All of us have been run away with at some time or another. It’s not a nice feeling – in fact, it can often be a terrifying one and may often put children off riding forever. The right answer is always correct schooling under a capable instuctor but this takes times. Also a horse which […]
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Welcome to our blog page, HOOFBEATS, where we talk about the countryside with a main emphasis on training and caring for horses and ponies. If you would like to contribute ideas and information about your own experiences, we would be delighted to hear them. Please email to [email protected]
The opinions expressed here are from personal experience and we strongly advise you to contact your vet or your riding instructor if you are seriously worried about your horse.
What a great experience the Olympics was! A friend who lends me her bombproof mare for my students and I headed off this month for the final of the Individual Dressage in Greenwich Park. I was lucky to get tickets for this as I recently met a family who live in London and they applied […]
How many of us parents remember the words ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet?’ chanted loudly from the back seat (or booster seat) of our cars by enthusiastic or bored offspring dying to get to the end of their journey? And our patient reply of ‘Nearly There’? Johanna and Gabrielle have written and […]
The great thing about our Facebook page is we never know what is going to be posted on it next. Last month we met Amos, a wonderful little pony with a whole big bag of tricks. Amos was so popular with our followers that we decided to make his dvd our Favourite Video for June. […]
When I was a teenager, I did a lot of showjumping. Every Sunday I loaded two horses into the horse trailer and headed off with my mother to local shows and gymkhanas. It was a lot of fun and if one horse knocked a fence, there was always the chance that the other one would […]
Yesterday’s Aintree Grand National produced an unusually close photo finish. But the success of Paul Nicholls trained Neptune Collonges was overshadowed by the fatal injuries to two horses, including the winner of this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup. Paul Nicholls says lowering the fences even more will only result in horses going faster and more fallers. […]
Our new ‘School Your Horse Help Desk’ has been busy. Lorraine received several questions along the lines of the one below and we also got yet another one on our Facebook page. Nappy horses can be the bane of owners’ lives and we ought to know as we’ve got one ourselves! Reader’s Question: “My new […]
A horse doesn’t care how much you know until he knows how much you care.– Pat Parelli It’s always interesting to see which page on our website attracts the most visitors and for the month of January 2012 it was ‘Bombproof and Mannerly Horses’. We asked readers to give tips on what they thought would […]
With Christmas and New Year now a distant memory for most of us, we’re looking ahead to what will be available on Horse and Pony Info. We are adding info to a webpage on Horse Breeds. There is a short paragraph on each one and a video which shows off the breed. We’ve already got […]
When do you clip your horse for the last time for the season? This was a question we received recently and, like many equestrian queries, it has multiple answers. Traditionally, horses usually received their last clip in December or January so as not to interfere with the summer coat coming through. If you ask a […]
If a horse wanted to make a New Year Resolution, what do you think it would be? Here is a list by readers on our Facebook page:
Anyone who keeps horses in winter will tell you how expensive looking after them is. If they are stabled, they will be in for longer as the days are shorter and fields are wetter. This means more money goes on bedding. Whether in or out, they will need more feed as the grass has little […]
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from a lifetime with horses, it’s that we never stop learning. Last Friday that message was brought home to me with a bang! On October 24th I wrote about the 12.2 hh Connemara pony who I’d taken to the cranial osteopath. If I’m honest, I haven’t noticed much difference […]
When we set off from home with our horse, we’ve usually packed the car or lorry with everything we think we need: tack, grooming kit, rugs, sponge, water, hay nets and several outfits of clothes for ourselves. But have we remembered to pack the first aid kit? Or, even better, two first aid kits: one […]
I have bought several horses and ponies over the years from dealers. It’s not Ace.JPGrecommended, especially if you’re buying your first horse, but it does have advantages for me. The animals are usually young and, while they may require schooling, they haven’t fallen into too many bad habits. My best show and dressage horse came […]