jo's story

I’ve known Ian for over 7 years and when he first started talking to me about this young Arab gelding called Ted that he was working with, I repeatedly told him that he was mad to work with such a horse!!!

However Ian persevered and kept believing in Ted’s good nature and about a year later, I was going through a very bad patch in my life and Ian invited me down to stay with him for the weekend, and said he would take me out for a horse-ride and that I could ride Ted. Having heard about all his exploits with Ted, I was very reticent and Ian had to spend quite a bit of time talking me round.

I have ridden for over 30 years, converting to western some 10 years ago. Whilst I have never been nervous of riding, I had a very bad experience on the ground with a horse I had bought which meant I had lost a lot of confidence in handling horses. So come the actual morning, I was extremely apprehensive. All too soon it was time to get on Ted and the butterflies in my stomach were going berserk; but up I got. We set out and Ian rode alongside me and just said “ride Ted as you would ride any other western horse”. Although Ted was still young, Ian promised me that Ted was honest and very light on the rein and would listen to my aids.

As we walked along the lanes, I used the time to get used to Ted’s nature and much to my surprise, I settled very quickly into his rhythm. Yes he was young and very interested in everything around him but he was genuine, forward going and willing. As we got onto the moor, the butterflies arose again but his owner, was riding alongside me and we were so busy chatting away we didn’t realise Ian had set off on a canter. Her horse instantly went after Ian. Ted went to follow but I quietly lifted my rein and he immediately came back to me and just carried on walking. There was no fighting for his head or kicking up a fuss because he couldn’t follow. At once I relaxed my rein and he didn’t use that as an excuse to set off.

We carried on walking for another minute or so and then I squeezed him into a lope – again there was no pulling for his head or setting off at mach-1 to try and catch up, he just got into his rhythm and we had a lovely lope. As my confidence in him grew, I squeezed him on, he responded, opened up and we flew along… Not wanting to run into the others or cause Ted to start napping, I lifted my rein a short distance out and his response was immediate. Again no fighting or pulling – he willingly came back into a steady lope, then trot before walking the last bit.

We carried on across the Moor for the rest of the morning and he was an utter delight to ride. Soft, responsive, willing and steady – everything I look for in a western horse. We were riding as partners; not him taking me on a ride… In fact he lulled me into forgetting he was only a youngster – something brought home to me rather quickly when he went to say hello to some wild Dartmoor ponies and then got scared 100m out… Even then he didn’t do anything silly – just stopped suddenly and sought reassurance from me that everything was OK.

There are not many people who would be confident to ride a youngster out on Dartmoor in a natural hackamore with a loose rein and no constant leg pressure. But knowing Ian and his ‘ways of working’ – when he told me I could trust Ted, I believed him. My reward was two superb days of riding.

Having heard about Ted’s behaviour when Ian first took Ted on, and the ups and downs through training, so many people would have given up on Ted. He would have been sent somewhere and had his spirit ‘broken’. The horse I rode was a superb testament to the work Ian does. Using natural methods, Ian took a dominant and troubled horse and through his exercises, Ian enabled Ted to make a choice, to work with Ian and become the superb riding partner he now is.