Blog : Equus Education

Interactivity With Horses

November 26, 2008 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

Well the past few days I’ve been volunteering at Equitana and finding yet more things I want to do with a non existent amount of free time!

I volunteered to work in the education area of the exhibit and spent the majority of my four shifts in the interactive area. It was interesting to see all the free things set up to keep the groups of students and pony clubbers passing through.

These included:
– a mechanical bull
– a sulkey set up by Harness Racing Victoria in which you could sit and watch a race from the jockey’s point of view while the sulkey ran giving a bit of a feel for driving one. I couldn’t help myself and had to try this one out considering I was manning it most of the time
– the computer game ‘Jumporama 2‘ created by Horse Riding Coach in which you could practice jumping your horse, acquiring points for each jump you cleared – I don’t seem to have the timing right to be successful at this one!
I was chatting with Bert Hartog from Horse Riding Coach and was impressed to find out that the equine coaching course can now be incorporated into year 11 and 12 subjects; being part of your VCE or HSC marks – great idea!
– My Horse and Me 2, the result of a partnership with Atari and the FEI was also a big hit with many trying out the Wii version or the PlayStation version
– there was also the chance to try out some vaulting on the stationary horse with members from Sugargum Farm and the Star Struck Vaulters, Geelong

These were all a huge success but I think the simulation dressage horse at the Horseland stand may have trumped them all with the mile long queue to have a go. Apparently the life size horse responded to any little movement of your seat, legs or hands and you could carry out a dressage test, using aids to push the horse into a canter or bring back to a trot or walk.

For such a large equine related event that is carried out on a bi-annual basis, there is a market for those who can simulate horse related disciplines and offer the simulation for hire at events.

In Australia there are other events such as the Scone Horse Festival and I’m sure the likes of Pony Clubs and other riding clubs would potentially use such things. For those interested in simulation or equine related inter-activities, perhaps looking into these events and promoting a particular product may be the way to go.

“Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly!”

Tags: interactive, horse simulations, harness racing, my horse and me, jumporama, horse riding coach

Name in Print

November 23, 2008 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

It Happened By Design, Kathie M. Thomas Mum picked up the hard copies of her latest book Monday 27th of October and they look great. The invested interest for me in this book? I’m in it!

It Happened By Design is a series of God-Incidence stories. One occurred for me while I was studying at the Irish National Stud in 2006. Titled Right Time, Right Place it features on pages 102-104.

One was rather excited about it all, so thought I’d share though the post isn’t particularly horsey!

It is however a step in the right direction toward my goal of getting my horse book published. Just got to get off my backside and actually finish the thing! (I’m about half way through having written it, with the word count so far at just over 79,000).

For those of you who have a dream of combining their love of horses with their love of writing, it’d be worth your while to weigh up the pros and cons of finding a publisher and self publishing.Equine author JoAnn Dawson, “began by self-publishing and worked very hard to get my books out on the market, then my series was picked up by Sourcebooks, after which I wrote a fourth book.”

With the joys of the internet, anything’s possible. Shop around! Speaking of shopping, if the above book appeals to you at all, you can purchase it through Amazon or order it at the official site.

If you order it from the official site, perhaps you could leave a note in the comments to say that you found out about the book through Equus. 🙂

If you’re at all interested in my equine related work in progress, you can read the first two chapters on this site.

“Words are as beautiful as wind horses, and sometimes as difficult to corral.” – Ted Berkman, The Christian Science Monitor

Tags: writing, equine stories, horse related novel, getting published, horse story

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Don’t forget to consider submitting a piece or two for the carnival of the horses December 1 edition!

The Horse Whisperer

November 21, 2008 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

While studying in Ireland one of our teachers was clearing out her collection of old books and magazines. In the collection was a copy of the Horse Whisperer and because she was getting rid of it all, I quickly snapped up the copy.

Surprisingly, I’d not read the book before and set to devouring the story around a horse and young rider that were in a spirit shattering accident and the devastated family that sought to fix things with the help of a horse whisperer.

The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans. The majority of this story I really enjoyed and the imagery brought up from the first few pages when the equine related accident occurs was really well written.

It was also interesting to read about the ‘horse whisperer’ and his approach to horses and life in general. There were some… training perspectives, perhaps… that I found worth considering.

I didn’t however enjoy reading about the same character’s justification for a woman cheating on her husband.

Despite disagreeing with the way the characters’ relationships were panning out, I continued the book, eager to read how this traumatised horse was to be reached and hopefully restored to a happy individual.

The relationship with the young girl and her horse was amazing to read about but the ending of the book was for me a large disappointment, a cop out and I couldn’t see myself reading the book again.

Author: Nicholas Evans
http://www.nicholasevans.com/
Fiction
In my library? Without wanting to be flamed (and please understand that this is just my opinion), another no thanks. I strongly disliked the end of this book but was surprised to find that it was changed for the movie. The morals written throughout are too detailed and not appealing either.

“You cannot train a horse with shouts and expect it to obey a whisper.” – Dagobert D. Runes

Tag: horse story, equine book review, nicholas evans, equine author, horse library, horse writing

Profile On: Mel Widdis

November 19, 2008 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

Fortissimo Freestyles was set up by the dressage rider and classically trained musician, Melissa Widdis. After being shown her site by mum, I emailed to see if Melissa would be able to answer some questions about her amazing career choice. The answers she kindly sent and you can find below.

For those of you attending Equitana over the next few days, you can find Melissa Widdis of Fortissimo Freestyles in the education area of Equitana at the showgrounds.

Have you always been interested in horses and how did Fortissimo Freestyles come about? Was it something you foresaw as an income possibility?
From the time I knew what a horse was I was interested in horses.

Fortissimo Freestyles came about through the black horse Aria who is on my web site. I was competing with him in a team event which required freestyles for each team member and as the only musician on the team I thought I’d have a go at it… then I was hooked.

I didn’t consider it as an income possibility. Not full time anyway.

How much of your day/week is hands on with horses?
Every day with my own horses and every day with clients horses but mainly through a video or dvd with clients.

In this field is it possible for someone to be a full time professional, earning a livable income?
It depends what you mean by “livable income”. I work full time but as my business is only in it’s infancy I have done a lot of work for free (especially this year with the Olympics and Equitana) so it’s hard to get a guage on what my actual income would be and what people are prepared to pay.

In Europe and the US, designers make a killing because people have to ride a freestyle to qualify whereas in Australia people have to qualify to ride a freestyle.

What are the general steps taken to be able to provide such a service to others for freestyle events? Is there a large demand for this type of work?
I help people design their choreography which they then film and send to me. We then select the music which I edit around the horses movements.

As far as demand it’s really an unknown quantity. I don’t think I have been in the business long enough to answer that but freestyles events are definitely increasing in popularity. As people are now becoming more savvy with technology a lot of people have a go at doing their own music.

Any advice for those interested in pursuing this line of work?
You need excellent people skills and you need to be prepared to really put yourself out there. People in the dressage fraternity expect the best not just in relation to the final product but with customer service also.

Is there anything else with horses you’d love to learn about or try?
Yes I’d love to learn more about intuitive horseman/womanship so we can train in a more harmonious way rather than saying “do it or else.”

The more I can learn in any aspect relating to horses the better.

Favourite horse memory?
Sneaking out my bedroom window as a kid to ride my horse bareback in the moonlight… she was a very special horse!

Future goals?
To be the best in my industry and to get to PSG on my mare before she retires then ride her baby onto Grand Prix.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
The endless pursuit for perfection… same as music really

“DRESSAGE, n.: the passionate pursuit of perfection by the obsessively imperfect.”

Tag: freestyle dressage, equine music, dressage test, fortissimo freestyles

Name in Print

The Horse Whisperer

Profile On: Mel Widdis

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