Mac - the horse who changed my life
Mac is a long story, he could have his very own blog. He is an ex-racehorse that was brought as a 'project' by a lady I did a bit of riding for. He was sweet and willing, but in a poor way. I started working with him, getting him healthy - this picture below is him when he first arrived.
Quickly it became clear that he was in a very bad way, not just physically - very thin, weak, muscle atophy, pre-kissing spine, terrible teeth, high worm count and likely ulcers - but his mental and emotional state was extremely unbalanced as well.
As he got physically stronger he was able to express his extreme anguish, which ranged from rearing, napping, bolting, bucking and being tricky to do just about anything with. He was great at getting me to compromise on my intended plan, hacking routes would change to easier ones, allow at least 45mins for trailer loading, bribe with food for the farrier.
Although I was a sucessful competition rider who was happy to ride anything, this horse's combination of problems was not something I had never encountered before, so I started to seek help, this help came in the form of Natural Horsemanship, and so my journey into less mainstream horse training began.
Along the way I have met, learnt from and worked with some amazing people. Today Mac is an incredible horse, we can ride bareback and bridless, play at liberty, go jumping and eventing. Currently we are working on developing more self-carriage with classical dressage training.
