The Horse Listener | Pet
The Horse Listener
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25.01.2022 Four Lovely Ladies Eating all their hay. A chestnut, Palomino, A grey and a bay.
24.01.2022 A few weeks ago, I had a lovely surprise visit from a Sydney friend who came to stay for the weekend. I had no idea that instead of spending the last few years living happily with her fiance before their marriage, the relationship had become abusive, and my friend had ended up fearing for her safety. She really wanted to have a therapy session with one of my horses, and she wanted it to be around the fact that she knows she has problems with boundaries. Enter Eva - the one ...horse you have to have strong leadership skills with, or she simply won't respect you. It took a while for my friend to latch on to the energy and assertiveness needed for Eva to lock into her, but she managed it! And the huge smile on her face was my reward, as well as Eva's softness once she'd decided to co-operate. As usual Tyra was tuned in to what was going on, and knew we didn't need her. She spent the time quietly grazing at a distance, until we'd finished, then she came up to give my friend a deeply reassuring cuddle and some gentle Tyra love. Later my friend commented on the fact that she'd found it incredibly hard to create a boundary for Eva, because she didn't want to hurt her feelings, and that had given her a huge insight to the fact that she often allowed people to walk all over her! So oftten in EFL sessions horses mirror for us what is going on in our lives. #horsesaremirrors #equinefacilitatedlearning #equinetherapy See more
24.01.2022 Love this so much! Look how relaxed the horse is....
24.01.2022 Rest in Peace little Floss - I was looking foward to getting to know you. May you gallop free over the Rainbow Bridge.
23.01.2022 Dear ones - our little charity Equus is very much feeling the effects of COVID-19. Not the best time to ask, but if you happen to be able to spare a few dollars (always tax deductible) we would be very grateful. Hope you are all staying safe and well during this difficult time. xxx
23.01.2022 With my Equus hat on - this is such a lovely update on our little rescue pony Sugar. Thank you Elisha for your love and care for her.
22.01.2022 Yesterday I spent the afternoon in the company of a tribe of wonderful horse women. What a privilege it was to be at Inga Genis's place in Mullumbimby for the launch of her new range of horse inspired jewellery. I did a presentation on the use of essential oils with horses, and was given beautiful Trinity, a buckskin Guy Fawkes Brumby, and Paloma, an equally beautiful Andalusian/Arabian mare. Very different personalities, and both loved different oils, giving us their 'sto...ries' in their response to the oils. We talked about the importance of 'family' to horses, and I felt as if that was mirrored by the wider horse family around us. It was a lovely experience in the garden, with the horses tuning in and enjoying some time out, and as usual I turned to the three most popular oils I use, marjoram, bergamot and rose. Then we were treated to a great demonstration of clicker training by the wonderful Susi May who worked with two horses - Inga's beautiful three-year-old Warmblood, Troubador, and an OTT Thoroughbred. Susi's demo gave me some great new tips for working with Equus Alliance's little Brumby, Sparrow. It was great catching up with Tesse Ferguson Dawn Blackwell, Clemmie Wotherspoon and Ria Mithya who sent me the photos. I managed to snap Ria with her gentle horse Jiva, who came up to have a cuddle with Ria while Susi was working in the yard. #essentialoils #horses #northernriversnsw #clickertraining See more
22.01.2022 I'm thrilled to say that my latest book, The Heart of a Horse - life lessons from horses and other animals, which will be published by Murdoch Press on January 4 is ready for pre-order through Booktopia (and other online stores). https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-heart//9781922351234.html In the book you'll read about many of the horses that have made their way on to my Horse Listener page and the animals that have 'gifted' me the lessons that have allowed me to drop into a 'listening' space. #horses #horsestories #memoir #mindbodyspirit #horserescue
22.01.2022 My girls and I took a moment out to honour all the service men and women, past and present, of Australia; all the brave horses who went to war (and never came back) and all the current health workers on the frontline of a different kind of battle. A day for reflection in these strange times for sure.
22.01.2022 Dear Ones Can you help us with even a $5 donation for our beautiful Christmas rescue, Brandy? See his story below. At Equus Alliance, we've given him the best gift of all for Christmas - his life! #horses #horserescue #charity #christmas
21.01.2022 Sapphy is getting softer and softer! Riding in a halter, with a neck rope, with a bridle - its all beginning to come together. 18 months to get her here but the journey is getting sweeter every day.
21.01.2022 The Journey of a Horse Helper... So three weeks ago a young Austrian girl, Lisa, came to stay for what was supposed to be three weeks, during which time I was going to train her to feed and look after the horses while I was away in NZ for a week at the Spirit Horse Festival. Then the plan was she would head off on her travels. Well, something happened on the way to the forum...no NZ for me, and for Lisa a difficult choice to make between paying money for a special chartered ...flight back to Austria - but meaning she'd have to travel to Sydney to catch it, or she would have to stay here - for goodness knows how long. Fortunately for all of us, Lisa decided to stay - and is now firmly part of the family. The wonderful thing about her journey with me has been watching her horse skills grow because although she learned to ride when she was younger she had never really handled horses, so it was a bit of a crash course in - well, everything really! In not-quite four weeks Lisa is gaining in confidence every day. She's stepped up gradually through grooming, feeding, rugging, leading, to some gentle riding and now to join-up and some liberty work. Watching her embrace every new concept is incredibly rewarding. Go Lisa. See more
20.01.2022 Lovely day today playing with Sparrow and Maya
19.01.2022 Somehow, I'm not quite sure how, it seems that we are hurtling towards the end of September, and I haven't yet posted about the September/October issue of HorseVibes Magazine which is adorning my coffee table as I write this. The spring issue is jam-packed full of goodies brought to you from the HorseVibes stable, so to speak and I'm honoured to have my 'Horse Listener' column in there. In this issue I explore how horses actually 'see'. Did you know, for instance, that th...e horse, of all the land mammals has the largest eyes? And there's a reason for that, because over millennia horses' eyes have evolved to see almost 360o, taking in the entire horizon, with fantastic long-range vision, and very poor close-range vision, in order to protect them from predators. One of their 'blind spots' is literally right in front of their noses, so when a horse is actually taking off over a jump, it can't see it - which, when you think about how much we ask them to do that requires close vision, makes everything they do so willingly for us even more extraordinary. As for beautiful green apples and yummy orange carrots, well, it's all the same to a horse, who only have dichromatic vision, seeing two of three wavelenths of visible light, as opposed to our trichomatic vision. You can read more in HorseVibes, along with a plethora of goodies, inlcuding editor Amanda Mac's profile of dressage rider Brett Parbery, Roly Owers on the five domains of animal welfare, Amanda Clifford on better understanding your horse, and getting the fit of your bit just right, and more, lots more. See more
19.01.2022 Im not sure whether to laugh or cry.
18.01.2022 When you want to work with one horse, and his friend joins in. Our two Equus boys. Cracker, the big Thoroughbred, is such a 'thinking' horse. You can almost see him working out that because he walks faster than Phoenix, he can wait, or take a different angle! He is deeply intuitive, and Phoenix a cheerful extrovert. It takes all types of horses, as it takes all types of humans.
17.01.2022 Happy Mothers Day to all you nurturers of creatures great and small. I hope you have a lovely day. Sapphy and I had a lovely quiet time this morning...
17.01.2022 It was Sapphy’s turn for some acupuncture today but that didn’t stop Jewel getting in on the action. She seemed to think acupuncturist Ben Walder had a very yummy elbow. #horses #acupuncture #byronbay
17.01.2022 It is truly a wonderful feeling when your horse friends decide to lie down with you. Beautiful Tyra (the grey) has done this with me a couple of times, always gently lowering her head, but this time Taz joined in. It’s a beautiful expression of trust and love These two are such good friends. At the end of the day they were grazing quietly together and although it’s not a super-clear photo, Taz had not one, not two but three birds resting on her back. #horses #HorseListening #countrylife
16.01.2022 Update on the Brumby cull planned for Monday...
16.01.2022 Such a great story #heritagehorses #Brumbies
16.01.2022 This week I had a lunch at my place to thank a few of our local Equus Alliance supporters. After a rain shower, it turned into the most beautiful day, in all ways. My four-legged and two-legged friends all 'joined-up' in the most natural, kind and loving way possible, and we were literally one large herd, as we moved amongst them, swapped cuddle buddies, and spent a happy couple of hours just 'being' with horses. Aboslutely nothing better for the soul, and I do believe the horses love it as well. Equus's little Sparrow behaved himself very well, and three of my herd, Jewel, (the Palomino), Sapphy (the grey) and Taz (the bay), all showed how incredibly gentle and kind horses can be. (If you're interested in a natural horsemanship session, you can contact me through this page by the way...)
16.01.2022 I'm going to share the story of how these two responded to natural horsemanship techniques in a few days - but in the meantime can you HELP us, and even if you can't donate, could you please go to Equus Alliance and share our post? Thank you so much!
15.01.2022 Thank you to Cheryl Arkle at Better Reading for this lovely interview. If you'd like to know a little more about how I became a 'horse listener', you might enjoy this podcast about my latest book, The Heart of a Horse, which is available now online and in bookshops...
15.01.2022 Take a horse called Taz... So Taz arrived two months ago, and she and I had a bit of a conversation about this riding business, because it was obvious on the day I decided to ride her she didn't really want me to get on board, and that was because of a few niggles here and there. So we've been doing groundwork, and lots of bending, walking, and various therapies, including essential oils, and today we did Riding again. Completely different horse - this time she invited me on... (not the photo of me getting off by the way), simply stood still, and walked off kindly when I asked her. She moved freely, stopped easily and for good measure let me hang over her for several minutes before I got off. To me manners make the horse. I don't want to get on horses that try and walk off, or that jar, or won't stop smoothly, or resist your hands and leg aids, or are too jammed up to move freely, or are too forward! It usually means to me those horses are sore somewhere, or are carrying some behavioural, or physical or mental trauma. It always starts on the ground. Get it right on the ground and then the riding follows as a natural progression. We enjoyed ourselves in a very quiet fashion, and then Lisa and I took her for a munch in the Maccas, and Lisa took a fabulous selfie (or was it Taz?) :) Happy horse, happy humans. See more
12.01.2022 Thank goodness.
12.01.2022 Three minutes of pure joy. Thanks Arnie in ISO.
12.01.2022 A good news start to the week
11.01.2022 This is from the Wild Horse Project in New Zealand - what a lovely story.
10.01.2022 Thanks to you I have confidence their bodies want to heal... What a great piece about a great horse 24 and still going strong.
10.01.2022 This is true dedication
10.01.2022 Today Taz and Tyra were thrilled to have two of their favourite people visit them - my sister Charlie, and our mutual friend Paulina. Between the three of us we groomed, cuddled massaged, offered oils, did reiki and generally hung out with my special girls who are loving life together without youngsters or bossy horses (yes that’s you Eva) making life difficult for them. Special Sunday ‘listening’ feels.
09.01.2022 Just my five-year-old chestnut mare, Eva, who is minus two tendons on one back leg and quite a bit a hoof on a front leg and my sweet 22-year-old Tyra, enjoying the freedom after ten days in a small paddock to help Evas hoof which had gone backwards yet again but seems to have made a remarkable recovery!
09.01.2022 Just a little bit of loveliness...
08.01.2022 "If you let it takes as long as it takes, it takes as long as it takes, it doesn't take any longer." Pat Parelli. This was some way into the catching Sparrow half-day marathon, but it was the turning point - when he came up to me... :)
07.01.2022 Just one of those magic days. I am so lucky to have welcomed into my herd Harley, the QH/Paint cross on the right of the pic. Harley belongs to Susan (far left) her husband Peter, (who was away) and the children - Eli on Jewel, little Tom patting Jewel, and my ever-enthusiastic horse helper, six-year-old Ben. Harley is destined to be a much-loved family horse, and it's my job to ride him in between teaching them to ride him and care for him (with the help of the boys). He's... also learning natural horsemanship, and he is an absolute pleasure to have around. He's currently happily paddocked with Jewel, and my Equus Alliance rescue, little Brandy, and the three seem to get on really well, apart from a few small arguments about which one of them is Jewel's boyfriend. Despite Harley's hunky handsome looks, she seems to prefer hanging out with little Brandy See more
07.01.2022 Things are a bit quiet on the horse front at the moment with no EFL lessons due to social-distancing, but horse business goes on all the same and Willow always loves to help. Somehow I bought her the same coloured collar as Tazs head-collar. Perhaps thats why shes sharing Tazs hay. Sisters by different parents.
07.01.2022 Today I went off the property - we're still allowed to for exercise - and went to ride with Cal aka Barefootbrother - Callum Snell up the mountain at the back of Billienudgel. I got to ride one of Cal's trick horses, Merlin, who was as magical as his name, while Cal rode a beautiful little Quarter Horse, Leroy. Riding a horse on a loose rein at all paces is a wonderful feeling, and I think something all horses should be able to feel in their lives, no matter what else they... do. When we got to the top we were surrounded by a small flock of Pacific Baza birds - which look like a kind of cross between a pigeon with a top-knot and a bird of prey. It used to be known as the Crested Hawk, and is a raptor that lives in tropical and sub-tropical woodlands. We sat up on the top of the mountain and let the horses graze, while the birds played in the thermals. In the distance we could see to the ocean one way and to Wollumbin the other. It was a blessed moment in these unnerving and worrying times, and I spent some moments sending out waves of gratitude for my day, and prayers for everyone around the world. Stay well and stay safe this weekend my friends. See more
07.01.2022 Horses listening....
06.01.2022 Help is help our Equus horses and get something beautiful for yourselves at the same time.
06.01.2022 Sapphy is getting softer and softer! Riding in a halter, with a neck rope, with a bridle - it’s all beginning to come together. 18 months to get her here but the journey is getting sweeter every day.
06.01.2022 Happy day today taking time out to play with three-year-old Stirling, a Waler/TB cross out of a TB mare - both rescued by Horse Shepherd Equine Sanctuary in Australia. It was Stirlings beautiful head that graced the cover of the Goid Weekend story I wrote on horse welfare (Katrina) and today I got to do some liberty work with her while Im down in Victoria researching a Brumby story. What a lovely little horse. I used essential oils with her as well, and after wed played we just stood in the sun and cuddled a while.
06.01.2022 This is a BIG shoutout and thank you to our beautiful helper Lisa who arrived in March to stay for four weeks - and chose to stay with us during lockdown, finally spending over three months with us! In that time she blossomed into a confident horse handler who absorbed herself in the world of Horse Listening to the point where she would carefully explain to the horses each day what would be happening around the farm They loved her; Willow loved her; WE loved her. Good luck on your journey around Australia, Lisa - thank you for all your amazing help. Come back and visit when you can - and please make us Austrian pancakes again! Xx
06.01.2022 I thought it was a good day to do something a little light-hearted, and even though it's the Equus Alliance horses that have received an honourable mention, I would just like to say Happy Christmas to all my beautiful herd - Sapphy, Jewel, Eva, Taz and Tyra - and to my neighbour's new boy Harley. (Plus of course the two Equus ponies living with me - Sparrow and Brandy - somehow I seem to have eight horses to look after again. How did that happen? I think two plus two must equal eight somehow. :) Happy Christmas all.
05.01.2022 I thought I'd just share the lovely progression our little rescue Equus pony, Sparrow the Brumby is making...such a sweet little horse :)
05.01.2022 I’m proud of my beautiful Jewel - back with me after an absence of six years with a lovely family in Victoria. I bought her when she was six-months-old from Kellie Woodger, along with her mum Glimmer, now in her forever home in Victoria. I did everything with her myself - including liberty training in the arena, which she took to like a horse to water. She’s come back with her hugely loving heart and now with my lovely neighbourhood children she’s teaching them what it’s like to be around a loving, safe horse. Nothing better in the world
04.01.2022 Fingers crossed for the herd of Brumbies in the Eastern Alps.
04.01.2022 So straight after the beautiful rehoming story comes this - Sally is a registered rehomer and there are others as well, please help support those trying to save the Mt Kosciuszko Brumbies from the trapping which is due to start immediately.
03.01.2022 I couldn't be prouder of these two! When Loupe, my Argentinian helper arrived with me, she wanted to learn about natural horsemanship. She came from a showjumping background and I quickly spotted she had a couple of strong tendencies - to lean forward, hug too tight with her knees and be locked in her pelvis. We worked together over the month she was with me, and as she learned to soften, and use her whole body, so Sapphy showed her how soft she could be in return. On her... last day Loupe wanted to do something she'd never done on a horse before. I wasn't sure what that could be until Sapphy told me in her gentle way, that she was ready for just a neck rope. So we took it in easy steps - first a bit of halter riding, then neck rope but WITH the halter rein tied around her neck just in case, and then finally with only the neck rope. Loupe was so delighted her whole being lit up. Sapphy loved it too. Happy horses and happy humans. It was a beautiful moment. See more
03.01.2022 Taz got some magic from Jason today. I love watching horses drop into acupuncture. Were working on improving the strength in her back end and she seemed to appreciate - even if she does look a bit like a pin cushion!!
02.01.2022 My girls in the morning mist.
01.01.2022 Freedom of Choice I had the privilege at the weekend of working with a most beautiful horse. My son Sam and his partner Brendon, (Sea Breeze Sport Horses) recently acquired Cara, an eight-year-old 16hh bay Thoroughbred/Warmblood cross mare, out of a Lunchtime mare and sired by the great Warmblood stallion, Cooperit. Oh my goodness, what a mover! Graceful, athletic and stunning, Cara also comes with a bit of baggage in the form of some anxiety, and Sam felt that a session w...ith my essential oils might help her. We worked or played with her in the arena, on an extremely windy day. She was hyper-vigilant at the beginning, ready to startle at anything and everything, so I offered her marjoram to release trauma to begin with, and followed it up with bergamot for anxiety. After about ten minutes, she began to relax, and Sam noticed that her eyes were soft, and her head less high. She began to lick and chew, and really to appreciate each oil I offered her, as she realised she could make a decision to take it or not she quickly latched onto rose, and inhaled it quite deeply. When I felt we had a strong emotional connection with her, I suggested to Sam that he unclip the lead rope, and just let her choose whether to stay with us or move. She followed him around for about five minutes, and then quietly moved away from him to the edge of the arena, where she trotted (and what a trot), down the fenceline, checking on her friends, but not at all in an anxious way. We took a couple of crates and sat down on the grass at the edge, and just waited, and within about five minutes Cara was making choices to come up and say hello, to move away and graze, and to come back to us again. We were with her for an hour, and by the time we finished, she was so relaxed, she was almost asleep. To me that time out for Cara was invaluable, as she learns to trust Sam, and her new environment, and to learn that sometimes her opinion counts for something, or that her need to move or desire to stand still is understood and appreciated. I can’t wait to see her journey unfold, and what a privilege to be there at the start. See more
