Tuesday 31st January 2012

Treat Your Horse As An Individual

I get asked this question quite a lot. “Peter, what are your training methods?” My reply to that is there is no one method to training horses. Each horse is an individual and should be treated as one.

Of course there are guidelines and scales of training I stick to but the way it is trained depends on the conformation of the horse and the horse’s mentality.

I’m not stereotyping mares but more often then not they are a little more sensitive and erratic than their male counterparts – but having said that, I do like women!

In all seriousness, mares have to be ridden and have things explained to them in a different way, more through exercise than timed aids with your leg and your seat.

With geldings and stallions you tend to be able to use the balance of timing, being firm and gentle at the right moments. Stallions are usually very lazy but kicking most stallions forward will get you nowhere. They will just ‘stuff up’ on you, so doing lots of quick effective half transitions and full transitions is much more likely to work.

Geldings can be lazy too, and those that don’t pay attention to your aids can be galloped to encourage them to take the rein. Geldings that are fizzy are often refusing to listen to your seat. Check this by tightening your tummy, closing your thigh and adjusting your weight in the saddle without pulling on the reins. If the horse ignores the aid a firm half halt is usually sufficient.

These are just stereotypical examples, of course, but you can have a stallion that acts like a mare, a mare that acts like a gelding or a gelding that acts like a stallion! As I said, they’re all different.

Like humans we all learn at different rates. Some have special needs like me (!) and some are top of the class like my brothers. What we must all remember when training horses is that there are many ways to the top of the mountain, but the view at the top is always the same.

Show Stopper On Track for Winter Championships

The three horses that I took out in the summer and autumn have all qualified for the Winter Regionals, but I will only take one of them – my mum’s horse Show Stopper.

I haven’t taken him out very much in recent weeks so I was surprised to get the letter through, but he’ll be training at home before going to the Regionals at Willerby Hill in mid-March.

That will probably be his first outing of the season. He’s working on Advanced Medium stuff at home but will complete at Medium level for his first outing.

My youngster PD Britannia is on his way back from a slight injury so I’ll be taking my time with him, while another horse in my care, Nike, is being ridden by one of my pupils for the time being.

Some Mothers Do Ave’Em!

I don’t usually talk about my love life but I’ve been going on a few dates with a girl who asked if she could come round for dinner. I told her I couldn’t cook to save my life but she insisted.

I didn’t know what to cook but she recommended an easy dish such as Spaghetti Bolognaise, so I agreed to take up the challenge and the date was on.

When the day arrived I still hadn’t bought any ingredients so I dashed out to the supermarket and bought some spaghetti and some minced beef. This couldn’t be more straightforward, I told myself.

So, my date arrived on time and sat patiently sipping my wine whilst I prepared dinner. But just as I was about to put the mince on the hob she piped up: “Where’s the onions and the sauce?”

That really threw me. I hadn’t even thought about the sauce. So, keeping my cool, and realising that I didn’t have the necessary ingredients, I decided to quickly improvise.

Quickly and calmly I reached for the tomato ketchup, squeezed it on the mince and gave it a good stir before serving it on top of the spaghetti. Surprisingly, my date didn’t seem perturbed about my quick-fix sauce. Curling up her nose, she muttered: “Peter, you haven’t drained the fat out of the mince.”

Of course, she was right. That procedure never occurred to me either. Still, I was starving so decided to give it a try – and to be honest, it wasn’t that bad! My date politely declined, however, and settled for a slice of toast instead. Needless to say, I haven’t been out on another date with her since …

‘Quickly and calmly I reached for the tomato ketchup, squeezed it on the mince and gave it a good stir …’

Tuesday 22nd November 2011

A disappointing outing with the promising Showstopper, the perils of draw reins and hairy moments for a worthy cause. It’s all in a month’s work for our Dressage star Peter.

My trip to the High Profile Dressage Show at Vale View Equestrian Centre in Leicestershire (11th to 13th November) was a stark reminder that even the best made plans can quickly come unstuck.

I put a lot of preparation into my promising young horse Showstopper in readiness for the show and he warmed up beautifully for his respective class. Unfortunately, when we got into the arena he didn’t like the decor of blue drapes surrounding the manege!

Personally, I thought they looked very nice but he was very tense and spooky. We managed to finish the test but I was bitterly disappointed that he didn’t perform to the standard I know he is capable of. A thoroughly bad day, but, hey, that’s horses!

Draw Reins

I dont know if any of you saw the excellent article recently in ‘Horse and Hound’ on draw reins, with Andrew Day and Adam Kemp both giving there pro’s and cons on the matter. Personally, I tend to try to stay away from draw reins unless truly needed.

They were invented for a reason and used in the right way can be a good tool to assist and help the horse adopt a correct neck habit to stretch its back so the blood can flow along the top line.

To be perfectly honest, they arent often used correctly by amateur riders. I see a lot of riders putting them on to change and force the neck down but that can only do damage, and ill tell you why. If a horse is holding the underneath of its neck, that is usually to help it support a weak back, so forcing the neck down and drawing it in can risk causing a broken neck and even disconnecting the vertebra.

This is why it’s so important for a correct stretch and warm up and down at the beginning and end of each session to allow the horse to release its muscles in a correct way. I could rant on about this subject for ages but it’s a good article and I’d advice you to read it!

Hairy Moments in ‘Movember’

I’m presuming you’ve all heard about ‘Movember’ by now? Well, its the time of year us red blooded males grow facial hair to show our support for the fight against prostate cancer.

Now listen, I’m not a hairy guy, and I’ve been trying to grow some damned hair for weeks now – and its not pretty! My friend Simon is doing it as well and whilst he’s looking like a Cuban drug baron, I’m sporting nothing more than a bit of bum fluff!! But never mind, it’s all in aid of a good cause, and on the plus side it does make me look that little bit more mature (!).

Scarefest

Each year Alton Towers runs a day called ‘Scarefest’ during Hallowe’en and my friends and I thought it would be a good day out, so we all dressed up and went along! I went as Dracula and my friends went as Zombies. It was a nice day out and good to get away from the horses for a change of scenery.

We decided to go into these scare tents where people jumped out of the darkness and screamed at you. My friends were petrified but I was walking through quite casually thinking “you guys have got nothing on my mother!” Actually, there’s a thought – a Helen Tomlinson Scarefest. Now that’s chilling! (Only joking mum!).

Its getting colder

I’ve got to say I’m quite jealous of office and shop workers at this time of year as it heads towards winter. It’s getting very cold outside and it didn’t help when the thermals I ordered on the internet came extra small! I managed to squeeze into them (needs must!) but they’re not a comfortable fit!

My horses are getting their thick rugs on now and seem to be growing hair rapidly but I’m not the one who clips them, so I don’t mind too much. Not that I’m lazy but it would probably look like a creation from the movie ‘Edward Scissor Hands’ if I interfered. Hey, I know my limitations!

Peter has recently celebrated his sponsorship with a Top level comeback win on his old campaigner Madison County