Horsemanship First in Serpentine, Western Australia | Sports & recreation venue

Horsemanship First

Locality: Serpentine, Western Australia

Phone: +61 419 950 998

Address: 192 Jarrah Rd 6125 Serpentine, WA, Australia

Website:

Likes: 1294

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Sports & recreation venue
• Sport & recreation
• Horse trainer

24.01.2022 What I learnt today : What you can or can't do with a horse does not make you a better person. Who you are as a human however will shape your horsemanship.

24.01.2022 Great example of adjusting to the situation.

23.01.2022 From 10 yrs ago. Means even more to me now.

21.01.2022 Helpful hint of saddling tall horses if you are short, have a heavy saddle or limited shoulder movement.

21.01.2022 Not in habit of recommending horses but this guy would be a top buy.

19.01.2022 Whenever I even HINT about the idea that a riding instructor might be less than "tactful" while teaching, it is inevitable that there will be some comments abou...t how damaging that can be to the student, and, when taken to extremes, I agree that it can be demeaning and insulting and negative. But when I talk about "demanding standards" that is simply a case of the old familiar "It is what it is." You are, for example, trying to sit the trot. You either bounce a lot, or you bounce a little, or you don't bounce at all. So, if your instructor has demanding standards, and wants you to get to the point in your riding that you no longer bounce, that does not make her a "mean" instructor. I would rather have someone tell me the truth than be "taught" by someone who just says "good" all the time. And I am totally aware that many instructors have learned the hard way, from having lost students that they could not afford to lose, to sugar coat to the point that reality is glossed over, and standards are relaxed. "Tell me what I want to hear, or I will go find a teacher who will." And while you can do that, chances are you will keep on happily making the same mistakes that you are allowed to make--- Whatever---Each rider's individual choice---

16.01.2022 It was a such a great experience to spend three days with Lee Cow working at Balcormo. Many Thanks to Lance, Jenni and Lacey for sharing their Facility and their wonderful catlle. Lee has such a passion for incorporating good horsemanship into Cattle work. Using unique techniques to encourage the horse's interest in controlling their cattle brought great changes in all horse/rider combinations. Too many photos I know but it was too hard to press the delete button on all those fabulous moments. Dont miss this next year!!

15.01.2022 Here’s another great tip from Master Horsewoman Lee Smith. When working the flag, Lee says the most important thing is that your horse finds comfort when he’s on the flag. Take a watch.

14.01.2022 Helping Gretchen and Peaches with what happened before Peaches got hard to catch and not wanting to stand at the mounting block. Sometimes we need to recognise ...that when we keep stealing rides things seldom improve. These two are inspirational in their sensitivity and commitment to their Horsemanship journey. See more

13.01.2022 Day 5 of quarantine. I Started halter training today it’s going well. I Will take him to the round pen Sunday fingers crossed he takes it well and learns quick!

11.01.2022 The day will come when we will have to stop doing the things we have always done to get something we have never got. Our old habits and beliefs hold us back from progressing our horsemanship. All those who attended this video clinic had this realisation. Lee captured us getting in our horses's way. She encouraged us to become aware of where it is happening then get back on our horses and try to improve it. Over the three days of riding while Lee videoed, watching it on the screen, then going back and riding with more awareness.This process had us all improving our riding. Thank you Lee. Thank you Sally for organising it. Thank you Rachel for letting me ride Zach again. xx

10.01.2022 Let's ride!!. A few bags of poo with letters sprayed on, some poles, a precise hubby and now we have a cowboy dressage arena ready for two days of play. Just a few due to COVID hopefully open for everybody soon.

10.01.2022 "Break a horse" Break a horse. Makes me cringe. Sending her off to the breakers.... Hope she comes back good n broke. Sure it's just a term- Their eyes show the truth You can break 'em- Take the horse out of them. Make 'em safe and amicable. Or you could learn- How to start 'em. How to get along with them. How your idea can become their idea. Not punishing the learning. So they turn up to school- Keen to learn Searching for you Responding verses reacting Reaching their feet through their mind, without breaking their soul More than a lifetime Required by the human Xx JJ (July 2020)

08.01.2022 Lee Smith has everybody's attention at 3 Day Cow Working at Balcormo WA. Introducing new concepts refining cattle work. Great changes in horses willingness to work cattle with first day. Looking forward to what the next two days brings. Auditing available. $50/day or $80 for 2 days. Photos soon. At the moment life is riding horses, eating or sleeping.

08.01.2022 Good saddles, at fair prices are like hen's teeth.

07.01.2022 Loved watching Alicia and Bonita under Lee's guidance.

06.01.2022 If you want to become a better horse person, you need to align yourself with only good people. Their example will have a profound effect on the type of person y...ou become. We horsemen tend to underestimate the power within the relationships we have with other horse people. Our world is a small one. It holds the full range of characters: honest, genuine, supportive and otherwise. We have put it upon horses to 'heal' us and the culture is brimful with damaged, toxic souls. Good folks attract like-minded people. They are students of life and welcome opportunities to learn and observe, to stand for what they believe in. They quietly go about their business, bravely sharing thoughts and ideas that might help others. It is rare to hear them freely judge. No mistake, good people have known adversity and still, they show up again and again for more. They have a core group of select individuals, usually close friends, family members and mentors, to guide them. Healthy people have no interest in ill-gotten gains or gossip, in criticizing others or trumpeting their own wins and achievements. Their program is their art and as such, it is above sullying or negativity by anyone outside their base of support. Good people put themselves out there because the way that works for them is worthy of sharing, whether or not it’s currently in style. Despite uncertainty and vulnerability, they keep going so that they, the students and horses can learn, achieve and thrive. They admit their flops and embarrassments because they know that any one of us can screw up. It’s called living and learning. Good people do not teach or train all the while wondering what will people think? They teach and train according to what they believe, what their mentors have taught them, always considering: how do their clients grow? How do their horses feel? Shame, ego, bravado, blame, divulging secrets, name dropping and making excuses have no part in their lingo or day to day lives. Good people close their eyes at night, knowing they did their best today, knowing they will try again tomorrow. What they do to their horses, how they make other people feel, will also sit right. If it doesn't, they apologize. Whatever they bring to the horse game, they know it is why they are here. Good horse people balance living their art with refusing to hurt others. If you want to improve your horsemanship, look out for the really good people... and then, require yourself to join them.

06.01.2022 Here's a little (read: long and angry) post about what I like to call the spring time shuffle. Around this time of year, every year, two things happen. 1. We ...get complaints from a handful of (generally predictable) people whose horses have been trimmed just fine for the last several months suddenly saying their horse was "trimmed too short" this last visit. And 2. We get a massive influx of enquiries from new clients who are looking for a new farrier because their last farrier "trimmed them too short". Now, I can understand this logic if you're either new to horses, or this happens on the first visit with a new farrier without warning. However, all the rest of you, need your annual reality check. (I honestly think y'all also need a reality check on realistic "soundness" expectations but I'll save that for another grumpy day). It is the annual shuffling of clients between all the local farriers' books, because the clients don't want to face the real reason why their horse is shuffling around the paddock. No farrier wakes up EVERY NOVEMBER and just randomly starts trimming horses shorter than they did the WHOLE REST OF THE YEAR. Generally we have spent the entire preceding year telling you the one same message while you shout "LALALA" back at us with your fingers in your ears. YOUR HORSE IS TOO FAT! Post-trimming sensitivity is one of the most obvious warning signs that you will get for subclinical laminitis. When this warning is left unchecked, guess what follows? ACTUAL Laminitis. We have become so disconnected as a society as to what healthy and appropriate body weight REALLY is. My masters degree research found that most horse owners could accurately identify their horses body condition score on a on a scare of 0-5 where 5 is obese. Some would even jokingly ask me if they could write 6. However when asked about the appropriateness of their horses body weight most of these high scorers felt their horses body weight was just fine. I see the same thing day in day out as a hoof care practitioner. And the reactions from owners range from flat out denial ("Cobs are meant to look like this, they have big bones" ... Bones don't jiggle Karen!) to just outright offence as though I've personally insulted them or "their horse" or that I am an unkind person for "fat shaming". Your horses feelings aren't hurt. You just don't want to face the truth because it makes you uncomfortable. It is very sad for our horses that being able to see their ribs from a certain angle has now become more offensive to people than seeing the myriad of health and wellbeing issues humans are creating by letting their horses suffer through chronic obesity and a constant state of low grade laminitis. We need to look back to what nature intended for animals (and ourselves). We have an abundance of carb-rich food in spring following the clear lack of food during winter. Wild / Feral horses would typically lose a lot of body condition during winters. They have minimal grass access and often rely on on fibrous and low-carb mosses, roots, leaves, bark, and their body fat reserves. When animals are consuming less carbohydrates they become more insulin sensitive. When you're insulin sensitive you don't need as much insulin in your system to regulate blood sugar. Then spring comes along and body weight is rapidly packed back on with rich grasses. And with constant and excessive consumption of carbs comes insulin resistance. Which means more and more and more insulin has to get produced to keep blood sugar under control. In our domestic horses we're so afraid to let our horses slim down in the winter, and keep them in a chronic state of obesity and insulin resistance year round. Because we hard feed them all winter to maintain their "condition" spring hits and they never became insulin sensitive enough to deal with it. We can also see this insulin resistance in some athletic horses who are fed high carbohydrate diets also - its the horse equivalent of the "skinny-fat" human. The human peak marathon runner who carb loads and gets diabetes and heart disease. Sadly, many of the horses we see with these problems are on "feeding plans" owners have developed themselves using a generic website (often funded by specific feed companies), from vets, or equine nutritionists (who often work for feed companies). You can see the owners well-meaning intent and that's why this breaks my heart. The nutritionists who I respect and recommend are the ones who are the first to tell you that you do not add to your horses diet unless they aren't meeting their metabolic requirements from grass and plain hay first. If I have one more client with a fat, laminitic horse tell me their horse isn't fat and that they paid someone for their feeding plan of processed feeds, I will lose my shit. I am SO passionate about your horses health, that this makes me angry! (And don't get me started on the inflammatory responses from most of these refined oils that get added cause for some reason people think shiny = healthy). And most people (including many professionals) are either ignorant of, or overlook, the roll of insulin on hoof sensitivity. Yet the fact that high levels of insulin lead to inflammation is widely know and accepted. And what IS laminitis? INFLAMMATION OF THE LAMINAE. Your farrier has nothing to financially gain by telling you stop feeding your dadgum horse! Yet we get ignored to the point we often stop commenting to people. And then people say "Why didn't you warn me!?" Then we hit the tail end of spring, and bingo, another year, another bunch of shuffling underworked and over fed horses, and another year of farriers suddenly shuffling a bunch of desperate "my-last-farrier-trimmed-my-horse-too-short-I-need-your-help" new clients in and a bunch of grumpy "you-caused-this-problem" ones out. It is no coincidence that all the species of animals that man controls the diet of are the ones that regularly suffer from metabolic malfunctions. We are so smart that we are incredibly fucking dumb sometimes. I also have a LOT of clients who will ask at each trim if I see any signs of laminitis in the feet. The thing is I can tell you there are low grade warning signs all year but nothing *new* today, and your horse could still go lame tomorrow. The biggest warning signs I constantly see are your horses weight, your feed bucket, and how dry your saddle blanket always is if you bother to exercise your horse at all. But you don't listen to this. You only seem to listen (for a week or three) if I can physically point out blood in the white line. So, here's my rant for the day. We are getting generally shitty with overwork by the end of the year and in need of a christmas holiday, and we are disillusioned with all these "unexpected" lamenesses in valley full of improved dairy pasture in the middle of unprecedented spring growth. It needed to come out. Someone has to say it. I don't give a shit if I've hurt your feelings, because I want to save your horses life.

04.01.2022 ....."You get along so good with her, because you like her." , the old man said. I tightened the cinch up another hole in the latigo, and rubbed the filly bet...ween the eyes. Of course I like her, I thought. Hell, I like 'em all. I turned to leave the barn. The yellow filly followed. No halter, no bridle. I was no stranger to starting two year olds, but she was different. First time with no adversarial thoughts between us. Would eventually be the first futurity horse for me, and first show paycheck. I don't remember that golden filly from decades gone by for the show pen success. I remember how she made me feel. In order to receive what is special from the horse, we must dig down, find and offer up that which can't be faked. In so doing, we discover ourselves. The good. The less desirable. "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man." Often quoted, but incomplete. The inside of a horse is what benefits a man the most. Have a good Tuesday. JW