Ras La Lizonne

A year ago I was visiting one of our excellent equestrian properties – and 'accidently' bought a horse. To be exact, a 3 year old unridden Arab - Ras La Lizonne. We bonded almost immediately and it felt so 'right'. He had started his life with an excellent breeder - Sophie Balthasar - who uses the Natural Horsemanship techniques from birth, so Raz already knew the ropes while I blundered around in the dark. And at first I was nervous, worried that I would ruin him by not knowing what things to ask for and how to ask for them.

I spent a day with Sophie and she gave me a crash course in Horsemanship - many things I knew, but didn't really know the right way to execute them. The first part of my training was to be led around the car park in front of the stables. There, sans horse, I was halted, backed up, stopped from pulling and generally told what to do - all with a lead rope and a lot of scary and then rewarding looks and body language from Sophie. Roles were reversed and I led her round, practising my faces and body language. It all took me back to when I was 7, playing ponies and cantering round the field with my friend behind me while we whinned madly and jumped invisible jumps. But now this was serious stuff and although I wanted to do a pretend rear and shout ‘Steady’ I managed (just) not to.

After all this I was ready to do the same with Ras - which turned out to be so easy as he wanted to please and kept waiting and watching for a signal. The most amazing thing was being able to halt him just by breathing out ... a long relaxed sigh - although it took a while to perfect. ‘Relax’ said Sophie, ’I am’ I said. ‘So relax more, through your body, soften, relax’ she said. Easier said than done though – but it’s amazing once you get it, and Ras was like a mirror and relaxed totally when I did.

One year on and we are aiming towards our first endurance competition at Beaumont du Perigord in October. What a joy my baby Arab is.