Anna Bonnage
Horsemanship
America 2010 page 3
In the photo above I am using an opportunity when the horse felt ready and was able to willingly stand to be saddled. In the second photo I'm using an opportunity to rub him on the forehead when he turned to sniff my leg after I’d just got on.
I really like this photo because of this young horse’s expression. The man who recently backed this youngster did a great job of letting the horse feel really good (confident) about freely and willingly taking his rider somewhere.
Riding as a group on Harry’s property in the desert.
Libby teaching her horse to bow. The reason for doing this was to help the horse let go of resistance mentally, and physically, and so help him relax and feel better.
This horse’s memory of being ridden caused him to frequently panic while carrying a ridder. In the right hand photo Harry is helping the horse to relax mentally and physically. Once the horse’s mind returned to Harry, his body naturally softened around the corner that Harry was riding.
A stallion arrived at Harry’s to stay the night while he was on route to a vets appointment 800 miles from his home. In the morning the horse hadn’t touched his water or feed and had spent the night pacing up and down one side of the round pen occasionally calling to the mares. This was concerning because he had another two days of traveling ahead of him. The horse’s owner wanted Harry’s advice because in hand he sometime found it hard to get the horse’s attention. Harry proceeded to enter the round pen with a bull whip. Basically every time the horse committed to ignoring Harry he cracked the whip away from the horse, and every time that the horse paid Harry attention he was quiet. With Harry’s ability to read the horse, his impeccable timing and ability to respond to the horse’s needs, within 5 minutes the horse walked to the water, had a drink, took a bite of hay and had his first pee since being there. With Harry’s help this horse let go of his need to think about the mares and he relaxed so much that he was then able to tend to his own essential needs. This remarkable transformation proved once again the importance of being able to get a horse’s attention not just for our sake but for the sake of the horse’s need to relax. I wouldn’t recommend that anyones tries this without the help of someone who has done it before and is very experienced.
I’ve included the three pictures below to show Sandy’s expression. He is Harry’s own horse and the way that Harry is with him gives him self-confidence and trust in Harry. Sandy’s expression is alive and ready, yet relaxed about his work. In the third picture Sandy is helping Harry to help a young horse to feel better about her back and withers being touched while moving.
There are so many things that I could talk about when I think back to my times at Harry’s and Joe’s. I hope that this has given you a taste of the inspiration, with which I once again returned to England.
I look forward to seeing you and your horse again in the near future.
Wishing you all an enjoyable summer in the saddle.
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