“We don’t break horses,

we teach horses and riders to make breakthroughs!”

Topics covered in this newsletter:

*Bob’s World & Training Tip of the Month *The Kids Clinic

*The Advanced Clinic- coming soon! *The Newbies?

*Bob & Suz at Int’l Centered Riding® Symposium *Win a Horse Vacation!

*T'ai Chi for Horsepeople Seminar with Suzanne *Bob & Suz at Equine Affaire

*Nutrena Feed-Standing Up Straight *Bob’s Article of the Month

*Calendar of Events*

Bob’s World

August and September were exciting and quite busy months. Suzanne and I just completed our little mini tour to return for the Horsemanship Breakthrough Week, followed by a weekend clinic. We worked nineteen days straight, but had a blast. Janine is having a little culture shock after our return to the office, even though she says she didn’t miss us. We were fortunate to meet and share ideas with an Icelandic horse trainer, Gudmar Petursson at his facility in Kentucky. Thanks, Gudmar, for your hospitality! Plans are in the works to collaborate on a clinic or two in 2004.

I am looking forward to the return of our Trainer Education Program students as they complete Level 3 this month. We shall list them on our Trainer Education Program web page after graduation.

Training tip of the month

Remember your horse doesn’t know when it doesn’t count, so always be consistent in your handling.

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The adventure of Bob and Suz continue! We had the pleasure of traveling to the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, where we worked with the American Trail Horse Association at their Annual Trail Ride Event. Jen Lowe, the founder of the association, hosted us to demonstrate how to train your horse to be the best trail horse ever! If you get to visit the gorgeous 250,000 paradise for trail riders in Herod, IL, be sure to check out 34 Ranch. Owner Tom Luchies has made it a great place to camp with your horse!.

Then down to Kentucky, where we rode some Icelandic horses, including Gudmar’s handsome black stallion, Throstur! Next stop, onto the Haemer Farm in Cambridge Springs, PA for another Foundation Clinic Level 1. Tiffanie and Dave always make us feel right at home – thanks guys! We not only enjoyed working with some great people and horses, we also had the opportunity to help raise funds for Hog Heaven Rescue Farm, run by Regina Martin and David Allman. We’ll be back for a Foundation Clinic Level 2, Oct 25 & 26, with a Saturday Night Show. If you’ve ridden in a Foundation Clinic Level 1 before, join us for lateral work, a finished, balanced stop, correct backing, speed control and Centered Riding® techniques. Remember – part, partner, partnership!

Cortland, NY - join Bob and Suz for the last Foundation Clinic Level 1 of 2003!

Live Friday Night Show on October 10, Partnership Training Riding Clinic on Sat/Sun October 11 & 12. If you can't see us at Equine Affaire, check us out in Cortland

Advanced Clinic

If you’ve ridden in our Foundation Clinics, step up to better collection, leads, canter departures, sidepassing, turns on the forehand and haunches, mind-blowing stops, Centered Riding® and more! October 18 & 19 at Jeffcrest Ranch, Middletown, NY. Spots are limited to 8 horse/rider teams, $295 each, so sign up asap on www.bobjeffreys.com!

8th Annual International Centered Riding® Symposium

October 31-November 2 – Brattleboro Quality Inn, Brattleboro, VT www.centeredriding.org

Join us at this exciting event! Bob will present on developing a true partnership between people and horses, and Suzanne will focus on T’ai Chi for horse people! There will even be a tribute to Sally Swift, so don’t miss it!

2nd Annual T'ai Chi for Horsepeople Seminar with Suzanne Sheppard

Look better, feel better, ride better! Join Suzanne (who is also a T'ai Chi instructor) for a weekend of T'ai Chi customized for equestrians. Friday eve (7pm-9pm) and Saturday/Sunday (9am-4pm), Dec. 5-7, in Middletown, NY. Treat yourself to a weekend of stress-relieving chi kung exercises, cultivate better balance and body awareness, learn part 1 of the Yang Style Long Form, and address the most common challenge riders face: tension! $145 fee includes workbook. For info call Suzanne at (845)361-3375, or email suzannesheppard2003@yahoo.com Just breathe!

Equine Affair – Breed Demo with Icelandics – Versatility Team!

Bob and I have been invited to be part of the USIHC Breed Demos being organized by the Northeast Icelandic Horse Club at Equine Affair in Springfield, MA. We will be performing on Thursday, Nov 6 and Saturday Nov 8 at 3:15 both days with the Icelandic Team. Come see just how versatile these horses really are!

Kids Clinic

Egg and spoon races, water in a cup relays, trail rides, partnership games…we had a blast with all of the kids that participated in our kids clinic. Thanks to our hosts, Joe and Kathy Gottlieb, for the hospitality! Safety, horse psychology and Centered Riding® techniques all added up to a fun, valuable experience! And, contrary to popular rumor, Bob and I did not cheat when we competed against each other with our kid partners in the water race! (Well, maybe just a little). Check out our website photo gallery to see the action!

The Newbies?

Blackjack and Stefnir are the newest additions to our equine family. Blackjack is Bob’s new Quarter Horse. He can spin and stop but he’s never been on a trail, gone through water or seen a deer. Bob’s working with him as we speak. He’s improving everyday and we’ve started using him in our Friday night shows! Stefnir is Suzanne’s 12.3 hand Icelandic who is willing, friendly and great for kids and adults new to riding! You can see their photos on our photo gallery page on the website – check it out to see why Blackjack is also known as Marshmallow Nose!

*******Win a horse vacation!*******

Calling all adults who love to ride and save money at the same time! Win a free Horsemanship Breakthrough Week in 2004, a $795 value! To enter, just write a one page essay about how you have fun with horses, and send it in to us by December 31, 2003. The winner’s name will be drawn on March 1, 2004. Be sure to include your name, telephone number, and email address. Only adults 21 years old and over are eligible! To enter, visit www.bobjeffreys.com . Why not take a chance- you could be the winner!

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TEACHING THE TURN ON THE FOREHAND

By Bob Jeffreys

Wouldn’t you like to be able to have your horse’s hindquarters move as the front end stand still? This is an easy and fun lesson to teach your horse and most of them can learn it in less than two hours. As a movement, it is not only impressive, but a very useful one, particularly in trail classes.

Since horses must be taught to move away from pressure (this is not something they do naturally), I start the lesson by teaching the horse to move his hindquarters to either the left or the right from the reins. This way I have a motivator (the bit) to encourage the horse to seek the correct response. Later on I’ll put a cue spot on the horse where my heel or spur will touch him to signal the turn on the forehand.

Begin by looking at the horse’s left hip (for a turn to the right) while slowly taking the slack out of the left rein. Move your left hand upward and across your chest toward your right shoulder. Add pressure slowly if needed but release and praise the horse as soon as the horse’s hip starts to move forward to the right. In effect, you are disengaging the hip and you’ll feel a distinct step to the right. Don’t worry too much about what the front feet are doing at this time. We are only interested in getting one step at a time at this stage.

When we start top get this single step consistently, we can start to put our leg cue on the movement. Remember here that horses are very sensitive to touch and your cue spot doesn’t have to be exaggerated. Start using your leg cues first and only use your reins if necessary. Eventually, you won’t have to use the reins or look at the hip spot at all; you’ll just use your cue spot with your heel. When you are able to get a full 360 degree turn by using your leg cue only, one step at a time (i.e. releasing pressure from you leg after each step), then you can try leaving your heel on your cue spot for two steps at a time – then three steps, etc. until you can apply the cue and the horse will continue to move his hindquarters until you remove your heel from the cue spot. When you can accomplish this, we can focus on keeping the front feet in an imaginary two foot circle using our reins to restrict movements outside of the circle. I prefer to teach the entire movement on one side of the horse and then go teach the other side. I believe it eliminates confusion for the horse plus they will soften up sooner when we stay on one side longer.

You can also teach this lesson from the ground using your rein or lead rope first to disengage the hip and then using your thumb to apply the “leg cue”.

Enjoy the lesson!

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Standing up Straight

With

Life Design Youth

Did you know you can affect the health and potential of your foal before it is even born. The health and nutritional state that your mare is in when she is pregnant will affect her unborn filly or colt. Providing proper nutrition to your mare can help prevent certain developmental orthopedic diseases (DOD). Genetics, exercise management and nutrition can all affect bone development in your foal There are many myths about the nutritional causes of DOD such as too much protein, too much molasses or even feeding alfalfa. These are just myths. What does contribute to developmental problems from a nutritional standpoint is an unbalanced diet for you mare when she is pregnant and you foal once it is born..

“When fed a balanced ration, foals will grow to their genetic potential without increasing the risk of incurring Developmental Orthopedic Disease provided exercise management is done properly. A balanced ration is defined as one that provides all of the nutrients needed in a 24 hour period in their proper amounts and proper relationships to each other. This balanced ration is sometimes referred to as the ’nutrient to calorie ratio,’ which means that all nutrients are balanced to the energy level in the ration. Listed below are some of the relationships in a balanced ration for a foal at weaning designed to reach a mature bodyweight of 1100 pounds. There are other relationships as well, such as copper, zinc, Manganese, selenium and vitamins.” (Jim Ward D.V.M., Equine Management Consultant, Nutrena)

Digestible Energy (DE) 8.5 Mcal/100 kg bodyweight/day

Crude Protein (CP) DE x 50 = Grams of CP/day

Lysine DE x 2.1 = Grams of Lysine/day

Calcium (Ca) DE x 2.0 = Grams of Calcium/day

Phosphorus (P) Ca X 0.55 = Grams of Phosphorus/day

Nutrena Life Design Youth is specifically formulated to prevent Developmental Orthopedic Diseases. Youth contains balanced ratios of all essential nutrients and can be fed to your mare in late gestation through lactation and to your foal and yearling.

Remember, a healthy foal starts with a healthy mare.

For more information on Youth or other Nutrena horse feeds please visit www.nutrenaworld.com

2003-2004 Schedule

October 10-12 – Bob Jeffreys Foundation Clinic Level 1-Cortland, NY

October 18 & 19-Advanced Clinic - Jeffcrest Ranch, Middletown, NY

October 13-17 & 20-24-Trainer Education Program - Level 3 - Jeffcrest Ranch, Middletown, NY

October 24-26 – Foundation Clinic – Level 2 – Cambridge Springs, PA

October 31-November 2 – International Centered Riding® Symposium, Brattleboro, VT www.centeredriding.org

November 6-9 – Equine Affaire-West Springfield, MA

November 10-14-Round Pen Week -Jeffcrest Ranch, Middletown, NY

November 14-16-Exclusively Icelandic Foundation Level 2 Clinic – Bloomingburg, NY

December 5-7 - T'ai Chi for Horsepeople with Suzanne Sheppard Middletown, NY $145

2004 Events

January 10 & 11, 2004 – Northeast Horsemen’s Conference & Trade Show – Maine

February 14 & 15, 2004 – Bob Jeffreys Customized Partnership Clinic- Basking Ridge, NJ

May 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11, 2004 – Bob Jeffreys and Suzanne Sheppard host

Susan Harris for a Open Centered Riding® Clinic and a Centered Jumping® Clinic

Bloomingburg, NY

July 12-16 & July 19-23 – Trainer Education Program – Level 1-Jeffcrest Ranch, Middletown, NY

August 16-20 & August 23-27 – Trainer Education Program – Level 2 – Jeffcrest Ranch, Middletown, NY

October 11-15 & October 18-22 – Trainer Education Program – Level 3 – Jeffcrest Ranch, Middletown, NY

www.bobjeffreys.com (845)692-7478

bob@bobjeffreys.com

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