Glenshee Equestrian Centre

Billie at Camera-Obscura has written a great primer on the practice of rollkur, the controversy, and what you as an individual can do about it.  I can't recommend it enough! This disgusting practice has gone on too long.  Sadly, many feel unqualified to question it and most of us have felt powerless to stop it, but we are not alone; there is now a growing outrage at the practice and a community of concerned horsemen denouncing this horror and offering humane, classical alternatives.  Together we can make out voices count. I hope you'll check out this excellent post here . or cut and paste: http://camera-obscura-billie.blogspot.com/2009/11/rollkur-101-what-you-need-to-know-to.html also, more here on GEC:   Rollkur

O'Grady is the latest addition to our little herd here at Glenshee! I received and e-mail from a friend who recently hooked us up with our arabian rescues saying that there was a very nice ex-showjumper looking for a nice home as a dressage horse. Well, I've never been one to pass up the chance to give a nice horse a good home, so I agreed to go look at him... And it was love at first sight! Grady, a 18hh, 14-15(ish) yr old grey sport horse gelding, was bred in Ireland and worked there for a while as an eventer. He was then imported to Florida where he was intended to be a showjumper, but apparently he developed an intense dislike for jumping while there. He's a very willing, enthusiastic horse, but something about jumping just didn't sit well with him. His last owner bought him for a jumper and had him shipped up to NYS without knowing this history and, though she did her best with him and took very good care of him, it seems his mind has been made up ...

The German Equestrian Federation has finally responded to Philippe Karl's Letter and Petition; a translation of their letter may be found here . Mr. Karl's answer can be found here . ________

enlightened horsemanship through touch has posted another great discussion on dominance-oriented training. while reading the post i recalled several horses i have met over the years who were trained this way and rebelled. it didn’t work for them, and this post has effectively put into words just why this approach didn’t work. it also got me thinking about what did work, and a possible explanation of why it worked when the standard approach didn’t. in a nutshell, i think it comes down to this: "these dominant-submissive relationships are constantly renegotiated in the wild. they are not static. jostling for rank never ends.. in contrast, a calm, secure state of loving cooperation can be maintained indefinitely, so long as the human does nothing to destroy it." i have seen the effects of this first hand. this approach leaves the horse only two routes forward; the first is as above, to continue jostling for rank, and the other is to create such an atmosphere o...

i'd like to recommend the following blog post: Do You Demand Your Horse’s Complete Attention? I came across this great post over at Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch , a blog I happen to love! This is a subject that is near and dear to me and my personal training style, but it was never something I thought about in any formal way, so it was really cool to have someone put it all out there in words where I could wrap my brain around it a bit. The result was a comment too long to post that I thought I’d post here in hopes that some of the readers here might visit the original post and share some of their thoughts on the subject too. Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s my two cents: This is a post I instinctively agree with but have never put into coherent thoughts, so I’m grateful someone has so succinctly put it into words for me! This gets right to the heart of much that I dislike about natural horsemanship and all its talk about “being the alpha” and “respect.” There is ...

It's about time. Riders and trainers have long complained about the decline of horsemanship in general and dressage in parti cular, especially as concerns competition. In recent years, only the most spectacular, showy performances have been rewarded at the expense of correct dressage and, more importantly, at the expense of the well-being of the horses. The situation is becoming toxic - for horses and riders. It's time to clean house. Granted things are unlikely to change when these riders are backed by serious money and corporate sponsorships, but we have to try something to bring the standards back up to some meaningful level. Grey Horse Matters sent me this link from Philippe Karl's website and I thought I'd pass it along to those who might be interested. Philippe Karl is one of the too few truly classical voices out there, and someone I have great respect for as a horseman. Of course, the Petition only addresses the German Equestrian Federation, however, thi...

I've been so busy now that spring is here that I haven’t had a chance to post in a while, but I’m hoping to post a few more installments related to rein aids next, so I thought I’d post these links all in one place before I continue.  If there are any topics you’d like to see discussed, please leave a message below and I’ll try to post something soon…  I've missed being here and  I'm looking forward to catching up with all of your blogs :-)  see ya soon! - jacquie Rein Aids Series: Holding the Reins The Turning Seat Inside vs. Outside: The Weight Debate ***** The Five Rein Aids: Introduction The Direct Rein The Indirect Rein The Direct Rein of Opposition The Indirect Rein of Opposition in Front of the Wither The Indirect Rein of Opposition Behind the Wither ***** Going Bitless

A friend of mine sent me this little horsey questionnaire on Facebook, and I thought I’d post my answers here. I won’t officially tag anyone, but it might be fun if readers passed it on by filling it out and posting it to your blogs with your own experiences, and encourage your readers to do the same. Hope you decide to play along!  And if you do, leave a comment here letting us know :-) 1. How old were you when you first started riding? I think I officially started when I was 7, but I was one of those kids who was obsessed with horses since the first time I saw one, so I’m sure I managed to get on a horse before then... 2. First horse ridden: Don’t remember... my mom said I rode a pony when I was 5 – I went with my sister who was in girl scouts/brownies or something... 3. First horse trotted on: ??? 4. First horse cantered on: ??? 5. First Horse fallen off of : Probably “Jet” (our first horse) 6. Most recent horse fallen off of: Dusty, 3+ years ago – although ...

We ha d s t arted in the winter and I worked w ith him like this for months. Having put all of this tim e into Mell on, gaining his trust , making him a respecta ble riding horse, I th en had to leave for colle ge in the fall, and had no idea what wou ld become of M ellon. Now that he had become somewhat rideable, people sta rted to come ou t of the woodwor k wanting to ride h im again. I suppose t hey figured if I could d o it, they could surely do it better. When I returned home, I discover ed that th e old ya hoos were back riding him, and he was slowly r egr essing to his for mer self again. One of the new riders was a so-calle d “professio nal” who had only recently snapped her own horse’s sp ine jumping him in draw reins and was happy to tell me, “why sho uld I put the wear and te ar on one of my horse s when I can practi ce on someone else’s?” I had been riding him in a hollow mouth eggbutt. She bitted him with a Jimmy Williams . Needless to say, he started refusing ...