Caliso Equine in Sutton Forest, New South Wales | Agriculture

Caliso Equine

Locality: Sutton Forest, New South Wales

Phone: +61 487 959 046

Address: Hume Highway 2577 Sutton Forest, NSW, Australia

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24.01.2022 The first objective for horses in all disciplines should be to travel in an open, relaxed frame like this! Traveling forward and elastic (see the lovely hock action?), with no bracing or resistance anywhere in the body. The biggest struggle in schooling a green horse (or any horse for that matter) is finding that eager and willing forward way of going. It's much easier to jam a horse up into a false frame. Once you have this foundation, the sky is the limit! Plus, it's got to be more comfortable for the horse than to be constantly "at" them, right?

23.01.2022 I'm going to miss being greeted by this face everyday. Floki went to his new home on Monday, and has settled in well. His new owners are a wonderful fit for him, I'm sure they'll go far together. It has been so rewarding to work with him and see him grow in confidence over the last six weeks. Big thank you to Margaux le Guay for trusting me to bring him along and find him a home.

23.01.2022 I still can't believe how perfect the three boys were for their first day out yesterday. Carter was pretty disoriented and wound up when he first arrived, but once he realised that he wasn't at the races and he was the only one being a goose, he chilled right out. All of them were happy to stand at the float and eat their hay, and were all fine to jump straight on and go. The three of them were overwhelmingly well behaved in their jump first up. Relaxed and on the buckle in... the warm up, not worried about the ponies hooning around them. Considering that they have only been introduced to poles in the last week I was blown away at how relaxed and confident they were in the ring. We had dressage in the afternoon, and all three were astoundingly lazy. Like, I'd been aiming for a low energy, chilled first day out but that was ridiculous I could barely keep Impy in a trot! I'm sure his dressage score would have been much better if I wasn't pony club kicking half the time haha so proud of Sparky to bring home a 3rd placing! It was pretty insulting that I spent so much energy keeping the three of them looking active for their dressage, but when they got home they all galloped around like loonies for 15 mins Overall, an amazing day and fantastic behaviour from the first timers. I am still pinching myself at how perfect these three are. Sparky has only been under saddle with me since the 1st of October, and Impy and Carter have had very sporadic work. As always, a big big thank you to the whole team at Shibumi for holding their wonderful fun days. And to Pierre and mum for all their help and support. #lifeafterracing #impression #luckyactor #morethandreams

19.01.2022 Just call me the magpie whisperer. This little fledgling was stuck in the old tennis court, and because I'm a pathetic softie, I took it back down near the trees for it's parents to keep an eye on until it learns to fly. It was more than happy to chill out on my hand the whole way the relationship won't be so amicable later on when it pays me back by knocking my brains out in spring.

18.01.2022 What a great way to spend Impy's last weekend before he goes to his new life! Doesn't get much better than this. Blue skies sunshine and green grass as far as the eye can see!

17.01.2022 The count down is on until holidays are over for the golden child! He's getting a bodywork session with Rebecca Booth next Thursday and then we're back into it. Can't wait to see what he remembers. When he hurt himself we were working really well towards clean laterals and transitions. We'll work out way back up from basics, but hopefully we can get back to where we were relatively quickly!

15.01.2022 Holiday is over boys! Now to get ready for their first comp this weekend, so excited

14.01.2022 Check out the air on that trot! Pearly pop has made her way back home. I broke this little sweetheart in 2 years ago, and rode her for her first two preps at Tubman Racing. She then changed stables and has raced under two different trainers. She hasn't coped very well with racing life, and gained a bit of a reputation for herself on the track In lieu of calling it quits on the little girl, one of her owners is going to take her on to train himself, and has sent her up to ...us for a good, long spell. After she's had a decent letdown I'm going to bring her in to work at home and see where she's at in her mind. I've always known her to have a sweet, honest demeanor and strong will to please, hopefully those qualities are still in there. She'll let us know if she wants to race again, or would prefer to follow another path (she would make a phenomenal small hack!) I'm so keen to work with this little girl again, but in the mean time I'm glad she has time to be a horse and enjoy herd life again

14.01.2022 Spunky Sparky is doing well for his third day under saddle since recovering from his horrific rain scald. We've begun some conditioning work to build some muscle by doing some good long and low hill work. Being such a huge young horse his bones grew quicker than his muscles could keep up with! He travels in such a kind frame, really excited to see how he develops now that he's looking like a horse again!

13.01.2022 Who needs to be able to see where they're going when there's THIS much grass? Not Hemmy.

11.01.2022 . ... We addressed this in an article on Transitions which we are sharing at the bottom of this post. Here is an excerpt: "Before working on the transitions in and out of the canter, it is very important to establish a nice, forward, rhythmic canter first, or the horse may not be happy or comfortable about being asked to canter and do transitions in and out of canter. This can lead to problems such as rushing through the upward and downward transition, beginning the canter on the WRONG LEAD or picking up the canter crooked. The instinctual reaction for many riders is to ride the young horse too slow in the canter because they fear that he may be a little unbalanced, want to control it or worse, mistake a slow canter for the beginnings of collection. On the contrary, I find that when encouraged to travel in a good forward canter with good natural rhythm, the horse will get his balance quicker. To develop straightness, that is a horse who uses both sides of his body evenly: Always ride with even contact in both reins, keeping the horse’s neck straight in front of you, a little forward and out with the nose in front of the vertical. Always follow the horse’s head with your hands. Do not try to hold the horse’s head in or use strong contact to round the neck artificially because horses have to move their heads at the canter to balance, especially young horses. , . Blocking the horse’s body in this manner makes the horse stiff in the back, what is called a leg mover, and it can lead to spinal, stifle, joint and tendon problems. If your horse is rushing in the canter, simply slow him down a little, in particular through the corners, so he does not flex his body the wrong way. ’ . The lumbo-sacrum joint or loin is the first place to get blocked, and the rest follows, increasing the possibility of stifle and hock problems. It is better to increase the canter a little bit here and there so the horse is able to keep his body flexible, to use himself with nice balance. When a horse trots too quickly, runs away from the rider a little bit, his neck will come up too high, his back will hollow, and he may canter on the wrong lead. , . A horse doing this is confused and worried, and therefore there is something missing in the training up to this point. If we make sure that all the basics are well cemented before asking a young horse to canter, he should not need to canter on the wrong lead. When we ask for the horse to canter from the trot, the horse should be able to pick up his cue from the rider’s balance. We wait till he is striding comfortably and rhythmically in trot. We don’t ask for the canter too quickly, we don’t hurry, force or panic him. We let him organize himself, and meanwhile we make sure we are organized too. We check our position, making sure we use clear aids and ride with a supple and flexible body rather then with a stiff and unyielding one so that when we do ask for the canter, our horse finds it easy to understand what we want. We ask for the canter, with the right signals, and we are kind with our legs and hands. Some horses need to get to the canter from a trot that is a little more forward; some horses find it easier to go into canter from their usual trot. If we know our horse well, we will be able to figure out what is best for him, even if we make a few mistakes first and get the wrong lead. , . , . , ’ , . If the horse persists in cantering on the wrong lead, do not keep asking for the canter. Stop, and analyze the situation. Was the trot forward enough and balanced? Did I have enough length of rein? Was the horse comfortable? Were the signals correct and clear, or did the horse not understand, or get confused? Some young horses do prefer to canter on one lead, or are unable to canter on one or the other lead for some reason for example, if they are sore, or if the rider is a little twisted to one side, or otherwise not soft and balanced themselves." . We are using the right lead for this example but this also works for left lead canter difficulties. When the horse is going on the wrong lead, Manolo sometimes crosses the diagonal so as not to disturb the horse and make him uncomfortable. He will go around the arena in canter, then transition to trot. He will then make a half 15 meter circle in a corner, followed by a short diagonal to the middle of the arena, then he will make a big half circle right and when he passes the centre line between the centre line and track, he will ask for canter right In his experience, the majority of horses will pick up the correct lead in canter with this exercise, in this case, the right lead. : ? Manolo uses a light seat because in his experience it assists the horse in using its body better while it develops its strength and balance. He will also use a light seat throughout a horse's training whether green or GP because leaning in the direction of movement, finding the same balance point as the horse and carrying himself lightly unburdens the back and make it easy for the horse. It is a good canter position to adopt in warmup and in between more demanding work. ? Between on the forehand and any degree of collection, there is an all important posture which can be thought about as 4/4 balance. In 4/4 balance, the horse's weight is distributed evenly on all four feet or if you prefer 50/50 between forehand and backhand. The 4/4 balance is the first step towards independent balance. While we work towards 4/4 balance, the horse may have some strides that are a little closer to its natural balance but as long as the base of the neck is raised (the bottom of the neck where it attaches to the chest) and the withers and back are up, that is not detrimental - and its not detrimental as a stage towards more strength and balance. ? However long it takes and as often as it takes to promote a strong, supple, loose and flexible back and horse. As Manolo likes to say: " , . ." It takes time and consistency - but flexible consistency to develop a good, active balanced canter." ? Because he is very careful with how the horse uses his back and body, Manolo prefers to not use inclines to develop the canter. He recognizes that sometimes a rider feels safer cantering up a hill but any work that is more physically demanding of a weaker horse can make that horse tense up its long back muscles in order to perform what is asked. It creates muscle patterns that are hard to undo and will create challenges in future when the topline has to elongate to accommodate collection. It can also be taxing on the lumbosacral junction and stifles. Once the horse is fit, a good canter up a hill should be easy. If it not, than continue to develop it on the flat. : http://www.manolomendezdressage.com//Balance-Rhythm-and-Su Previous post on the canter. https://www.facebook.com/ManoloMendezDressage/posts/634458176693558

10.01.2022 Another transformation Tuesday! Top photos are of Impression when he first came to us on the 10th of June. Bottom photos were taken exactly three weeks later on the 1st of July. The light in the first photos hides just how bad his coat was, it was all turned up and sick looking. No special secret or recipe, got his teeth done (he had retained most of his baby teeth, and they were brittle and crumbly due to bad nutrition) then gave him an ivermectin based wormer and a rotati...onal one two weeks apart and chucked him out on good grass. Amazing how well their bodies respond when you don't overcomplicate things. Ridden photo was taken last Thursday, two days out from his first comp, where he was utterly perfect. Pierre did a fantastic job with his initial education the first couple of months that we had him, and it has paid off tenfold to say the least. He was not in consistent work at all leading up to it, had only been ridden maybe 3 days out of the last month before Thursday! So good when you see the results of reliable foundations we put into them when you can pull them out of the paddock and have them ride off so pleasantly. He is currently looking for his new home, hopefully we can find the special person he deserves

10.01.2022 Nice way to start the day This was meant to post yesterday, but reception is so terrible out there, apparently it couldn't handle uploading a video!

08.01.2022 Another fantastic day at Shibumi! Subjected to coercion, mum did her first jump round on Chats! She "forgot her riding boots" and thought she could get out of it, but luckily Michael made a swift delivery and ruined her plan. Chats was very tense and preparing for her signature melt down in the dressage warm up arena and mum was ready to can the jumping. But with some manipulation from Pierre she made her way down to the jump arena, thinking I'd ride her oversized donkey for... her. With the help of Kim Leibowitz, I convinced mum to pop a couple of the warmup jumps. Chats soon decided that all the effort of a melt down was off the cards. It still took a lot of metaphorical kicking and shoving, and some bending of the rules, but we got her into the ring. She was permitted to bring her emotional support child with her, and Carter and I did our jump round behind her shouting directions because she was worried she'd get lost She then smashed Chats' first Medium tests in the afternoon and went really well! Normally the second ride of the day is Chats' downfall, but yesterday ended on a wonderful note.

07.01.2022 Ride number 6 for Melody, she's been a gem, so we finished the week off with a dip in the dam Carter came along for the trip, his first ride in a few weeks. He's such a dude, no fuss at all to just get on and go! He'll be on the hunt for his new home soon

06.01.2022 Looking for a horse on behalf of a client. We are on the hunt for a first horse, to suit two young girls, 8yo and 13yo. They are very keen, however are absolute beginners and need something safe to show them the ropes both on the ground and under saddle. Ideally, this will be a horse with a patient, pleasant demeanour for the whole family to enjoy. The girls and their friends currently love spending afternoons with the little pony we have here, but they need something a litt...le larger to move on to. 5* home assured, ownership will be supervised by myself. Healthy budget to reflect the unicorn criteria! Any breed Sound Approx 15hh Prefer 10yo+ Must be able to be caught and handled by children Pony club/competition experience preferred Absolutely no vices Located within 3hrs of the Southern Highlands. Please shoot me a private message, or text on 0487959046.

05.01.2022 It's been good to have the horse of many names (Carter/Goldie, "More Than Dreams") out in big open paddocks to work on his forward, open travel. He has a tendency to suck behind the contact and lose impulsion, as seen in the last photo. To try and correct this, I'm encouraging him to move as forward and freely as possible, to open his throat latch and eventually aim towards that "forward downward" stretch that the Germans love! It may not look like much now, but forward is the first step, frame and collection come later. Easier said than done to get him driving forward when he is as lazy as anything! He has a beautiful, big elastic movement when the impulsion is there, he throws you right out of the saddle! Can't wait to see that power held together in a collected frame. He really is special.

05.01.2022 Today Carter and I located and retrieved all the wandering heifers who have been meandering around and pushing their way through fences. He was super, had to really pay attention to where his feet were going as the country is steep and full of tussocks, rocks and bogs. He's very clever and smart on his feet, which was good as there was no backup to help us out if any cattle were to break!

04.01.2022 This pair of fools have been paddocked a bit further from the shed than what my lazy self can be bothered to walk. An excellent opportunity for us to practice ponying

03.01.2022 Hutch the wild bush pony

02.01.2022 Carter is finally on the hunt for his next best friend! If you'd like to come and meet him, feel free to call or text me on 0487959046

01.01.2022 Look at his cute little face! Hutch is such a sweet going little boy He's pretty low key to ride for a green baby. Happy to try out anything, won't do anymore than what's asked of him but is very on task and acquiescent.