"For a horse to trust you, you must trust the horse"
Our Aims
At Banjywon the aim is to breed, as it probably is everywhere, beautiful, function horses. I believe that you need to pick your market and work towards that. It is very easy to get side tracked, as indeed I have been, and in the breeding world, which is such a long term thing, this can lose years.
Our horses are not necessarily aimed at being an animal that everybody can ride. Yes they need to be sensible and tractable but I also do not mind a bit of spice. Our horses are all sensible and trainable but need someone with a bit of capability and confidence to bring out the best in them. Oh yes, my young children ride in front of me on the saddle and I happily lead the nieces and nephews around on the older horses but I would not allow an beginner to go for a ride and expect either the horse or the passenger to return unscathed.
This may sound like a bad advertisement for our horses but I would rather state the truth than cause an accident. Many a time I have heard "Oh, but the horse is as quiet as a mouse, I don't know how so and so fell off." To a rider with a bit of experience the horse probably is very quiet, but, as all horse people know, a horse has a good brain and can pick up on fear and inexperience very quickly.
Our horses are smart and tough and excellent doers. They will give their all for the whole day and strut their stuff in the show ring. Excellent second horses - yes, but not for the beginner. However, a dangerous or "hot" horse would not be retained nor bred from either. If you have read about the mare "Waverleigh Odette" you will recall that I called her "hot". I do believe, however that much of this was forced upon her through harsh, impatient treatment.
Our Philosophies
Although important, a good bloodline is not enough - the horse itself must also be well put together and with a good, trainable temperament. As the famous saying goes - "a good horse is never a bad colour" so we do not breed for colour. It just happens that most of our horses are bay/brown!
If you wish to produce a good, strong horse - you must feed the foal properly even before it is born. No good denying the mare and trying to make it up when the foal is on the ground. A well fed and happy mare will, 9 times out of 10, produce a happy, healthy foal.
Sensible, sensitive handling should create a sensible, friendly, trainable horse that is a pleasure to be around - and is pleased to be around you!
Treat the sorce of the problem if possible. We routinely use chiropractics, massage and dentistry to keep Our horses feeling good and therefore performing as best they can. Recently we are branching out into aromatherapy and Bach Flower Remedies. I am very interested to see the results of this.
Keep in mind YOUR perfect horse and work towards that goal. Do not be swayed by other people's opinions - take them on board and work out what suits us and what does not, this goes for training, breeding, everything! For all the work that is going into producing these animals it is hoped that WE will get pleasure out of them too! : )
The greatest pleasure is breeding, training and competing successfully on a homebred horse that is your mate.
Training
Show me your horse and I will tell you what you are.
~Old English Saying~
I have always believed in training a horse rather than breaking but my methods have changed and refined through the years. Indeed I have not doubt that they will continue to evolve as well, there is always something more to learn and I am but a beginner. I am a HUGE believer in doing as much as possible on the ground before even getting on their backs - indeed this can start from day one. This has proven extremely useful to me in the past and when riding someone else's youngster who has not had the ground work - well - there is a difference! But everyone does things differently.
Tom Roberts is/was an excellent horseman and his philosophy of ensuring things are "old hat" is an excellent one. I have attended Parelli clinics where the "playing of games" was interesting and have discovered for myself the benefits of TTOUCH. Studied John Lyons books and videos and stood in awe of Monty Roberts "Join Up". All methods have excellent points and can be mixed and blended to suit you, your horse and the situation of the time.
I used imprinting for the first time this year on Jigsaw ('98) and found that really wonderful.
All the two year olds have their teeth done prior to commencing riding and their bodies given the once over by my chiro/vet to ensure no problems are present prior to backing them. Better to nip problems in the bud than create unnecessary ones.
I suppose the very bottom line of our training guide is "Take the time it takes and you will save time in the end". Of course being such a small stud it is easy for us to do this! Plus I cannot sit a bucking horse anyway so need to work out the kinks first!
Mariah
A Case Study
I had a horse,Banjywon Mariah, sent down to me some years ago. I had bred her and although she was virtually written off as a "dogger" - too wild and dangerous to ride and hard to handle I had to have a try to do something. I had sold this horse as a weanling and she was now a fully mature horse in her prime. I knew the man who had broken her in and he was wonderful with horses. Apparently she had started out brilliantly and over the 2 or 3 years she was ridden had got worse and worse until no one would ride her. They had sent her to get in foal as she was well bred but she seemed to be infertile.
Now, it is not that I think I am a marvellous horseperson or anything, far from it, but I know her breeding and could not believe that she had gone "mad". She was delivered to me in fairly light condition with rolling eyes and an overall appearance of fear - not savagery. I put her in a yard and when I came back later, after allowing her to settle down she tried to climb out! kept swinging her backside at me and roared around in a hell of a tither. When the yard is about 15 x 15 foot and the horse is 15.3h this is a daunting experience!!!
I caught her ( after using a "carrot stick" to stroke the rump she continually presented to me to ascertain that I would not be kicked to the moon) and drenched her, no easy feat, fed and watered her but did not let her out of the yard for the first day. The next day I felt she was ready for a small paddock and she was duly caught (using the same methods as before) and put out. I had been told not to risk myself (and indeed would not have) and if she was to be put in the too hard basket she could be put in a dog can.
The long and the short of it is that I rode her once and felt that she was going to toss me, she was very stressed and tense, head up, smoke literally pouring from her nostrils, prancing around, and yet not really attempting anything truly nasty. Everytime I asked for anything other than a short strided walk she would sidle and resist badly (to put it mildly). I decided to call her bluff and took her back into the yard and told her to trot. She didn't like being told and sort of leapt forward but didn't go on. I thought that I had to push it the whole way or may as well give up. I gave her a good boot in the sides and the look on her face was priceless. It was like "Pardon? But you are suppose to get off now - haven't I scared you enough?" So I booted again and she gave in and off we went.
Apart from the fear though ( a thing that continually needed working on) there was something else wrong. I had my very capable vet Kate Haines, come out and we discovered that her whole back was out from the poll to the tail and her off hip was locked badly. After a lot of manipulation and a few days off we tried the riding thing again. It was a different horse. I took a half hour or so to convince her that moving forward no longer hurt, and if she moved forward she would not be grabbed in the mouth because I was afraid that she would clear out on me. I had her teeth done and her head carriage lowered another 20 degrees. Within three weeks we were attending flat schools, adult riding club, d grade freshmens jumping days and lovely trail rides. She was wonderful to ride - however we continued to work through some fairly major emotional/behavioural problems on the ground. This mare later died of suspected brain injury from a paddock accident.
It is not that the previous owners mishandled her, quite the opposite - I believe it is just hard to change ones ways and a lot of "old time" horse people would have laughed at a chiropractor or dentist. Plus not all o fus have access to "good" professionals nor the money to use them.
That mare taught me a lot, but there is still so much to learn. I will always give the benefit of the doubt first if a horse that has been going well starts to play up and get it checked out. Then you don't end up feeling horrible if you have been giving a bit of a "lesson" to a horse only to find out it is in pain.
And still we learn.......
For one to fly, you needs only to take the reins.
- Melissa James
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