Post by luciestorrs on Aug 3, 2009 10:38:49 GMT 1
I moved to Tuscany, Italy, a couple of years ago from the UK, and have finally fulfilled my childhood dream of having horses (only took 30 years!) by adopting three rescue horses from various animal protection associations here. They are all nice-natured with no major issues despite previous bad treatment. They are: a 27-year old thoroughbred mare called Cipa, a 28-year old thoroughbred gelding called Dominique and a 10-year old Anglo-Arab type mare called Buena. None are ridden as the thoroughbreds deserve a happy retirement and the 10-year old (Buena) is recovering from a badly injured leg. After that, she should be rideable - the question is whether I am up to it, not having ridden for over 20 years myself anyway ;-) I suspect that the answer, with my current level of knowledge, is NOT! but I would love to ride again at some point in the future.
Anyway, I love them dearly and am unfailingly calm and gentle with them. I do my best to take good care of them. However, I now realise that I really need some help with learning how to handle them better and increase my knowledge all round. I am not a particularly assertive person which they have noticed and they tend not to respect my space and try to get away with things when they can (like not picking up their feet). Having heard about IH quite recently I have now bought the books and am slowly working through them but am getting frustrated at my relative lack of progress.
My aim would be to have happy horses who are more respectful of me, and a happy me as well (for example, not being scared of picking out their feet any more). I would like to 'play' with them more and make things fun for them. I really want to look after them well and am slowly realising that I need an awful lot more experience to do it properly. Anyone out there willing to help me achieve that?
With limited funds, what I would love to find is someone who really knows what they are talking about (an RA would be a dream but isn't essential) who could come out here on a kind of working holiday basis. I would pay for a cheap flight to either Pisa or Perugia for you and your partner if you would like to come together, would pick you up from the nearest train station and then provide all food and board while you were here in exchange for training for a number of hours a day to be determined in advance. The rest of the time would be yours to explore the area or lounge in the sun. A week or more would be ideal but I'd settle for less if that's all you have time for!
We already host helpers on the farm through www.helpx.net (food and board in exchange for work) and we have glowing reviews throught that. Our host ID on helpx is 4155 if you'd like to read them.
Thanks for reading, and I'm keeping my fngers crossed that someone out there is willing to help me give these wonderful horses the best life I/we can.
Anyway, I love them dearly and am unfailingly calm and gentle with them. I do my best to take good care of them. However, I now realise that I really need some help with learning how to handle them better and increase my knowledge all round. I am not a particularly assertive person which they have noticed and they tend not to respect my space and try to get away with things when they can (like not picking up their feet). Having heard about IH quite recently I have now bought the books and am slowly working through them but am getting frustrated at my relative lack of progress.
My aim would be to have happy horses who are more respectful of me, and a happy me as well (for example, not being scared of picking out their feet any more). I would like to 'play' with them more and make things fun for them. I really want to look after them well and am slowly realising that I need an awful lot more experience to do it properly. Anyone out there willing to help me achieve that?
With limited funds, what I would love to find is someone who really knows what they are talking about (an RA would be a dream but isn't essential) who could come out here on a kind of working holiday basis. I would pay for a cheap flight to either Pisa or Perugia for you and your partner if you would like to come together, would pick you up from the nearest train station and then provide all food and board while you were here in exchange for training for a number of hours a day to be determined in advance. The rest of the time would be yours to explore the area or lounge in the sun. A week or more would be ideal but I'd settle for less if that's all you have time for!
We already host helpers on the farm through www.helpx.net (food and board in exchange for work) and we have glowing reviews throught that. Our host ID on helpx is 4155 if you'd like to read them.
Thanks for reading, and I'm keeping my fngers crossed that someone out there is willing to help me give these wonderful horses the best life I/we can.