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Black Beauties BlurbSpirit and Skylark have been enjoying a seaside holiday this summer, because I brought them to a new field close to Lyme Regis, where the sea breeze can keep the midges away, helping to keep Lark’s sweet itch at bay. This has been a welcome change for them both. When we moved, I took all of our training work back a few steps, in order to help them with generalising behaviours, learning them afresh in new places. If this is done properly, it can create very solid foundations, resulting in your horse being able to transfer the training to new places. Skylark has to endure application of various lotions and potions for her skin problems. This is something we have worked on consistently, and now she stands beautifully for this daily ritual to take place. With this super foundation in place, if she really isn’t happy with something being done, in order to stick by my ‘word’ to her, I need to step back, listen to her requests, and reconsider what i’m asking. Spirit is still very nervous of humans, so in this environment she is slowly getting used to other people being around her, but causing her no harm.
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Welcome to the premier of my Newsletter! I’d firstly like to say that I am so grateful for the support from all of you throughout the constant evolution of my business. I certainly couldn’t make it happen without you! My vision is to be able to help improve the lives of our equine and other animal friends. For horses, that may be through enhancing and improving our partnerships, or by helping them to get the most out of life through improved posture and relaxation. This is especially important considering the tasks we ask of them. Limiting muscular wear and tear, or choosing management specific to that species’ natural behavioural ethogram is the least we can do. I am also a firm believer in looking at the whole picture, and as we are all aware, mental wellbeing can easily affect physical wellbeing, and vice versa. That is why I am truly passionate about helping people work with their horses on both of these levels. So, each month I will try to give my two cents on horsey news, from the above perspective! I will also mention any informative events from other animal welfare, behaviour, and bodywork professionals. This is not by any means limited to equines, because as i’m sure those of you who follow my work know, all animals are important to me, so to focus solely on equines simply wouldn’t be congruent with who I am and what I do. Inclusion is also something which means a lot to me. I hope that through including a cross section of ideas, events and initiatives, I can give you all a chance to get engaged with some of the other fantastic animal professionals I am lucky enough to be involved with.
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Our newsletter cover girl.
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Spirit has been the clicker training Queen this week. She has always loved fetching her feed bucket, picking it up, and giving it back. Kind of a horsey take on Oliver Twist’s “Please Sir, I want some more.” This got me thinking about how I could get her talent involved in the launch of this newsletter. Thus was born Spirit’s new skill of presenting me with a newsletter.
This was purely for the purposes of one picture, but the thing with teaching a new skill, is that you can’t really just drop it after that. Spirit really enjoyed this particular game, so we can now either transfer the skill to picking a variety of objects up, which could be an avenue into more activities and life skills, or we she could just hone her abilities of retrieving a newspaper. Considering it is rare to get post in a field, the former seems much more sensible!
Although clicker training can be a fantastic way of building a relationship with your horse - or many other animals for that matter - there are certain foundations which must be thoroughly considered before you both jump in. For help starting out, book in to one of my Behavioural 1-1 lessons and I can guide you on your way to successful clicker training.
Another great resource including some good training videos and information is Epona.TV - Well worth subscribing to! |
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A word on Lyme Disease.
On the 16th July I will be embarking on a journey to America to spend ten days with my sister, Laura, and her long term partner, Vanessa. Vanessa has been diagnosed with chronic Lyme Disease, which has dramatically altered her life. Vanessa has suffered with this disease for far too long due to it being misdiagnosed. Some of Vanessa’s symptoms are seizures, dizziness, heart palpitations, numbness, aching joints, lack of muscle control, numbness, nausea, and irreversible shrinkage of the brain. As a result of this disease, she has lost her job as a civil engineer, she has lost the ability to drive a car, social events can be difficult, and she has even lost the ability to look at a television or computer screen for any length of time. Laura has also had to leave her job as a university lecturer so that both could move out to Washington DC, leaving their two beloved cats behind. Laura has been incredible, administering Vanessa’s intravenous medication every day, and providing full around the clock care for Vanessa.
Earlier on this year, Vanessa’s family, my mum and I all went to a Lyme Disease conference in Regents Park. Through this whole day of listening to the leading scientists on Lyme Disease research, I was immersed in the latest facts and figures to the extent that my hand ached from frantically writing so much information down in my notebook, and my head pounded from trying to retain said information. The thing is, this felt like gold dust when what the public is told regarding this disease is a mere sniff of the truth.
I want to share this information with you all, because all of us who spend time outdoors with other animals and horses are even more at risk.
Lyme Disease has been found to be carried by not just deer ticks. Other arachnids, horse flies, mosquitoes, flies are just some of a list of carriers of the disease. It can also be passed from infected horse to horse owner through respiration. Cats and dogs can contract Lyme disease, and again, this can be passed on to their owner. Deer ticks however are still thought to be the main vector which transmits the disease. It is usually the absolutely tiny nymph which bites humans. These are the size of a poppy seed, so are incredibly hard to spot. They also have a completely painless bite, causing the incident to go unnoticed.
Only one in three people will actually present with the characteristic bulls-eye rash, and Lyme disease can lie dormant for many years before symptoms present themselves. Even then, it is easy for it to appear like a whole host of different diseases, which makes diagnosis very difficult.
If you’d like to support Vanessa, learn more, and follow her fight against Lyme disease, please head over to her Facebook page, lymelight4vanessa
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Looking after yourself.
Above is our cat, Inca. He lives such a full life. He plays a key part in our small family unit, he is a natural athlete, and he takes his rat-catching career very seriously... But despite all of that, boy does he sleep a lot! Cat’s are supposed to have on average 16-18 hours of sleep a day. If Inca is run down, he will sleep even more than usual, allowing his body to work its magic and heal itself. He does all of this just because it is the the best thing for him to do to function properly.
This really is no different to us (although we don’t need 16 hours sleep!), but so often in this culture of around the clock work we push aside the need to recuperate, and instead perhaps drink a coffee or energy drink. Through tired eyes, thumping heads, and aching joints we try our hardest to fit more into the day.
How are we really functioning on this system? Imagine what we could achieve if we gave ourselves the time, energy, and space. Imagine what we could achieve if we put effort into optimising ourselves before we put effort into to optimising our workload.
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Unnecessary Noseband Tightness.
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In advance of the Rio Olympics, researchers studying the physiological affects of tight nosebands on horses are calling for new regulations to prevent potential pain and stress.
I believe this is a very welcome wake-up call to what seems like the current fashion of tight nosebands masking unwanted behaviour in horses.
I particularly love this picture put together by the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants.
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How to Have Happy Chickens
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Sunday 7th August 10:00am - 12:30pm
Come over to Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, for a fun morning exploring the behaviour and cognition of these exquisite birds.
I will be drawing comparisons between a colony of feral chickens and our own back garden hens. We will then be able to look at the management of domestic chickens and what enrichment ideas could help to improve their lives.
Complimenting this perfectly, Suzanne Rogers will provide a fascinating insight into chicken intelligence. Go here or click on the title to for booking information. |
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Tea, Cake and Hooves Talks - Nutrition.
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Equine nutrition is a bit of a minefield! There are so many products all claiming to be the best you can buy, or balanced to contain all the vitamins and minerals your horse needs. Then there are supplements to think about! Oh, and not to mention hay vs haylage, forage and soil analysis, and feeding for specific conditions such as laminitis or weight loss/gain.
Find out how nutrition plays a key role in hoof function at this informal talk. |
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