By Jenny Paterson, B.Sc.

 

This is a picture taken on the 12^th of May, 2009 of sixty three year old Ian Fergusson and his ten year old half Irish gelding Monkey. Up until about six weeks ago he was one of those horses people categorise as 'down-right dangerous'!!

 

Ferg, well known in North Canterbury (New Zealand) has ridden all his life and was master of the Brackenfield Hunt for about ten years. He acquired Monkey as an 'unbroken' four year old with the idea of breaking him in and using him for general farm work, hunting and the odd show. Ferg thought he had a lot of potential as a jumper but breaking him in turned out to be a daunting task! Ferg soon came to the conclusion that maybe someone had 'tried' to break Monkey in but maybe failed.

 

Monkey 'could buck like no other', he just didn't stop. He always bucked with the saddle and no amount of lunging made any difference. Ferg finally got where he could ride him, but bucking fits were frequent and he would often cow kick violently up at the stirrup and get him in the heel every time. The difficulties went on for years, there being long periods of time where Ferg would leave the horse turned out until he would get him in and try again. Ferg even got him to the jumping Show at Amuri this year where he bucked in the middle of the ring after a jump and "nearly got me off!"

 

Monkey just couldn't cope with the ring, he would completely lose the plot. Even the judge told Ferg to 'dog tucker' the horse. So did many other people who obviously cared about Ferg and didn't want to see him get hurt. He was advised, "shoot the horse, it will kill you!" But Ferg still held out hope that Monkey would somehow come right and then he would have a top horse with a lot of ability.

 

About six weeks ago Ferg's wife Helen saw my little book (The Key to Calm, Healthy Horses by Jenny Paterson, B.Sc.) and bought it for Ferg. When he read it he realised what had been wrong with Monkey all these years... RYE GRASS!!! Ferg took him completely off the pasture, put him in a large yard and fed him some old Cocksfoot hay. Ferg got some highly absorbable organic magnesium with boron and a blend of top quality, well balanced vitamins and minerals, fed extra salt and Monkey started to improve dramatically! He became calm about things and it was like he could think straight again! Within a few weeks Ferg felt confident enough to take Monkey out to follow along behind the hunt.

 

Ferg soon found that Monkey was indeed a reformed fellow! He behaved impeccably, jumping a fence a little fast but listening when Ferg asked him to steady up. At one point two horses galloped full speed past Ferg and a friend who were walking along quietly. Monkey just kept walking while his friend's horse lost the plot!

 

There were a lot of other horses that day who were not handling the excitement of the hunt field as well as Monkey! Everybody noticed the difference in the horse. Somebody commented that the horse had 'finally matured'! "If they had seen him two months back they wouldn't have said he had matured! It was taking him COMPLETELY off the Rye Grass that really did the trick" Ferg said.

 

Many people would say that a horse like Monkey just needs lots of 'wet saddle blankets'! "No", Ferg is adamant, he tried that many times over the years and the fitter Monkey got, the worse the problem. Now he still has 'a ton of go' but is just so manageable. Ferg says, "It is so great to finally see his real personality. Now, with the right feed, he can even cope well on the huntfield." Ferg is so chuffed!

 

For some people it is still so hard to believe that grass can make such a difference to their horse. We have some great case studies in our articles section, including a horse whose movement had become so bad that it was thought he must have a fractured pelvis! The owners of this particular horse have spent a COLOSSAL amount of money over the last eighteen months and it was simple diet changes that brought this horse back to normal.