Rowanoak Learning Centre and Livery

Let Horses be Horses

2009-05-19T09:58:00.032+01:00

Let horses be horses
Embrace how they feed and behave within their natural environmentAllow the spirit of the horse to guide youAt Rowanoak we aim to provide horses with surroundings in which they feel truly contented. Only when a horse has peace of mind can we hope to build a positive relationship. Horses should be allowed to express themselves freely when introduced to something new. They also need the time and patience to develop at their own pace. We encourage people to build confidence and trust through fun, stimulating play in addition to more disciplined ridden work. Horses are able to move more freely without the constraint of a bit. We promote the use of bitless bridles as a safer, more comfortable alternative for horse and rider. Obedience and co-operation when ridden should be offered willingly if a genuine partnership exists.Too many people have lost touch with their passion for horses through the pressure and expectation of modern ridingWe can offer natural solutions for:FeedingRidingBehavioural ProblemsPhysical AilmentsPlease contact us for helpful advice/to arrange an appointment/to request ridden work/for details of our natural remediesnick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk

2009-04-27T14:30:00.002+01:00

2009-03-17T21:50:00.002Z

WHOLE HORSE

2008-11-20T14:40:00.013Z

WHOLE HORSE

Next years big event to be held on the 27th and 28th June 2009 in aid of EMW and run in conjunction with us, we have already got a good line up of people demonstrating and talking on a whole range of different subjects:- Adam Shereston-Horse Trainer, Holly Davis-Animal Communicator and Therapist, Karen Fullbrook-The Integration of Complimentary Therapies into Standard Equine Management, Lucinda McAlpine-Leading Expert in Natural Horse Management and Dressage Rider, Anne-Marie Marek-Equine Shiatsu, Simon and his saddle chariot, Andrew Gardner-Equine Dentist, Jenni Nellist-Behaviourist, Fibre Gold Horse Feed as Nature Intended to name but a few. If you are interested in coming to do a talk or demo, promote and sell your product lots of stall space available please contact nick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk or Elaine EMW emw@equinemarketwatch.org.uk. This is going to be a great and long overdue 2 day event with lots of fun held here at Rowanoak, So come along and meet old friends, make new friends and hopefully learn something different, please support this worth while charity EMW. To keep up to date with this event watch this site and EMW
www.webz.org.uk/emwnew/

GRACIE

2008-09-28T05:59:00.003+01:00

This is Gracie enjoying a graze in the pond, she must think she is a water buffalo!!

Livery

2008-09-25T18:39:00.000+01:00

We have 3 Full liveries available, full livery starts at £80.00 per week we tailor this to you and your horses requirements. We take retirement livery starting at £45.00 per week. We also take horses for backing, schooling and behaviour problems. For further enquiries e-mail nick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk or Tel: 07870765018

Chris riding Frodo

2008-09-02T20:18:00.003+01:00

A Budding Cossack!!!

2008-07-28T20:08:00.004+01:00

Sally happened to mention while at The Royal Welsh Show how she would love to ride like a Cossack, this is her first attempt at riding standing on the horses' back, the horse she is riding is Flo one of my own horses, she is used to doing unusual things and seems to quite enjoy it, we will keep you updated on Sallys progress!!

Dylan playing football

2008-07-17T14:43:00.004+01:00

Dylan a 4yr. old 15.2 hand cob came to us on the 9th July, we purchased him for a client, he was backed at his previous yard and we are continuing to school him riding him bareback, familiarising him with different things including this football which was supplied by http://www.equinewhispers.co.uk/ he is also having very traditional training, he is a very quick learner, honest and genuine, he enjoys nothing more than a good play! In the video Sally is riding him but is loved by all on the yard.

If you have any enquiries regarding our training, schooling, horses for sale or any other services please do not hesitate to contact us, all horses and clients are treated as individuals and programmes designed accordingly nick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk

Our latest arrival

2008-07-15T22:44:00.002+01:00

This is our latest arrival---Frank, born on the morning of Sunday 13th July, he is about 10hrs old here, he was born in the field with the herd without any human intervention. Ash is his mum and Oliver is his dad, he is doing very well although not allowed to play with the others yet!

Mattie

2008-07-04T19:36:00.001+01:00

This is Mattie have a cool down in our pond, maybe he thought this was going to be the only really hot day!! Photo taken by Sarah

COMMENTS

2008-07-02T12:41:00.000+01:00

when i arrived with william at nicks livery yard i didn't know what to expect, after being on the yard for a while i got to know nick and the other girls up there,the livery yard is a friendly,lovely,peaceful environment yard to be on, i am glad to be there. my horse william had a few issues when he arrived at the yard, nick came to have a look at him and sorted out his issues, he is doing well but still got a long way to go yet. if you have a problem with your horse nick is on hand to help and guide you in the right direction. nick is very helpful and also very understanding in sorting out problems.William has started wearing a bitless bridle and doing ok with it so far. william has been a different horse since being at nicks livery yard he is a very chilled out horse and very relaxed. i enjoy going to the stables, it is a peaceful place to be, the scenery is to die for it is beautiful and a good place to chill out. and also i like to watch the horses playing its a pleasure to watch. i recommend this livery yard to anyone wanting to keep there horse there, great place to learn and experience new things. nick and pam are brilliant, if it wasn't for them i don't know were i be now. brilliant brilliant yard xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mandy

I have always had trouble finding an understanding home for my highly strung gelding Flint. When the vet told me that he could not be ridden anymore due to a joint condition, I had no idea where to turn for a suitable retirement home. A friend told me about Rowan Oak and I was very interested by the amazing things that she told me, although it did sound to good to be true!I had to see for myself and when I went and visited the yard I was not disappointed. Nick was a caring man who offered a wealth of knowledge. He always thinks of the horses needs first and tackles every problem in a natural and ethical ethos. Flint has been with Nick for over three years and he has become a very placid character and his joint condition has made a vast improvement. The natural heard environment is ideal for any horse and the variety of meadow plants that they graze on offerers further nutritional depth to the diet. I would never move Flint away from Rowan Oak, he is the happiest that I have ever known him there and he is enjoying what I hope will be a long and healthy retirement.
Laura

Rowanoak livery yard and learning centre is a great place to meet other horse riders as well as riding in a beautiful area of the countryside. I’ve loved horses since I was little but didn’t have the opportunity to actually get one until now. I’ve been at Rowanoak now for about 2 years and I’ve enjoyed having Nick Sanders there to help. The great thing about Rowanoak is the stunning views all around you, the various wildlife, your even right near a bridle path. Nick is always available for help either through email or on the phone. This livery yard is within my budget and any problems Nick’s there to help. You need a sense of humour on the yard. I couldn’t of managed without the help that Nick has given me and I thank him very much for it.
Christine Prosser

"Rowanoak Livery Yard provides a tranquil, friendly, caring envirinment to build a strong partnership between horse and rider"
"The yard is run by a gifted horseman who is knowledgeable, helpful and genuinely interested"
"From bolting to barefoot, bareback and bitless--------BRILLIANT!!!"
Sal

I haven’t been at Rowanoak livery yard and learning centre for very long. I only really got interested in horses because of my sister, and I hope to be riding soon. Rowanoak is set in a beautiful area of countryside. There’s plenty of wildlife for you to see whether you’re a birdwatcher or not. Your right near a bridle path that leads onto the crug where you have a stunning view of the Brecon Beacons as well as other hills and mountains. Nick is available for any help or advice that you may need. Either phone him or email him and he’ll get back to you. Its nice and peaceful at Rowanoak, it’s a great place to think and get away from town life.
Sarah Goktas

This Week

2008-06-25T10:22:00.002+01:00

Not a lot has happened this week, I've put a new Electric Fence around the new winter yard and paddock so that is beginning to look posh!! Honey now lets Toby play with the yearlings, he's a typical boy, chasing them all about, with Honey intervening occasionally if he appears to be getting into too much trouble!!
Our old Zetor tractor has finally died, with the help of our son Dan, we have managed to find another one, an International, the only problem is getting the thing delivered its always tomorrow!! but hopefully it will turn up, its surprising how much you use them, you only realise when you haven't got it!! we desperately need to get on with the topping then the hay--its never ending!!
Three of the pups have been sold, leaving three boys, they have grown into real little characters, all with a good temperament just like their mum, if you are interested in having one e-mail nick on nick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk

Gosh I'm Hot!!

2008-06-25T09:12:00.002+01:00

"Lets have a lick of that lolly" This is a photo of Brian on a lovely,warm, sunny day taken by Christine

Welcome to Toby

2008-06-18T09:36:00.003+01:00

Meet Toby who was born on Friday 13th June, a son for Honey and Oliver and a brother to Mel, both are doing really well. His markings are very much like Mels but darker---at the moment!! his colour is very much like his dads.

Kevin

2008-06-11T12:08:00.010+01:00

This is Kevin, full brother to Oliver--believe it or not!! who was due to be gelded this year but he has turned into such a beauty and lots of our girls on the yard have asked to have him put to their mares, he has served one mare so he has had a reprieve until next year when we will see how the foal turns out!! He has good confirmation and has proved to be a real gent. We are at present backing him, we will also train him to drive, his movement at the moment is totally unspoilt and just how you would want a horse to move, our aim would be to keep it that way, working him gradually and gently and I am sure we will achieve it. His dad, Donald was good under saddle and driving, working some of his life pulling a cart on the beach and being driven around Brecon and memorably pulling our London Trolley for our daughter Nicolas' wedding.

Mel

2008-05-28T09:39:00.002+01:00

Mel is one of Olivers' first foals born on the 1st June 2007 her mum is Honey and her grandad is Donald, she is very brave and inquisitive, has a lovely temperament which she gets from her dad and grandad she enjoys nothing more than a good groom, she is learning very quickly, at just 1yr she is measuring 12.3 hands, she has good confirmation and lovely markings, she is now working on the halter and has a lovely action when loose or on the line, she is very happy to be with humans or part of the herd. For the next year she will remain with the herd coming out for grooming and feet trimming, she will be for sale in 2010 when we have backed, schooled and put her in harness. A £1200 deposit will secure her.

Donald

2008-05-21T09:29:00.003+01:00

Donald is our old stallion, the first we bought, he is 30yrs+ and this is the first year we wintered him in the stable and for the first time he had a rug which he managed to destroy on a regular basis!! he has lost most of his front teeth so the poor boy is gummy!! His molars are still working reasonably well but he does have a problem eating hay, he fairs better eating grass but of course during the winter months there is very little so have been bucket feeding him 4 times a day using Simple Systems with a combination of herbs, we have found celery seed keeps his mobility good and he has a good quality of life, now that the ground is drying he is out during the day, he is a big old horse and loves to scratch on anything he can find, bending gates, wheelbarrows in fact anything in his path he's a proper big bugger!! All the time his quality of life is good he will live out his retirement in the environment he has lived in for many years, many of the horses on the yard are his sons, daughters and grandchildren. In the next week or so he will move back into a paddock with his youngest son Kevin we will keep up the bucket feeding but will reduce it to 2 a day, unless he requires more.

WANTED

2008-05-14T11:33:00.002+01:00

15h + cob type wanted, about 10yrs old, good and reliable, school master for confidence building, if you know of one or have one for sale contact nick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk or telephone 07870765018.

AT LAST WE'RE BACK!

2008-05-14T10:35:00.007+01:00

For some time we haven't been able to blogs owing to technology being beyond me!!
At long last the good weather has arrived and the ground has started to dry and the grass grow, all the horses have started to lose their winter coats and the majority are looking good, life seems so much easier when the sun shines!
I have built a new wintering yard which I didn't manage to finish until February but at least now when the winter and mud returns the horses won't have to be up to their knees in mud! they have a 60' x 12' open fronted shelter to enable them to get out of the rain, wind and sun, they have 2 round bales of hay,automatic drinking trough and salt licks hanging in the shelter, different grades of stone and a small soil area where they can stand, in the adjacent field we have created 3 paddocks which they go into when ground conditions permit, all 9 horses are happy on this yard and have not had any squabbling, this has made it a lot easier for worming, grooming, foot trimming etc.

News

2007-08-16T11:14:00.000+01:00

We still have a few spaces left for full livery and retirement.

We are fully booked for backing and behaviour problems until the beginning of October, we are taking bookings from then on.

We work with all types of problems in an holistic manner, looking at the overall picture, working with the horse and owner together using a wide range of therapies and methods.

In October we will start a monthly news letter explaining all that is going on on our yard, different treatments and methods that we have used, there will also be a Wanted and For Sale section for horse related items. Please e-mail your interest to news@rowanoaklivery.co.uk you will then receive a news letter once a month, we will be happy to include any observations on your own horse or things you have used that do or don't work, if you have anything that you wish to have included in the news letter please let us have it as soon as possible. We can assure you that your e-mail address will not be passed on to anybody.

Any other enquiries please contact nick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk or pam@rowanoaklivery.co.uk

Vanessa Bee

2007-08-16T11:06:00.000+01:00

The last demo and course run by Vanessa Bee on 27th-29th July had a good attendance and was thoroughly enjoyed by all, Vanessa demonstrated on Oliver our stallion and on Shade a mare here to be backed, if you are interested in us running more demos, courses and workshops by Vanessa please contact us, nick@rowanoaklivery.co.uk

Honey and Mel

2007-08-16T11:02:00.000+01:00

Does my bum look big in this !!

Mel is 10 weeks old in this picture

Some thoughts on listening and hearing horses

2007-06-03T02:13:00.000+01:00

Some thoughts on listening and hearing horses

Thinking about what I do, how I do it, there’s a lot of things I do and not necessarily think about consciously, picking up signals from horses, come in a lot of different ways, sometimes the horse will indicate to me by a movement, pointing of the nose, swishing of the tail, lifting of a leg, the signals also come sometimes by reflected pain, itch or irritation on my own body, sometimes the tingling, cold or heat through my hands, sometimes a smell, all sorts of smells, foul smells, essential oil type smells, hay, grass, the sea sometimes indicating an organ problem or indicating a need in the diet, sometimes an internal sound, very occasionally a vision, this has only happened in the most severe cases, if I cannot pick up the signal I ask the horse to give it to me again, if I still fail I ask the horse to give it to me again in a different form, I find sometimes having hands on helps but quite often I will stand back 2 or 3 feet to try and understand, casting my eyes constantly across the horse, I spend a lot of time twisting and moving my body to work out positions that might relate to the horse, quite often a front problem can be compensatory of a rear problem, if I fail to work out the problem it normally comes to me within 24 hrs I then have no problem in ringing the client and saying I need to re-visit the horse again and explain the reason why, I’ve never had a taste but I don’t see any reason the signal shouldn’t be in taste form, the gut feeling is normally the one to go with, if you work with this you can then continue on with other signals, I also have the ability to shut my eyes and open up a third eye which appears to be placed just above the top of the nose, I can get images through this third eye, I don’t truly understand how or why but I don’t try to, sometimes it’s just a blank screen, I do believe the carrying of crystals helps in some way, I do not understand this, but I do aim to understand crystals more, I always carry smoked quartz and a pure crystal, I have on some occasions held the crystal against the horse to try and understand, I sometimes find it very difficult to pick up the horses’ energy if there are humans present, I do not have this problem if there are lots of horses present, I can focus on just the one although in some instances I have picked up the problem in the horse through a problem in the human, human out of balance, fizzy, laid back, bad hips, bad back, stiff shoulders etc sometimes reflect in the horse especially if the horse is ridden, having said all this it is sometimes incredibly difficult for me to understand my own horses without specifically concentrating I think this is spending all my time with them, looking, listening but not always seeing or hearing, I have learnt many lessons over the last few years which have improved this, some good and some not so good , I do find that back diagnosis and leg rotation as very useful tool, I find that sometimes I have to think quite hard to relate this diagnosis to the problem as sometimes there is no apparent link, remember at the time you are treating someone else’s horse you know more about that horse than they do, in shiatsu I am not sure that you need to work an exact specific points but just need to be in close proximity to it, and till your client what you feel, no matter what this is, good or bad, they will either accept it or not, but if you don’t tell them they will not have the choice, when things are not working as well as you would like I’m sure there is a reason, I feel this is nothing to do with our ability, we just need to listen, look and learn, , every treatment I give to a horse benefits it in one way or another not always as we or the owner expects, I feel its ok to tell the owner to change their style of riding, change their tack, change their feed regime, change the way the horse is kept if this the feeling I’m getting from the horse, all sorts of problems can be purely emotional, as much work as we do to a particular horse if its life style is wrong we are fighting an up hill battle, if we drive a car without any brakes we will crash into things no matter how many times we repair the damage to the car unless we fix the brakes we will keep crashing, this is exactly the same with the horse, you resolve its problems but not the causes so we must remember to treat the whole the physical been their emotional side and the environment in which said kept always doing it was the best intent and love coming from our sole.
nick of rowanoaklivery

Oliver

2007-05-18T19:16:00.000+01:00

Proud dad Oliver