I live in Vic, Aust, with my parents and sister. I grew up here and love this part of the world!
Im starting this blog because i want to share my thoughts and experiences mainly in regards to horsemanship and dogmanship. My goal in life is to be able to create a better place for dogs n horses by educating humans. I think theres alot we can teach dogs and horses but the lessons they teach us are even more incredible. I hope to be able to share these lessons with people and inspire them to want to make a change in the way we communicate with our pets.
I've always loved animals since i was a kid which was strange because none of my family are particularly animal orientated. I begged and begged and begged my parents for a dog and finally they caved and got a Golden Retriever, Oliver. He became my world, i loved him to bits, i wold write about him at school, read him bed time stories and attempt to train him. Unfortunately he got cancer at the age of four and passed away. It was heart breaking.
After we got Oliver i happened to have a ride on a friends horse and then i was hooked. My parents bought me a term of riding lessons for my birthday thinking i would be over it by then but i stuck with it and spent every saturday for years and years at the riding school doing everything horsey i could get my hands on. Eventually my parents found a pony i could lease
on someone elses property, it was so fun, i was the every day, feeding, brushing, riding, in heaven! Well.. The first day he wouldn't let me near him but i sat in the paddock with him ans then left him some food and the following few days he became more curious then we became close and he would wait for me by the gate. Sadly he also got cancer and passed.
I was working part time at an Alpaca farm during this period and loved it.
I was then in mid high school and study, friends and boys took over for a while.
I finished school and started a bachelor in animal science but only last 6months before i decided i liked the course but not any of the career opps i would have after it. So i moved back home and did a cert 3 in childrens services so i could be employed. This is when my gorgeous Snickers came into the picture, it took some convincing but my dad agreed to let me have another dog, my partner and i went to look at a litter of labradoodle pups and a few days later brought snickers home, i was obsessed, he was awesome and made me so happy. i really loved working with kids so i enrolled in bachelor of early childhood education. I did that for1.5 yrs aswell as being an aquatic education team leader at the local pool before deciding this wasnt for me either. I had been taking snickers to weekly training classes and the method was so unique and amazing i enrolled in the trainers course and 6months later was employed at their boarding school for dogs, this is where i am currently employed. I love it, its an amazing method with a incredible success rate and its just SO rewarding. Best of all i get to work with people as a teacher and help animals at the same time! I also got another dog, a stunning golden retriever Bailey, a constant source of laughter!
on lease. I rode her ans caught her but with trouble the first few days but after a week if i tried to lead her anywhere she would straight out refuse or bite me or charge me and push ne to the ground, i lost all confidence and thought about giving up, i googled local trainers and this 'parelli' stuff kept coming up, i finally took a look and what i read made sense, i emailed a parelli professional and she said she would come and help. I wrote back 'are you sure? This horse loves food and she wont even leave that corner of the paddock if i leave a feed bucket there. But she said horses need safety comfort play and food in that order so we need to work on the first few, dont take it personally just need to learn to look at it from the horses perspective.
She came for the first lesson and WOW! The change was incredible and it had only been 2 hours! I mean she was still very challenging and we had to work with her from the other side of the fence for safety but we lead her to the arena, and i learnt to get her out of my space so i was hooked on parelli!
I went home that night buzzing with excitement and bought the dvds n equipment online. I joined the savvy club and read and watched everything i could.
So... After all that blabbering my point is i feel that through training and finding a way to communicate with these animals i learn new lessons all the time, so i want to record and share them all with you! Hope you enjoy!:)
