ARIA E-NEWS  *  January 2017
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How NOT to Sell a Horse
Eight Suggestions for Avoiding Equine Sale Disputes
By Julie I. Fershtman, Attorney at Law                   
Reprinted from Riding Instructor magazine, Winter 2012.

Julie I. Fershtman, Attorney at Law 
A few years ago, I represented horse buyers in a trial of an equine sales fraud case. We won. The judge issued a ruling in my clients' favor that commanded the sellers to take back the horse, reimburse the entire purchase price with interest, reimburse certain maintenance expenses, and pay my clients all of their legal fees.
 
The case involved my clients' purchase of a show horse for their daughter, a novice rider. The sellers represented that the gelding was "sound" with "no bad habits" and "ready to show." Before the sale, my clients took their daughter to test ride the horse, and he behaved beautifully, even in a chaotic environment with many distractions. They took the horse home, but two days later, the horse showed drastic behavioral changes and was lame. He was unruly, and even dangerous. Despite my clients' demands to reverse the sale, the sellers refused. Left with a dangerous, unsound, and unsuitable horse, my clients authorized me to file a lawsuit.     Read more   



New snow for the New Year! 

Wishing all our instructors, members, and friends a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2017 
from ARIA. 
Falling Off Should Not Be Part of the Program!
By Gincy Self Bucklin

Gincy Self Bucklin 
For some time I've been writing about how to get  students past their initial fear of falling, by teaching them how to dismount quickly and safely in case of danger. And that is certainly a very necessary tool to have.
However, many instructors and riders consider that falling off is a normal part of the riding experience. I disagree. Yes, falls can occur, but they should not be any more a normal part of riding than automobile accidents should be a normal part of driving! Or, more to the point, than falling down should be a normal part of walking on your own two feet. Because riding involves the same body movements as moving on your own feet, we should be able to avoid falls nearly all the time. And yet, as we found out earlier, serious falls off horses occur more than 10 times more frequently than those off motorcycles. And there are no statistics on riding falls in which the rider is not injured.     Read more from Gincy
Instructor of the Month: Anna Stewart , Sweden  
ARIA Certified Level I in Dressage and Recreational Riding

Anna Stewart
Who is Anna? I'm 38 years old and I live in Sweden together with my  husband Garry, who is an American. We live in a small village north  of Gothenburg and there we have Stewart Ranch. We have four  horses and I ride both Western and English, but Garry is only into  Western.

I have been around horses all my life and got my first horse, an  Arabian, when I was 10 and he was then 6 months old. He was my  friend and my partner for 25 years and he passed away in 2013; we  miss him every day. He was the horse who taught me so much and  we did everything together. We did dressage, show jumping,  eventing, endurance, and Western. We competed in Western  pleasure, Western horsemanship, Western riding, trail, roping, barrel  racing, and pole bending. We also helped farmers with their cattle  and he was a natural. He also taught me that you have to be  humble and listen to your horse, show the horse respect, and offer  good leadership.     
Motivation from Moshi:  Wear Your Helmet
With appreciation to Jane Savoie
Jane, Moshi and Indy
The world sure is an interesting place. There is so much to see and to do. And there can be a lot of things to be afraid of.

I'm afraid of fire, skunks, and anything that pops out of the bushes and startles me. It's not that I really think I'm about to be hurt, it's just that I'm hard wired to jump when things move fast. All horses have that instinct, we just can't help it.

Jane knows that I would never intentionally hurt her. But she also knows that I weigh about 10 times more than she does, and when she's on my back the ground is a long way away. She knows that accidents happen and there is always the possibility that she might come off. For that reason she ALWAYS wears a helmet during our training and hacking sessions, and has even started showing in her helmet instead of her top hat. 
 
 
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Eagle's Nest is seeking a Horseback Riding Head for the summer of 2017. 
Responsibilities: The head will be in charge of the maintenance and care of the barn and the horses, as well as instructing children between the ages of 6 and 17 at various levels (beginning through advanced). We teach English hunt-seat riding. The riding head may also serve as a cabin counselor.
Qualifications: At least 21 years old, with extensive riding and teaching experience. A background including barn management and horse care is strongly preferred. 
For more information about our program visit our website at  www.enf.org. All applicants must apply using the forms found on our website, at http://www.enf.org/eagles-nest-camp/summer-employment/ .
Ask the Customer Service Expert
B y Charles Marshall

The Purpose of Failure is to  Make You Grow

Exercise your imagination with me for a moment. Imagine you're sitting on a piano bench,
practicing your scales on an old upright piano. Beside you sits an old Russian piano master who intently watches your exercises. He holds a small ruler in his hand, and when you play the wrong note, he deftly slaps your knuckles with a ruler. It hurts every time he hits you, and you hate it every time it happens. You intently dislike the old man and vow that he will have less of an opportunity to rap your knuckles. You will practice and make sure you rob him of the satisfaction of correcting you.
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To Blanket or Not to Blanket: That is the Question
By Dr. Joyce Harman
T his time of year, we humans are pulling out our wool overcoats, our down jackets and our all-weather parkas. Many of us are also pulling out the outerwear for our horses...but not so fast!
 
Horses are much better adapted to the cold weather than we give them credit for. They grow an excellent winter coat that insulates them and keeps them warm and dry down to the skin. However, there are some factors to take into consideration when deciding how to manage our horses in the winter.

Let's look at horses in nature. In the fall they put on extra weight so they have fat reserves to burn to keep warm in the winter. This is the reason our domestic horses (dogs, cats and humans, too) always seem to get fat in the fall. In winter, the main food available is roughage, dead or dormant grasses and weeds. Roughage, and that includes hay, actually helps warm the horses because it releases heat as it is digested. Have you noticed that your horses eat more hay on very cold days? They are keeping warm.   Read more

Want to learn more? Dr. Joyce Harman is  available for phone consultations - make your appointment at 
540-229-1855.

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Words of Wisdom
B y Denny Emerson, Tamarack Hill Farm 
Denny Emerson 
Sally Swift and the Impact of Teachers 
 
     Sally Swift's "journey" to becoming a riding teacher who has probably helped more actual people than the most famous Olympian didn't really start rolling until she was in her sixties. 
     Sally had scoliosis, so her own riding was limited, but probably, just as they say blind people have a heightened sense of hearing as a compensatory mechanism, Sally had an uncanny sense of what body part was the root cause of something else. Fix the root, start to fix the bigger problem. An exa mple might be that rigid shoulders prevented a swinging back, that sort of thing. 
     At first, I don't think Sally's insights were accepted or even "welcomed" by the "dressage community."

Sally Swift
After all, they said, she isn't a rider. She has worked for decades for a Holstein cow association. In Brattleboro, Vermont.
 She is old. What does she know?
     But Sal ly could see, and therefor fix, posture and mechanical and emotional issues that flew past the radar screens of  t he more famous "experts." 
     Her book, Centered Riding, is probably the biggest selling non-fiction horse book of all time, and every day riders use Sally's techniques to loosen up and balance and be more one with the horses they ride. 
     And Sally was totally and completely non-judgmental. She tried just as hard with someone most trainers would wri te off as she would with some current riding icon. 
     A famous rider is only famous for about as long as he/she is riding and competing, and after a few years of retirement, is vanished and forgotten. But Sally Swift who died in 2009 at 95, will be remembered today, as riders all over the world quote her and use her teachings.
       
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Forage for Thought Tip of the Month 
By  Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D.

Dr. Juliet Getty
Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D.
Weekly Bran Mashes Are Asking for Trouble!
   
The bacteria that live in the hindgut need consistency. That's why new feeds need to be introduced very slowly, taking a few weeks to completely switch over. A bran mash, or any feed for that matter, is unfamiliar to the hindgut microbial population and exposing them to it suddenly can trigger a dangerous colic attack. But there's more to be concerned about, when it comes to feeding bran mashes .
 
Many people feel that a bran mash helps as a laxative. Sure, the manure becomes softer but that's because bran irritates the digestive lining, leading to softer manure. This indigestion causes poor absorption of nutrients. Furthermore, bran is very high in phosphorus - it has 10 times more phosphorus than calcium. When phosphorus exceeds calcium, it can lead to porous bones and poor muscle contraction/relaxation.

If you want to feed a warm bran mash during this winter, consistency is key - it must be fed every day, not once a week.  Be sure to introduce it gradually and use a commercially fortified version that has added calcium to correct for its naturally inverted ratio.

Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D. is an internationally respected, independent equine nutritionist who believes that optimizing horse health comes from understanding how the horse's physiology and instincts determine the correct feeding and nutrition practices. She is available for private consultations and speaking engagements. Contact Dr. Getty at  www.gettyequinenutrition.com . 
Test Center Dates & Locations     Earn your Riding Instructor Certification
ARIA's  Private Test Centers are becoming very popular -
especially in Bonita Springs, Florida in the wintertime!
  
Register for the date and location that works best for you.  E-mail ARIA@riding-instructor.com
Thought for the Month                         
     
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