A year later - Myrtle is still with us and has been on fun rides, cross country schooling and shes Mike's first choice to take out hunting! She hopes to try her hand at Dressage and Showjumping this summer! Pictures below are problem behaviour before and out hunting after!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A gorgeous spotty appaloosa who had already done alot of work with the dummy rider at a previous yard is a tricky horse! His main issues are through his right eye, spooking and then bucking. His owner had already done alot of work, but with our roundpen we were able to go one step further with the dummy rider and desensitisation at trot and canter. Bart was going really well with Mike riding firstly in the roundpen and then in the bigger school, and we were working on changes of direction in trot, switching the view of rider between each eye. After a small setback where Bart made himself stiff after a bucking spree and had to have a week off, Bart is now going well again and we are getting back to the stage we were previously at! Meanwhile, Bart is learning how to balance himself in canter on the longlines.

 

Dorcas is a beautiful and sweet 2 year old that has come to us for some feet handling, first rugs and leading and loading work. She is very accepting off everything we ask of her and is staying on livery until the spring ready for starting!

 

Beni came to us on livery from an exisiting client, Briony, who had another horse with us. Although Beni had been ridden briefly as a 3 year old, he came to us as a 4 year old needing more education and lessons on going forward and learning balance along with all the other things that youngsters need to learn. With our guidance, Briony worked with Beni through longlining, ground exercises and desensitisation before moving onto ridden work, first hacks, beginning jumping and even going to his first few shows (which included loading practise!) Beni was tough on the ground at first, but has turned into a super, intelligent youngster! Beni has gone home while Briony finishes her masters degree in Equine Science, but we hope they return soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosie is a gorgeous little mare who had bucked her owner straight off after mounting a couple of times. The owner had bought her from someone who didn't have the time to ride her but had pictures of children jumping her etc. Rosie's behaviour during our groundwork exercises was brilliant and her owner aswell as being a qualified equine chiropractor, also had a second opinion and vet look at her, so her reason for bucking was unclear. After two weeks with us, she had not made enough improvement on the longlines so we came to the agreement that she needed to be scanned by the vet. Unfortunately, after much investigation, Rosie was found to have damage to the ligaments between her vertebrae caused by a rider too heavy before her current owner had her. Rosie is now looking at a career of driving or as a broodmare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A gorgeous throughbred mare that came to us for foaling! Having had both of her offspring in training (George and Daisy) we are very excited about her new arrival 'Bow' (by Rainbow High). As Equine Unity's first foal, he will always have a special place in our hearts! He is a cracking strong and brave foal, happy to be handled and lead and loves galloping around the field!

 

 

 

BB, is a 6 year old spooky pony who had previously been ridden as a 3 year old in Germany, but when the owners had trouble leaning over her she came to us for training. At first she was very spooky and wanted to blast away on the longlines. After lots of desensitisation including plastic bags and flags, longlining work and lots of work on leaning across and mounting, BB started to become much more relaxed. She is a very clever pony, who always goes back to the stable and falls asleep thinking about what she has learnt! - Latent Leaning at it's best! After 8 weeks with us, BB loved to hack out (especially cantering), was great at jumping and Mike had even ridden and jumped her while holding the flag! - What an amazing little horse!

 

 

 

Brenny was in training with us for riding away and starting his education as a racehorse. A lovely natured horse, after he left us he started hacking out at home and has even did some jumping! Brenny spent sometime at the racing yard before returning home for the winter to mature - We expect to see Brenny again in the spring. George (Wychwoods Kaddy) had been in training before but had had a few months off, he came to us to be ridden before he went back to his racing yard. Now in training with Graeme Mcpherson, they are so pleased with how he arrived, they have sent us two more horses for starting! George ran in a few races and didnt disgrace himself at all, but after wind problems he has been retired from racing and is being retrained as a ridden horse. 

 

Brooksy, a 4 year old gelding, full brother to Wychwoods Legend, came to us for pre-training after having some time off  - We all have high hopes for this lovely horse! After being with us for 10 weeks, Brooksy's  stable manners became much better, his fitness was building up and he started to learn how to carry himself better in canter, building up the correct muscles. He even started some jumping! Brooksy has currently gone home to mature but will be back soon!

 

Daisy and Blossom, two fillies destined for racing came to us for starting and pre-training. Daisy was quite straight forward, taking everything in her stride and learning well.  After 6 weeks with us, including 2 weeks hacking, Daisy went into training with Graeme Mcpherson. After a short stint at the racing yard, Daisy went home to mature more physically and returned to us in April 2011 for pre-training...watch this space!

 

Blossom was very sensitive and needed alot of communication and desensitisation to the girth and stirrups. Now much more relaxed, Mike is riding her in trot and canter and she is progressing well. - Just shows how much the groundwork helps! After some problems with her teeth, Blossom went home to mature physically but has now returned to us - and what a difference! Not only has Blossom matured physically but mentally aswell, remembering everything we taught her and having a much more relaxed attitude to life! Blossom spent a few months with us for Pre-Training and is now at the racing yard ready to run her first race!

 

 

 

 

Copper a 12.2 bolting ponywas with us before Christmas. He had issues with bolting and throwing his young rider off and then not wanting to be caught. After he gave his young rider concussion they decided he had to have some training. Copper comes across as very untrusting and spooky - lots of things for us to work with! We  started with lots of desensitisation work to plastic bags and flags and have had his back checked. Copper's little rider really struggled with even lifting her hand to her face, so when riding Copper we have done lots of moving around on his back, waving arms around and even practising falling off him - teaching Copper how to relax, slow down and stand still when he gets worried, rather than bolting. After 4 weeks Copper's owner came to ride him and even managed to do around the world! A massive difference. Over the last few weeks we  practised a variety of things with this cheeky pony, from cantering over tarpaulins to riding with a flag and then started teaching him how to slow down when jumping. Copper has now returned home, is being well behaved and his owners are very pleased with him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gem has threshold problems and very deep seated issues with coming in and out of stables and loading in horseboxes and trailers. We first met Gem on a callout when the owner asked us to help get her out her stable as she had been stuck in there for 6 days! As Gem was the hardest horse we have ever worked with, taking 5 hours to get her out the stable, we suggested Gem came to us for some training. In just less than one week, after much groundwork including backing up, teaching her to lower her head when walking under obstacles and walking though tunnels, Gem started walking in and out of our barn and stables! The next obstacle was the horsebox, on the first day we started loading practice with Gem she tried really well, ending up with both front feet inside the box and back feet closely behind, a massive step for this horse who has never loaded without sedation. The best thing was she stayed incredibly relaxed all the way through and tried very hard! After 3 weeks Gem was  walking in and out of the horsebox with no problems and her owner had learnt how to load her, so we started working with the trailer - Gem could back in easily but found it very hard to walk in forward as she is so worried about hitting her head. Through much work Gem did eventually load into the trailer but both us and her owner Cat decided this was not the way forward for her as she was still so worried about her head and if one tiny thing went wrong in the future she could really hurt herself. When Gem travelled home (in a horsebox!) she loaded, travelled and unloaded perfectly, what a star!!

 

 

 

 

 

Blue came to us in March because he had problems with bucking and hacking out on his own. We worked with Blue through ground exercises, desensitisation, and then riding hacking alone and in company before jumping. After 6 weeks training with us and being hacked out and jumped sucessfully, Blue stayed with us on competition livery! At his first showjumping competition Blue and Mike got a double clear and came about 9th out of 50 entries! Blue has now gone home to do some dressage, jumping and hunting through the winter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilf went though the same process we use for most starters, desensitisation,

groundwork and longlining before riding in the school and hacking.

 

 

 

Arrived for starting 11/07/10 - two 4 year old fillies, a chestnut by Anshan out of Goodthyne Lady(Ire) (Good Thyne) (USA) and a bay by Blueprint(Ire) out of Splendid Choice (Ire) (The Parson) - Pictures on arrival and just before leaving

 

The girls now named by us Fancy and Lolly did fantastically well, working through groundwork, jumping and riding including lots of canter work ready for their racing careers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rio is a 4year old palamino arab that came to us for starting (22/08/10) Picture shows his first time wearing a saddle and longlining! Rio has done plastic work, tarpaulins and has proved a very honest pony who learns easily. In the first few weeks of being ridden, Rio's steering and brakes continued getting smoother and he was brilliant hacking out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skippy - owned by Fiona's daughter came to us for 2 weeks to work on his ridden and ground manners and loading problems. We worked with Skippy through leading and ground exercises - L-shapes and walking over tarpaulins before moving onto the trailer. Starting with the trailer without partitions, in two weeks Skippy learnt how to load and unload properly into the trailer and horsebox without any fuss and his owner also learnt how to load him. When the time came for Skippy to go home he loaded perfectly! We also worked on Skippy's ridden manners - first on longlines and then riding, working on lots of downwards transitions to teach him more about brakes!

 

 

 

A 3yr old chesnut pony that came to us for starting. Otto was very immature and quite spooky when he first came to us. After lots of desensitisation work and longlining, this lovely pony ended up hacking both on his own and in company and schooling well, what a cutie!