Kallora 18XX

Contact - no closer secret between horse and rider. Ginga and I 🧡

I don't post a lot these days so here is a bit of a picture update....Cloud and Shadow working real hard relaxing in horse therapy session on Friday. I'm unable to ride Shadow anymore due to injury but he still loves being the herd leader and engaging with clients in therapy sessions.

Second picture is of Ginga and I working on stretching down. Ginga is staying with me for a while for some development before looking for his perfect human - he has all the qualities and talent to excel as a performance horse. I'd like to keep him myself....maybe but I prob don't have time for another horse so someone will be very lucky!

Cloud man being a rockstar in horse therapy on Friday! He has found his life calling I think. He loves interacting with the clients and hanging out ☁️🦄

Cloud spam from last weekend! Cause why not... What a lovely partner he has turned out to be!

I have just arrived home from an incredible weekend masterclass with Pat Parelli in Melbourne. As always Pat was a fantastic leader and clinician. I learned a bunch of new things to go home and play with. There were many learning highlights for me but my most memorable would have to be understanding what Pat meant about 'balancing the aids' after he helped me with moving Shadow's shoulders.
Other highlights include how hard Cloud and Shadow tried to please their humans over the weekend and the great sense of community and support from my fellow Parelli community. And I couldn't have done it without my fabulous strapper, camp boss, chef, photographer and all around great person - Jo Marshall!

A great day of putting principles to purpose at our local club show - Myself with Shadow and Cloud with his tiny human. I cannot speak highly enough of taking the time to put a natural foundation on horses for the best results. Both my boys behaved beautifully today - Cloud even rocked the fancy dress with his tiny human and despite never having done a show before Shadow was able to be a lead horse in the ring for a couple of less confident horses and tried so hard for me all day. Parelli has helped me build these guys confidence and establish positive patterns that transfer so well to English riding. Who else has been out and about competing or doing stuff with their horses this weekend??

The last few weeks I have had blast in the USA - Wyoming and then Iowa - I am so blessed. Here is one of my favourite pictures from the trip - Two of the wonderful Parelli SA crew, Christine Bates and Vicki Rumsey met me in Wyoming for a while and enjoyed Ranch life in the USA. Here is a picture of the three of us straddling the Wyoming and Montana borders. Our horses front ends are in Wyoming and their backsides are in Montana!

Hi Ya'll - who loves a challenge? I will be doing the 5X4 challenge with my mare Nala this month between now and when I head to the USA in June - who else is in?

I have been thinking about the ‘Love’ aspect of Love, Language and Leadership as referred to in the Parelli Program - what it means in relation to some trends that I have been seeing in the local horsemanship world. It seems to me that lots of us are doing a pretty great job about learning how horses communicate and then in turn trying to teach interact and communicate with them in more ethical ways BUT often we are not taking into account our horse’s physical limitations or fitness level when we ask things of them. I also seeing a lot of issues around transporting and floating horses that are not in the horse’s best interest. I am one to try and keep things positive but there are a few issues that I am consistently seeing at the moment that are not in line with the ‘love’ element of natural horsemanship that I wish to address.

1) Unfit horses getting asked to do way too much.
Have you ever been to the gym – not having gone for ages done a class and then been sore for a few days afterwards? I am guessing the answer may be yes – sure you have done a bit of incidental exercise here and there but not quite like that thrashing you gave yourself at the gym. After my first and only pump class I could hardly even sit on the toilet for a week!! This is what it must be like for our horses when we maybe do a light play or a little ride once or twice a week (a bit like us doing some light exercise like taking a walk) but then decide to go to a 3 day long intensive clinic where we play and ride them morning and afternoon. People might say yes but they are horses, designed to do X number of miles a day. I do agree but not with an often unbalanced load on their back and going in strait and curved lines not corners and circles which are harder on the horse’s bodys. When horses and humans build muscle it is because all the little muscle fibres tear and have to rebuild (super cool fact – don’t just take my word for it, check it out on Dr Google) – OUCH!
Bottom line is if we are expecting our horses to go out and do these intensive clinics or activities they need to be well prepared – by that I mean not one of two little rides a week but a gradual build up in exercise 4+ rides per week……
I’m not having a go a weekend or pleasure riders here, as long as they are taking it easy and doing light rides that are proportionate to their horses fitness then that is great :-D
People are often surprised to hear that provided my horses are sound they get played with and ridden most days (Well Cloud is more of a pet and a kids horse due to his hip problems but the Warmbloods work pretty hard). I just quietly get out there, do my thing and develop the horses as best as I can which leads me to my next though – that horses need to move and work in a posture that is good for their health.

2) Horses being consistently worked online or under saddle with poor body posture
I understand that we all have to start somewhere and learning to ride and handle horses can be a bit messy. We have horses in our learning journey that are sacrificial lambs that put up with our learning and fumbles along the way (huge thank you Strider

I have been thinking about the ‘Love’ aspect of Love, Language and Leadership as referred to in the Parelli Program - what it means in relation to some trends that I have been seeing in the local horsemanship world. It seems to me that lots of us are doing a pretty great job about learning how horses communicate and then in turn trying to teach interact and communicate with them in more ethical ways BUT often we are not taking into account our horse’s physical limitations or fitness level when we ask things of them. I also seeing a lot of issues around transporting and floating horses that are not in the horse’s best interest. I am one to try and keep things positive but there are a few issues that I am consistently seeing at the moment that are not in line with the ‘love’ element of natural horsemanship that I wish to address.

1) Unfit horses getting asked to do way too much.
Have you ever been to the gym – not having gone for ages done a class and then been sore for a few days afterwards? I am guessing the answer may be yes – sure you have done a bit of incidental exercise here and there but not quite like that thrashing you gave yourself at the gym. After my first and only pump class I could hardly even sit on the toilet for a week!! This is what it must be like for our horses when we maybe do a light play or a little ride once or twice a week (a bit like us doing some light exercise like taking a walk) but then decide to go to a 3 day long intensive clinic where we play and ride them morning and afternoon. People might say yes but they are horses, designed to do X number of miles a day. I do agree but not with an often unbalanced load on their back and going in strait and curved lines not corners and circles which are harder on the horse’s bodys. When horses and humans build muscle it is because all the little muscle fibres tear and have to rebuild (super cool fact – don’t just take my word for it, check it out on Dr Google) – OUCH!
Bottom line is if we are expecting our horses to go out and do these intensive clinics or activities they need to be well prepared – by that I mean not one of two little rides a week but a gradual build up in exercise 4+ rides per week……
I’m not having a go a weekend or pleasure riders here, as long as they are taking it easy and doing light rides that are proportionate to their horses fitness then that is great :-D
People are often surprised to hear that provided my horses are sound they get played with and ridden most days (Well Cloud is more of a pet and a kids horse due to his hip problems but the Warmbloods work pretty hard). I just quietly get out there, do my thing and develop the horses as best as I can which leads me to my next though – that horses need to move and work in a posture that is good for their health.

2) Horses being consistently worked online or under saddle with poor body posture
I understand that we all have to start somewhere and learning to ride and handle horses can be a bit messy. We have horses in our learning journey that are sacrificial lambs that put up with our learning and fumbles along the way (huge thank you Strider

Hi everybody, I am looking forward to attending Colleen Kelly's 2 day immersion super clinic with my new Mare Statford Nala on the 5th and 6th of May. There are still a couple of spaces left so if you want to improve your riding in a fun supportive environment that is encouraging to Parelli students then this would be perfect. If you are struggling with higher level freestyle and finesse riding concepts in level 3 and 4 it may be due to rider biomechanical issue that Colleen can help you with.... Cost is 375$ for 2 full days and evening session. For more details you can call me on 0432162885..Its going to be a great couple of days for learning and horsey fun. Here is a piccy of Miss Nala's first ride with me in case you havent seen her yet!

Hi All, Happy 2017! Unfortunately I will be on LOA from teaching in 2017 due to rising costs of licencing and insurance. Thank you to all the wonderful students who have supported me in 2016. I have loved teaching you and your 4 legged partners and look forward to being back in 2018 better than ever. Savvy On and 'ride like you stole it'! Cheers for now - Bec.