The Art of Natural Dressage

What a wonderful forum!

It's so very good to have the opportunity to relate to other people who have a real respect and love for our equine friends.

My daughter and I care for six horses and one pony. Most have come from difficult situations and bear the scars, both physical and emotional/mental, in varying degrees. They speak so clearly, in their own ways, to let us know what upsets them and we must tune in, watch, listen and learn if we wish to be of any help to them.

The other members of our family are two dogs and six cats.


Holly (Australian Stock Horse x Thoroughbred) sharing a tender moment with me. Came to us in 2003, when she was nine, with her three month old colt, who we named Billy the Kid. This mare is my best friend.





Billy (ASH/TB/Welsh Cob) stallion. A cheeky, lovely boy.



Bonnie (Anglo Arab), has been with us since 2002. First met her in 2000, but circumstances prevented us taking her home with us then. This young lady has taught me lots and helped change my attitudes.


Willow (Australian Pony) A clever, cute and truly gorgeous little individual. This photo taken when she was six months old (2003). See below for more recent photos.


Destiny (Part Arab) My daughter fell in love with this boy while she was working at a farm- stay. He had to come home! An exciting horse to ride.


Spirit/Muffin (unsure... cob? arab?)...two names, two personalities, a beautiful soul. He was also at the farm-stay. Had to come home when the place closed down.


Gretchen (Stock horse) We found her in a dreadful state at a riding school. Bought her and she is now friends with Holly and has formed a bond with my daughter. (One person at a time is plenty)

Welcome, Jen!!

I so had to laugh when I watched your pictures, because when I saw the first two, I wanted to tell you what a beauty Holly was. But then I saw the second horse (Billy) and thought I would write that he was my favourite. Then there was Bonnie and I was not sure about Billy being my favourite anymore. And so it continued until the end of your pictures - your horses are all so beautiful that I can impossibly decide which one I like most.

I am looking forward to reading more about what you are doing with them... and seeing lots of pictures of course.

Warm Regards,
Romy

Your horses all look lovely and look like they have well developed characters. It is so nice to see horses with some spirit and joy in them, they look so pleased to be there with you. I bet they keep you on your toes.

I'm with Romy! Can't decide which is more beautiful, so I have to say all of them are!

Lovely. Can't wait to hear more from you. Welcome!

_________________
"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"

I have to agree....all totally gorgeous horses!! I am soooo jealous! lol

Anyway....welcome to AND!!

_________________

Ditto. I do have a question though. How can you be in Australia and have green patures? And don't say it was winter because I want believe you.

look forward to hearing more and seeing more from you.

Best wishes,
Kim.

yeah, when i lived on the mid north coast, it was so bad (grass that is) that i had to feed the kangeroos through the drought!!! i cant believe i did it, but they would just look at me feeding the horses, and i couldnt bare it!! i figured that we had no grass anyway, so it didnt matter if i encouraged them.

but here in the hawkesbury, i can believe not having to hand feed everyone. my feed bill went from over four hundred a week (everything i earned doing lessons!!!) to next to nothing.

hey, but i did do the hard yards first! now i can just enjoy!

_________________
just keep swimming, quote from nemo!:)
love jessy

This is lovely. I bet you have a really good reputation in the kangaroo community. How could you have done anything different? Suffering is suffering regardless of the species. And its not always the money that's the deciding factor in the most important decisions we make.

Cheers.

Hi Jen,

Welcome

What a special herd you do have all those outspoken personalities and sooo beautiful


Kind regards

Bianca

_________________

What a lovely welcome. Thank you very much!

Thanks also for all the comments about the horses.

I spend lots of time with Holly and only ever have a halter on her when we cross the road to come over to the house paddocks.

When we first got Holly and Billy, I used to take him for a walk around the paddock by calling him and patting my leg and saying "come for a walk with your other mother" and he'd trail along behind me. That's how I taught him to lead. I've been using positive re-inforcement for years, with all the horses, mainly with a scratch or rub or a treat. Also, I wore long dresses and skirts so he became used to flappy things. All he wanted to do was chew on them!

We are having problems with a neighbour's dogs. They are chasing Holly and Gretchen. They used to chase their other dogs out, but these are more aggressive. Yesterday I started playing "chase the tiger" with Holly. She picked it up really quickly and was following and touching the piece of material then suddenly got a bit worried, so I left it lying on the grass and she came back over and calmed down and touched it again. So it was click, treat and we left it for the day.

Our pasture at the moment is summer grass. We live on a floodplain on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, in the midst of dairy and cattle farms.

Kindest regards,

Jen

welcome!

All your pictures are so great! So much action in them! They make me laugh, it is great to see your horses so healthy!

_________________

I wish I knew your world

Hi Jen,
I just had to reply, cos i have just joined this forum, and used to be Jessy's neighbour in Collombatti, and like she says, i cant believe you were so close to us! Your horses all look beautiful, and just as lovely as Jessy's...i really wish we could all have met when we lived up there. We now live back in the UK in mid Wales, and left Kempsey 2 years ago yesterday, which was the worst day of my life.....not that Kempsey is so great....but just our lifestyle there, and having Jessy as a neighbour...my daughter was 11 then, and spent every hour over at Jessy's...having played with, rideen, or swam in the dam, with anything from 2-7 ponies! She was in heaven! I had a beuat one eyed quarter horse, Disco, who became very sick, and Jes took him over and nursed him when we returened to the UK, he was a star. My daughter, Amy had a pony Cruiser, and they all just lived in the herd with Jessy's horses. Before we let them, they used to stand at the fence between our properties, leaning on it, saying 'please let us go over there and play with the other horses' it looks so much fun...they're having such a better time than us!' Amy became an ace little horse person under Jessy's tutelage, and I spent a lot of time having riding lessons on a milk crate, cos i was too scared to get on. But now, i am getting braver, and want to ride again. But, boy, it was so great to watch all the horses as a herd, and see how they operated.. i loved it...not something you would ever get to do here in UK. I even had to do an assignment for a course i am studying here, on natural horse herds...well i ran it off in an afternoon, and got a distinction....so as you can see, Amy and myself have a lot to be grateful to to Jessy....she will shine wherever she goes, and is definitley more horse than human!
So, maybe i have even seen your horses, on the drive through to the Rocks or roundabout, i dont know, but they all look gorgeous, as everybody else has said!
Wish i could meet you someday, maybe we will get back there.....

Hi Sara,

I wish we'd met while you were here too, but we have met, that's the main thing!

Life is full of amazing surprises, so who knows what will happen next?

Isn't this forum just great? It helps so much to have such wonderful support from like-minded people.

Congratulations on your Distinction!

Will write more soon, but have to catch up on all the posts as I've not been on for ages.

Take care,

Jen

Thank you for your kind words. I only need to go out to the horses and they immediately lift my spirits. They are a lively lot!

Kind regards,

Jen