Taylor Mentorship Program

10/12/2022

Yesterday I was a frustrated mess. I was able to refocus and look at the Monty Robert's lessons that I signed us up for. Today, Taylor did not want to have anything to do with the lead rope or her halter. She had a bunch of shallow bites on her rear left quarter and was walking stiffly.

I approached her with the principles I learned in the first couple of videos, no eye contact, soft voice, soft hands and looking only at her shoulder. When she relaxed, Rebecca approached and after a little while, I was able to put on her halter with no issues.

I led her to the round pen and introduced the 3/6/9/12 positions from the centre of the round pen. No direct eye contact, soft voice and only looking at her shoulders. She seemed to just relax into it. An almost thank you for respecting her discomfort.

I love this mare and I think we'll do just fine together.

10/10/2022

https://madbarn.ca/how-to-prevent-ulcers-in-horses/

What can you do to prevent ulcers from developing in your horse? Equine ulcers are all too common, with studies showing that up to 90% of horses will be affected by ulcers in their lifetime. Stomach ulcers, also known as Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS), are most common in horses. But ulcers can

09/30/2022

If you give horses hay you must give them access to water! They should alwayssss have access to water and food, but especially with hay and feed. Their big water trough doesn’t have water, and I didn’t bring the truck so I left buckets with water so they are good until we fill the trough in a few hours.

09/30/2022

Make sure you don’t put food, minerals or water in an area with no escapes-like a corner. That could cause a horse to get hurt by itself.

09/30/2022

Brought them in for shelter away from the other horses, a dry area, hay supplement to grass, minerals and a dry place to lay down.

09/30/2022

09/29/2022

Let your daughters grow up to be horse girls.

Let her room be messy and her clothes be torn. Let her barns be spotless and her horses shine. Let her be first up in the morning and the last in from outdoors at night. Let her forget breakfast and skip dinners and have flat sandwiches on white bread, gripped in dirty hands. Let her horse share the sandwiches.

Let the kids at school call her 'horse girl' as an insult and let her screen saver tell them she accepts the name with pride. Let her miss class for a show. Let her miss a show for the vet. Let her cry when she wins and cry when she loses. Let her make best friends and make worst enemies and fall off and get back on and fall off again. Let her be the one they put on the crazy ponies. Let her ride every day. Then let her have a second horse. And a third.

And when the going gets rough, let yourself relax. Horse girls become horsewomen and horsewomen don't give up.

- Angelina Vita

09/02/2022

Homework: pressure and release excercise

09/02/2022

About todays Saddle and Ridding Lesson, key points for future training and riding objectives.

09/02/2022

09/02/2022

Don’t turn on the volume it’s windy!

Trotting with Taylor

08/29/2022

Today we groomed, fed carrots and minerals and walked. Taylor is still looking sore, but Rebecca was patient and kind, using praise and encouragement to get Taylor going. We did 3 circles each way walking without a rider on, desensitization with rider on (wiggling around, checking the belly areas out) and walking with a rider on her back dor 3 circles each way with a long turn across the centre of the field.