All natural horse care in the west of Ireland

Two weeks ago I decided it was time to start walking Harley outside of the safety of his home turf.

Harley is now 2 years and 6 months old and although quite young he is very brave and is always first to the gate to greet me and he loves playing games.

In August I purchased Baby for 200 EURO. She is a twelve year old thoroughbred ex-brood mare and reminds me of a princess or a fairy inside a horses body. She is the sweetest, gentlest horse I have ever had the honour to meet.

The original owner purchased six thoroughbred mares in Sping 2006 with the intention of breeding them and making some money. Baby being one of them.

The first dates for the next Positive Horsemanship course are now available. The weekend of 2nd-3rd May is available so I am looking for some feedback for which course to hold. If you want to attend a course with Vanessa then please email me: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it indicating which course you would like to attend and we will get the planning underway.

I haven't been 100% happy with the diet my horses have been on the last couple of years, particularly in the winter. During the summer they are on grass and do not get any additional food suppliments. When I first became a horse owner I used to feed only Whole Oats, Beet Pulp, Fresh Vegetables and Hay in the winter when they are off grass and in a dry paddock.

Over the past 2-3 years I have changed their diet and phased out the Oats and Beet and replaced them with Hi-Fi Lite and Cool and Cooked mix. They still get some occasional carrots and apples as treats.

Over the past couple of winters they remained very fat for the duration of the winter and their coats are not as glossy as they were in the earlier years when Oats and Beet were part of their winter diet.

I know that video quality is very poor but you will get an idea of what happened when I was trying to teach Baby how to yield to rhythmic pressure. She understood the question but reversed the request and was very effective with her rhythmic pressure. (I know this is wrong but I just had too laugh, she is so intelligent. She knows the question but thought, here why don't you try it!!)

Finally, managed to upload this video from 4th August 2008 when we started Harley. Not the most elegant of styles by any means. I bred Harley and he was born 6th August 2006. I am happy I was the first one to sit on him. He will be left for another year, maybe two, before he backed properly for riding.