Firestone Equine

  I think that the way a horse is introduced to being ridden shapes how he or she is in later life. My aim is to produce a willing and happy horse who enjoys their work and is a pleasure to ride. I usually expect to have a horse lungeing, long-reining, hacking alone and in company, working consistently in walk, trot and canter, and a few other little things along the way after about 6 weeks. Obviously if a horse is to be re-backed this may take longer than a horse who hasn't had a bad experience. The picture below shows Charlie, a 4 year old Fell x Friesian gelding, being ridden by his owner for the third time after having been with me for 6 weeks. Charlie and I met when he came to me to be re-backed as he'd had a bad experience the year before.

 This photo shows Penstrumbly Paddington, a 4 year old Welsh Section D gelding who came to me to further his education. He's pictured at his first show and his first time in an indoor school. He was interested in his surroundings, yet relaxed and composed enough to listen when under saddle. He got two 2nds and was a total star for the whole time he was there. 

  I'm happy to take on most horses for schooling and reschooling in whatever aspect is necessary, be it nappiness out hacking, traffic proofing, ground manners, loading, recovering from injury, horses who've been out of work for a while, general schooling problems eg. cantering on the wrong leg, improving horses before advertising for sale, etc. The possibilities are too numerous to mention, but I'll put a selection of client testimonials on the 'Client Testimonials' page when I've gathered them together! It is impossible to say how long a horse will need without meeting him or her first but after an initial assessment of the horse at their home I will have a good idea. It may be possible to work on certain problems without taking the horse away from their home, and I am able to take horses in to my yard for more in-depth problems. The length of stay does obviously vary, but it's usually somewhere between 2 and 6 weeks as I like to be as sure as possible that I haven't just done a 'quick fix', I want the improvement to be a lasting one. It's usually useful to have one or two follow-up sessions at the horse's home yard just to be sure the problem is truly sorted out - sometimes they do regress once they go home for one reason or another, and if it's jumped on quickly and correctly it's usually enough to stop the unwanted behaviour from returning. Both the horses pictured below used to rear repeatedly when hacking and schooling, happily they now look quite content in their work!

   My yard is ideally located for backing, schooling and reschooling horses. Set in a friendly, rural village the roads are quiet and as the traffic tends to just be the villagers, they always slow down. However, there is much farm traffic about, there are the dustbin men and their 'monster' every Wednesday and countless renovations to houses and gardens going on around the village. It's an ideal atmosphere to introduce young or spooky horses to traffic and scary situations, without having the huge risk factor attached which there would be on faster roads. There are a few circular routes varying from 10 minutes to 45 minutes for training to begin and if appropriate there are longer circular hacks too. I think it's important not to just hack to a certain point, turn around and come straight back. There is some good off road riding within a 15 minute hack and I always like to make sure youngsters have cantered in the open before they go home. As my fields stay so dry, I can school on them for most of the year which gets the horses used to working in open spaces - invaluable when thinking ahead to competitions or sponsored rides. If the ground is too wet there is a local school within a 15 minute hack which I can use - good for getting horses used to working away from home. There are many fields of cattle and several of sheep close to the yard and many other potentially scary things such as barking dogs, a children's play area, a sports pitch with football and lots of shouting on some Sundays (!) and there are a few people who drive horses locally who are very amenable when it comes to slowing down so a scared horse can see what on Earth the other horse is pulling!

  I have also competed various different types and temperaments of horses for their owners in various disciplines both in-hand and ridden and am happy to do so for new clients, whether it's for the horse's first couple of outings to shows to give them a good experience or longer term.

Breaking/Schooling/Reschooling Livery (at my yard near Bishop's Waltham, Postcode SO32)

£150 per week to include - feed, daily care - feeding, water and grooming, 5 days ridden work/groundwork per week, lessons for owner while still at my yard in place of the daily training session, assistance with vet/farrier if necessary.

Does not include - farrier/vets bills, feed supplements, wormers.

I work with a strong emphasis on acceptance from the horse and ongoing safety for the rider/handler. I like to know that everything has been done thoroughly so that problems and issues do not arise in weeks or months to come when the horse has had chance to realise that he'd never been given an option as to whether he was happy with things when they were introduced.

For example, I began backing my own Archie in the Spring of 2009. I had ridden him 10 times when, because I was doing so many horses for other people, I had to turn him away due to a lack of time. Just over 4 months later, I found a window of time to start working with him again so I brought him in from the field, brushed him, sprayed detangler on his mane, tacked him up, mounted him and took him for a short hack (on his own!) in walk with one trot. The next day we did the same and we were out for about half an hour. I can honestly say that he felt just the same on days 11 and 12 of being ridden as he did on day 10 which was 4 months previous! I think this strongly shows that Archie was happy with everything that had happened during the backing process given that he was so willing after such a long gap and was so totally accepting of everything he'd been asked. I don't know of many other just-backed horses who would behave in this way after such a long break turned away! Bless him.

I encourage the owner to visit as often as required when I'm at the yard after contacting me first - I am a horse owner myself and couldn't bear to leave any of my horses somewhere and not visit. I also make sure that the owner is happy to ride/handle the horse and deal with how the problem(s) arose, or to form trust with a young horse before returning home with him/her.

Simple Schooling/Groundwork Issues at Horse's Home Yard

Initial assessment for approximately an hour: £30 (plus petrol costs if over 45 minutes drive away)

Subsequent sessions for approximately an hour: Within 20min of Bishop's Waltham (SO32): £30.00

                                                                        Within 40min of Bishop's Waltham (SO32): £35.00

Loading Problems at Horse's Home Yard

As long as there's a quiet, safe environment, I charge £30 for the first hour and £7.50 per half hour after that. I do take horses in to my yard for work on deep-rooted loading problems as it's so quiet and safe where I am, but I appreciate it's not easy to get them there in the first place!  I find with loading problems it's not 'one day = quick fix', but to have a lasting solution it may take several sessions - all of which get progressively shorter. The pony pictured was the most stubborn loader I've ever done, and took 11 and a half hours to load the first time on the day her now owners purchased her and we picked her up(!), but now loads happily within 5 minutes. Before her current owners bought her, she was known to be difficult to load and when moved from one yard, electrified electric fence had been used to get her in - she was not just argumentative by nature but had had a poor experience to make her even more resentful of loading! It is important that the owner feels happy that the horse will load for them, not just me and this is always my ultimate aim.