Tuesday, 4 August 2009

About time I wrote another blog. I am currently inside hiding from some very wintery Tasmanian weather.

Since my last blog post again I have been very busy. This winter has kept me much more active than those of previous years. I am quite amazed as we are supposed to be in a recession of sorts.

Clinics

Recent clinics have all been very successful and I would like to thank those who attended along with anyone who assisted in any way.

Our July clinic in Geelong again at Crystal Park was well attended and I got a real kick out of watching people improve over the weekend.  A big thank you to Kerryn, who, puts a great effort into organising these events. She does more for others and expects less in return than most people and is responsible for teaching countless numbers of kids to ride and handle a horse. She also is a serial teaser but no one is perfect.  Also thankyou Myra for your hospitality.

We also held clinics at Equus which is at Sandford near Hobart. These were well attended and again we saw plenty of horse and people relationships improve during the weekend. Having a dedicated day for unridden horses and one for ridden horses is a new format for us but it was great to be able give some individual time to some younger horses. It’s a side of my horsemanship which I would like to make more public. Being able to start a youngster there really gave me a chance to demonstrate how a solid groundwork base is converted to ensuring the horse understanding what we are asking under saddle. Thankyou Angela, for providing a lovely horse to do this with. She is very special.

A big thank you to Tania for organising the Adult Riding Club day at Pontville. The weather was not great and attendances were low but those that braved the wind had some intensive training which covered float loading and how to take control of both a very “goey” horse and a lazy one.

Carolyn organised an introductory type day at Huon Hoof Beats Club and I was able to work with a great group of people. Again we saw some good changes in some of the horses that attended. Thank you Carolyn you are an asset to the horse industry in TAS through both your experience and your willingness to help others.

Over Forties Football

I very stupidly agreed to play a fundraiser game for Woodsdale football club. It was raining, cold and very muddy. Apart from the umpires whistle, the prevailing noise was derisive remarks and laughter from the sidelines. By the end of the first quarter I thought my lungs were going to burst and took some performance enhancing drugs (Quick Ease) applied some more liniment and regained some of my missing energy. The standard of umpiring was very poor and as a result we were beaten by an undisclosed amount of points. Had the umpiring been better I may not have given away 4 x 50m penalties and about 6 free kicks. These do not look good on my statistics and as I was full back at the time most resulted as a goal to the opposing team. The fact that one of my opponents weighed four times what I do and is the same height as me and that the other was a 12yo boy should not be taken into account as they were from a tough area. I am still sore and may not enter into another bet with my mates that I am not too old to play.

New Movie

We have a new movie on our website that is made up of pictures of some of our years highlights set to a great piece of music. Go here for a look.

We have clinics coming up in the following locations

Northern Tasmania

Southern Tasmania

Geelong

Click on your area for details.

Regards Ian

Friday, 5 June 2009

Hello and welcome to my new Blog page.

The reason I have started this page is so that I can share with anyone interested some of the things we have been up to, what we have coming up and the odd training tip etc.

With the onset of winter I must be looking for more inside things to do but it has been exciting to receive our first decent rain in 4 years with more forecast.

Recent Developments

We have had a few recent developments at Ian Leighton Horsemanship and I guess these are worth a mention. 

Firstly we have a new online shop running.

We decided to set this up in order to give our clients access to some professional quality equipment. This type of equipment is often so overpriced in the retail stores that people tend to buy cheaper sub standard items that are also more expensive than they should be.

Check out the equipment for sale. This is the same gear I use every day.

I have a new saddle.

For a while now I have wanted a new swinging fender saddle. After looking at most of the “off the shelf” ones available I could not find anything that really fitted all my criteria.

I decided to have a talk to an old rodeo friend and”saddler extraordinaire” John Saunders from Lone Oak Saddlery in Tamworth. I gave him a long list of things that I need in a saddle. He talked me out of some and into some others and (after several calls) we finally agreed on what he should make for me.

Here is the finished product and I could not be happier. It sits me low on the horses back, has a groin friendly seat, it sits my hips over my heels, allows good leg movement and gives me security without making me feel wedged in. It also, as promised, fits a wide range of horses which is totally necessary for the work that I do. All that and it looks a million bucks as well. Thankyou John I am very happy with it.

My Trip in May

In May I went on a working trip to Victoria and a little of NSW. Firstly I travelled to Corryong in the Upper Murray area. I stayed with friends Sally and Tom and worked with a couple of Sally’s young horses in the mornings and then a range of people and horses in the afternoon. Sally has changed her riding style dramatically since we have been working together and   at one stage I thought “wow she rides more like me than I do”.  I really enjoy watching people’s horsemanship and horses develop over a period of time. It never ceases to amaze me how much people can improve if they are committed. All the guidance in the world won’t help someone that is not willing to put in some effort. Well done Sally and thank you for letting me stay at the health camp. I enjoyed riding in your hills and the fantastic views on the last day. You live in a beautiful part of the world.

Also thank you to Mal and Belinda for a great meal and a good yarn afterwards.

From Corryong it was down the hill to Albury to meet up with Emma and Kellie from Tassie. For 2 mornings we went out to Holbrook to work with Emma’s foal Dare who was born there. Dare had had a couple of sessions at a few weeks old but now was a 5 month old almost 14hh monster. It was a relief to see that he had not forgotten a thing and after a little handling was good enough to go on the truck back to Tassie. We also branded him whilst there and he took that in his stride. He has a great trainable nature and a good sense of fun and I am certain that he will make a great saddle horse one day.

Whilst in the area I also went and did some work for my mate Alex at Derwent Australian Stock Horses near Bethanga in Northern Victoria about 30ks from Albury. Her youngster tested me with his float training on the first day and it took me a while to convince him to go on. Its funny how things seem to go smoother when you go back to it as the next day he was hopping on and off like a veteran. Getting a horse on a float is quick and easy, training a horse to walk on and off a float properly requires a little more effort.  Well done Alex for getting your big Chestnut out and about again.

It was then off to see Jo and Rick at Haymeron Park Morgan Stud near Bonegilla about 10kms from Wodonga. Again the hospitality was welcome. Float training was the theme for this visit and then a little road trip for one of their nice stallions. I always enjoy my visits at Haymeron Park.

Then down to Geelong to visit Kerryn and Myra at the Crystal Equine Centre to fill in a day before travelling home to TAS. Kerryn Co-ordinates my clinics there and Myra Owns the centre which has a great indoor arena. Got to have a play with a nice Friesian x while I was there and went for a great meal at a local club. Thanks again for the hospitality I have been shown there on this and many previous visits. I look forward to our clinic in July.

After a very hectic fortnight it was great to return home to Liz and my kids Madeline and James.

Since returning home it has been nose to the grindstone (in amongst the very welcome wet weather) working with horses and people around Southern Tas. We have some great clinics coming up in June among other things and Liz is working very hard on organising and promoting these(I dont know where I would be without her). The majority of my work is still working with problem horses, teaching horsemanship 1on1 and assisting people to advance their horses. A big thank you for the support I have received from everyone over the last few years.