# Loading a horse the Geordie way.



## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

The Royal Show is one of the biggest in the UK. It covers acres of ground and besides horses has all sorts of other animals there.

Geordie wanted to come with us. By this time he was very slow, and it was a bit like taking a small child shopping, you didn't really want to! 

He was walking with two sticks, one an ordinary cane and the other a blackthorn stitck, the handle was a round part othe original root bit smaller than a tennis ball.
Blackthorn is a hard wood and fairly heavy. 

We were making our way back to the horsebox and saw several people trying to load a young horse into their wagon.
There were ropes, strong men, a twitch on the horse's nose and blue air all around. The horse was in a terrible state, sweating and fighting all the way.

Geordie walked up and spoke to the man who appeared to be in charge. He offered to load the horse. The man looked him up and down and, non to politely toled him to go away before he got hurt. 
When the man turned away and started thrashing the horse with a hunting whip, Geordie just turned and as he did so, swung his stick so he had hold of the foot and the hard round handle hit the man just below his right ear. 
It wasn't a hard hit but was a hit in the right place. The man's knees were immediately weakened and he nearly went down. The other man holding the horse and twitch stood with his mouth open wondering what had happened. 

Geordie took the rope and reins away from the second man. He took the twitch off, and the bridle. Pointed his stick at the second man and told him to get out the way.

There were many people watching and all stood back in astonishment as this bent old man hobbled off leading the horse which a minute before had been all over the place yet now was walking beside Geordie like an old donkey. 
He walked with the horse, between the horseboxes for two or three rows, went out of sight as he turned and came back down a parallel row. 
He walked to the ramp and stopped, he pulled his pipe out of his pocket and lit it.
Geordie dropped his ordinary stick and proceeded to hobble his way up the ramp, pulling himself up on the side gated with his left hand. The horse, mindful of the elderly cripple leading him followed, one step at a time. 
Only when it was tied up and a partition pulled across did Geordie appear to both talk to and scratch the horse. As he hobbled out the wagon so the horse whickered to him.

Geordie did poke the man in his chest with his stick and told him that he should mind his language when there were women around! 

_I don't know what it was about him. I do know that a horse that has got into a state will calm down with an experienced calm person holding it but it takes time. With Geordie it was almost as if the horse had been tranquillised the quietening effect was so fast._


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

Incredible, but I believe it.

I wonder how I can subscribe to Geordie threads before they are written/posted.

To be sure I don't miss any. 

Maybe we need a special sub-forum. LOL


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

That was wonderful, Foxhunter. You have been blessed in a wonderful way to have seen and learned from Geordie . . .better than going to clinics or watching videos and dvds 

I am coming to believe it is possible for any of us to do the same if we listen to the horses and can connect with their minds in their way of communication . . . a very basic, simple, innocent, and honest way. Geordie knew how to do that by respecting them and evaluating what each one needed (picturing the stubborn cart horse here) and how to connect with horses' minds and, I bet, he spoke pictures to them.

I have a book here called WESLEY THE OWL by Stacey O'Brien. In it, she describes the way she learned to communicate with Wesley whom she raised from birth. When Wesley was fifteen years old, Stacey was faced with the very dangerous but necessary task of clipping his talons and filing his beak that had gotten so long and curved that Wesley was having trouble eating and was threatened with choke. There was a lot of trust built up between them over fifteen years, yet Wesley was adamant about not having his feet held or his beak held. Stacey tried all the gentle, sneaky, "smart" ways of trying to accomplish the tasks and "train" him, but nothing worked. 
She writes:
"Finally, more out of desperation than cleverness on my part, I began to work with Wesley using language and imagery. Some scientists believe that animals may use some sort of mental telepathy to beam picture thoughts to communicate with each other, and experiments indicated that it does work between humans and certain animals. It seemed pretty far out, but I decided to try." 
. . . over a period of weeks (which Geordie didn't need because he was probably already expert at it!) Stacey worked on the process using imagery and a few key words to help prepare Wesley for the trimming. It worked with no fight or fear.
She called her friend, Wendy, who has horses:
"She revealed she'd also been using this method with her horses with fantastic results . . . " even to having a horse that was terrified of loading on a trailer walk on all by herself when it came time to move them to a new location.
"People with all kinds of animals are altering their methods from those that used force and negative consequences, like spurring, hitting, shocking, or yelling, to gentler approaches of positive reinforcement. . . . "these interactions flow from a loving, mutual relationship" . . . "resulting in mutual cooperation" . . . 
"Some researchers are also accumulating emperical evidence that animals use a form of telepathy to communicate with and understand us." (There's so much wonderful, inspiring information that is too much to share . . . ) but this I will share as I have studied it and believe with all my heart that it is a key component of the lack of commonsense and compassion so evident in today's society:
"In today's technological world we have lost a great deal of ancestral knowledge of animals and nature. Many people can be said to have a nature deficit disorder -- an estrangement from the natural world and their own basic nature. This intuitive mode of communication may have been very familiar to our ancestors. I like to think that we're evolving as we learn -- or relearn -- how much more complex and intelligent animals are than we've previously admitted and how deeply connected we all are."
-- excerpts from WESLEY THE OWL, pp 198-203

The older I get, I find I am less willing to trust in my physical skill and ability to "handle" horses, and I am becoming wiser and quieter and more open to embracing and including other ways of communicating with them and building relationships.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Holly I am a great believer in mental pictures. I know that many do not believe and think that subtle body language clues are given.

One thing Geordie always said, which I didn't understand as a child, it to listen to the animal. He never explained until I was older and by then I had learned. I didn't realise for many years that I had learned only that I had an instinctive understanding/rapport/knowledge about many horses that I didn't know. 

Horses coming in for remedial, I would in minutes know whether it was that way because of bad handling or a pain issue. 
Having said this I do not believe in animal communicators, or at least any I have met! 

It was more than mental thoughts with Geordie. I remember spending three or four days trying to catch a horse. Geordie handed me his jacket and told me to wear that and go catch. The horse never moved a whisker and I caught him easily! There was nothing in the pockets other than his pipe baccy.


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

Foxhunter said:


> It was more than mental thoughts with Geordie. I remember spending three or four days trying to catch a horse. Geordie handed me his jacket and told me to wear that and go catch. The horse never moved a whisker and I caught him easily! There was nothing in the pockets other than his pipe baccy.


Maybe we should take up pipe smoking? :wink:


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

My one time boss used to smoke a pipe - he had a way with horses too so might be worth a try!!!
He used to light up when we were standing around at Hunt Meets and then quickly snuff it out and shove it in his pocket when we were on the move again
He set himself on fire many times doing it.


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

jaydee said:


> He set himself on fire many times doing it.


hehehe!


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

When I was a kid, all our horses would come to us when called. Sometimes we had to walk a long way to get to a place where they could hear us, but they would come. The exception was the old Shetland pony. Some days he just didn't want to cooperate When that happened, my Dad would sit down in the field and start loading his pipe. The pony always came over to investigate, and would be caught for his curiosity.


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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

very nice thank you


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