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Hello everyone,
My name is Carol from Somerset, UK and I have two horses. The first is my 18 yr old Shire/Thoroughbred cross whom I have owned for 14 yrs. She proved difficult to hack out when I first got her and everyday it got worse and she would hack for less and less distance until eventually she would not leave my yard. In desperation I looked around for help and found Parelli. The knowledge I gained from Parelli helped me immensely....not least finding out that if I didn't have confidence in HER how on earth would she have confidence in ME (duh :) ). From Parelli I learnt how to have a relationship with my horse, how to teach my horse new things and FOCUS (that from the late James Roberts, bless him). The relationship between my horse and I came on in leaps and bounds and we are now best buddies but 3 yrs ago she developed what we all thought was sacro iliac problems. In an effort to find something to help her I stumbled on Classical Horsemanship and took her to a wonderful classical dressage instructor so that I could teach her to carry herself correctly after years of slopping around on a long rein out hacking. Things improved dramatically.... then we crashed back down to ground zero. We improved again and then....back down again to ground zero. I realised there must be something else going on and insisted that my vet come and see her with his x-ray machine. He discovered a bone spavin in her right hock. Several different treatments seemed to make little difference. So....I decided to retire her and get myself another younger, more supple horse. In the meantime we continued trying different treatments for my current horse in order to make her more comfortable.
After a long search I finally found my new best friend....an 8 yr old Lusitano gelding. He will be arriving here this week and I am very excited at being able to continue my Classical Horsemanship journey with him. Of course, life being what it is, the latest treatment that was given to my Shire/Thoroughbred mare - Tildren - appears to have been really successful. In the last few weeks she has started to work with me when schooling instead of trying to evade me because she was in discomfort/pain. She is coming along so well that all thoughts of retiring her have gone out of the window....It appears I now have TWO horses to teach/learn from and exercise every day and I am looking forward to learning loads from this forum and making new friends :)