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JUNIOR  SCHOOL

Backing  And  Starting  Young  Horses

In 1995 when we bought the land and started to set up the horse trekking we knew we couldn't afford to buy "ready made" horses so we looked around and began gathering unbacked ex racehorses. We borrowed an old Standardbred from a neighbour's mother. This was our only  ridable  horse, and only if he felt in the mood because Rusty was a character with Attitude!  A new acquaintance showed us how to back the ex pacers and trotters-  you back them bareback, sling a saddle on and ride away! - and we were in business.

On the knowledge front, Rod had had ponies as a child and I had been trained, in the UK, as a stud assistant and girl groom  and  had had considerable experience with young stock and the training thereof., so we felt we knew enough to proceed. My job was sorting out what tack to use, fitting it correctly, and then doing the lungeing, long reining and mouthing, while Rod was the muscle when needed.. I was the first person on every new horse and rode it until it was quiet enough to hand on to a Volunteer.

These days Rod is the expert and he organises the handling of the younger horses, with a mixture of Monty Roberts, Parelli and his own brand of training.  The horses don't use bridles any more, and the learning experience for them is different
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Very  Wild  And  Woolly.  The  Molesworth  Mares  Blueprint  And  Possum.  We  Had  Just  Managed  To  Catch  Them  Again  After  Their  Arrival  At  High  Country.

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Possum.

Wild  Young  Possum  On  The  Rampage,  Attack  Mode  With  Teeth  And  Feet

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Possum  Backed.    She  Trusted  Us  And  Was  A   Great  Big  Softie,  Gentle  As  A  Kitten.  You  Can  See  It  In  Her  Eyes.

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Cripes!  -  What  Are  You  Doing  Up  There  Boss?

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Roo

Roo.  Almost  A  Leg  Over  Her.

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Roo is Rod's big Molesworth mare. She was four when we bought her   She is half Cleveland Bay, quarter stationbred and quarter Clyde.  She has been the Boss Mare of the herd ever since she arrived and was always the boss of these three horses.  When I was legged up to lie over her for the first time we had problems.  Rod had hold of the horse and my left leg and she went rapidly away from him, round in a circle.. He could neither let go of my leg or the horse until she stopped whizzing round in circles and I couldn't let go of my position until she settled down, so we went round and round and round until she stopped, many, many minutes later when we were all jolly dizzy!  We had made our point though, when I was legged up again, from both sides, she didn't move away at all. She had learnt that it didn't hurt, wasn't frightening and also that we didn't give up.  Horse successfully backed!

Blueprint  Successfully  Backed!

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Sunrise

Boy  That  Baby  Just  Grew  And  Grew!           Sunrise  Being  Backed  At  Age  Four.

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Sunrise  Was  Nicknamed  The  Sherman  Tank.        She  Was  Massive.

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Mr Bowie Being Re-backed

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A  Leg  Up  For  Topper.

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Topper  Showing  Us  His  Offended  Llama  Look.

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I  Don't  Think  I  Am  Going  To  Like  This  Being  Ridden  Again  Lark!

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Swiss  Christina  On  Topper.

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A  Few  Months  Down  The  Track.  German  Saskia  Having  Fun  With  Topper Au  Naturel.

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Left  Topper,  We're  Turning  Left!

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