Mark Dewsbery Horsemanship

Stormy’s owner came up yesterday to pick her new horse up and take her out for a test drive.
I love seeing the owners and their new horses start to create that connection.
For the owner that’s raised the horse for years but never ridden their horse, it must be an amazing feeling to hit the trails.
These two have a wonderful future in front of them.

Gate opening with Stormy.
I thought she was away this weekend but she's here for another week. She's going good for 3 weeks so far and a real joy to ride out on the trail.

Jake, new horse I bought for myself. Station breed 2.5 years old with little handling.
So I thought I'd get him in the yards on Saturday afternoon and see what I was dealing with, video speaks for itself.
Sunday when I decided I'd make a start on Jake I certainly wasn't planning on a first ride and even when I did I thought things may have got a bit western.
But besides the biting and the attempts at kicking me he went well.
Looking forward to the coming days and getting to know him better.

First ride out on the trail with Stormy today. As though she was a wee champ, those concrete feet I talked about the other day soon went away. Very forward, loved trotting along, nice 1.5 hours ride.

Trying to teach my two new horses to eat hay or hard feed that neither have seen before. Ollie 3 weeks later at least is getting a taste although most ends up on the ground.
Jake who arrived a few days ago just wants to bury his head in the bucket and gets nothing in his mouth at all.
Only need them on hard feed and hay for when I’m away and I need to pen them overnight.
Working progress 🤷‍♂️

Update on Stormy who is going well. She got her first set of shoes on yesterday so and soon as this next storm clears we will hit the trails.

New horse arrived over the weekend, ironically her name is Stormy, which is exactly what we have coming in this week.
So I needed to get her moving along as she will have a few days off looking at the 260mm rain forecast for this week.

First saddling and first ride done, back out on the hill with no stress or sweating.

Looking forward to the next month with this horse and get her humming along. Nice smart horse.
Time lapse today, just over an hour rolled into 1.40min

Last ride on AJ today before he leaves home this weekend. Been a nice horse to start, always like a horse that has a willingness to learn.
At the end when I say I spend a lot of time teaching horses to stand etc, this does not mean in minutes. What I mean is I’m consistent, every time he is at the tack shed, at least twice while I’m in the round pen.
If you are consistent about something in your training then the horse just learns it’s the normal thing to do.
Inconsistent, just confuses them, then often they are blamed for doing something wrong when in actual fact it’s us being the poor teacher.

Back on AJ after a few days off due to weather. Today reminded me that extra groundwork on those wet days pays off.

As much as it’s sad to see a good horse go home after you have developed a bond with them. It’s also such a great reward watching Blinky and his owner out riding and starting to develop their own bond.
Hats off to those that bring up guide dogs then have to hand them over.

I’ve enjoyed so much starting Blinky, he’s going to have a wonderful home.

AJ third ride, happy with his progress, just fussing on the bit still so I've just been doing a bit more groundwork with the halter on.

I can help him out is to just be softer still on the reins.
It's hard to tell in the video but I'm adding no mre weight than the rein itself. Just trining to pick up on it enough for him to feel the rein connect with the bit.

2nd ride on AJ. If you go back to the first ride which was only 5-10min and all I was waiting for was him to relax, yet he hardly walked around the pen. A day later (this was yesterday) and he's away.
Why? Why not, he was not put back in the paddock stressed and sweaty, the 1st ride was low impact, no stress and no pain.
Just as a horse will remember stress and pain for a long so will they remember what was a good experience.
He also see's me as his leader so why would he not want to relax and trust me.

Blinky out on the trail. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is watching theses young ones grow with confidence each day out on the trail. Its also my happy place and I'm lucky to have so many amazing trails right on my doorstep.

First ride on AJ, nice and relaxed dude.

New Student in for a full start.
Tried doing some editing stuff today to shorten the video, less stressful getting on this big guy 😂🤣

Big day for Blinky today, first shoes on then straight out onto the trail. As expected he did well out on the trail, little bit looky at first which in normal then on the way home he probable trotted 1/4 of it.
Love that feeling when they just let go. Those first few rides outside I'm never going to hold them back, they want to trot or lope along then I'll just enjoy the ride. Soon I'll ask for it on demand but for now I'm just happy he feels relaxed enough to trot along.

Blinky had a day off riding today but got to come out and explore the neighborhood.

Ponying out I think is a great think to do not only for the young horses but also the older ones. I’ll often ride one horse for 2 hours up the valley swap over the saddle and ride the other home.

1) It’s great for horse not to think they are aways at the back or front, ie it’s great for the less dominant horse to go out in the lead and vise versa.
2) It’s also great to getting a slower horse to stride out a bit more, matched with a faster walker.
3) it’s great for the saddle horse to have ropes bouncing around its legs etc.

Blinky today was good at the small streams but when it came to belly deep fast water he wasn’t so sure at first.
It’s easy for me to sit back and stop my horse in the river while he figures it out without the added stress of someone on his back.

Shoes on soon, then looking forward to hitting the trails with Blinky.

3rd ride on Blinky, now he’s opening up mentally I can start pushing him along and start to ask a bit more from him.
Today, introduce the flag under saddle, breaks and backup and starting to get the shoulders too free up.

Day 4 and 2nd ride on Blinky. End of this training he was just where I needed his mind to be, relaxed and walking around the pen freely. Getting his feet picked up now, and after untacking spent an hour trying to sort that tail out hahaha lots of brushing still to go.

Great first ride on Blinky today, not that you get to see much as my ph went off grrrrrr 😡 Anyways he did well, I'll follow up with ride 2 tomorrow.

Day two and first saddling for Blinky.
He’s doing well, going to be a nice fella to hit the trails with soon.

Nice 4 year old station breed in here for starting. Very little handling which is nice to be working with for a change.
After this video I carried on, got him walking across the tarp, going forward left and right and some basic fixation work.
Tomorrow, will se where’s he’s at but hopefully saddle on and first ride.