just never expected to be on the road to rehab with Rocky.

We bought him as a yearling.

Well bred, well handled, but completely unspoilt, from a trusted source. He came home with us from the South Coast, after Paddy dumped me in the ditch at Longleat. Paddy did share some wise words with him on the trip home though- he travelled like a pro and learned to eat out of a haynet on the way.

We turned him out with another colt at a friend’s place and let them be boys, living out and razzing around together. We brought him in to the livery yard aged 3, a couple of months before we moved into our own place. Once our land was sorted the three horses went out together full time, and gelled as a little herd straightaway.

Paddy was hiding – Ernie thinks they are his brothers anyway

The pity party

The reason it’s taken me a few weeks to share a bit more is that I have been having a proper pity party. Everything we have learned about over the last few years, the entire focus of our horsey learning, has been about correct classical training, that is meant to preserve the health of the horse and prevent this type of injury.

The stages of balance, from Egon Von Nendirf’s beautiful book. Rider is Melissa Simms, who passed away only recently.

Good work is meant to be therapeutic. Rehab is really just about going back to absolute basics, working on the ground for now, opening up those intervertebral spaces and building the muscle in between. It’s basically what we should be doing all along.

Rocky had the joint space medicated, and this was followed up with some ultrasound to the muscles of his lumbar region, as these also were in spasm.

Rocky working at camp this spring

The ODGs knew all about kissing spine- correct classical training focuses on opening the back, elongating the top line, thereby preventing them occurring. Piaffe, the test of collection, also shows maximal length from tail to poll, when done correctly, along the arch of the top line.

Nuno showing an exemplary piaffe- all on the seat

Levade requires even more topline

Einsr Smit-Jensen archive
The lumbar back is curved, the loins coiled, the hind legs and hocks flexed.

We’ve taken it really slowly

We did 6 weeks of in hand work and sat on him briefly at 3, did about 3 months in hand work and rode him away for 6 weeks at 4, and then did a bit more with him in his 5th summer, a few fun rides, a bit of light schooling and hacking, a bit of polework.

This year, his 6th year, was meant to be when the work got a bit more consistent. As often happens, our working lives have been the limiting factor, as well as Rocky’s ‘tricky nature’.

Do we even believe horses can have tricky natures?

https://sophieshorsetales.com/done-with-well-behaved-horses/

This is not a young horse that has been over-worked…

Or was he?

I was starting to use judgmental words about him though- ‘backward’, the ‘work ethic of a flea’, because he would stop dead when tired and have a little buck when asked to go forwards.

I’ve written about this before

https://www.nelipotcottage.com/use-your-words-carefully/

I should have known better.

So the pity party has been all about where did we go wrong?

Have we done too much ridden work with him?

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf

Have we ridden him too much, when we should have been building a stronger horse with good in hand work and just riding a little?

Is the injury the result of an unfortunate conformational glitch?

Did the injury occur when he got stuck under the partition in the truck a couple of years ago? He didn’t thrash around or panic but still…

And then after a couple of days madness, I gave myself a slap and a talking to. It doesn’t matter how it happened- we just need to focus on the rocky road to rehab.

Rehab is a rollercoaster of emotions, hopes and dreams, where actually we just have to knuckle down, do the work and trust the process. All the previous learning, all the work on posture, timing, training, helping horses find biomechanically correct movement, will surely get put to extra good use now.

The value of good in hand work

The value of good in hand work can not be overstated. I never manage to do as much as I should. Only last week, Cal, my supposedly advanced horse, was the demo pony for a Patrice clinic, which meant I was the demo human (gulp). We found a few holes in the simple work- for example the SI left has too much neck bend, and so doesn’t weight the inside hind or stretch along the outside, and leg yield left, he doesn’t actually choose to step past his barrel with his hind leg-the mistakes are much easier to feel and correct from the ground if we are observant and honest enough with ourselves.

It’s also important not to pussy foot around with the rehab horse. We mustn’t look at them as if they are broken- they find this really disconcerting. Instead we should look at them with soft eyes, taking in the details of the movement, the stretch needed here, the balance needed there. We should do all the best work, asking nothing less than enough, yet noticing and rewarding every try that gets us towards better. We should remind them of their magnificence, encourage them to use themselves fully and correctly, and welcome the moment when the whole fabulous horse turns up.

In hand work also teaches us about our horses’ training brain. Rocky has always thrown his whole genetically gifted body at any task. When I ask him to slow down and actually work within himself, paying attention to the details of which leg goes where, he then needs to work really slowly, with lots of breathing and thinking breaks. This is timing and observation I will need to take forward to the ridden work once we get back on.

Some vets recommend a Pessoa or similar training aid when rehabbing a horse with kissing spines. The advantages are that it stretches the horse ‘over the back’- that horrid modern phrase. The disadvantages are that any training aid attached to the mouth only serves to teach the horse to avoid the bit- imagine jagging yourself in the teeth every time you move a leg?

In classical training, the bit belongs to the horse.

The horse has to learn to trust the bit, to take it forwards, to use it as a point of reference to reach towards and work around. The bit should never be used against the horse, neither as a means of control nor as a tool to ’round the neck’. Even the subtlest of left/right actions backwards on the bars of the north or downwards on the tongue teach the horse to avoid the aversive pressure and duck behind the bit to relieve the pain. Working them in a training aid that attaches to the mouth isn’t subtle, and there is no way the bit can act in the corners of the mouth, as it should, when the head is strapped down.

I have been using the equi-bands, to encourage Rocky to lift his tummy and round his back – this specific training aid has no front part so all influence on the head is from the human hand to the front of the cavesson, teaching the horse to stretch forward over the topline. The connection to the cavesson should be like the connection to the rein- and the line held like a rein- it only acts forward and up, and continually places the contact in front of the horse so that he learns to take the contact forwards.

Manolo- the photo shows beautifully how asking for a forward long neck extends the spinous processes. His contact is a bit vague in this moment but you get a good sense of elbow bent, line held correctly, lower arm opening forwards encouraging the topline to reach.

And perhaps most of all we should never underestimate the healing power of love, positive energy, and sunshine.

Rocky chilling out after a work session with his Arc gizmo on in the sun

Naming your horse

Naming your horse can be a real challenge. Choosing passport names can be great fun, but I’m starting to wonder if naming a horse is a prophetic process or even if they help you find the perfect name?

Paddy arrived with a stable name but no passport. He needed a good name for Eventing so after much deliberation I called him Wise Words.

This name did turn out to be prophetic- Paddy taught me lots, over the years. His most important lesson was to teach me to listen to horses.

I’ll never forget the relief in his whole demeanour when we took his shoes off for the last time. Suddenly the trimmer was his favourite person, whereas the Farriers had always been the enemy.

And his jumping improved no end once he could feel his feet and adjust himself.

He always had an opinion though, especially about ditches. Classic quote from the commentary box- Fran McNicol getting some wise words from her horse at the ditch.

His last event was the unaffiliated 3 day at Longleat- some clown had put decorative little wooden lizards and alligators in the ditch. I’ll never forget him back-paddling in mid air over the part A skinny like a cartoon character when he spotted those.

He was the greatest on his good days though – I have some wonderful memories when our wise words were in tune 😀

Cal arrived with a green passport, a microchip and no name. He was bought to be the fabulous cross county horse so I named him Cloud Warrior.

Surprisingly he’s turned out to be a bit of a dressage diva, who offered Pesade very early on. I wonder if I might have a secret Airs horse in the making- I need another few years for that Naming to come true.

He also loves posing

In the meantime at Shelford this year we had an average dressage, a surprise stop in the show jumping but he was storming around the cross country, with speeding penalties, when the commentator struck again. “Cloud Warrior- this horse is very well named, not had the best day in the other phases but he’s storming across the country. Good name for a good cross country horse!”

Rocky’s real name is Royal Magic.

I have no idea yet how that name will come to be true!!

Do you have any funny stories to tell about naming your horse?

The Buzz about the Fuzz

I started noticing the buzz about the fuzz a year or so ago. The fuzz is fascia, a part of the connective tissue that is generally ignored.

When we bought Rocky, our fancy warmblood, we bought a young horse with international standard genes. We had to have him gelded, and we were told to make sure we got some massage done on the gelding scar to preserve his fabulous movement.

We all know a little bit about fascia. It’s the stringy stuff in between the muscles in your chicken breast, or the marbling in your steak. It’s the layer that keeps healthy muscles separate so they can slide over each other and work independently.

In surgery, knowledge of fascia is critical- it’s fascia that determines the layers of anatomical cleavage where cutting should occur.

The French surgeons really get the buzz about the fuzz- they call it ‘cheveux d’anges’ or “angel hair”- a lovely romantic name for the delicate little tendrils we see when tissues are separated already by fascial planes act like a dotted line for bloodless and painless surgery.

Not that fascia doesn’t contain blood vessels and nerves- they are just fewer in number. If tissue is disrupted by injury, it’s partly the fascia that stabilises that injury, by thickening into a scar. That’s why it’s important to keep good mobility throughout life, and especially after injury.

Dr Hedley’s short film is a great celebration of the buzz about the fuzz

https://youtu.be/_FtSP-tkSug

So, when I was looking for a horse massage therapist, I remembered the lovely Babs, of Chester zoo fame, who happens to be incredibly local to us, and who we knew from the last livery yard (before we moved onto our own land).

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=522106882

Babs came to treat the horses and I asked her about Myofascial Release Therapy. Her eyes lit up and she started telling and showing me.

What struck me first was how subtle and gentle the manoeuvres were. She was using gentle finger pressure on acupressure and meridian points.

There is a theory that acupuncture actually works along fascial lines- no other anatomical highway explains the effects of acupuncture: it doesn’t work along the determined paths of blood vessels, nerves or lymphatics.

Had it not been for my horse’s dramatic reaction, I wouldn’t have known there was any treatment going on.

Not Cal, but another equally demonstrative horse

Cal is very demonstrative- in between manoeuvres he stretched, adjusted, licked and chewed. And got more and more soft blink sleepy.

And his posture improved, and the gymnastic schooling work went through better and better.

In a perfect world, correct schooling work in itself should be therapeutic. We all feel that our horses generally have a hollow side and a longer side. If we strengthen to equalise to the shorter hollow side we end up with stiff horses, equally contracted on both sides. If however we work on lengthening and decontracting the short stiff side to equal the length of the longer side of the body and then start to strengthen, we build strength on suppleness and the power can come through from behind without any blockage. The basic knowledge of gymnastic schooling is mostly lost now, in the rush for progress and prizes, few people know how to nor take the time to build the horse up into an athlete before using the power they offer. Hence why my search for a good instructor led me to a lady who lives on the south coast and visits us once a month for 3 day clinics!!

The hyoid and tongue apparatus of the horse is connected to the hocks by an uninterrupted fascial sheet, varying in thickness but nonetheless a pure connection. So any bit action which constricts the tongue and hyoid will also adversely affect the movement of the hind legs. This is the cause of the funky trots we see now in high level dressage horses: neck and head restricted, tongue tied down, hind legs strung out behind rather than coming through to take the rider up and forward.

Funky trot- back is hollow, hocks out behind, head and neck restricted due to excess pressure on the bit

https://handshealinghorses.wordpress.com/tag/horse-hyoid-apparatus/

The tongue is also connected to the shoulders

https://www.facebook.com/339154063236779/videos/403549170130601/

In humans, our mostly sedentary lifestyles prevent us from riding well. We get told we need a strong core to absorb the horse’s movement, but actually it’s a stillness in motion we need to seek, not a stiff brace. Think walking along on a boat not surviving a ride on the Big One!

We need open flexible hip sockets, a nice flat back with good isometric tone of our front and back lines, as well as the line from armpit to hipbones. Most of us have over developed or tight back and shoulder muscles with weak contracted front lines. Strengthening a shorter front line will only increase the dysfunction- we need to open up the hip flexors before we can engage our ‘core’ to get the balance required between front and back lines. I found a human Physio to help with this- again with focus on MFR.

https://www.facebook.com/backinactionwarrington/

Matt from BackinAction isn’t quite as gentle as Babs; often it feels like a Chinese burn as he stretches creaky, stiff fascia, but after 6 months of breaking down the fuzz, I can now access front and back trunk muscles as required, and even use my hand or leg without the other joining in, and mostly without bracing or stiffness. This is progress indeed.

So quite rightly, there is a lot of buzz about the fuzz. Is your fuzz soft and pliable, or tough and stringy?

And how about your horse? Does his skin move smoothly over soft muscles or can you see stripes or striations in the muscle? Have you inadvertently strengthened a stiffness? Does he pound the ground or float softly?

Supple horses with soft pliable fuzz and efficient energy transfer last a lifetime- isn’t that what we would all wish for our dream partners?

How much attention do you pay to the fuzz? For you and your dancing partner?

Horsemen of Mongolia

By far the greatest pleasure of the recent scientific trip was hanging out and riding around with the horsemen of Mongolia.

First a cautionary tale: how many times are we told not to waste our time on social media?? A stray FB post caught my eye, I had been tagged in by a friend:

“Wanted, horse-riding doctor for an expedition to Mongolia”

It’s like reading the small ads in the local paper; once in a while, there will be something far too good to pass up. Who could possibly say no to the opportunity to ride with the horsemen of Mongolia, and call it work?

Yasmin and I- team medics aka Chirmentoya and Jijgee

The trip was organised by John Blashford-Snell,

of Blue Nile fame, (a climbing community legend through his partnership with Bonnington on that trip)

https://www.johnblashfordsnell.org.uk/biography/

and was facilitated through the Scientific Exploration Society

http://www.ses-explore.org/

and fixed by Great Ginghis Expeditions

http://greatgenghis.com/

The purpose of the Expedition was to carry out archeological, botanical and zoological surveys in the West of Outer Mongolia, as well as performing local community aid: simple medical and dental clinics, handing out reading spectacles, and presenting books to the local schools and colleges.

https://youtu.be/g_6woHpflDM

Horses were to be the main form of transport in the mountains, which meant we would get to ride with the horsemen of Mongolia, over their beautiful and rugged country.

The briefing document had all sorts of cautions about the horses (horses, not ponies, the Mongolians demand respect). They are semi feral, liable to kick and bite, and bolt off if spooked. They were only to be approached with caution, only in the presence of  herdsman or groom, and might need to be re-broken before we got on them. We would be in Australian stock saddles, not the Mongolian wooden treed saddles, as these would apparently offer more support.

The horses arrived in small groups, the evening after the local Nadaam festival, to our camp site high in the mountains. The drive in, sandwiched inside the Russian mini-buses with their beefed up suspension and four wheel drive, had been quite trying.

I’m not sure which we were more pleased to see, the cook truck, always late, or the herdsman bringing in the eagerly awaited horses, as the light faded.

On first impression, they are small, sturdy, stock horses, a lot like Icelandics or Exmoors. They tolt like Icelandics, a lateral trot which is easier to sit or half sit too than our English diagonal trot which needs rising to. Even this would get wearing after several hours. On arrival, the herdsman hobbled them and set them loose around the tents.

The next morning we each got allocated a saddle and a horse. These horses don’t have names, they are working animals that may end up as meat so don’t get names from their Mongolian keepers. After a few days the herdsman started giving the horses names, mainly as an excuse to start giving us Europeans special Mongolian names. Our herdsman was called Munkbhat, and the horses he brought for us to ride were all from the same family group.

He gave me his wife’s horse, of whom he was obviously very proud, a good horse. The horse was quiet, dignified, self contained, didn’t bite or kick when tacked up, and easy to steer and stop. A great start.

The horses wear a rawhide bridle, with a simple metal bit, and a long lead rope attached to the noseband. The lead rope acts as a tether, a caching rope, a set of basic hobbles and a lariat to use as a waving, slapping encouragement to go faster.

The horses are not trained to move off the leg: the Mongolian saddles actually had long saddle flaps to protect the riders legs from the horse’s sides, or vice versa. The stirrups were very wide, round platforms, to support the feet over a long day, they could put their toes or their heels on the foot rest, relieving different muscles as the day went on.

The horsemen, and horsewomen of Mongolia ride with short stirrups, reins in one hand, and the horses are trained to run into a high hard contact. To go faster one said “Cho” quite sharply, and waved the lariat around, or tapped a bum with it. Turning was neck reining, but again with hands quite high and bit quite tight, and stop was hands up and “Drrrr”.

To canter the good horse that belonged to his wife, one simply stood up in the stirrups and turned slightly to the right side, and the horse cantered. I didn’t work that out, my friend did, after we had swapped horses because I thought the wife’s horse too slow and boring when he wouldn’t canter despite all the flapping and Cho! Cho! I could muster. His younger brother was a bit more clumsy, but a lot more sprightly, or maybe more forgiving, and cantered on a thought.

We talk a lot about aversive training, positive reinforcement, and +R training here in the UK. The Mongolian horses did not get any positive reinforcement. I never saw a Mongolian pat or reward a horse with a quiet word. They aren’t nasty people, it’s just not in their training vocabulary.

They were slightly fearful of the horses, as befits their semi-feral status. They understood the importance of habit, and had set ways of doing things: first catch the horse with the ground rope, bring it closer, tack it up with the rope tight and the head turned away, so the horse couldn’t bite them or run away. The men were very wary of the back feet, never standing behind the horse, between two horses, or in the kicking zone. The bridles had the bit permanently attached but the throatlatch was undone and bits slipped under the chin at night. In the morning, the bit was then slipped into the horse’s mouth, the throatlatch done up again and the long rope used for leading, steering and creating speed.

The horses weren’t shut down or suppressed. They didn’t look for affection but did connect when asked, and quite liked strokes and a bit of cranio-sacral or back massage.

Jane saying goodbye to her faithful steed

The horses were all good at voicing displeasure; one day the girth strap was twisted when our esteemed quartermaster got on his horse and the horse bucked and bucked. The herdsmen quickly got Stuart off, checked the girth and it got sorted out. The horse was then back to his quiet sensible self. We had another team member who was quite heavy; when his horse had carried him far enough, it simply sat down and demanded a rest.

When travelling long distances, the horsemen of Mongolia sing, folk songs and love songs. When the horses heard the singing, they all bunched together, and marched on more smartly. They were beautifully behaved as long as we travelled in a group. Some were better than others at leaving the group or going from front of the line to the back, and all found a burst of speed when left too far behind.

The funniest thing was on one of the long days, when we crossed from one mountain range to another. There was a road through the middle of the valley. These tough sure footed horses, that had done ditches and boulder and river crossings without hesitation had no idea how to touch tarmac. One in particular was quite firm in his no- the herdsman got off and tried to drag him across while his colleague slapped the horse from behind with the long rope.

The interesting thing was there no frustration or malice or viciousness in the use of the rope; it was simply a signal of coercion. As soon as the horse moved onto the tarmac, the use of the aversive stopped. Loading the horses onto the cattle truck at the end of the trip was very similar; they absolutely understand the use of pressure release, and because there was no ill intent or malice used, the horses absolutely understood pressure release too. They stood on the truck quietly, once they were on, with their mates, and travelled easily.

The horses’ basic needs are met every day: we talk often of #friendsforagefreedom. They didn’t seem stressed or unhappy. They took every opportunity during the day to drink, graze, stopped for a wee when they liked, lay down at lunchtime, napped when we stopped. They were all remarkably self contained. When they were not working with us, they were turned out around camp with hobbles on, to graze and roam, and in between big trips they would have been out on the hills with their mates, in a big herd, grazing up high during the day and coming down to the valley at night.

Winters are fierce in Mongolia, with up to 3m of snow, and the herdsman move their animals to the lowland corrals and feed them precious hay through winter. Not all the animals will be kept all winter, some will end up in the pot, but the oldest horse on our trip was 25, and the two brothers I rode were 12 and 13. Munkbhat was proud of his horses, and he told me I am now the proud owner of a little bay horse in Mongolia that I can go back and ride anytime!!

My favourite moments of the trip were sat around with the horsemen of Mongolia, at the end of a long day, sharing a cigarette or a beer and asking them, via the young interpreters, about their country and their way of life.

The Mongolians are very proud of their heritage, and traditions, and somehow have managed to find a way to combine the best of the old and the new. The winner of the horse races at Nadaam wins a motorbike! The herdsmen all had very good mobile phones, tucked into their deels, with the hard yak’s milk cheese and the cigarettes, and took lots of selfies with us. The drivers could also change a tyre and strip an engine, in the middle of nowhere, in lightning quick time. The gers all had solar panels and satellite dishes, and the literacy rate in Mongolia is very high, over 90%. Yet the horse remains the best mode of transport for much of the terrain, and a ger is moved from camp to camp strapped to 3 camels. The Mongolians loved sharing the beauty and splendour of their country, and made us very welcome. And riding with the horsemen of Mongolia was an experience I will never forget.

A little film from our trip by the talented Matt- check out other snippets on his YouTube channel

https://youtu.be/-lIMWNwZiI8

Our camp sites are marked