Horse Care For Beginners

Hello

I’m Russell Hart ~ that’s me and my horse, Midnight (Middie for short) below .  I live on a small property about 70 kms south of Hobart, which is the Capital City of Tasmania, that small island State situated just south of mainland Australia.  I’m writing this post in the hope that will be be helpful in providing information on horse ownership, health care and riding for horse lovers of all ages. It is particularly directed to those who are new, or relatively new, to horse riding and ownership rather than those more experienced.

I particularly didn’t use the word “young” in the paragraph above as I was in my early 50′s when I first became really interested in horse riding and went through the experiences of learning to ride, and owning and caring for a horse. Rather than being repetitive, if you’d like to read about my early experiences of horse ownership, may I refer you to my Post,  So, You Want to Buy Your First Horse ~ What You Need to Know.

It’s my intention to post a series of horse-related articles over a period of time and in no particularly sequence which will cover such topics as general horse care, horse health, safe riding, grooming tips, communicating with a horse, riding tack and gear, hoof care, and further topics as they come to mind.

I was extremely fortunate in being able to join a very active and supportive Saddle Club and to learn from their very able instructors. In particular, Jenny, Jill, and the head instructor, Trudy. Plus a number of highly qualified guest instructors who came to teach in their specialised areas of horse and riding subjects. In the early days Jenny came to my property and I had continuous one-on-one lessons. Slightly later I became good friends with Trudy and she spent what seems like endless hours on my property in teaching me the processes of horse care and horse riding.

You’ll see from these notes that I have no really formal training in horse ownership, care and riding. The posts I’m writing are based purely on my private learning with Jenny and Trudy, more than five years of monthly training days at the Saddle Club, and my extensive reading and study.

A further plus for me was that I had a horse who was a true gentleman and really wanted to help me to be a competent and caring rider. Middie

was a horse in whom I had total trust and came to truly love.

I sincerely hope that the information I’m putting in my posts is of assistance to you and would appreciate you letting me know if this is the case. And should you pick-up any errors in my interpretation of any particular subject please let me know. You may readily contact me by email at hartvshart@gmail.com . I’d like to hear from you with any comments you believe would be helpful. I’ll do my best to reply to all emails promptly. If there is any subject that you’d particularly like me to cover, please let me know of this also and I’ll do my best to cover it should it fall within my range of experience and knowledge.

So finally, happy and safe riding!