ON MY TACKBOX
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again (and again)… Nancy’s talented but sensitive Warmblood mare, Summer, has often suffered from separation anxiety. A ten-day ‘Elevate’ clinic with Tanja Kraus turned out to be just what the horse doctor ordered, writes NANCY CLARKE.
W
hen Tanja and I first discussed the idea of a ten-day clinic it sounded as if it was exactly what I needed. It would be a chance for participants to have enough time to identify issues, work through them, and create new patterns for their trusty steeds. It was truly a wonderful moment when after all the hard work of organizing everything, it all came together and the floats began to roll in. Suddenly my place was filled with people looking for the hose, filling water buckets, cleaning out their floats and turning them into instant cosy homes while horses neighed at their new companions. One cheeky horse tried to undo its neighbour’s rug, and a sudden burst of stress-relieving laughter filled the air. Gradually all the visitors settled their horses, and we gathered around for our first communal meal of the ten days. What follows is a diary of the unfolding
48
trials, tribulations, emotions and achievements I personally experienced during the clinic – which I can truly recommend to anyone as a way to bond with their horses.
Day 1: The meet and greet session after breakfast is always an interesting insight into your fellow students on the clinic. We all shared a snippet of our horsemanship journey so far and our hopes and dreams for the clinic and beyond. There were as many different experiences as there were participants, and by the time we’d told our stories and Tanja had introduced us all to the main points of the next ten days, the morning was gone in a flash. After lunch it was our first arena time with our horses, and a flurry of energy woke the horses from their afternoon naps. My girl, Summer, a seven-year-old Thoroughbred x Oldenburg had been showing signs of anxiety when horses come to visit our home and the first
HORSEVIBES MAGAZINE - JUNE 2019
day was no exception. Summer gets consumed by the excitement of new horses and loses herself in the moment, panicking and trying to escape to her safe place down in the back paddock with her mum and the safety of the herd. It was a bit over a year ago when I started to notice a change in her behaviour when friends came to visit, whether it was from the anxiety I was suffering due to my job at the time or because she’s always lived in a herd with her mother and found it hard to adjust to change, I just don’t know. Summer is an exceptional horse out and about and has excelled in everything I’ve asked of her – including Working Equitation, Horseback Archery and Cowboy Dressage. So this issue had me dumbfounded. I’d been seeking an answer so I could help her when she started to stress for sometime and it was that journey which led me to Tanja. I knew a ten-day clinic was jumping in at the deep end but I figured to solve the mystery it needed to be bigger than just a visit from friends on a Saturday afternoon - because as soon as they leave Summer completely relaxes and life goes back to its tranquil state. I should say here that Summer had a bit of bumpy start to life - her mum dripped milk for two weeks before she was born and under the vet’s recommendation we gave her colostrum the day after she was born to make sure she got all the goodness her mummy had lost. I sat with her wrapped in my arms and legs as the vital fluids drained into her system, and she didn’t struggle once, she just lay there with me until the bag was emptied. But then when she was only a week old Summer showed signs of lameness in her front hoof. The vet recommended x-rays to ensure there was no infection, so I bundled her up into the float with her mother on that drive – all my hopes and dreams were in the float that day. I don’t think I took a breath from the
