17. April 2011 by admin.

It has been a glorious morning with a lovely Mendip Mist which usually signifies the start of a wonderful day.  The horses are in and those that stable overnight are out grazing peacefully in the sun.  They are all wearing their dashing  new fly masks that I bought the other day and I have been admiring my nice new clippers.  Forget buying outfits for posh events - I am far happier spending my time and money in a tack shop. Myrtle is back in work and coming on a treat.  It is time to plan some outings so when Lucinda is back from competing with the miniature horses next week we will plan our summer schedule.

I have lots to do on the yard today then need to pack for a few days as I am back on the road.  I am working with dogs, seeing my horse clients, teaching two workshops, doing a photoshoot, then heading back up to London to watch the gala performance of The Wizard of Oz as Dangerous Dave is playing Toto.  It will be great to meet up with my friends from Over the Rainbow.  We will be back on Good Friday and I can’t wait to spend some time at home with my family.  May this glorious weather continue.

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17. April 2011 by admin.

What a brilliant day!  Fiona will know exactly what I mean and it is just what I needed.  Tina and I went down to film another session with Fiona’s horse Taz and he was unbelievable. I can’t do him justice in words. I adore this little horse. What a star.  And what a difference!  From a horse that was spooky, crooked, braced in the body, tanking off in hand and so on in January to what he achieved today is almost unbelievable - apart from the fact that I see these outstanding transformations on an almost daily level.  The day I stop being inspired when working with committed clients who continue to do everything to help their horse is the day I give up!  I am too excited to even write!

The Conference is taking shape and after meeting Carrie on the motorway in Manchester things are literally galloping ahead.  I have a few days off as a planned trip to an equine centre tomorrow has been cancelled as they too have just lost a horse so I will crack on with office work and hopefully find time to write up the synopsis for the book so that I can start putting the first few chapters together.   Tony is back from LA after fitting in filming for a new pilot in between his commitments on Merlin and my diary is filled with more clients and more workshops.  I am looking forward to the Easter break as my sister is coming over from the US and then it is back whizzing around here and there with a trip out to Ireland to celebrate the completion of the exams before planning my trip to Romania. I can’t believe how much work I have on. Each year I think surely it has to plateau but it just keeps growing.  It just gets better and better.

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17. April 2011 by admin.

It is another sad day at Tilley Farm.  Shelley (who has worked with me for 18 years) has had a rough few months as her beloved horse Bertie has been unwell since Christmas.  He had developed a metabolic problem which caused laminitis. He had been as bright as a button throughout it all and Shelley never gave up but on Sunday everything changed.  He looked as though he was really struggling and seemed to have shrunk over night.  He found it really hard to get up and both Shelley and I knew that this was the end.  I left later than planned on Sunday for my trip to Manchester and knew as I said goodbye that I wouldn’t see Bertie again.  I am glad that I didn’t read my texts until the workshop was over. Bertie was put to sleep on Monday afternoon.  As devastated as I am it is nothing compared to how Shelley feels and I couldn’t bear to walk down the stable block and see his empty stable today so I know how tough it is going to be for Shelley when she comes back to work.  They were the perfect partnership and Bertie has helped teach so many people on the courses. He has touched many lives.  I have told Shelley that she must take as much time as she needs and that we will all cover the yard.  Shelley has owned Bertie for over twenty years and his loss and her sadness is felt by us all.  Goodbye dear Bertie.  We will miss you.

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17. April 2011 by admin.

I saw my new client on Wednesday and had a lovely time working with him and his delightful owner.  He has had a problem on the near fore for a while but in fact it was the off fore that was causing the shortness in the stride, probably because he had learned to compensate for the original injury by weighting the other leg. This is a common problem in all animals and the ground work and body work are vital for improving balance and proprioception.  I have left the owner with some simple exercises for her delicious cob and will call back in in a few weeks as I am back up in Oxford on the 18th April teaching at Dogs for the Disabled.

I have two clients down at the farm for the weekend with their horses so as usual the schedule is packed.  We started by putting the horses under saddle, then going over some body work and ground work exercises geared to the individual horses needs.  Tina helped as well and we broke the day down into three different sessions finishing with a balancing exercise for the riders on chairs before putting the horses back under saddle.  Oh I love my job so much.  The changes were fantastic and we have another two sessions tomorrow.  It has been a glorious weekend in terms of weather as well and I am heading home for an early night as have the yard to do tomorrow, work with my clients then a road trip up to Manchester as I am giving a dog workshop on Monday.

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17. April 2011 by admin.

I was meant to be driving up to Oxford today to see a new horse client and his owner but just as I was leaving the house the phone rang.  I am notoriously difficult to get on the phone but luckily I answered it.  I am so glad that I did.  My dear friend Lucinda was crying and for a few minutes I couldn’t hear what she was saying.  Her lovely horse Sam, who had been a companion to Bow who was put to sleep six weeks ago to the day, had been unlevel for a while and her vet was at the farm taking x-rays of his fetlocks to see where the problem lay.  The results were devastating.  Significant changes in three legs and so she made the tough decision to put him to sleep there and then whilst he was still sedated.   I ran out of the house and drove up to the farm to be with her and he went very peacefully.  It is such a difficult thing to do and it just gets harder and harder.  Lucinda has such bad luck with horses but partly it is also because she notices more things than the average horse owner would and makes the appropriate decisions.  Sam wasn’t the type of horse that can just be retired to pasture but knowing you have done the right thing by the horse doesn’t make the loss any more bearable. I re-arranged my visit to Oxford and Lucinda and I spent the day together as we did just a month and a half ago.

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17. April 2011 by admin.

The last few days have been extremely rewarding.  Sharon and I have put the outline of the book together and I will be heading home from the farm in a minute for another few hours of writing before taking Sharon back to the airport.  Jon and Rosie will skip out and top up waters and hay in my absence and I will come back to the farm to finish the yard duties on my way back from Bristol.

We have been writing all day, cared for by my brilliant daughter Daisy who has been cooking and clearing up so that Sharon and I can concentrate on our book.  The evenings have been spent putting ideas together for the Conference and Carrie is really excited about organising the event so the ball is rolling.  We are aiming for November so the next step is to find a venue in Ireland, then some sponsors, confirm the speakers and then advertise the Conference. Sharon is one of the only people that I know who is as busy as I am but whose drive and determination to make the world a better place for the horse constantly motivates her to work even harder.  She is the best.

The education courses that Sharon has been running as part of the on-going programme to address the problems in Dunsink are going really well and the participants on the course have already passed the first practical exams.  What Sharon has achieved already in this area is extraordinary and she is organising an awards ceremony at the end of the course so Tony, Emily, Daisy and I are going to fly to Dublin, work commitments permitting, to watch the lads and lasses get their certificates.

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17. April 2011 by admin.

Serious lack of sleep again. The clinics have finished and more happy practitioners in training have left to continue with their excellent work. I went down to Cornwall yesterday to give a talk on TTouch and am home again having only had a few hours rest.  The talk was organised by Shona, one of our qualified Practitioners, and she did a sterling job in promoting the talk as it was sold out in a matter of weeks.  The hall was packed and I had great fun showing pictures and video clips and doing a demonstration on a gorgeous collie/Husky mix from a local shelter.  I didn’t get to bed until 1.00am and was up early to drive home as Sharon Newsome, co-founder of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust is coming over from Ireland this afternoon to stay for a few days. I think the story of the horses of Dunsink would make an excellent book so I will be getting up early to do the horses then spending two full days sitting in our conservatory writing with Sharon.

My head is buzzing with ideas and long drives give me more thinking time so I am also going to suggest to Sharon that she and I organise an International Equine Welfare Conference. I have been playing with this idea for a few weeks now and after the successful roundup of the horses on the dump in Dunsink I think it would be beneficial to organise an annual event that will give other people working in equine welfare the chance to meet, exchange ideas and learn how the IHWT are helping to make inroads into the welfare crisis facing so many horses in Ireland.  I am also going to get our mutual and dear friend Carrie Humble, founder of the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre in Cumbria on board as she has a wealth of experience in rehabilitating ex-racehorses and as she is another dynamic personality who speaks for the horse she will be a huge asset to the Conference. She has excellent organising skills and the three of us work well together.

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