And this everybody is why you need to always wear high viz out riding

This came up on my newsfeed today, and it took me a moment to realise there were horse riders in the photo!

This is a great visual reminder than everyone when out hacking, no matter what the conditions rain or shine, needs to wear high viz

Horses and riders blend into hedgerows so easily they're easy to miss 

Photo by Wendy Hopper

Dressage, what's dressage?

Georgie has done a boo boo and entered a dressage competition only to realise that she's away on holiday!
I get a text today asking did I want to do it..
Hold up, i've not done a dressage test since I gave up pony club at about the age of 14 or so. I'm now 27.. 13 years!
So safe to say i'm just a bit nervous!
Beanie is beautiful and lovely and I trust him, but i've also never schooled him. I've ridden out and jumped him once but never actually schooled him and got him really listening to me...

So with that I've now got to memorise Intro A 2008 walk and trot test and try and not to cock it up. If worse comes to worse then Mum can call it for me and I can focus on riding, although it's not too difficult so hopefully I can engrain it in my brain!

He is a beautiful boy who can go really well so here's to making him go like this

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it's a horse with jet legs apparently

So this is a super short post, but this pictures popped up on my facebook news feed a couple of days ago and I honestly said out loud "oh my god that's the biggest jump over an enormous hedge I've ever seen"

Serious, it's huge! Just look at it. Contemplate that for a second...

Has that horse got jets for legs, who knows but frickin hell that's one big jump 

BBC Northampton Inside Out Investigation on Horse and Road Safety

So last night this popped up on my news feed -

Following my post the other day, I'm extremely pleased that  prime time TV programme run by the BBC will be giving a lot more publicity on Horses and Road awareness!
Everything in the above poster is spot on. A lot of drivers don't like horses, others are just in so much of a rush that they don't care or whatever other reason.

I think the whole of the UK just needs to slow down and pay more attention and stop rushing. A friend summed it up to me not that long ago.
She said "Everyone is in such a rush all the time that they don't think anything will happen until it does and they've had an accident and hurt someone. And then they're all remorseful and sorry after being taken to court or charged with dangerous driving and only then does it hit them that they caused that accident and hurt someone or something and at the time they were so busy rushing that they didn't care"

I really believe what she said is true. We read about all these statements from people who've been charged in court and they're so sorry to the family and friends on the people they've hurt, but actually at the time they were driving they're getting cross and impatient in the car cause they're running late because they're disorganised, do something completely unsafe and bam..

Sadly i'm East Anglia based so won't be able to watch it but I'm hoping I can watch it on iplayer or something.
May do a post with my thoughts later if I do manage to watch it

Over and out

Riding hats. Why we should always wear them and the arguments for and against

Although to some, this post it going to be a little frustrating and maybe what I am going to write will be a tough pill to swallow.

This week alone i've seen two very scary hat related stories I wanted to make you all aware of so there they are -

First is this Race Post photo that is of Edgar Prado's helmet after falling off while racing..
Just look at it for a minute and let that sink in...

Then today a good friend of mine and fellow equestrian Alix sharing this -

All of these in one week.

Now I know that in the world of showing and hunting, a lot of people still wear beaglers, bowler hats, and top hats. They are 'correct dress' traditionally and are still 'correct dress' and allowed in the show ring.

Less and less people are choosing to wear them though due to stories about the above. Plus a lot of show societies are not allowing them in classes anymore.

See this article by Horse & Hound about SHB (GB) after they banned hats without a strap here

Now, don't get me wrong, I think that top hats, bowlers and beaglers look absolutely beautiful, they really do. They're traditional and all. But, saying that, I do think that whenever on a horse you should wear a riding hat up to safety standard which cannot come off your head if you were to fall off..

The above photos are from two completely different situations one is a professional race jockey, the other a amateur rider. There have been dressage riders who have had accidents. Even Charlotte Dujardin said in this interview that she has suffered from a fractured skull from riding without a hat and won't ride without a helmet on again. Same for Courtney King-Dye who rode without a helmet, the horse tripped and took her with it, she also suffered a skull fracture..

So with a top hat, bowler or beagler, just how much would they actually help in a fall while wearing one? Who knows, and i'm certainly not going to try and find out..

I've seen this video with someone showing a Charles Owen Beagler coming off and a Patey staying on, then again I've seen photos of a Patey coming off in a fall too! So really with the risk of it might come off, why do people continue to wear them? As the H&H article above writes, is it vanity or tradition, or both?

My vibe I get from reading more and more on the subject is that non safety standard hats are on the way out. See here and here for examples of questioning why everyone should wear safety standard hats.

Many a time in facebook debates people have argued "It's my head, my decision" in the sake of argument in wearing a top hat, beagler or bowler but had they stopped and thought of the long term of who would look after them if they were to suffer a debilitating fall which left them disabled and unable to look after themselves? 

The stories i've read are that those who have had accidents have had husbands and family to look after them, but what if they didn't? And what if they had been killed, leaving family and friends behind.

I think it's definitely a thinking point to ponder on... So on that one, I'll leave it there

Riding out on the roads and does there need to be changes to the law?

Morning everyone,

Yesterday lunch time I had a long conversation with my colleagues about horses. They all know that I ride and that my family owns horses and over the time i've been at my job I get asked a lot of questions about all things horse related.
Anyway, so we got talking about horses riding out on the road and a variety of topics came up which I wanted to share with you, the reader and hopefully hear your thoughts..

Also, very sadly, it coincided with Horse & Hound publishing this article Teacher killed trying to remount her horse
This lady had to get off to shut a gate while out hacking with friends, her horse bolted (which was mentioned to have a history of doing when trying to be remounted) and sadly she died from her injuries. My thoughts are with her family and friends, it's so sad. I'm sorry.

It got me thinking though as it was something mentioned while discussing horses on the roads.
So many of you will remember a few months ago that a poll was conducting asking people if they think that horse riders and owners should pick up their horses poo if they do it on the road while out riding. Now if you're a horse owner you'll obviously scoff at this as being ridiculous and completely unsafe!
But many of the people signing that poll were (I assume) non horse riders or owners, and they wouldn't understand how dangerous it would be to dismount a horse on the road, or they're just ignorant. Who knows?

But what really got me thinking during this discussion and also the open admissions that,  a lot of people just do not understand how to interact with a horse they encounter on the road, whether they are on a bike or in a car.
When mentioning that Georgie has to wear a headcam while out riding due to the amount of near misses or just plain silly drivers and cyclists they were shocked. Shocked that people would honestly try to endanger a person and an animal by them getting too close, going too fast or just plain trying to frighten a horse (we've been there with idiot teenagers in a car trying to purposely frighten Beanie but thats for another day). But then it got them asking - "when on a bike, how do you pass a horse safely?" to which I mentioned that it was much like passing a horse in a car. Slow right down, pass nice and wide at least 2 metres, and if you can do so safely and without scaring the horse, let the rider know you're passing.
Which then also got them asking "won't that frighten the horse". My reply  was that you wouldn't shout as loud as you can, but either ring a bell, whistle or just speak up and say "cyclist behind you passing". But what do others think, should cyclists let you know they're behind you? Would that spook your horse, or would you and your horse actually prefer to be aware by a whistle or ring of a bell?
I know that when Georgie and I encountered a cycling club cyclist whizzing past Beanie as fast as he could without so much as a warning we concurred that cyclists on quiet road bikes should make an effort to let you know they're there. Horses are flight animals after all and their instinct is to run away from something they perceive as frightening or a danger to them. So by a cyclist flying past really quietly is going to spook a horse!
Now saying that, some horses are pretty much desensitised to almost everything and anything. They could have a bus go by and let it's air brakes off and not bat an eyelid, or pass roadworks or speeding cars and it not faze them at all. But as you may know, not all horses are like that.
Horses have different personalities, temperaments and have had different experiences which all affect how they would behalf on the road out hacking. Talking of which..

The conversation then steered into them asking did I think that the government or some governing body should assess horses before they are allowed on the road? At the time I wasn't quite sure what to answer..
I mean there are two sides.. Well at first you could answer, yes perhaps that would be a good idea. It could stop horse owners whose horse isn't ready for the road to give it plenty of training etc ready for the assessment and when it's finally ready, be allowed on the road.
But then on the other side, you could say that actually horses don't always react in the same way every time. There could be other factors which could one day mean the horse was absolutely fine on the road, and then another time it be very jumpy. Very windy days for example, as strong winds make some horses jumpy.
I don't have a definitive answer, even after sitting down last night and really thinking about it.

I wrote a comment on the H&H facebook and got some interesting replies -

Obviously my post here is an expansion of my comment on there, but really.. something needs to be done about the lack of awareness and consideration of horse and rider on the road.
There hasn't been a good safety awareness commercial on how to safely pass a horse on the road in a very long time. Years in fact!
And it needs to be put in between prime time tv programmes, not late at night or at some stupid time where no-one is going to see it.
We see a lot of "Think Bike" adverts, but why can't there be a "Think Horses" advert about how to pass a horse properly, and a fictional example of the impact of what an accident will have on people's lives. If a motorist hits and kills a horse and rider they have to live with that for the rest of their live. That is something I just cannot fathom people haven't thought of when driving inconsiderately on the road!
Plus also the impact a death would have on the the family and friends of the killed rider.


Here are a few photos which I found on a horse and rider road awareness group on facebook.
Follow them here

Use these pictures to put on your facebook to educate drivers by this simple picture of how much space you need and how slow they need to go.

And always always where your high viz! Us horse riders may look completely uncool but i'd rather look uncool than injured!

Micklem Bridle and Myler Short Shank Combination Comfort Snaffle, our view and info

When we first got Beanie, we noticed very quickly that he likes to carry his head very low, especially when jumping or galloping..

How you position your hands has a good deal of effect and we found that by having elevated hands that we'ren't right down near the pommel of the saddle and more up in a 90 degree angle, it really helped B not be so on the forehand all the time.

But not only that but we also used bits that would help him from leaning and encouraging his head to be more 'up' at the normal position.

First we tried a Myler Bit, the Short Shank Combination Comfort Snaffle Low Port. As pictured below -

Now B is also very strong, which doesn't help when he also has his head low down! But with the myler it helped bring his head up while being a more gentle bit. It encourages self carriage natural lightness, which is something Beanie really needed. By it also working on nose and tongue pressure it stops you having to constantly tug at the reins. Now this really did help Beanie, but while we were at a 1 day event we were talking with new friends in the box next to us who happened to be wearing a Micklem bridle. This was back when they'd just been released and were rather unknown at the time. We'd never seen one so we asked them about it and they explained about the benefits of the micklem. We happened to mention that B is a leaner on the forehand and is also very strong when keen. They recommended we try and Micklem..Now if you haven't heard of or haven't used a Micklem then they work on fitting the horses skull more comfortably. Here is the Horseware Irelands explanation:This unique bridle has been designed to comfortably fit the shape of the horses skull, avoiding pressure on sensitive areas. It can be used as a bridle, lunge cavesson or as a bitless bridle Here is a photo of that from Horseware which actually shows the position of it on a horses skull -We've really found that Beanie is a lot more confortable in a Micklem bridle. He doesn't lean and end up on the forehand so much and it's much easier to get him off the forehand with the micklem.
Obviously not all horses need one, but if you're having problems with your horse and you've established that it could be improved with a Micklem or you just want to give them a try then you can rent them before you buy. A quick google search found - http://www.hireamicklembridle.co.uk/ and i'm sure other companies do them too.
Here's a video on how the Micklem works! Hope it helps