Horse Flu....

Well, if you own a horse, or even part of one and you live in NSWor Queensland then it's been a pretty terrible week. My heart goes out to all the horse lovers who make a living or a wage from the racing and stud business because the immediate future looks a little bleak. Thank goodness the other states are clear and let's hope it remains like that!! Now of course there will be a hunt as to how it all happened...if we didn't have horse 'flu before then it must have been imported somehow I guess!?

One of our readers was caught up in it all and Julie sent this to us:
"Yes I have been caught up in the horse flu, my twin sister and I were on our way to Lochinvar and we received a call 10 mins awayfrom Lochinvar! Well we drove right into it and there was nothing we could do about it except leave our horses there and drive home, it was awful for us both! Our sensibility told us to think about the safety of our horses and not about ourselves even though we are missing them so much. My sister lives in Sydney and I live in Tamworth so its not 5 mins away to visit. The costs are mounting up but we know they are in the best of care so we are more fortunate than some other people stranded at showgrounds!Just wanted to share my story with you, hope you don't mind...."
Although a bad situation, Julie's was better than some we heard of.
To cheer us all up, we got lovely pic from Kaylene of her polo cross horses

Look, I'm a bit 'truncated this week because I'm off, courtesy of Korean Airways, to the UK to do a bit of business and share some ideas with my friends at H10 UK, and of course to see my daughter & grandchildren (and her husband of course!!). I'll be away for 3 weeks or so and the better half will miss me like mad!!!
Before I sign off, here's a great story from Jeremy Law, a horse lover in the US who runs a 'horse farm'. It will make you laugh but there's a good moral to the story too. Hope you enjoy it:
http://tinyurl.com/2sgjfu
We've got just 10 bottles of Elegance Blue shampoo left - at $8 a litre for something so good it's a steal - have a look:http://tinyurl.com/y4rtxj

Have a great weekend...and don't forget your Dad!!!

H10 Sponsored Riders Success!!!

I don't like to boast....well actually I do..again!

Many congratulations to our two sponsored riders who did extremely well at the recent Royal Brisbane EKKA Show.
Jackie Long took out Supreme ASH and 1st led & ridden ANSA stallion with HezaStar. 'Time to Celebrate' took out Champion ANSA stallion and Colt Sheza Barbie ( owned by Jane Davies ) won Champion Buskskin. A good friend of ours, TJ Moore also won Champion Quarter Horse gelding.

Kim Durante continued her remarkable success run taking out Champion Queensland Hack again. That's 3 years in a row!! And, for good measure, she also collected Champion Galloway Show Hunter.All our sponsored riders prepare their horses with H10 grooming products, of course!!

It pays to back the best, and to use the best!!!

New Horse training DVD/Book Package

Firstly - thanks to all of you who sent their best wishes...it's much appreciated and I'm now back on my bike again!! Doesn't compare with a horse of course but then my back gave up horses a while ago!!!!
Trolling around the net this week for interesting stuff has been frustrating!! Thank goodness for Equisearch!! Heard a lot on the ABC Country Hour yesterday about the changes in equine dentistry and the consequences of that to all horse owners. It's a concern since it looks as if horse dentistry is about to get a lot more expensive. I'll be looking into that and writing a separatepiece for you.

Follow these five simple rules to increase your horse's chance of living to a ripe old age. http://tinyurl.com/2rusp6

Weaning your horse is always a worrying period. Do you get it right? Here are some tips for a stress free time!! http://tinyurl.com/2moert

I may have mentioned Alphahorse before but it's a great free resource for all sorts of training tips: http://tinyurl.com/2yjmfr

My good friend Roger Bourdon has a newsletter that's always interesting - and aimed squarely at horse lovers. Go on, have a look: http://www.anyhorsebackriding.com/horsesource/070816.html

Finally, we are proud to announce that we have the Des Kirk DVD & Book Package now available!! The dvd shows Des teaching the gentle Kel Jeffrey horse training method and is backed up by his 64 page book fully illustrating and explaining all the techniques used in the dvd. The perfect handbook and a great package at a great price!! Have a look here: http://www.h-10.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=91

From The Heart...So To Speak!

It's been a copule of very interesting weeks for me but I won't bore you with the details....suffice to say that I've had multiple bits of metal called stents stuck into various heart blood vessels!! Still here, replumbed and ready to go!!! Have to say it gives you a new outlook on life though!!
Everything is looking to Spring at the moment with the birds going mad, the local magpies as pesky as they usually are this time of the year and of course, all our horses one year older then last month!!.

Here's a good article on the Health Problems of Young Horses in Training - worth a read as it may apply to your horses as much as to anyone else in the training game: http://tinyurl.com/yszrp3

Here's an article from the UK on Dawn Savage, a well known horse problem solver. The article wrongly quotes Monty Roberts as being the first 'horse whisperer' which is nonsense of course. http://tinyurl.com/2grxvq

Here in Aus, Kel Jeffrey predated Monty's techniques by years but didn't have quite the commercial success!! You can see a small clip of Kel's techniques here: http://tinyurl.com/2kjy6m

You might remember in an earlier letter I outlined an upcoming event, "Women Luv Horses", a three-day celebration of the special relationship between women and horses. Well, by all reports the event was a great success and you can read a great article on it here: http://tinyurl.com/38dzyr

The Right Start for a Young Horse? Doug Payne is making a name for himself as a great trainer for problem horses and at 25, he's got everything going for him. Here's a great piece on how he tackles a problem horse. http://tinyurl.com/25sg9a

John O'Leary has just updated his Horseproblems Australia web site. John's an Australian legend in the horse business and it's well worth taking a look:http://tinyurl.com/qdy2s

We've still PLENTY OF BOOKS AT 20% Discount on the H10 web site and a DVD SALE too. Have a look - http://www.h10.com.au/There's a new competition coming soon with the usual great monthly PRIZES......more soon.