Dromgool Horsemanship

02/04/2023

An early morning ride with a swim SO much fun.
Riding Holiday highlight 💞

25/03/2023

Stunning weather, amazing scenery and fabulous company.
Riding Holidays rock!!

13/01/2023

We have managed to ace the weather on all our Riding Holidays so far - the weather goddess has been on our side!
We still have places on our fabulous 3 day rides - what a great opportunity to gift yourself the trip of your lifetime.
Check them out on our website https://horseman.co.nz/3dayridingholiday/
Or drop me a line at [email protected]
I'd love to ride with you X

06/01/2023

So true

THE THING ABOUT HORSES ...

“He MUST be good to load on the float”
“He MUST have no “dirt”!”
“He MUST be good to catch!”

I could go on, but I’m sure you have all read and heard the statements, and many many many many more.

As soon as I see this in a “wanted” ad, or hear someone talking about it, I know two things.

1. They have probably had a problem in one of these areas before.

2. They didn’t learn how to fix it.

It seems like witchcraft that the people who strive so hard to find these horses that fit the MUST list, actually end up with exactly what they don’t want.

Here’s my feelings on that -

If I didn’t train it, I don’t own it.

If I buy a horse that can do 86 one time changes in a row, and I don’t know what a flying change is, then I’m not going to be able to perform 86 one time changes on my new fancy horse. Maybe I could stay in the saddle for a few, but it would dwindle down until the horse either quit doing them, or got anxious about it and did something else instead.

If I get a horse with a fantastic stop, and I use a different cue, or release out of time, my horse isn’t going to have a good stop for long.

Then factor in poorly fitting gear, difficult surfaces, a random work schedule, some junk food and badly fitting shoes, perhaps a dose anxiety or uncertainty, or lack of faith in the new “leader”, and suddenly we have a horse that has changed from the well mannered, reliably loading, easy to catch beast we MUST have.

Look at the gear, look at the diet, look at the housing and workload, the quality and quantity of work, and look in the mirror.

Rarely is the problem, the problem. The problem is a SYMPTOM of the actual problem. Which may be several small problems, culminating in one bigger SYMPTOM.

If you want a horse that’s great to load on the float, learn how to load horses on the float.

If you want a horse that’s great to catch, learn how to teach a horse to be caught.

If you want a horse with no “dirt”, learn what causes these behaviours and how to identify and diffuse the small sticky bits before they become symptoms of something much bigger.

Learn how to train it, so you can own it.

18/10/2022

Meet Mist. She is 2 days old. I went into the paddock to see if I could introduce myself to her. Her mum (Frost) warned me to keep away, so I sat down in the paddock and was videoing her, and this happened.........

02/08/2022

We tend to focus on the object but it's really about teaching our horses they can trust us when we ask them to do something that they are worried about - working with a tarpaulin is one way to do this.

27/07/2022

Had a wee session with
Maggie today. I love playing with the foals. Such a beautiful clean slate. This is Maggies first time being handled since her first week of life. She was a superstar of course!
It's so important to have a trustworthy mare to help you with the process. There are many ways to handle foals but this is how I like to do it. Not a great quality video but I thought you'd find it interesting anyway.

26/07/2022

Loading your horse on a float or trailer - what goes on first?
Ken shows you the most important thing to take care of when loading your horse on a float/trailer or truck.
Give this a try and let us know how you go.

22/07/2022

When you have children and all you want is to sleep in! 🤣🤣

19/07/2022

Is your horse behaving like a bulldozer?
Ken takes you through the importance of getting a soft backup to get you safer on the ground with your horse 🐴
Tag anyone you think might find this useful below

05/07/2022

Getting one horse out of a paddock when the others want to come out too can be scary and dangerous - Jane gives you a valuable tip on how to do this safely.

28/06/2022

This week Ken shows you a few simple tools and techniques when it comes to bridling and worming your horse. Enjoy!