James Moffat Racing Yard

Hello, readers!

It's been a long while since I last posted, for which I apologise. I've not been up to much in the past few months. In fact, it wasn't until August that I started riding regularly again. I do, however, have a couple of musical theatre trips that I plan to upload soon so keep an eye out for them! Better late than never, right? I've not yet decided whether I'll change the date of upload so that it better ties in with when the trips actually happened - I'll keep you posted!

Since my last post, I've started my second year of university. Honestly, I have no idea where the time has gone. Sometimes it feels like I could easily slip back into sixth form, and other times it feels like I've been up here at Myerscough for a long while. 

One of the horses (Smart Ruler if memory serves
me right) loving the attention!

One of my modules this semester is Equine Exercise Physiology, affectionately dubbed as Ex Phys to save breath. As part of this module, we went on a trip to Cartmel a couple of weeks ago, a beautiful little village which plays host to a race course as well as a few race yards. One of these is owned by James Moffat, who is one of the top National Hunt trainers in the country. To put it into context, one of his horses had a recent win at the Cheltenham Festival. 

I was a bit hesitant about what to expect. I don't exactly keep my distaste for racing a secret, and I wasn't sure about whether I would feel comfortable in a race yard environment. My fears were for nought, however, because I actually loved the yard. 

The atmosphere was so relaxed and the staff so friendly and close-knit that it was possible to just see how much the horses meant to everyone there. The grooms and riders are one in the same, so any problems with the horses are easily picked up. One anecdote James shared with us was about one of the girls on the yard. She could feel that one of the horse's (I think it was Iddder, but I could be wrong!) she rode wasn't feeling quite right. This carried on for a few weeks, and she was adamant that something was wrong. Three farrier checks later, a corn was found on the horse's hoof. As soon as it was treated, she noticed the improvement straight away. The best part? James was totally on board with what the stable lass was saying. The respect he has for the girls working on the yard is incredible, and it was easy to tell that it went both ways.

Another thing that I really loved about the yard was that the horses aren't hammered all the time. In fact, there's almost no gallop work done on the yard. The 'gallops' are actually only used for canter work, which helps reduce injury rates in the horses. This was an aspect that I really liked because Jimmy was so receptive to research and tweaking his management practices so that the horses welfare always came first. He even gave a couple a second chance at a career. One of the horses has a dropped pelvis, and another had gone down in worth by several thousands of pounds when he bought it because of a previous leg injury, corrected with surgery and the implementation of screws. He takes these horses in, and then gets them placing at races. They really respond to what he does, which is great. It's no wonder he's in the top 20 out of 600 trainers!

The track used at the yard

- it was hard work just

to walk on this so the horses

definitely get a work out!

James and his wife, Nadine, were brilliant hosts and they answered all the questions we threw at them from topics ranging to nutrition to jump training. It was so informative that I wouldn't be surprised if a better industrial relationship formed between Myerscough College and the racing yard. As it is, a former graduate works there and it doing well. If you want to check her out, just search the news for Charlotte Jones! Also keep an eye out for Polly Steele, who is working her way towards being a jockey as well.

Racing will never be my favourite sport, but with trainers like James I can make my peace with it, especially when the horse's welfare always comes first. Not only does he look after these horses during their careers, he keeps up to date with them when they retire from racing. The receptiveness to new research and the consideration for the ways in which to reduce injury was brilliant, and the complete lack of stereotypical behaviours was astounding. 

Many thanks go to James, Nadine and all the staff at the race yard who interacted with us and answered our questions. Best of luck for the future and good luck with the stable expansion!

P. S. For those interested and for a very limited time, there is a clip of Jimmy and his yard on BBC North West Inside Out, aired on the 23/10/2017. 

Until next time~

Stable Bedding & Bedmax

I'd like to say straight of the bat that this post is in no way, shape, or form endorsed by Bedmax. I'm not a horse owner. I simply found the talk really interesting, as welfare is something I am quite keen on. Whilst this blog may seem quite pro-Bedmax, I have never encountered some of the bedding types before and my knowledge is a little limited as a consequence. If you disagree with something I say, I'd love to hear your opinion and the reasons for it. Please don't hesitate to get in touch!

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Image courtesy of bedmaxshavings.com

The bedding you use for your horse is chosen for a variety of reasons: cost, quality, quantity, accessibility etc. Not being a horse owner myself, I've never had to even think about the expense of buying shavings/straw/pellets to fill a stable, let alone some of the sneaky shortcuts some owners will use. One thing I do know from yard duty, however, is that opening a bale of shavings can be very sneeze-inducing. A recent talk from Bedmax at my university brought into focus this very aspect, and I thought I'd share with you some of the things discussed.

Ventilation is an important point to consider when selecting/building a stables. Horses breathe in a lot more air than we do, so 'stale' air is going to be a lot worse for a horse that is kept in 24/7. By stale air, I mean when you're breathing in the same air constantly, like if you sit in a room with the windows and door shut for an extended period of time. When you leave that room, the freshness of the air on the other side of the door is going to hit you. Aside from improving the quality of air in a stable block, ventilation also helps with the removal of moisture and odours.

We've all experienced it. That one horse which always has a wet bed, which when mucking out causes our eyes to water just a little and our nostril hairs to burn. Ammonia is enough to make you want to leave the stables. And we can. But the horse can't. This is why it's important to thoroughly muck out your horse every day, so that wet bedding can be removed. Ventilation will only go so far into removing the ammonia from the air, but natural air flow is not going to get rid of the build up under rubber mats (if you use those) or from a wet bed left too long. 

I can't honestly say that I've mucked out a straw bed (not that I remember anyway - I did volunteer at a stables as a child, but all I really remember from that experience is poo picking the fields), so perhaps I am a little biased in my preference to shavings but I just prefer the ease with which one can usually detect the wet bedding. Straw does change colour, but I don't feel it's to the same extent and it's also harder to sift through. Shavings make it quite easy to throw the dry to the side and remove the wet, unless you have a dirty horse. In this case, the bedding may all be one colour and it can be a bit of a pickle and you have to rely on the weight at the end of the shavings fork.

Bedmax shavings seem to me like a brilliant invention. Not only does the urine and wet naturally sift down to the bottom layer, like with other shavings bedding, but it is specifically designed for this to always happen. Large flakes make up the top layer, and smaller flakes make up the bottom and the bed will always want to settle this way. It's like when you bake and need to use the rubbing in method. If you shake the bowl, the larger clumps will rise to the top while the bread crumb like mixture will settle at the bottom. There is a recommended minimum bedding size for this to be most effective, but even so even with a run down bed it should still work reasonably well. 

The main thing I really like about Bedmax is that they remove all the dust from the product, and then use that dust to make another product (Hot max). The fact that it's a green company only sweetens the deal as far as I am concerned. I've never been one to suffer from hay fever, but even I find that spreading out a new bale of shavings a chore simply because it does make me want to cough. As mentioned before, we can leave that stable but the horse that is kept in is constantly breathing all that dust in so a dust free product can never go amiss when animal welfare is concerned, especially when said animal has such a large olfactory system - I've done the dissection, and the nasal cavity is very impressive. 

There are other reasons to consider using a deeper bed too. With a thick bed, the horse's hooves will be protected. Wet bed can weaken their hooves and cause problems - think of what happens to your leather boots if you spend a regular amount of time mucking out a wet bed - so Bedmax's researched formula of ensuring the urine seeping down to the bottom of the bedding is certainly an added bonus in keeping your horse happy and healthy. It is also easy to trace the batch source with Bedmax, so if there ever is an issue it can be sorted almost immediately. If you use straw bedding, there's no guarantee that you're going to get the same quality each time and you probably won't even be able to track down the origin of the plant anyway. 

During the talk, we also discussed other types of bedding such as wooden pellets and a flax/hemp mixture. For me these bedding types seem like a lot of work - a specific ration is needed, and the fact you have to keep it watered seem to me a like a lot of hassle. A couple of people I know do swear by wooden pellets though, so it could just be the fact that I've never interacted with it that I'm so sceptical. The main reason why I wanted to talk about wood pellets though is because there is a way of buying it at a cheaper price, and that is by going to your local supermarket and buying the cat-litter equivalent. You may look like a crazy cat person but hey, our industry is expensive enough. Am I right? 

Before the talk from Bedmax, I'd never really considered bedding to have such an impact on welfare. A survey by the company showed that I'm not really alone in this; most people prioritise cost the most and value the least. It definitely makes you reconsider what's really best for your horse, and whether or not a change should be made.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Have you used Bedmax? What did you think?

Until next time~

Lunge Lesson

The reason for delaying this post until today is because I really wanted to blog about a lesson that happened today, so I've decided to postpone what I was going to write about at the weekend until this weekend. Now that that's been explained; on with the post!

Some students at my university are training for their Preliminary Teaching Test so that they can go on to teach riders of all abilities. In order to do this, they need people to be the 'guinea pigs' if you will. I signed up to do this, and today I had my first lesson. It was a bit different as rather than the bog standard group lesson, I had to ride on the lunge as it is one of the skills the PTT candidates need to demonstrate. Keep in mind that I haven't sat on a horse since the week starting September 12th, and I may as well have been a new rider. All the hard work that went towards sorting out my lower leg issues (those of you who have read my previous blog posts will know all about this!) has basically come to nothing, so the girl teaching me had plenty to work with.

To start with, we did a bit of walk and trot (rising and sitting) on both reins, and it was quickly established that I have multiple problems. One of these is my back: I sit up straight, but my lower back is curved too much. This all ties in with my lower leg issues because if there is tightness in my hips and/or knees, then my lower leg will go forward. I have quite a weak core and I sometimes have issues with my back in day-to-day life, so I wasn't too surprised when we talked about this causing my leg problems. Nevertheless, it was decided that no-stirrup work was probably the best exercise to do as I was quite tight in legs.

Now I don't mind no stirrup work, because I know that it is beneficial. What I forgot about sitting trot is that when the pony gets going it becomes a bit less pleasant. It wasn't bouncy, but there was still leg tension (as the lesson was so short we couldn't really do exercises to lengthen them) which made it not as good as it could be. What was quite interesting was that even just five minutes of working without the stirrups made quite a bit of difference when I took the stirrups back. My leg was much closer to where it should be, and it was a lot easier to sit with my back less arched.

Riding on the lunge is something that has never been an option to me before, simply because it wasn't offered at my first riding school and I'm not even sure it is offered at the stables I currently ride out (I've never asked though, so don't quote me on that). It was really peculiar to have someone else in complete control of the horse, but it was great as it meant I could just concentrate on my position. I'm going to carry on with being a rider for the PTT students, and hopefully I'll be able to ride on the lunge again and try a couple of different exercises. Maybe I can be a project rider? Haha :)

Have you ever ridden on the lunge? How did you find it? Let me know!

Until next time...

Monty Roberts' Demonstration

For those of you who follow me on social media, you'll probably know that this weekend I got to see a Monty Roberts demonstration (you can follow me by clicking on any of the icons over on the right hand side of the screen) and oh my goodness, it was amazing.

Monty Roberts is one of the leading trainers in what has been dubbed Natural Horsemanship. I based my entire EPQ on the effects of natural horsemanship, and to see a live demonstration having completed that project only helped to reaffirm what I had learnt, and made me wonder what the future of the equine industry has in store. Roberts has many positive aspects, such as the basic principle of listening to the horses and letting them figure things out, rather than resorting to a whip and beating them into submission, which is kind of what happened in the past and still today in some places. Natural Horsemanship isn't for everyone in terms of practice, and indeed it is not perfect, but I think it is an improvement on what has been considered the norm for so many generations.

There were five horses involved in the demonstration. The first two were ponies, one of which was being started. This was the 'opening' horse for non-members of Intelligent Horsemanship (the event for members started at two hours earlier), and it was a great start. The little filly just did not care one bit, and was cool as a cucumber about both the saddle and the rider. Her only wobbly moment was when the rider, Jake Harris (and I do apologise if I got that name wrong - someone feel free to correct me if I have), asked her to rein back. She took a few steps back, but she was a bit all over the place. Nevertheless, it was incredible to see her started and I wish Penny and her owners all the best for the future.

The next pony was a very typical cheeky chappy. She'd clearly had some negative experiences being handled, because she had a whole long list of issues. If you were leading her and pulled in any way, shape, or form, she would rear up or pull back.  Frog did not want to be caught in the field - the moment you tried to attach the lead rope she was off like a racehorse. She didn't like her feet being touched, to the point where she had to be trotted on roads etc to give her hooves a 'natural' trim as the farrier was her arch nemesis, and I'm sure there were some other issues there too. It was really interesting to see her being worked in by Monty Roberts and the improvement by the end of the allotted amount of time was huge. Of course there were still instances where she would pull back, but theses were much fewer and far between. With correct handling her issues should fade almost completely. The fact that Jake was able to handle her legs as a farrier would, and that another member of the team (I'm really sorry, I forgot her name, I just know that she has helped Monty with wild mustangs. Again, if you know the correct name please let me know!) was able to run up to her while she was loose and make a fuss of her, was really great to see.

The next horse was a beautiful spotty horse who hated many things, but especially hated plastic. The intense reaction was awful to watch, because when Monty used a stick to touch the horse you could see him shaking. This was the horse that I struggled to watch, because this element I did disagree with. The horse was being restrained with the dually halter, and so I wouldn't say the horse had a free choice in learning to accept this element. It had a choice later to jump the tarpaulin 'stream' next to the 'lake', but I would have rather seen more time dedicated to the horse and have the build up be incremental. Maybe that's just me, but all the same I think both the horse and I were glad when the plastic was gone. He was then loaded, which he had issues with, and he was quite quick to adapt to that although he wasn't very sure-footed on the ramp!

The next two horses were both problem loaders, and given the time restriction Kelly worked with a very handsome cob whilst Monty worked with a bay called Chantelle. Both were worked over a wooden panel that was laid flat on the floor, and Monty also used fencing to create a narrow space to walk Chan through, so that she could get accustomed to the smaller space. I don't think the cob had as much time to be worked with, especially as he was being loaded first, so he took a bit more convincing to go in the trailer, but in the end both did. I'm sure their owners are all very happy about the success here, as they reported having to spend 5+ hours at home to attempt to get their horses loaded! Here's hoping the problem is now gone. 

A great bit of advice for problem loaders is to use a fence behind them and have them face the stables if possible - heading home is a lot more comforting to a horse than leaving it, and having no exits out back limits their options.

Overall it was a brilliant and thought provoking evening. I wish I had better pictures for you guys, but the whole demonstration was filmed by a cameraman from Horse & Country, so you'll probably see a great deal of the demonstration on TV at some point anyway. If you can get a chance to go see a demonstration in person, please do. You don't have to agree with all of his methods, but it is interesting from a behavioural stand point. For more information about the UK tour and to buy tickets, visit intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk

Until next time...

Learning to Lunge

This week I have tried my hand at lunging (or is it lungeing?) horses. It's all part of a horse handling module for my university course, and needless to say it was rather entertaining.

Some riders will have learnt to canter or worked on their sitting trot or any other number of things on a lunge line, or will have had a round pen at their riding school/stables in which to see the exercise in motion. I am not such a person; the closest I have been to a round pen is via Monty Roberts' demonstrations on Horse & Country, and Heartland via Netflix. This meant that I had to learn about tack that was entirely new to me on top of learning to actual practical element of lunging the horse! I wasn't alone in this, thankfully.

We were split up into groups. In my group, there were two people that knew what they were doing, and then me and another girl who didn't have a Scooby-Doo. The other girl and I helped one of the more competent individuals tack up a giant of a horse so we could start to get to grips with the cavesson headcollar and the side reins amongst other things. The original plan was for me to lunge the horse the other girl had tacked up, whilst the two I had been with in the stables took turns working with the horse the three of us had all tacked up. That didn't really work out, as the other horse turned lungeing into Join-Up after being startled by some students appearing in the gallery, so we were getting no where fast - but it was absolutely hilarious, and even the member of staff with us couldn't resist a little play!

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Shows a horse being lunged in a headcollar,
and wearing boots to prevent injury. What other tack would you usually
see on a horse being lunged? 

When it was actually my turn to lunge, I quickly discovered that there is more to it than just standing turning on the spot and using voice aids. The gentle giant was a tad lazy so frequently required you to step closer in an authoritative manner to keep him trotting. There was also the fact that because of his size and his age, the circle had to be slightly larger than usual, so walking around my own small circle was kind of a must. Sorting out the knitting (which is a brilliant term for the length of lunge line coiled in your hand) was a bit more fiddly than I would have anticipated as well. It wasn't so much all fingers and thumbs as much as just letting it get a bit slack and then not really being able to wrap it back around my hand as I was using the whip to keep him moving. 

There are multiple reasons for lungeing, such as for training young horses and exercising horses that are exuberant or have been out of work for a while, but there are other reasons too. If a horse has a sore/injured back and/or is being brought back into work as part of rehabilitation then lungeing can help develop the muscle and build up strength. This does require extra care to make sure the workload is equal on both reins, and in some cases may be unsuitable (long-reining may be a better option as the horse is moving in a straight line), but it is a very useful method for bringing a horse back up to condition when it is too soon to be introducing the weight of a rider. Alternatively, a horse might be lunged if the human is injured and is unable to ride for whatever reason. This should again only be done if it is safe to do so - I really wouldn't recommend someone with a broken arm or leg going to lunge a horse, especially if it has been out of work and has a lot of pent up energy!

If you can learn to lunge, I would recommend it. You'll need the skill for some of the BHS qualifications, and if you ever own a horse then it would be a great skill to have. Why not contact your local stables to see if it's possible to lunge? 

Until next time...

Put Your Best Hoof Forward

Yesterday saw us Pony Club lasses working on our canter leads, with somewhat interesting results. We weren't attempting anything as fancy as flying changes, but I think cantering is one of the gaits where you don't really have to pay attention. It's always beneficial to think about what the horse is doing, and whilst flatwork feels like it will be the death of me, there is seemingly no end to the bonuses of keeping the jumps disassembled.

We started of with a usual warm up just to get the horses listening, but then it was our turn. Our instructor decided that we should play Simon Says. If you did something that 'Simon' didn't say you could, then to the back of the ride you went. One of the things we ended up doing was sitting trot (my equitation went out the window at this point but hey, I stayed in the saddle!) with our left hands on our heads. It felt really weird to have a hand on top of my head. Somehow it made me so much more aware of the bounciness. I think normally your eyes just compensate, but with my hand there this function stopped. Needless to say, I was quite glad when I could both go back into rising trot and also take back the reins with both hands. The other particularly memorable part of the game was having to do around-the-world. Now, I haven't done that since 2008/2009 - when I was learning to ride. I remember it being a lot easier than it is. The bigger you are, the less room there is to manoeuvre in the saddle. Bails was oh so helpful as he decided to start walking when I was facing sideways. He wasn't the only one to do so, and if I was a spectator I would have found it more humorous than I did at the time. Still, I managed to complete the circle and was quite relieved to take the stirrups back.

After that, we got on with learning about canter leads. I knew going into the lesson that the inside front leg is the indicator that you're on the correct lead, but it was only this year or perhaps last year at earliest that I actually learnt this. Horses do tend to pick up the correct lead, and instructors are quick to point out if the transition didn't end with that result, especially if they know the horse in question has difficulty on a certain rein. I was quite happy to canter at the A end of the school, go along the long diagonal, going back to trot around X, and then pick up canter on the other lead because Bails is very sure of himself - he knows what he's doing, so I almost didn't really have to ask too much (except for the whole coming back to trot - then I really had to ask haha),  It also helps that Bails has big strides, so it's really easy to tell if he's on the correct lead.

As me and one of the other girls were familiar with checking the lead, we did a small circuit around the school where we crossed the FH diagonal and then the MK diagonal a couple of times, transitioning down to trot each time we crossed X. The remainder of the group simply went large on one rein and then the other simply to see the inside foreleg coming further forward in order to check the lead. In fairness, the ponies they were on didn't make it easy for them. One was quite small so his legs were flying very quickly, and one of the others kept slowing down so it wasn't as easy for the rider to determine whether she was on the correct leg.

Overall, it was a useful lesson. Sometimes relying on feeling isn't enough, so being able to visually check is a great way of making sure you and the horse are balanced. I definitely can think of a noble steed or two whose wrong diagonal/lead feels like it should be the correct one!

I hope you're all looking forward to the fast approaching summer holidays, and that all of you can find some time to get to the stables.

Until next time...

Lean Back!

My horse riding instructor imparted some words of wisdom to my group yesterday, and I felt like she was making a really good point so I wanted to share it with you all, especially if you're like me and have a dodgy canter position.

We were doing typical flatwork, but my instructor noticed that all of us in the group had a habit of leaning forwards in the canter. This wouldn't be so much of a problem in and of itself - once you know, it's not too hard to fix - but none of us were aware we were doing it. I could look at the others and see that they were leaning forward slightly, but when I was cantering I felt like I was sitting up straight. It was the same for the others as well. I don't have any recent videos of my riding, so I went back through some old ones and made a little gif to show what I mean. 

Although this clip is taken from a jumping video (this is part of/just after the get away), you can quite clearly see that I'm leaning forwards. I can't recall whether I thought I was sitting upright or not when this was taken, as the video this comes from is a couple of years old, but this is pretty much how we were riding in my group. Not brilliant, right?

My instructor decided to do an exercise with us where we had to lean back in the trot before we asked for the canter. When I say lean back, I mean actually going past straight (because in trot we actually look like we can ride!). The point of this was so that when we were in canter, we would still think we were leaning back, when in actual fact we were just sitting up straight. I have to say, it was a really weird sensation. I'm guilty of leaning forwards in my transition anyways, so having to lean back to go into the canter and then feeling as though I was really far back was so confusing.

It was quite effective though, because I now know how it should feel when I'm sitting up straight. The horse's neck seemed quite far away, but I suppose that's something I should get used to. It was quite fun because we all got to partake in it because we all had the same issue. After the canter work, we completed the riding section for the mini road rider badge, and part of that involved trotting. The canter work had me sitting back to much that when I went to have my turn of looking-over-my shoulder-to-name-the-picture-on-the-card I chose to stay in sitting trot. As I was going around by myself, I could keep the horse at a pace that felt comfortable, and as I was sitting deeply into the saddle I felt like I could do it all day. As someone that usually disliked sitting trot with the stirrups, this is saying something!

All in all, the lesson was great. Not only do I have a brilliant bit of advice for cantering in the correct position, which will be very useful for the dressage test next week (wish me luck, and keep tuned for the results of that), but I also earned my mini road rider badge, which is pictured to the right.

Until next time...