Dealing with yard politics

I've been told that the best decisions are often the hardest ones to make, and as the tears well up yet again, that's certainly ringing true for me this morning. For the first time in many years I'm without a horse to look after. Thankfully it's not for the saddest of reasons, although 2 elderly horses on my yard have gone that way in the past week :-( In my case, Bell has gone to live in her (rather excellent) retirement home. She was always on loan to me, and her owners Carol and Don have a lovely farm in the Chilterns where she can be turned out with her old friend Poppy, in a huge field with the most wonderful view, with a warm stable whenever she needs it, and she'll be doted on twice a day by Carol. I was feeling torn between spending time with Bell and spending time with Philip (who was 4 months old last week!), which meant that I permanently felt guilty, didn't enjoy my time with Bell, and she didn't get the quality attention she deserves. Philip hated sitting in the pushchair or being in the sling while I poo picked, so I'd end up rocking him to sleep so I had enough time to quickly hay, feed and do her field, and if I was lucky I'd be done before he woke up. I felt as though I was losing almost an entire morning every day just trying to 'get things done that have to be done' rather than making the most of the time we have. I can't see things getting any easier once I'm back at work, probably until he goes to school (and even then we haven't completely ruled out homeschooling!). So after much soul searching I decided it was best for all of us if Bell went backto live with Carol (I realise how lucky I am to have had this option). There are some Shetlands at the yard that Philip and I can play with, they're much more his size! And several kind friends have said that I can ride their horses whenever I want to. So I really am a very lucky lady!
People's attitudes to my decision have been interesting, and my emotions towards those attitudes even more so (thankfully Carol and Don, with several grandchildren, have been incredibly understanding). I imagine it must be similar to when one person on a yard makes a decision about how to work with their horse (for example, to follow Intelligent Horsemanship or Parelli, or to retire a horse from competition, or to stop riding their horse completely), and they experience a variety of reactions from the other liveries. Most people, especially mothers, have been very supportive, and for that I am very grateful. Some, usually not mothers, are bemused as to why I would feel the need to consider such a choice. Others, who have worked through it themselves and come out the other side, tell how they managed without having to decide one or the other (baby or horse). What's surprised me most is the feeling I can't get rid of that says 'How come those mums could do it and I can't?'.
It's essential to remember, of course, that every person and every horse is an individual. Usually if I delve deeper I hear 'My baby would alway be asleep by the time I'd pushed him from the car to the field' or 'I didn't actually do anything with my horse for the first 2 or 3 years', or something similar. Philip definitely isn't asleep by the time I get to the field, and Bell's 20 so if she's going to do nothing for a while she's better off in a big field with her friend. But why do I even feel the need to justify my decision?!
I've spent a lot of time over the years as a physio and IH Recommended Associate telling people it's fine to make the decisions they want to make, that they have the right to do so, and to try to rise above the yard politics that might cause them to doubt themselves. One horse who sticks in my mind more than most from that point of view is L, with her lovely owner J. L was a young 4yo mare who had never been the quietest to stand to mount, but had got significantly worse. I saw her regularly for maintenance physio, and I found that she was getting more sore at the same time as she was getting more difficult to ride. She was always better for a few days after her physio, but within 3 or 4 months she was bucking and prancing for the first 5 minutes of every ride, which was totally uncharacteristic of her. She was then fine for the rest of the ride, and so the general consensus of opinion on the yard was that she was being naughty and that J should get after her and make her behave herself. J wanted to give the vet a call, and I supported her in this decision, and eventually she decided to go against the majority and stick up for her own horse and her own beliefs. It wasn't easy, but she was very glad she did - L turned out to have early hock arthritis and after an injection to relieve the pain her 'bad' behaviour stopped instantly and completely!
So back to the title of this post - dealing with yard politics. You know your horse better than most others. Trust your instinct and stand up for your rights. You don't have to justify your decisions to anyone except yourself and your horse. And don't be surprised if there are tears along the way, because the best decisions are often the hardest ones to make.

Real life story - HHH Brain or Pain January 2013

Real life story - HHH Brain or Pain January 2013

Hi Sue

I always enjoy reading your newsletters and thought I would let you know that I have recently decided to try my quirky pony without the flash noseband he has worn for years after a very reputable instructor recommended it. One of the reasons for this change was that he often did things to make it hard for me to do up the drop part (putting his head down, barging me, shaking his head etc). I also decided to give it a try as I am always looking at everything to try to improve things with him. Well, I have found removal of the drop part has helped him relax his jaw and he goes better and more consistently. He is now in a Neueschule Verbindend snaffle and cavesson noseband and this seems to suit him really well. I think the original reason for needing the flash noseband was because he was trying to evade a bit that didn’t suit him. I tried many snaffle variations and gradually ended up at the Verbindend after finding that a lozenge snaffle was better for him than a French link!

I have been riding this pony 10 years and have had the most amazing journey of discovery along the way as to how I can improve him. He was virtually unrideable when I started. He fractured a stifle as a 6 year  old and never really got back into work after that, until I met him! He’d had no physio of any sort either, bless him. He is also very croup-high and I suspect had been passed along from home to home due to his quirky nature (definitely not a kids pony!). We have been through badly fitting saddles (3 bad saddlers in a row who let us down) and many instructors who said he wasn’t worth bothering with, but now I have the most wonderful pony to ride and I feel I have learned far more from him than I could ever learn from an “undamaged” pony! It’s been an amazing journey and one day I may write it all down for others to gain from too.

There have been so many discoveries along the way that it would take a book to capture them all. I have mixed a bit of everything in to solve the puzzle and build the relationship (natural horsemanship, advice from instructors, things from magazines and lately working on my own body balance and core strength with pilates (the normal sort of class, not specifically equestrian focused)) and it just keeps getting better and better! I came so close to giving up so many times and am so glad I didn’t. He actually belongs to friends but they have said that he is really mine, which is so kind. They loved him as a character, but were at a loss as to what to do with him and were trying to sell him when I came along.

It is interesting to know that he used to trip so badly, even on a good surface, that that was the main thing about him that knocked my confidence. He’d go right down on his knees. He rarely trips at all now. He’s coup-high so naturally on the forehand and that was a big part of the problem. A good instructor helped me build up his back muscles, which were very weak. The better fitting saddle has helped to put my weight in a better place, and allowed his shoulder muscles to develop better too. I used to look down (subconsciously) because I was looking to see what he may trip over, and this was putting more weight on the forehand, so when the tripping reduced I felt more confident to sit back and look ahead and out (the pilates helped with that too). I never fell off him, but I went down with him over the years 3 times when he basically fell on the forehand at speed and kind of cart-wheeled (hence loss of confidence)! Due to this I used to avoid any rough or heavy ground – this in turn meant he couldn’t work on any such ground because of lack of practice! Now I embrace any challenging underfoot conditions to help build our partnership and his co-ordination! Of course, I do so with knee boots on him if the ground is hard or surfaced.

Nice to share this with someone who understands.

Tight nosebands - response from a British Dressage judge

Tight nosebands - response from a British Dressage judge

A recent comment of mine in a HHH e-newsletter prompted several responses full of emotion.  The conversation below is between myself and a British Dressage judge in relation to this subject.

My initial comment: "I'm feeling quite distressed about the amount of horses whose jaws are jammed shut with what I consider to be excessive nosebands, along with a considerable amount of metal in their mouths. I've seen so many times the dramatic changes to a horse's comfort levels and way of going when I work to free up his tongue and jaw muscles, that the opposite must be true - if you fix his jaw or his tongue, you reduce his ability to perform. I need to read more around this so that I can produce an article on it - the anecdotal evidence is clear to me, but I need more! What are your thoughts?"

BD judge: "I agree re nosebands being on too tight. I raise this regularly with BD where others are also concerned about it, ... Having had a horse who has had significant back and other pain I can say his mouth opening / resistance to contact seems to be directly related to how his back is - nothing to do with the bit or  mouth. The more pain he is in, the more he opens his mouth / resists the bit. I think that mouth opening / resistance in the mouth is often related to stress, physical or mental. What this means to me is that it is completely wrong to be able to strap a horse's mouth shut; we should be looking for the cause of the problem. I recently emailed BD after a picture of an extremely tight noseband featured in their latest magazine and they were grateful for the feedback ...
Unfortunately I disagree on performance. A lot of horses seem to work very well with their mouths strapped shut. I see this often when writing or judging at dressage competitions. I have even seen it [on the winner of a National competition] last April where I felt the noseband was tight to the point of almost certain discomfort. Personally, I was drawn to the mouth and would have marked it down but the judges had this horse as the clear winner. As yet, at least, as judges, we are not being trained to consider the tightness of nosebands. On the other hand there are also horses with evident physical problems - stiffnesses, etc who go with a still mouth that isn't strapped shut!
I hope these anecdotes are helpful. BD have looked at a way of checking whether the nosebands is too tight - someone invented a handy device that would control against the size of fingers (e.g. should you be able to measure fit by, say, one finger's width being allowed inside) ..."
My response: "Thank you very much for your feedback.  It's good to know that there is concern about this at the level of judging.  Unfortunately on the performance side of things there is no way of knowing how well those horses could go without their mouth / nose strapped shut - my guess would be that ultimately they have the potential to go even better than they currently are.  However, removing the restrictive noseband would of course change things so much for them that they would initially go less well, I'm sure, and so it would be a study that would be virtually impossible to carry out (for many reasons)."

BD judge: "Yes I agree horses could / should go better without their mouths strapped shut. I guess they are just all different and at the moment in judging you can neglect the mouth because it is strapped shut. It would be interesting to judge a class then judge the same class with nosebands removed! "


My response: "I suspect that the horse's behaviour would not be ideal initially with the nosebands removed because they would be better able to express their opinions!  A client of mine did her college study on dressage tests with bits and then in bitless bridles, I think it was 3 combinations of horse and rider judged with bit and then without on one day, and then without followed by with on the next day.  The results were inconclusive, but of course changing a horse's normal tack would be likely to lead to a lower score unless they'd been schooled extensively in both sets of tack, I would think.  It's a good start though."