Devonshire January February 18
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Horse<br />
Care<br />
Selling Horses<br />
by Natalie Bucklar<br />
East Devon Riding Academy<br />
• Riding lessons for adults and children from 2 years of age.<br />
• Pony Mornings, Pony Playgroup, Horsemanship &<br />
Training Clinics and 5* Livery. See our website for further<br />
information and dates.<br />
• We strive to make your hobby safe, fun and educational.<br />
Read our excellent reviews on Trip Advisor & Facebook.<br />
Phone 07771 903220<br />
www.ridingacademy.co.uk<br />
Natalie Bucklar<br />
BSc (Hons), MSc (Equine Science)<br />
Natalie has owned horses for over<br />
30 years and owns East Devon<br />
Riding Academy near Sidmouth.<br />
She has previously lectured in<br />
Equine Science to degree level and<br />
produced research for preparing<br />
Great Britains' equestrian teams<br />
for the Olympics. Natalie provides<br />
consultations in horse management,<br />
training and problem solving using<br />
a force-free, science based approach.<br />
Why I hate selling<br />
horses<br />
Imagine one day being driven off<br />
somewhere without explanation,<br />
being dropped off, never to see<br />
your home or friends ever again.<br />
Sure, you can make new friends<br />
but what about if the new people<br />
around you spoke a different<br />
language, ate different food and<br />
had a different daily routine? Can<br />
you adjust to this quickly and still<br />
stay calm, relaxed and happy<br />
throughout?<br />
I think the worst expectations<br />
come with kids ponies, they can<br />
repeatedly move home and yet<br />
they are often expected to be<br />
foot perfect, they’re not given any<br />
allowances for what is actually a<br />
pretty hard and confusing job, let<br />
alone having their world turned<br />
upside down every few years.<br />
Don’t get me wrong, I know<br />
sometimes that re-homing sadly<br />
has to happen, it’s not always<br />
someone’s fault, it’s just life. In<br />
some cases a change of home<br />
can actually be beneficial to the<br />
horse. It’s just the unrealistic<br />
expectations that bother me,<br />
when new owners set the bar<br />
too high for the horse and then<br />
fail to give them the support they<br />
need when they struggle with<br />
their new environment. Or when<br />
a horse can no longer serve their<br />
owner, so they get passed on due<br />
to human selfishness.<br />
In my experience it takes months<br />
or even a year or more for a horse<br />
to settle into their new home. The<br />
last two horses that joined me 9<br />
months ago were moved into a<br />
different field recently, which was<br />
enough to trigger stress. They<br />
didn’t go in a horsebox, change<br />
ownership or routine, they just<br />
walked 50 metres to another<br />
paddock on the other side of<br />
the hedge! But to them it was a<br />
big deal as they’d only ever been<br />
in one field since coming to me.<br />
Their stress subsided relatively<br />
quickly but the point is that the<br />
move upset them, even though<br />
it was a relatively minor move.<br />
Whatever us humans think, the<br />
horses often feel differently and I<br />
think it’s important to be mindful<br />
of this.<br />
Having realistic expectations of a<br />
horse’s adaptability and helping<br />
the horse to cope with the changes<br />
go a long way to moving being<br />
more successful. Forcing a horse<br />
to accept factors that they find<br />
stressful will only lead to problems.<br />
A more beneficial approach for all<br />
concerned is to learn to recognise<br />
the signs of stress before they<br />
reach the running off/refusing to<br />
move/exploding screaming point.<br />
Gradual habituation is required,<br />
rewarding desired behaviour<br />
rather than punishing unwelcome<br />
behaviour. Punishment is<br />
unhelpful as it doesn’t show<br />
the horse what you do want.<br />
Giving the horse an appropriate<br />
environment that enables success<br />
is a huge help, as is being patient,<br />
so the horse is given a chance<br />
to adapt rather than being set<br />
up to fail.<br />
For me personally, I can’t bear to<br />
part with my horses. They have a<br />
home and friends and they know<br />
We insure it.<br />
You enjoy it.<br />
where they are in life and what is<br />
expected of them. I can’t bring<br />
myself to change that, I’ve owned<br />
many of mine all their lives and<br />
although people regularly think<br />
some of my horses are ‘useless’ I<br />
won’t get rid of them, even on<br />
those days where they drive me<br />
mad!<br />
Happy Riding!<br />
Natalie x<br />
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please pop into our Honiton branch or call us now<br />
on 01404 549003 and we’ll put you in contact with your<br />
personal NFU Mutual Agent.<br />
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