Email: jenclingly@yahoo.com.au
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MONGOLIA ON HORSE BACK
Wild About Hooves • Jul 27, 2017
What an ADVENTURE! Mongolia is the wild west of the east.
I cried when I farewelled my Mongolian steed. I wanted to bring him home.
These wild eyed, dreadlocked, pocket rockets were the highlight! They carried us 400kms across remote northern Mongolia in true nomadic style, across the steppes, through swollen rivers, mountain passes and rocky trails into swallow-you-whole boggy marshes to the Tsaatan – Reindeer people camped near the Russian border. Then they marched us back to a local Naadam Festival with horse racing, wrestling and archery. Chinggis Khann stated “It’s easy to conquer the world from the back of a horse” and it’s easy to see why. These horses were missiles for this legend in the 13th century. They carried the conquering Mongol warriors across half the world.
Super short, super tough, surefooted, self sufficient, heavy duty creatures, they never tired, hardly sweated, didn’t smell like a horse, and would lock into together like a jigsaw when you felt like re-enacting a battle scene, or if the weather turned nasty or if you just needed to pass a hip flask of vodka.
I fell head over heels with my little grey, 13 hand high chaperone. At the horse induction part of the tour, I pleaded for a quiet horse as I aspired to be the chief photographer of our group. This got confused in language translation that I was the quiet one in the group, obviously suited to the horse that had to have his front legs hobbled and his hind legs tied to get the saddle on.
I prayed I would be safe. How bad could he be? He was tiny. The size of a pony.
Well wishers had offered me a advice tips before I left Australia.
- Don’t Pat the Horses Necks
- Don’t Pull out Your Raincoat When Your Onboard
- Don’t Approach Them From Behind
- Don’t Approach Them From the off Side
- Don’t Pick up Their Feet
- Don’t Make Sudden Noise Like Coughing, Sneezing, Burping or Clicking Your Camera
I proceeded to tip toe around my horse and hoped for the best. But I found his favorite itchy spot. For me, it was the moment we became friends.
Mongolians do not share the same adoration for horses as we do, They are considered like a car. They do not name their horses. They call them by their colour and they have a few different ways to describe the subtleties of colors in their horses.
I called mine “Smokey Jo Fish Eater” and as the endurance riding holiday progressed he became “Smokey Jo Kilometer Cruncher”.
The tack is very basic essentially a bridle and a wooden based saddle on top of three saddle felt pads. They were very stable and surprisingly comfortable, and allowed maximum freedom of movement for the horses.
Their hooves are tough and a horse shoe was not to be seen. There was no sign of hoof care either but these horses are the billboard for Natural Hoof Care.
Their hooves are no fuss, they self trim with the environment and the constant movement. Because they are allowed to live much the same as a wild horse, they require very little in the way of hoof care.
They are surefooted. They move carefully through challenging terrain and never seem to fall down the every-where-you-look marmot holes.
When we are teaching, we constantly highlight the simplicity of hoof care. Movement, the horses living environment and its’ diet are the keys to success with sound, happy, healthy horses.
Mongolian horses emblazoned the natural hoof care mantra.
Horses are at the core of Mongolian culture. The horse population of 3 million outnumbers the country’s human population. There is a horse for every Mongolian. Everyone can ride.
“A mongol without a horse, is like a bird without wings.”
To appreciate the Mongols you need to see them on horseback. Its breathtaking to see them tearing across the valleys.
Sometimes it’s kids two astride a horse, flying along laughing, loose bridle, bareback with perfect balanced seats. It’s their way of life.
Mongolia is one of the few places on earth where the nomadic lifestyle is still practiced and its worth watching the herdsman work with their animals.
Mongols are the most welcoming, generous people. To experience their hospitality, when you spot a Ger during your travels, simply ride over and call in. You can always count on a salty milk tea and warm hospitality.
This awe inspiring, vast country stretches for miles in every direction. There are no fences, no boundaries, no “keep out” signs. In fact the country is pretty much public property. So different to our culture where we consider it creepy for a stranger to invite you into their house.
When it came to saying goodbye to Smokey Jo, I hatched a plan to ride all the way down to Singapore and fly him home as it’s against the law for the native horses to leave Mongolia.
That was until, he looked me deep in the eyes.
His look summed it all up – his indomitable spirit, his national pride and his importance at the core of Mongolian culture.
“Mongolia is my home”. He winked.
I sobbed into his dreadlocked mane and thanked him for a truly special ride.
A popular Mongolian saying “A smooth running horse is an instant faster than a mans thoughts and a nose ahead of the swirling wind”
Laminitis kills thousands of horses every year, and leaves thousands of others debilitated with lameness. It will and can affect any horse. And for you, the horse owner it can be devastating: you feel guilty and heartbroken at your horses suffering, confused with all the information as it is typically explained by professionals in scientific terms that can be difficult to understand, costly veterinary bills and you have the major task of nursing your horse back to recovery. . Unseasonal weather patterns around Australia with abundant rain and sunshine saw laminitis at a near epidemic last year. The reason being, that the environmental conditions can trigger increases in the sugar, starch and fructan. These collectively known as non-structural carbohydrates can cause laminitis in any horse or pony. Alarm bells ring this spring!! Be warned and be prepared, for prevention is better than cure.
The extraordinary relationship between humans and the horse has been running since before the birth of Christ. Indeed, there is evidence our domestication of horses goes as far back as 3500 BC. And ever since we recognised the utilitarian value of the horse, there has been the horseshoe. The use of horseshoes has become an almost unquestioned tradition. Humans have been nailing shoes onto horses’ hooves for well over a thousand years. Who can remember back to a time otherwise?
There is nothing quite like getting hands-on when you are learning the art of trimming horses hooves. Wild About Hooves popular weekend workshops allow their students plenty of opportunity to ‘have a go’ in a situation as close to real-life. Students start practicing by trimming horse’s cadaver legs, they also practice positioning themselves under a horse safely and ergonomically. Students retain more information when they physically practice, instead of just seeing or hearing it. However, when a worldwide pandemic puts a stop to everything, and public events banned, border restrictions in place, and other impacts make it impossible to travel and train in person, Jen Clingly and Jeremy Ford decided to adapt and reinvent their learn to trim courses. “We can still bring this “learn-by-doing principle” of adult learning into what we are teaching regardless of whether we teach online or off line.” Clingly highlights. “But it is challenging especially for us to articulate clearly and demonstrate without the constant interaction of questions and answers that face to face provides.” When it comes to traditional face-to-face training, the principle of maintenance hoof trimming is easy to grasp and execute. So how do the team at Wild About Hooves deliver their online hoof care course? How do students learn to do it themselves in an environment where they are not physically present to perform practical exercises? Online teaching requires very different approaches to teaching face-to-face for obvious reasons. Wild about Hooves shares 4 ways of teaching a practical skill via online training. 1. Get as Visual as Possible When it comes to practical training, or teaching learners new skills, we created loads of visual with power point lectures and ‘live demonstrations of trimming.’ People learn in many different ways – visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. By delivering information online, we want to make sure we enable all the different type of learners to engage with our hoof care principles. Providing visual diagrams, animations and dot-pointing our information all helps alongside a video showing a real life demonstration of the skill in a environment that is as close to what will happen out in the field. We try and get the camera in close to the hoof to show the trim process step by step. When the brain can ‘see’ how something is done before it is attempted independently, the chance of success are much higher than just reading or hearing about it. 2. Get on Camera Much out of our comfort zone, we got ourselves on camera. People like people, and it can significantly enhance the engagement, retention and completion rates of our course if our learners can see us talking to them. We don't have the budget for a professionally filmed training video, but we put together some good ‘how to’ trim footage and this also enables people to engage by watching, listening and following along as the training video plays. 3. Self Paced Learning Students can work at their own pace through the series of lessons. They can stop when they are tired or need a break and then get back to it when the time is right. Also they can go back and revisit any of the lessons to reinforce their learning. The lesson range is interesting and covers introducing the trainers and their backgrounds, the distal limb anatomy of the horse, how the hoof works, barefoot trimming, step by step hoof trimming, the relevance of the wild horse study, Australia’s desert brumbies, tools for trimming, what to look for when you trim horses hooves. All lessons are interwoven with film footage and powerpoint lectures and then access to further resources. It’s user friendly and feedback has been sensational. 4. Trainers Are Accessible and Can Be Contacted to Provide Advice and Feedback The team at Wild About Hooves is contactable to help students who need further information and guidance. Best of all with a team of over 150 hoof care practitioners in Australia with ACEHP: The Australian Certified Equine Hoof Care Practitioners there is usually someone who students can touch base with to learn more from or who they can book in to check on their trimming and horses hooves. Check out the link and join the team virtually! https://hooftrimmingonlinecourse.podia.com/