From the beginning!

[jakendi]

Hi everyone, this is Jake and myself just chillin at home. Its his first time near the house so hes a bit tense but handling it well! Wer just starting into horsemanship thanks to inspiration from Elaine and Sean. Jake wants advice from other horses on how to deal with me so any help appreciated!!

[Elaine]

awwwwww!!! gorgeous horse

[jakendi]

Thank you its all him!

[drifter6]

Welcome Jake ,what ever life has thrown at you up to now ,you can put in the past for you have now arrived at the beginning of a new journey with Pat to share the expierance so be gentle with him , humans sometimes take time to understand the ways of the horse,put i am here to help," just call and i will come " Drifter and friends.

[jakendi]

G'day folks!

Just an update on our progress. We started of last thursday after a visit to Sean. Thanks Sean for the advice and info.

So we started the 7 games and surprise surprise it actually works!! I never doubted anyone elses ability, but until we started I wasnt sure of my own. But Jake reacted so good, I dont see why we cant achieve what we want, that is a happy healthy horse and rider. We have played games 1 and 2, and I only had to go as far as phase 3 to move him. This is getting lighter by the day, and today, after a few days break, it went to phase 2. Yeh ;D

The reason for the break is below, Jake got a little mate, Speedy to share the long, bright, warm evenings wer all going to enjoy this year .

[mandy]

Aw - speedy is sooooo cute! They will have tonnes of fun together

[Elaine]

Sounds like you're having fun - your new little horse is VERY cute!

[drifter6]

Hi , So you can get off your high horse now, and experiment with SPEEDY , and you wont have so far to travel

[sineadkelleher]

Hi he is just gorgeous! I'll look forward to hearing how ye are getting on. Lovely photos!

[jakendi]

Hey Everyone!

Been away for nearly 2 months, personal stuff, not very interesting. Really missed Jake and the fun we had together. Didn't think I would as Jake is my first horse and we're only together since February.

Anyway, since I last wrote, things have been mostly good. We were getting along nicely when I made the mistake of letting that infamous phrase 'Thats not the way the lads do it' get into my head. What a plonker I was!!!

Jake endured a few hours of old style, forceful, tormenting, degrading of any animal I had ever seen, and I was born into farming, ending up with me in the saddle. While I was up there we did 3, 20 meter circles both directions and I got off. At that moment I promised myself never to let that happen, to any horse I owned, ever again.

The next day I knew I was in trouble when I went into the field and Jake turned away, walked to the other end of the field and wouldn't even look at me. My time was limited, and armed with Elaine's book 'The little book of good horsemanship', we got back on good terms. He would now at least stand while I got a lead on.

Started working with him last few days and hes being so good. We are taking things slowly but hopefully we'll get back to where we were before. I did have physical contact with him for the time I was away but it was only 5 minutes 2 times a week. Those 5 minutes were spent doing positive things with the right attitude so I'm hoping that it will all count in the next few weeks.

Just a note on 2 good books that I've read lately. 1 is Elaine's 'The little book of good horsemanship'. It is exactly what it says on the cover. A brilliant book that gives the reader the information needed when owning a horse. Its well written in easy to understand language. Anyone that even dreams of owning a horse should read this book before getting one.
2nd is 'Be with you're horse' by Tom Widdicombe. This guy has years upon years of experience. He recalls his challenges, his triumphs and his mistakes. Alot of focus on attitude and body language. Well worth a read and hopefully get to see him in action shortly.
Currently reading Sarah Widdicombe's book 'The BHS book of the natural horse'.