Better Equine Training News

Sunday 31st May - Ground manners and problem solving Clinic

Is your horse bargy , headstrong or rude ? Does your horse invade your space or bolt off when leading? Does he object to picking his feet up, or reluctant to be caught? Maybe your horse is tense & fearful or you have a horse that plants at the bottom of the ramp or barges out of the trailer/lorry? Or maybe you just want to improve your relationship with your horse?

These are all very common problems that Barry resolves on a daily basis. The only certified Monty Roberts Instructor in Wales, Barry specializes in working with both young and difficult horses so if you would like to improve your horses' manners , develop your relationship, iron out problems or get a difficult / non loader walking happily into your trailer or box , this is the clinic for you! Working through techniques to help you and your horse, making everyday tasks easier , and to ensure this show/ competition season is enjoyable for both you and your horse.

This clinic will be held at our yard in Crymych, Pembs, pre-booking only as spaces limited. Bring your own horse, or use one of ours. £55 per person, 10am start. Contact us for more information, or to book your space!!

If you can’t get your horse to us, Barry is prepared to travel to your yard to conduct Problem Solving & Loading Consultations throughout South Wales – Why not get together with your Livery Buddies and book a few 1 hour consultations on same day? . Message me or call 07968 337 278 to book your space!!

Saturday 11th of April Problem Solving and Loading Clinic

Crymych, Pembrokeshire.

Thank you to everybody that attended our problem solving and loading clinic yesterday, it was lovely to meet you all and work with your horses. It was a successful day all round, with horses that were unsure of loading, loading happily by the end of the afternoon, videos of you all loading your horses are to follow! We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

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Saturday 11th of April Problem Solving and Loading Clinic Crymych, Pembrokeshire.

Is your horse bargy , headstrong or rude ? Does your horse invade your space or bolt off when leading? Maybe your horse is tense & fearful or you have a horse that plants at the bottom of the ramp or barges out of the trailer/lorry?

These are all very common problems that Barry resolves on a daily basis. The only certified Monty Roberts Instructor in Wales, Barry specializes in working with both young and difficult horses so if you would like to improve your horses' manners , develop your relationship, iron out problems or get a difficult / non loader walking happily into your trailer or box , this is the clinic for you! Working through techniques to help you load your horse, making travelling easier.to ensure this show/ competition season is enjoyable for both you and your horse.  This clinic will be held at our yard in Crymych, Pembs, pre-booking only as spaces limited. Bring your own horse, or use one of ours. £55 per person, 10am start. Contact us for more information, or to book your space!!

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Saturday 28th March 2015. Ground Skills and Join-up Taster Day Crymych, Pembrokeshire.

With or without your own horse this ‘miniclinic’ is an insight into horse psychology, learn to understand your horses' body language and how to respond to this. Exercises to apply to the day to day handling of your horse, and to improve your relationship with him. Also, an opportunity to experience your first steps of Join-Up, with guidance and support from Barry. £55 per person for the whole day, spaces are limited, pre-booking only. Call 07968 337 278 to book your space!!

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Thank you to everyone that came along, and took part and helped at the equine evening at the Welsh Equitation Centre last night, and made it such an enjoyable successful evening. A huge thank you to Rhianwen Rosser for her time and informative talk, Lisa Durham from Dyffryn Tywi Equine Clinic, Dafydd Jones for the sound system, Claire Edwards for seating our guests and making tea during the break,thank you to chloe too for helping with the queue, and Sally Morgan for the use of her lovely facilities and for getting soaked in the rain supervising parking! Also to Marlene Wareham photography, and Deb Williams for bringing their stalls. A huge thank you again for your support, and from all your generosity £70 was raised from the tea and cakes for the air ambulance. We hope you all enjoyed as much as we did

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Saturday 28th February- Equine Evening at The Welsh Equitation Centre, near Carmarthen. An evening of talks and demos from our local professionals - Barry Thomas, Wales' only Monty Roberts Certified Instructor, Rhianwen Rosser from Equibalance Training, and the vets from Dyffryn Tywi Equine Clinic. Come and support your local horsemen and women, and for a social night with friends on these dark nights, all in doors with ample parking. Tea/Coffee and cakes will be available during a break. Adults: £15, Children £8, pre booked tickets only. Tickets will be double the price on the night. 6.30pm start, doors will be open at 6pm.

CHAPS GRADING ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND REBEL BY DESIGN SPONSORSHIP

We are so excited to announce our sponsorship of Barry Thomas and Rhian Jones at Better Equine Training for 2014. Barry is Wales' only Certified Monty Roberts Instructor, teaching clinics and courses on horse psychology on a regular basis.

Based on their yard in Pembrokeshire, with years of experience between them Barry and Rhian train and produce horses to a high standard, from show ponies to show jumpers, and everything inbetween , with many started on their yard going on to compete at the prestigious Horse of the Year Show. Rhian has a passion for coloured horses, with their stallion Master Guitar Man being one to watch for the 2014 show season!!"

We look forward to watching their progress this year!

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Published in the Wales Online 25 June 2011

Happy horse whisperer who tamed Wales’ wildest mountain ponies

THE Robert Redford blockbuster may have verged on the implausible, but the story mirrors that of a real-life Welsh farmer.The Robert Redford blockbuster may have verged on the implausible, but the story mirrors that of a real-life Welsh farmer.

Barry Thomas became Wales’ first horse whisperer and one of only 38 worldwide earlier this year. He is now putting his skills to use in a bid to save one of the world’s rarest and oldest pony breeds.

The Carneddau mountain ponies of Snowdonia date back to around 500BC, have never been domesticated and are at risk of becoming endangered.

“People assume they are too wild to tame,” said Mr Thomas, of Crymych, Pembrokeshire.

“Therefore they are not marketable, they cannot be sold, they cannot fetch a price, so the farmers cannot afford to keep breeding them.

“There are only around 200 of the ponies left on the hills of Snowdonia, so anything that can be done to save them must be done.”

After an end-of-season sale last year in which 45 of the Carneddau ponies were sold for just £430, Mr Thomas was asked to see if he could do what nobody has ever done before: tame and train a Carneddau pony.

The Carneddau Pony Society hoped the training would help increase the animals’ market value, which in turn would give the Snowdonia farmers the incentive to breed them.

Gareth Wyn Jones, secretary of the society, said: “I think it’s fantastic that he has been working with them.

“We want to keep the ponies on the mountains and we have got another four years left with the grant we were given, but we know the public purse strings are tight.”

The full extent of his success will be revealed in an S4C series in August. But with two Carneddau ponies now happily living on his Crymych farm, it is fair to say he has managed to tame the wildest horses in Wales.

Lynne Thomas-Morgan, from production company Telesgop, spent moths shadowing the Welsh horse whisperer.

“It is an amazing skill,” she said. “We essentially came up with the challenge of taming the Carneddau ponies and the results were truly amazing.”

Mr Thomas, who grew up on the family farm, learned his skills from Monty Roberts, an American trainer believed to have been one of the inspirations for the novel and the film The Horse Whisperer.

Roberts’ methods are centred around a belief that by personally observing horses in the wild, he learned to “listen” to their non-verbal “language”.

Mr Thomas said: “The secret to my success is the fact that I have never been scared of animals. When I was growing up we had wild horses on the farm that I would ride, the same with dogs and bulls.

“I never had an issue with the animals and that is the key – if they feel your emotions they dominate you.

“There must be a 50-50 partnership with the animal, but one which you can control.

“An animal’s natural instinct is to survive and it does this by being defensive. If it sees your fear this only reassures its own belief that it should not trust you.”

He added: “The amazing thing was that I had not touched a horse from the age of around 17 until 2006 when a lady I knew brought a show pony to me that had a tendency of bucking.

“It didn’t take me long to tame the horse and the lady later showed me one of Monty Roberts’ early videos.

“When I watched it a light switched on and before I knew it I was flying to America to take part in his beginners’ course.”

Having completed the entry- level qualification, pupils must be asked back to take part in an advanced course.

Mr Thomas completed the advanced stage in record time.

“I make a living now from not only training bad horses but good ones,” he said.

“I can get a saddle on a good untrained horse within half-an- hour. I’ve trained grand national competitors, military horses, show horses – you name it. “And I love every minute of it.”

Mr Thomas’ story will be featured in four episodes on S4C in August, on Mondays at 8.25pm

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Published in the BBC 10 April 2011

Horse whisperer uses Monty Roberts skills in Snowdonia

Farmers in Snowdonia are using a horse whisperer to train a threatened breed of mountain ponies.

The semi-feral ponies, which run away when approached, may become endangered unless they are tamed.

Fewer than 300 mares remain, after existing for thousands of years in the Carneddau mountains.

Now the Carneddau Pony Society hopes Barry Thomas, based in Crymych, Pembrokeshire, will succeed in breaking in the ponies.

Mr Thomas learned techniques from Monty Roberts, an American trainer believed to have been one of the inspirations for the novel and film Horse Whisperer.

The society's secretary Gareth Wyn Jones said he had high hopes for the breed, despite a disastrous end-of-season sale last year.

The society - Cymdeithas Merlod Y Carneddau - paid £2,800 to stage an auction, but raised only £430 after selling 45 horses to public bodies for wildlife grazing in conservation reserves.

The National Trust has agreed to export groups of ponies to Bickerton, near Chester, over three years, in an attempt to secure their future. But after that, the society will need alternative ways of making the breed self-financing.

"The ponies haven't had any human contact, they're very wild," said Mr Jones.

"Barry Thomas will be taking two of the ponies off the mountain and trying to train them using the techniques he learned from Monty Roberts.

"It's all to do with eye contact with the ponies apparently. A lot of it is done mentally, it's psychological training really."

Mr Jones added that, if Mr Thomas succeeded, it could make the breed more sustainable and marketable.

"If it works, the value of the ponies could rise to as much as £300 each," he said.

'Better future'

Mr Thomas, who will take the ponies to his farm in Pembrokeshire next month, said the process was all about gaining the ponies' trust.

"Hopefully it will mean that they're in a better state of mind, that they will be less frightened of being handled," he said.

"I get them used to different sounds, movements and materials. For example, we use plastics and tarpaulin, which can move quickly. Horses perceive us as predators, so we need to build up trust between horse and human.

"Horses communicate in silence - eye contact is very important and is a way of having a conversation with the horse.

"If the owner can market them, more people will want to breed them, meaning a better future for the horses."

Mr Thomas's work to train the ponies will be featured next month on S4C's Ffermio programme.

First Broadcast by S4C August 8 2011

S4C broadcasts Barry Thomas: Y Meistr

A "HORSE whisperer" from Crymych is attempting to use his powers to charm wild Welsh ponies which have never been tamed before.

The exploits of Barry Thomas are being shown for the first time on a TV documentary series on S4C.

Ffermio: Y Meistr, which starts on Monday, August 8, follows Barry as he practices his art — ending the third programme in the Carnedddau area of Snowdonia.

There have been wild ponies in that region going back to around 500BC, and it is believed they are too wild to tame. The Carneddau Pony Society is worried about their future as there is no financial incentive for farmers to breed these unique ponies.

Barry said: "There are only about 200 ponies left on the hills of Snowdonia, so we should do anything we can to save them."

Barry learnt his craft from the acknowledged maestro in this field, a man called Monty Roberts.

It is believed that Monty was the inspiration behind the hit Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer.

Barry is the only Monty Roberts accredited instructor in Wales, and one of only 38 others across the world.

In the second programme of the series Barry will also try his hand at calming a Limousin bull owned by Dyfan James of Newcastle Emlyn.

Series producer, Lynn Thomas- Morgan, who spent weeks shadowing Barry, said: "He has an amazing skill.

"He accepted the challenge of the Carneddau ponies and the results are truly astonishing."

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