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| Issue 15 |
November 30, 2009 | |
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What's New at HorseshoeCorner.com?
Dear Tim,
It's been a busy holiday season for us as we're looking to institute another fundraising activity. In this issue we were thinking about the students attending equine programs. These students work hard and have a difficult career path, many facing student debt and limited income potential due to the difficult economy and job market. Giving the impact these students will have upon our industry's future, we felt a need to act and create a win-win situation for all of us.
We believe our affiliate advertising campaign for non- profit organizations can be modified to do just that. Students enrolling in this program will create a job for themselves. They'll have to opportunity to sell annual memberships to www.horseshoecorner.com and earn commissions on each sale. The job will allow them to set their own hours and the effort they put into the program. Of course, the more they put into the program the greater the financial reward they can expect to see. I know when I was a student that kind of flexibility would have been invaluable. As for us, the students will give us a much needed hand in developing our data bases. Our goal of providing a quick and easy resource for your every equine need can only be accomplished by increasing the number and distribution of current members. It's a task that requires the work of many hands, and we hope the students will provide us with a boost in manpower, networks, and skills to help accomplish those goals.
My first test of this program was at the equine affaire in Springfield, Massachusetts. During the show I spent a great deal of time speaking with schools about this program and the benefits it could offer to their equine programs. The schools enthusiastically offered support and encouragement, which provided me with the motivation to incur the costs and start this program.
As you can see, it remains a very busy time for the www.horseshoecorner.com staff. Hopefully we'll soon see the changes that this program will begin to show. On another note, be sure to take advantage of the free dvd offer by Start to Finish horse training. The Using Treats As Training Tools could make a great stocking stuffer, and even though the dvd normally costs $19.95, you'll receive it for free, but you'll have to order now to have it here by Christmas. Thank you and have a great holiday season, Tim Van Loan www.horseshoecorner.com | |
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Featured
Product Review
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 Training Mythunderstandings
Advanced Ground Control (Heeding - Part 3 of 3)
by Ron Meredith
President, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre
Ground control precedes horse control. If a horse doesn't heed its handler on the ground, it is never going to listen when that person swings into the saddle. A lot of horse people mythunderstand ground work. They think it just means snapping on a lead rope and pushing or pulling a horse from the barn to the arena or from the stall to the crossties or hopefully into a trailer. One of the ways to make people think you're magic with horses is if you can control the horse from the ground constantly and consistently for the purpose you want.
Teaching your horse how to heed makes it possible to tell him not only what direction you want him to move but also how long to make his strides and how quick you want the strides to be. Heeding teaches the horse that when we apply a pressure, it has a meaning. The pressure is never an attack and the horse learns it will go away as soon as he moves way from it. Heeding takes all of the big, exciting individual episodes out of training. It makes training a step-by-step development of an understanding between you and the horse.
In the last two articles, we talked about how we start teaching our horses to heed by playing with them and why it's important to work the horse in a corridor of pressures or aids. When have the horse on a lead line and you get to the point where he stops consistently as soon as you turn in, start using your corridor of pressures to back him. In starting to back the horse, you have to be careful not to do anything off balance because that will signal the horse to turn. If you do anything too loud, he will become afraid.
Create a corridor with the wall on one side and you on the other. Stand facing toward the rear of the horse and hold your whip just in front of the horse's chest so you can touch either of the horse's shoulders easily. Whichever of his feet is the farthest forward, push gently on the corresponding shoulder with the whip handle until he picks the foot up. When the foot picks up, take the whip handle away immediately. When he sets it down, put the whip on the other shoulder and repeat the sequence.
Remember to take the pressure away as soon as the picks his foot up. That is because you want every pressure to have a meaning and we want the horse to understand that if he simply moves away from a pressure slowly, it will go away. Removing the pressure is his best reward. So you are teaching him to reward himself while doing what you ask. Remember to move your corresponding foot at the same time he moves his. Eventually you will be able to just face backward, walk toward him and he will back up in the sequence of steps your feet direct him to.
As your lessons progress, you want to teach the horse to heed from both his right and left sides. Practice transitions from halt to walk, walk to trot, halt to trot and all the reverses of all those. As the horse becomes better, you'll be able to remove one side of the corridor and work him in the middle of the arena without things falling apart. If they do, go back to the wall and repeat some of the basics. Don't get bossy. Accuracy comes from doing the same thing over and over, not louder and louder. The horse learns from repetition, not retribution.
In the heeding process, you can get a lot of refinement and accuracy in the horse's movements if you keep refining what you do to ask and then trusting it will work. Eventually, you don't need to do huge movements to get the message across. For example, once the horse understands the game is to stay by your shoulder, you don't need to turn your shoulders parallel to his body anymore to get the halt.
Similarly, when people start to train their horses to heed, they get to using their knees a lot. To be really accurate, however, you want to step forward rather than up. So you point with your toe rather than popping your knees as a signal to the horse to move. In time, all you will need to do to let the horse know that you are about to step forward is to lean one shoulder forward.
After time, heeding becomes an auto pilot system. The fact that you are calm will cause your horse to heed the fact that you are calm. As you change positions, it indicates a change in things and the horse will change with you. If your shoulders are lined up with the horse's shoulders, the horse will move with you anywhere. If you back, the horse will back with you. If you move forward the horse will walk forward with you. And if you stay on that line and go out and turn, the horse will turn around you. If you break the line between the shoulders and face the horse, the horse will stand because now you are not asking it to move. The habit will become so complete that there will never be any panic involved.
If you pay constant attention to your horse, the horse will pay constant attention to you. And if the horse is paying attention to you, it is not paying attention to anything else, since all horses have a one track mind. This gives you a kind of control that is not obvious but is complete.
Heeding takes all of the big, exciting individual episodes out of training. It makes training a step by-step development of an understanding between you and the horse. It creates a horse-logical system you can use to lead the horse, longe him, put him on a trainer, stand him for the vet or farrier or even for a mare in the breeding shed.
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© 2000 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. All rights reserved.
Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his "horse logical" methods for communicating with equines over 30 years as president of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre (Route 1, Box 66, Waverly, WV 26184; 1-304-679-3128; http://www.meredithmanor.edu), an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.
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| Health and Healing
A Guide to Various Therapeutic Products on the Market
by Kat Wojtylak of Draper Equine Therapy
For years now we have seen the release of countless products claiming to help heal and rejuvenate. Therapy comes in many forms for an individual and consists of medication, supplements, specific products and finally, therapeutic systems; a person can get lost in trying to figure out what works best for themselves or their animals outside of a practitioners office .
Medications work for the onset of an injury or for helping to heal and lessen symptoms after a strenuous workout or injury. Supplements are then used for preventative measures or for helping one to recover. Therapeutic products and systems come in many forms but serve as a method to help a hard working individual or to help restore optimum health based on individual needs.
Therapeutic products have been refined and each year improvements are continually being made. Textiles have been used to provide comfort, wick away moisture, and even fight bacteria; now with the dawn of a new era, textiles can also provide decreased edema, relief from soreness, and increased muscle recovery.
The main thing to consider when choosing a product for you or your pet is what kind of therapy do you require for your specific needs? Most textile based therapeutic products provide heat, which is not safe for all injuries or recovery processes. When choosing a product, make sure you find the one that is beneficial to you.
There are three main classifications of textile based therapeutic products on the market today; ceramic, negative ionized and Celliant™.
Ceramic Therapy
Ceramic based therapy works with the understanding that its products generate and deliver far infrared heat which has been shown to accelerate circulation within the body. These products use finely ground ceramic powder which has been embedded into the fabric that acts in a way similar to the insulation in your house. The ceramic fibers reflect heat that has been generated by the body and keep it there to help maintain a constant heat supply to the area.
Ceramic therapy is generally recommended for chronic conditions to help relax and loosen tissues, and to stimulate blood flow to the specific area. Other than limited use in therapeutic purposes, the downfall to ceramic products is the tendency to be a higher maintenance product. These products typically cannot be put into the dryer and cannot be used every day. To date, no clinical studies have been completed.
Negative Ionized Therapy
One of the newestproducts on the market today works with negative ions to provide a healing energy delivered through their fabric. The ionized fabric works with you or your animals' own electromagnetic aura to promote healing in soft tissue and muscles. The theory behind negative ions being used in textiles is that through expending energy, our body's release a positive charge. If a negative can be found for these positive charges, then energy is released. This energy can then work with the oxygen in your body to help heal it.
Ionized fabrics are made by fabric going through a chemical treatment to help cure the textile. Efficacy can be affected as washing it will slowly diminish the effects over time. At this time only one double blind study has been completed.
Celliant™ Therapy
The third classification of therapeutic products and most proven is Celliant™ (also known as Holofiber®). It is a polyester based fiber that contains a blend of microscopic optically responsive particles. These inorganic natural minerals work with the energy released from the body and are designed to recycle this energy back to the body to improve health and overall well being of the wearer.
The natural minerals that make up the composition of Celliant are extruded into polyester when the fiber itself is being made. This process allows the properties of Celliant to last with the life of the product, and as such can never wash or wear out. Holofiber/Celliant has been clinically proven in three double blind "USA" based studies to help reduce pain, increase oxygen levels and help balance overall body temperature. The benefits of increased oxygenation have been known to reduce swelling and fatigue, increase strength and build endurance, aid in healing and faster recovery from physical exertion. Products containing Celliant have no adverse effects as they work directly with the body to make it more efficient and can be used continually.
As with any new products that will be a mainstay in your or your animals' health regime, it is best to do a good amount of research to correctly identify the positive and negative effects it can have. With many products, reading the fine print and speaking with a representative of the company will be your best sources of information. Always consult with a veterinarian or medical professional before using new products which could affect you or your animals' health.
If you enjoyed this article, please check out all of the articles we have available at www.horseshoecorner.com
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Start To Finish Free DVD Offer
Using Treats as a Training Tool
For a limited time, STF Products is giving away the incredible
Using Treats as a Training Tool DVD...
a $20 value, absolutely FREE!
Produced by Imagine A Horse, this exclusive Start To Finish DVD features Allen Pouge and Susan De Laurentis.
Just click on the link below and fill out the order form.
Using Treats as a Training Tool Free Offer
Here's a link to a YouTube video created by a student of Allen's. You can see how gentle, caring and loving he is with the horses.
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=5ugFO71cVdY |
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Let us know what you think of HorseshoeCorner.com, we're always happy to receive feedback from YOU - our community members. Drop us a line by replying to this email!
Sincerely,
Timothy Van Loan
President & Founder
Horseshoecorner.com
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