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TWO HAFLINGER GELDINGS RISING SIX.
Nearly three years ago - when we were both old enough to know better – we decided to fulfil a dream of owning a horse. What breed and what age we wondered and where would we find this special horse. We were told to get an older sensible one, not a rescue and not a youngster. Then fate took a hand. We had always admired the Haflinger and discovered by chance that a local farmer bred them. The breeder admitted he only had youngsters but we decided to look anyway. The rest as they say is history. We bought the first chap who was three and had been backed and lightly ridden. What about company we thought? By chance his half brother was also for sale so after our vet had done his exanimation we were the proud owners of two lively ponies without much of a clue as what to do next.
We had been to a couple of natural horsemanship clinics, read books and watched videos about natural horsemanship and had horsemanship help from a friend and a family member. I had ridden as a child and we had both had lessons at a riding school (expensive and did not learn a thing) some lunge lessons from a local instructor (rather like a wall of death and didn’t learn much there either). I had worked with horses as a teen, had two accidents which left me hospitalised and been runaway with. We decided to leave riding them for a year, have them re backed when they were older and do ground works and get to know them. We tried Parelli; one got scared and confused with the pressure the other obstinate so that absolutely nothing would move him and he was still able to bully me. We took them to a natural horse training clinic over two days; there were several horses and riders with mixed abilities and we were totally out of our depth. We leant then that training can be expensive and you don’t always get what you think you have paid for. About this time I was thinking I am way too old for this, don’t like the intimidation, I should have got an older sensible mount suitable for my years and was pretty depressed with other folks’ negative comments on my efforts which made me feel pretty foolish. Then a chance remark by a friend brought Lewis into our lives.
I had already emailed Lewis having seen his website and he had tactfully not made any comment about them being sent away for rebacking. I understand a bit more now why. We agreed a time for his visit and he duly came out to us. I looked at this big guy from Texas wearing a Stetson and chaps, at our ponies and wondered, with some misgivings how this would all work out. Having had orthodox tuition in the past, been yelled at and various other negative experiences, I was surprised that he did not get us to mount up to see what our riding was like. But lo, he spent time with the ponies on the ground seeing what they understood and what we did, talking and explaining how we would work with them, that I would be safe and he would teach us how and that many riders he worked with got their confidence back. I have to say I felt a bit cheated. Where was the riding instruction, the control the formula to make it all right and what were we going to do to make them behave and get the magic results that I saw other folks get with their horses?
Perhaps the best way to describe Lewis’ way of teaching is organic. He works with the horse as an individual and always has the utmost care and respect for them. He takes the time to work with them and us so that they understand and so do we. There has never been any loss of patience on his part, and he must have it tried to the limit sometimes with all the questions. If something doesn’t work or the horse does not understand he will find another way, if that doesn’t work out he will think of something else. The pony once described as like a land rover with your foot to the floor is changing into a responsive ride that is starting to collect and is quick to understand what he is asked. We understand now that he has a huge ego and likes to be asked nicely. He gets stubborn and difficult if he is not. The other chap worries but if the cues are clear and consistent he is happy to oblige and tries hard to do what you ask. We have learnt to lunge in the correct way, they are able to move to the softest touch with their ground work and we know how to do leadership skills from the ground and in the saddle. It is a long journey we are making but we are off the lunge and when we are ready we will ride out and enjoy the partnership that we have. There is no rush and it doesn’t matter what other folks think about what we should or should not be doing by now. It takes the time it takes unquote. It is true that I am still nervous (sorry Lewis but I am mature and habits die hard) but I believe in time I will be able to do good turns, redirect the energy if I need brakes, maybe jump a little and hack out. There will be more challenges ahead I am sure – as teenagers the naps are many and varied but we will work through them as we have done before and not get frustrated as Lewis has said on many occasion.
We have been working with Lewis for about a year and half now as he instructs both us and the boys. In all that he has never failed us or the ponies; he has helped in so many ways that it is hard to remember them all. We are very fortunate to have a horseman like him to work with us. He could help just about anyone at any level. As my partner often tells me “Lewis is the real deal”. He sure is right about that.
Christine and Julian,
Accolade and Arim
March 08
Finn (16.1, Arab-Morgan-QHse, choc/bay)
I found Lewis by googling natural horsemanship trainers
and finding a link to his site at a place I had already
looked around. I noticed he was based in Essex and decided
God was liking me that day! Since my first lesson with
him I haven't looked back.
My horse Finn is a 9yr old whose breeding is anyone's
guess! I think of him as an Arab x TB, however he has
warm blood traits and looks a bit quarter horse ish,
aside from being too tall at 16.1hh. He also has a habit
of standing just like a Morgan. He also displays rig
like behavior and muscles up more like a stallion than
a gelding. He's fairly dominant! He came from Ireland
as a 6yr old and I bought him the week he arrived in
the country. He was very mal nourished and somewhat
withdrawn, but had a beautiful face and kind eyes. I
laid him off after riding for a month as he needed at
least two months rest to put weight on. He had been
difficult to bridle and fidgety to groom from the start,
but ok to ride. Well I missed a lot of obvious signs
that he wasn't happy with me! To cut a long story short,
I took a very bad fall and was lucky to escape serious
injury. Finn was very stressed by my sudden fear of
him and he decided he had to look after himself, and
three different yards and their staff couldn't convince
him otherwise. He was never dangerous, just very difficult.
I tried Monty Roberts ways which I could see put far
too much pressure on my sensitive guy, and although
it helped to 'handle' him on the ground I couldn't ride
him often, and when I did he was about as uninterested
as you can get! By this point I'd ditched ordinary saddles
and gone for treeless which helped a lot, and ditched
the bit and gone for a Dr Cook, which he also seemed
to be pleased about. Still he didn't trust me if something
scared him, which happened a lot!
Enter Lewis......The first session he stayed for 4
hours and charged me about the same as I'd been paying
for two 45min lessons with other trainers. Finn immediately
responded to the leadership & join up work Lewis
did with him in the round pen, after getting to know
him in his stable. At last someone was being the leader
Finn was looking for and he loved it! He was cheeky
and happy and engaging with Lewis, and basically playing.
Lewis explained everything he did and why and what result
it was having which is so very refreshing! After an
hour of ground work, and a quick bite of grass for Finn
and drinks for us all, I was on board! Something I never
expected as Finn hadn't been ridden for almost a whole
year! Lewis was complementary about all my tack, and
he showed me the magic cure all bit! A straight bar
Mullen mouth loose ring happy mouth snaffle with a chin
strap (not a curb strap)! Great for horses to chew when
stressed and my horse can't get enough of it! The secure
seat with a lowered center of gravity and the yielding
and disengaging to a halt Lewis showed me in case of
trouble sent my confidence soaring, especially since
he was attached to us by rope! I smiled for an entire
week, every lesson since has been better than the one
before. We're coming on in leaps and bounds. After another
yard change(and hopefully the last for a while) Lewis
picked up that Finn seemed to shut down on his left
side and ignore everything on that side. He spent a
whole lesson carefully examining the strength of this
blocking with different stimulus every 5mins or so,
and whilst working. He discovered that a floater in
his eye a vet had told me was no problem, caused reduced
peripheral vision, and made things blurry on that side
in general. When the right eye caught something the
left eye had blocked out, Finn would explode! This explained
about 90% of everything Finn had ever done!
Lewis has showed me how to be firm and polite about
my riding and handling, to always ask something of a
horse using release of pressure as reward, not demand
it. Finn now looks to me for reassurance all of the
time. I even noticed when his sight on the left is not
so good, he actually nudges me over to that side (when
doing ground work) and uses me as a surrogate eye, which
makes me very proud! I'm still riding on a loose line
at this stage but I'm confident about it, which in anyone
else's hands I previously wouldn't have been. Lewis
has had a few goes on Finn to show me what he's been
having me do and it's fun to watch how sensitive Finn
is to his slightest command. Last lesson Lewis tried
the start of a real cowboy spin on him and he took it
in his stride!
I think the biggest difference Lewis makes to a rider/horse
partnership is instilling trust between the two. He's
never negative with either student and encourages me
to praise Finn when I ask for something the wrong way
and Finn gives me what I was asking for instead of what
I meant to ask for, as its rider error not horse! I
constantly get praise from Lewis for the horse I've
got, for his lightness and sensitivity, for the suppleness
I taught him, for his willingness to try and work his
socks off, and for my horse's big heart. He says Finn
will take care of me once he knows I'm able to take
care of him. This might not sound big but for someone
whose been told their horse is a monster and dangerous
by almost everyone else and been told to sell him by
every trainer, it means the world!
I will be posting more praise in the future, when I
trot, and canter, and ride free range and when mine
and Finn's first hack goes swimmingly etc!!
Thanks for everything Lewis! You're a fabulous find!
Jennifer and Finn
Chadwell Farm Stud
I have always been a big believer in natural
horsemanship, but had never really had the bravery to
attempt it on the horses at my stud. I attended demos
etc, but they always made it look so easy and once I
was faced with one of my own horses in the round pen
I was clueless!
My first meeting with Lewis was after a lengthy conversation
with him regarding a TB yearling filly I had here called
Twiggy. She was foaled and brought up here, and despite
regular handling, she had started to become aggressive.
Everyday simple jobs would turn out to be a fight, having
her feet done was just dangerous and my vet used the
old adage ‘ chestnut mare syndrome’ once
to often. She was very difficult to catch in her box
and had to have her head collar and a lead rope on permanently.
A lady I know had been having sessions with Lewis, so
I figured it was really the only thing I could do to
help Twiggy have a future.
Lewis’ first session with Twiggy was fascinating.
At first she didn’t trust him, but after some
time and awful lot of patience and horsemanship on Lewis’s
part, her whole persona started to visibly change. Lewis
explained to me that Twiggy wasn’t nasty, she
was autistic and had great difficulty remembering things.
He assured me that we could work with her but it would
have to be repeated everyday in small section.
From that first session myself and my staff were hooked.
Lewis visited my stud every 2 weeks to work with Twiggy
and left us excersises to do everyday with her to help
her learn. By the end of the 2nd session he had taken
her headcollar off, bitted her and was in the round
pen. It was truly amazing. Over the next few months
Twiggy really changed, we could catch her in the field,
remove her headcollar without incidents.
She improved so much that shes now in training at a
small yard who uses similar methods to Lewis and shes
thriving.
Since then I have kept up the sessions with Lewis and
have learnt so much. He has helped one of my staff learn
to ride on an ex racehorse, another one to ride her
horse whom she had given up on due to its behaviour.
Over the past 12 months Lewis has worked with 27 of
the horses I have here and it’s been amazing.
Just learning and bringing out and understanding their
quirks and natural characters is wonderful. I love using
Lewis’ way of lunging even if I was sceptical
at first! I now have confidence in myself to do the
groundwork with the horses here, and if I ever get lost
I can always phone Lewis for help and advice. Im looking
forward to continuing learning from Lewis for the foreseeable
future.
Zoe Arrowsmith
Chadwell Farm Stud
July 2007
PEPPER - 15hh, 10 year old, Thoroughbred, Mare
(ex-racehorse)
At the time I stumbled across Lewis's advertisement
in the Essex Rider, I was having to seriously consider
returning my ex-racehorse to the re-homing centre I
had got her from, as her behaviour had become so unmanageable
and she was dangerous to ride. I desperately wanted
to keep her, but was running out of ideas, having already
worked patiently with her for 18 months. My horse had
had a lot of physical problems and seemingly had found
her previous experiences in her racing career as mostly
negative. Her reactions to the most ordinary of things
could be extreme. During these moments of over-reaction,
she would be in a panic stricken state and would do
anything to escape the situation, unaware of her surroundings,
danger etc. I considered myself to be a reasonably confident
rider and very capable handler but was finding myself
unable to cope. To be truthful, I was also quite frustrated
as I had always been extremely kind and patient with
her and had never hit her or even raised my voice to
her, so couldn't understand why she behaved the way
she did. She was napping, rearing, bucking like mad
and generally difficult. I couldn't tie her up, couldn't
shoe her, couldn't keep her stabled, she'd panic if
turned out in the field alone, but was aggressive if
out with others, she would panic if horses were going
in a different direction to her and so on.
Anyway, I called Lewis one evening and we discussed
my horse for over an hour. By the end of the conversation
Lewis assured me that he would be able to resolve all
of the problems we had discussed in just a few sessions.
Bearing in mind how reasonable the fees were, I felt
I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Knowing
how difficult my horse's behaviour could be, to think
someone could come along and transform her into a quiet
little horse seemed unbelievable, but I already felt
like a weight had been lifted as someone was going to
help me help my horse. I read some of the endorsements
and longed that I too would be able to report similar
miracles.
Lewis arrived a few days later to meet us. Initially
she was terrified ( as she is of all men) but after
a few minutes I could see her little mind working. She
knew something was different about this person. Lewis
changed some aspects of my tack – making it far
more comfortable for her and then did some ground work
with her using the rope halter. He then showed me how
to do the same and then repeated some of these exercises
with me riding her. Lewis showed me all sort of tricks
to deal with her antics – all of which I have
found work 100% of the time. As I'm writing this, it's
hard to remember exactly what Lewis did and even harder
to understand why it should have such a profound effect
on the horse – but it does and that's all you
need to remember.
I continued with my training exercises for the next
2 weeks until Lewis returned and we spent more time
with ridden difficulties. Again, I practiced the training
exercises most days until the 3rd session. After which
I had only one more session before it was quite clear
that we didn't need him anymore. Since that time, my
horse has become the most perfect horse I could ever
wish for. I can honestly say that she hasn't put a foot
wrong in the last 6 months. She has grown in confidence
and trust and subsequently so have I and so this trust
and confidence is constantly growing and being reinforced
by each other. I now have a thoroughbred that I can
ride out on the buckle of the reins (or even without
a bridle - just a rope halter) that will pass anything,
go at exactly the speed I want her to and is a complete
joy to own.
Lewis's training is as much more about retraining the
owner, than it is the horse. His methods need only be
practised for a few minutes a day (if that), and are
extremely effective at bringing about permanent change.
I found Lewis to be punctual, an extremely gifted horseman
– and he made training enjoyable - taking a lot
of stress out of the situation and injecting a bit of
much needed humour !
If you are looking to resolve difficulties with your
horse, I would urge you to contact Lewis. The only hurdle
I have left to overcome is trailer loading and I'm looking
forward to working with Lewis again in the next few
weeks to resolve this problem.
Jo (January 2007)
Diamond Dancer
I bought Dancer 6 years ago as a 6 year old, with the
aim of bringing her on to event her. She is ID x TB,
16.1hh and weighs over 600kg! I realised there was no
way we were going to achieve that dream quickly, or
possibly even ever at all, since she was extremely unbalanced
and was an absolute nightmare to ride. I had bought
her more for her confirmation and attitude than for
what she was able to do at the time, as a project to
bring on. I now realise that we were meant to find each
other, as we have both taught each other so much!
Since then, I have embarked on a revolutionary journey,
which has changed me as a person as much as it has changed
Dancer as a horse! I came so close to selling this mare,
on a number of occasions, after many personal “guru’s”
in my life over those years had labelled her ‘dangerous
and difficult’, told me NOT to hack her under
any circumstances if I valued my own life at all! When
such people whom you trust, and have grown up learning
all you know from, say such things to you, its impossible
not to begin to believe them. I became so fearful of
her, although I never actually fully admitted this to
myself, which enabled me to keep persevering with her,
but her behaviour when ridden was not getting any better.
The only reason I did not sell her back then, was because
I firmly believed I could not as no one in their right
minds would want her!
I had begun to install some basic manners with her
in the stable by a year later, such as moving back when
I went in, and respecting my space to some degree. She
was quite happy to remember these things when she was
calm and quiet and nothing was out of the normal routine.
I should add at this point, that she is not and never
has been a malicious or nasty horse in any way. She
is very kind and has never bitten or kicked or shown
any deliberately nasty act towards any human being in
all the time I have owned her. But when she became stressed
(a very frequent occurrence back then!) it was a totally
different story. Again, no malicious nastiness, but
manners from the ground were completely non existent,
and she would barge through you, jump ontop of you,
attempt to take off, and take you skiing behind her.
If you applied any pressure to her head to try to control
her, she would simply lift you off the floor (I only
weigh 9 stone) and you would fly through the air and
come back down to earth quite a number of metres further
on!
Under saddle, it was the same – apply any rein
pressure, and she would open her mouth to evade the
bit, throw her head up to loosen the contact, and then
plough straight through the bridle, getting faster and
faster. She was completely on her forehand with her
hindquarters trailing out behind her, trotting as fast
as she could in little paddling pony sized strides.
If you applied inside leg to go round a corner, she
would speed up even more, and you would feel like you
were going to go over sideways, so instinctively would
apply pressure on the rein to slow down. She would throw
her head, and get faster still, and so the cycle would
go on!
Hacking was horrendous, she would be continuously trying
to turn round, and once you had got her to go forward
in a more or less straight line, a blade of grass would
move in the wrong way, and she would drop and spin through
180 degrees without an ounce of warning; totally unseating
you. At best you would have lost both stirrups and be
hanging off the side, at worst – sitting on the
floor with a lovely view of her backside disappearing
over the horizon. She did this once and the force of
her hitting my sister and her pony as she spun, knocked
my sister clean from her pony, and both Dancer and the
pony galloped home. Other than knocking my sisters confidence
so much that she has never sat on another horse since,
luckily there were no serious injuries during this awful
period of time.
2 years ago all this stress eventually produced mouth
problems and back problems, so I soon found I did not
have a horse who was willing to have me on her back
at all. After many vet visits, and dentist bills etc.,
I began to research into buying a new saddle. We could
not find a treed one to fit her shape, and she was very
obviously still upset at having a saddle on her back.
We had at least established by this point, that it was
no longer injury/pain related, but more likely had become
a psychological issue where she associated the old pain
with any saddle.
My research continued, and I eventually came across
what used to be Ansur treeless saddles – took
a leap of faith and bought one, after riding bareback
for 4 months. Immediately, I began to see a difference.
She was instantly happier.
I then came across Dr Cooks Bitless Bridles and bought
one of those, which allowed her to work happily into
a contact for the first time. And so we continued for
quite a while. But something still was not right, hacking
was better, flatwork was many times better, and the
bond had begun to form between us. She was generally
more respectful on a day to day basis, but there was
still something missing. I could not put my finger on
it, but when working on the ground in difficult, stressful
situations, I still did not trust her and it was quite
obvious she did not fully trust me. When hacking, she
would still drop and spin; I had just got better at
sitting it, but it was still not a particularly enjoyable
experience, and the idea of doing x country on her,
scared me to death!
This is when I came across Lewis! They say, when the
student is ready, the teacher will appear, and this
was certainly true in this case. After a long conversation
one night, Lewis was absolutely adamant he could help
us.
The first session, he brought a rope halter into the
field where she was grazing, and began working with
her immediately, to which she responded immediately.
He made her move her feet, forwards, backwards, sideways,
disengaging the quarters; explaining in huge detail
everything he was doing and why he was doing it. It
made perfect sense to me from the outset – you
have to be their leader in order for them to trust you
fully, which increases incrementally over time, the
more situations you deal with as a 2 part herd. By moving
their feet and thanking them kindly when they aquiest
your requests, you become their main focus and their
leader. One of Lewis’ catch phrases is “The
key to a horse is to move it’s feet”.
This in turn, enables them to build trust in you as
their leader, to believe you are not going to put them
in a situation which is going to put their lives at
risk, and if something is scary, then this gives them
the confidence to listen to you first and look to you
for guidance. If you say its ok, then it is, and they
can stoically deal with their stress during that situation.
It’s showing the horse a way of dealing with the
stress of day to day life, by giving it someone to follow,
believe in and trust, as they would naturally when part
of a herd. The horses they adhere to are ones higher
in the hierarchy than them; their leader. Dancer is
a lead mare, so I had to take on the behaviour of the
next one up in the hierarchy to her; the stallion. She
would be the one who would spook first, to warn the
rest of the herd of a potential danger – hence
why she is so much spookier than other horses. So I
had to be a very strong character in her world in order
to achieve ‘stallion’ status and therefore
leadership.
Another aspect he explained was how important it is
to allow them to release this stoically held stress,
as they would in a herd environment on a horse lower
down the hierarchy. In much the same way as people need
to offload the stress of day to day life, and if they
don’t, then eventually they will blow a gasket
over the smallest of thing, which simply pushes them
over the edge!! Horses are similar, and if they continually
hold onto their stress, eventually it just bubbles over!
We have all seen horses completely loose it –
this is their way of saying they just cant cope any
more. Lewis showed me techniques to take her stress
levels up, and then bring them back down again –
all in a safe and controlled way, allowing her to release
her stoically held stress, meaning the likelihood of
her completely loosing it reduces dramatically, and
all the while I am developing my leadership skills with
her.
She thoroughly enjoyed the session, as did I, and Lewis
must have got bored with all the questions I had!
The second session focussed on the same techniques
but from the saddle with a rope hackamore and a bit
bridle over the top. Even just after one session, it
was apparent that Dancer was listening to me more, and
had more trust than previously. The equipment Lewis
advocated and what he taught us in those sessions has
proved exactly what we needed to fit the last piece
of the puzzle in place in our relationship – 6
months on, we can happily hack, school and even jump
now! I’m a dressage fanatic at heart, and I have
been out competing and getting placed in the top 3 every
time, in all the traditional British tack.
But moreover, we now can neck rein, stop, backup, leg
yield, shoulder in, half pass etc all from the rope
hackamore in an enclosed space or out in the open country
whilst hacking. And we both thoroughly enjoy and have
an awful lot of fun doing so many different things with
all different kinds of equipment; western, english –
makes no difference to us now, and even sometimes with
no tack at all! This is our new goal – tack free!!
So in conclusion - she is most definitely not difficult,
she was just totally misunderstood, and hand on heart,
I can say she is one of the most beautiful animals I
have ever had the pleasure of working with now I understand
her and can talk to her in her own language. She is
without doubt the most expressive horse on our yard
now, and I am sure this is because she knows I understand
what she is saying to me!
This journey has had profound effects on not only our
relationship together, but all my human relationships
too. I am extremely honoured to have had this opportunity
to work with and learn from such incredible individuals
as Lewis – those trainers who teach us as people
to listen and understand our horses naturally, but more
importantly – to learn from these beautiful creatures
themselves! After all – it is us who must learn
to communicate with our equine friends and NOT the other
way round!
Every time she sees me now, she is literally falling
over herself to get to me, huge excitement and comes
charging over whinnying her head off!
The difference in her and I and our relationship together
is simply tear jerking to any spectators and especially
me. When I compare it to where we started out all those
years ago, the only regret I have is I wish I had embarked
upon it sooner.
Thank you Lewis, for your patience, understanding and
knowledge, and for empowering me to build the relationship
I now have with Dancer. I cant recommend you enough!!
Johanna
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