Post by bernadette on Aug 15, 2010 12:03:25 GMT 1
When Eric and I went to Kelly's Garden Party I won Liz Pitman in the raffle. Well ok a session with Liz then. Obviously as Liz is in Essex and we're in Liverpool we were going to arrange for Liz to visit a horse in her area as we have horses and ponies loaned all over mainland UK.
Anyway Liz being the IH Kids person was interested in the work we do with kids local to Shy Lowen and she arranged to stay with a friend so she could spend a couple of days with the Shy Lowen Care Committee kids. This all happened on 3rd and 4th of August.
Day 1 - Liz spent some time with a couple of our Carneddau welsh colts who will wear headcollars but are at various stages in their development in terms of leading, picking up feet etc. Our youngsters, both human and equine, learned lots of new skills from this part of the workshop. Liz introduced us to clicker training whilst doing this work, we've never used this at Shy Lowen and adults were impressed with the results as much as the kids were.
She then moved on to Shergar, a shetland colt, who was being kept in the garage of a Liverpool semi. He thinks he's a 17hh stallion. Liz showed us the rattle technique which was made from a plastic bottle with stones inside. This was shaken and stopped him launching his coltish biting attacks. He is now leading beautifully.
Then it was Dinky, a recent arrival Welsh Section A who at 10 years of age has never been started to ride. Liz began the starting process and left us with clear guidance as to how Dinky could be helped to progress so we will be able to find her a new home as a child's pony.
Foxy Lady was the final personality of the day. Foxy is a very sensitive ex-racer who is reluctant to be groomed. Liz developed a soft spot for her as their work progressed. We are now investigating potential physical causes for Foxy's high sensitivity.
Day 2 - in horrendous heavy rain Liz worked with Fred who is an ex dressage horse who was retired from his career when he began having unexplained blackouts - final diagnosis for the blackouts was that he was escaping stress. Liz did a join up with Fred and then did some leading work with him. Fred continued to communicate that he was unhappy with the proceedings and Liz changed to clicker training for him which he settled into well. He is the favourite of Lillie who learned lots from the session and is continuing to work with him and help him with his issues.
Continuation sessions were done with two Carneddau colts to show the kids how the work from the day before is carried forward. Some pony catching techniques were also incorporated into these sessions as Star was reluctant to have a headcollar on and leave his three pals.
I can't thank Liz enough for her tremendous effort in coming all this was and for her gifts to the sanctuary, not only of her knowledge and expertise but of material goods too. We only had a black Dually - it's the middle sized one and so when we could afford to buy a dually that was the one selected as it was going to be of most benefit to the animals we help. Liz gave us a brand new red dually to increase our kit, a 12' lead and long lines to replace our thin nylon hand burning lines.
The kids didn't want he to leave when the time came. There had been some very funny moments too such as when Liz was explaining about IH Kids and one of our kids thought she said I hate kids. We'd all had a great time and all our kids will soon be members of IH Kids.
Since going home Liz has continued to support us with ideas for the future development of our kids and horses. We will be progressing these, one of them is to train young people for careers such as barefoot trimmer. We should be able to find funding to do this as there are funds available in our area for organisations helping people into work.
The bottom line is
Thank you Liz, you are a wonderful person and a marvellous example of Intelligent Horsemanship at work.
Anyway Liz being the IH Kids person was interested in the work we do with kids local to Shy Lowen and she arranged to stay with a friend so she could spend a couple of days with the Shy Lowen Care Committee kids. This all happened on 3rd and 4th of August.
Day 1 - Liz spent some time with a couple of our Carneddau welsh colts who will wear headcollars but are at various stages in their development in terms of leading, picking up feet etc. Our youngsters, both human and equine, learned lots of new skills from this part of the workshop. Liz introduced us to clicker training whilst doing this work, we've never used this at Shy Lowen and adults were impressed with the results as much as the kids were.
She then moved on to Shergar, a shetland colt, who was being kept in the garage of a Liverpool semi. He thinks he's a 17hh stallion. Liz showed us the rattle technique which was made from a plastic bottle with stones inside. This was shaken and stopped him launching his coltish biting attacks. He is now leading beautifully.
Then it was Dinky, a recent arrival Welsh Section A who at 10 years of age has never been started to ride. Liz began the starting process and left us with clear guidance as to how Dinky could be helped to progress so we will be able to find her a new home as a child's pony.
Foxy Lady was the final personality of the day. Foxy is a very sensitive ex-racer who is reluctant to be groomed. Liz developed a soft spot for her as their work progressed. We are now investigating potential physical causes for Foxy's high sensitivity.
Day 2 - in horrendous heavy rain Liz worked with Fred who is an ex dressage horse who was retired from his career when he began having unexplained blackouts - final diagnosis for the blackouts was that he was escaping stress. Liz did a join up with Fred and then did some leading work with him. Fred continued to communicate that he was unhappy with the proceedings and Liz changed to clicker training for him which he settled into well. He is the favourite of Lillie who learned lots from the session and is continuing to work with him and help him with his issues.
Continuation sessions were done with two Carneddau colts to show the kids how the work from the day before is carried forward. Some pony catching techniques were also incorporated into these sessions as Star was reluctant to have a headcollar on and leave his three pals.
I can't thank Liz enough for her tremendous effort in coming all this was and for her gifts to the sanctuary, not only of her knowledge and expertise but of material goods too. We only had a black Dually - it's the middle sized one and so when we could afford to buy a dually that was the one selected as it was going to be of most benefit to the animals we help. Liz gave us a brand new red dually to increase our kit, a 12' lead and long lines to replace our thin nylon hand burning lines.
The kids didn't want he to leave when the time came. There had been some very funny moments too such as when Liz was explaining about IH Kids and one of our kids thought she said I hate kids. We'd all had a great time and all our kids will soon be members of IH Kids.
Since going home Liz has continued to support us with ideas for the future development of our kids and horses. We will be progressing these, one of them is to train young people for careers such as barefoot trimmer. We should be able to find funding to do this as there are funds available in our area for organisations helping people into work.
The bottom line is
Thank you Liz, you are a wonderful person and a marvellous example of Intelligent Horsemanship at work.
