Email: jenclingly@yahoo.com.au
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WHAT MAKES A GOOD TRAIL RIDING HORSE?
Wild About Hooves • Jul 25, 2019
We are blessed at Australian Horse Adventures to have an extraordinary team of horses in our operation.
We have a core group, the “A team” who have been with us since they were young, or were bred by us. They have clocked up thousands of kilometres under saddle with us (trail riding, endurance and stock work) and with whom our whole adventure business evolved.
Then joining them, is our team of preloved horses. We are proud and delighted to acquire “hand me down” horses. Usually these horses belonged to friends, who sought a good home and feel their horse would suit a career in tourism.
It’s also part of our commitment to minimal impact on the environment. With so much wastage in the horse industry its important to our ethos and be conscious of how we can make a difference.
Recycling horses feels right to us.
So what do we look for in a horse to join our team?
If you check out our website or social media photos you will see we are big fans of Arabian horses.
They are stunning horses to look at and so photogenic. They are also much more than a pretty face.
Intelligence: Is high on our priority list. When we work with a horse, we want them to have a good dose of “horse sense”. We encourage them to problem solve and make wise decisions. The obstacle course, our bush trails and challenges we create, give us the opportunity to assess if the horses can think through the tasks. To do this, we pay close attention to ensure every request we make when training is understood but we are also respectful of what each horse can offer. We focus on patience, trust and respect.
Experience:
The less experienced guests we have, the more experienced horse we partner them up with. “Green” riders are teamed up with our “been there, done that” horses.
Personality: Our horses are bursting with personality. We look for a horse with personality and let it shine. As trainers and guides we get to know them intimately so that we can read their minds and they need to be able to read ours or respond to our cues.
Our horses have their own biographies that describe each horse perfectly. Guests can read through these at the tour induction to get a feel for the individual personalities of our team. We then aim to match horses and guests based on compatible personalities. It makes for a great partnership and a memorable holiday for our guests.
Conformation: We look for a balanced horse – it’s the one secret to lifelong soundness and maximum performance. We are asking our team to work for years in training, competition and trail riding, they must be able to withstand the concussion, the distances and demands. Our ultimate challenge is to work with each horse as an individual and recognise what is balance and soundness for each one.
With our hoof fetish as hoof care educators, good, strong, healthy, balanced hooves and sure-footed horses are super important to us.
We look for good movers, who are efficient with their energy and comfortable to ride.
Personality: Our horses are bursting with personality. We look for a horse with personality and let it shine. As trainers and guides we get to know them intimately so that we can read their minds and they need to be able to read ours or respond to our cues.
Our horses have their own biographies that describe each horse perfectly. Guests can read through these at the tour induction to get a feel for the individual personalities of our team. We then aim to match horses and guests based on compatible personalities. It makes for a great partnership and a memorable holiday for our guests.
Conformation: We look for a balanced horse – it’s the one secret to lifelong soundness and maximum performance. We are asking our team to work for years in training, competition and trail riding, they must be able to withstand the concussion, the distances and demands. Our ultimate challenge is to work with each horse as an individual and recognise what is balance and soundness for each one.
With our hoof fetish as hoof care educators, good, strong, healthy, balanced hooves and sure-footed horses are super important to us.
We look for good movers, who are efficient with their energy and comfortable to ride.
Attitude: Do they want to work with us? And can they work together as a team? It’s the question we ask the horse through observation.
The horses in our operation have an amazing work ethic because they enjoy what they do, they love a job, they are willing, courageous, fiercely independent, and fun, they embrace the fitness training and line up in the queue, day after day to join us at work. They build their strength and endurance to be able to take our guests on epic adventures week after week.
“A horse is a horse of course” Mr Ed
When work finishes, the horses get to do their thing.
They live together a herd in a big paddock, they have access to food and water, they roll, they snooze, they get dirty, they are without rugs, without shoes. They are free to go feral. And this works for us and for them.
Success with our team lies in letting them be horses and building partnerships not slaves. And it shows with a team who are willing, happy and responsive. We are in constant admiration for what they will do for us. They are super stars. There is no mountain too high, no river too wide, no challenge to tough for our horses.
They are what makes Australian Horse Adventures so special and our guests reviews so favourable.
Laminitis kills thousands of horses every year, and leaves thousands of others debilitated with lameness. It will and can affect any horse. And for you, the horse owner it can be devastating: you feel guilty and heartbroken at your horses suffering, confused with all the information as it is typically explained by professionals in scientific terms that can be difficult to understand, costly veterinary bills and you have the major task of nursing your horse back to recovery. . Unseasonal weather patterns around Australia with abundant rain and sunshine saw laminitis at a near epidemic last year. The reason being, that the environmental conditions can trigger increases in the sugar, starch and fructan. These collectively known as non-structural carbohydrates can cause laminitis in any horse or pony. Alarm bells ring this spring!! Be warned and be prepared, for prevention is better than cure.
The extraordinary relationship between humans and the horse has been running since before the birth of Christ. Indeed, there is evidence our domestication of horses goes as far back as 3500 BC. And ever since we recognised the utilitarian value of the horse, there has been the horseshoe. The use of horseshoes has become an almost unquestioned tradition. Humans have been nailing shoes onto horses’ hooves for well over a thousand years. Who can remember back to a time otherwise?
There is nothing quite like getting hands-on when you are learning the art of trimming horses hooves. Wild About Hooves popular weekend workshops allow their students plenty of opportunity to ‘have a go’ in a situation as close to real-life. Students start practicing by trimming horse’s cadaver legs, they also practice positioning themselves under a horse safely and ergonomically. Students retain more information when they physically practice, instead of just seeing or hearing it. However, when a worldwide pandemic puts a stop to everything, and public events banned, border restrictions in place, and other impacts make it impossible to travel and train in person, Jen Clingly and Jeremy Ford decided to adapt and reinvent their learn to trim courses. “We can still bring this “learn-by-doing principle” of adult learning into what we are teaching regardless of whether we teach online or off line.” Clingly highlights. “But it is challenging especially for us to articulate clearly and demonstrate without the constant interaction of questions and answers that face to face provides.” When it comes to traditional face-to-face training, the principle of maintenance hoof trimming is easy to grasp and execute. So how do the team at Wild About Hooves deliver their online hoof care course? How do students learn to do it themselves in an environment where they are not physically present to perform practical exercises? Online teaching requires very different approaches to teaching face-to-face for obvious reasons. Wild about Hooves shares 4 ways of teaching a practical skill via online training. 1. Get as Visual as Possible When it comes to practical training, or teaching learners new skills, we created loads of visual with power point lectures and ‘live demonstrations of trimming.’ People learn in many different ways – visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. By delivering information online, we want to make sure we enable all the different type of learners to engage with our hoof care principles. Providing visual diagrams, animations and dot-pointing our information all helps alongside a video showing a real life demonstration of the skill in a environment that is as close to what will happen out in the field. We try and get the camera in close to the hoof to show the trim process step by step. When the brain can ‘see’ how something is done before it is attempted independently, the chance of success are much higher than just reading or hearing about it. 2. Get on Camera Much out of our comfort zone, we got ourselves on camera. People like people, and it can significantly enhance the engagement, retention and completion rates of our course if our learners can see us talking to them. We don't have the budget for a professionally filmed training video, but we put together some good ‘how to’ trim footage and this also enables people to engage by watching, listening and following along as the training video plays. 3. Self Paced Learning Students can work at their own pace through the series of lessons. They can stop when they are tired or need a break and then get back to it when the time is right. Also they can go back and revisit any of the lessons to reinforce their learning. The lesson range is interesting and covers introducing the trainers and their backgrounds, the distal limb anatomy of the horse, how the hoof works, barefoot trimming, step by step hoof trimming, the relevance of the wild horse study, Australia’s desert brumbies, tools for trimming, what to look for when you trim horses hooves. All lessons are interwoven with film footage and powerpoint lectures and then access to further resources. It’s user friendly and feedback has been sensational. 4. Trainers Are Accessible and Can Be Contacted to Provide Advice and Feedback The team at Wild About Hooves is contactable to help students who need further information and guidance. Best of all with a team of over 150 hoof care practitioners in Australia with ACEHP: The Australian Certified Equine Hoof Care Practitioners there is usually someone who students can touch base with to learn more from or who they can book in to check on their trimming and horses hooves. Check out the link and join the team virtually! https://hooftrimmingonlinecourse.podia.com/