Community isn't just about the people who live around you, its about people who share a common interest with you, who share the same passions and attitudes. Recently Equionics expanded its community with a visit to the beautiful Island of Malta.
As we left an uncharacteristically warm UK, we were greeted with an even warmer Malta into the heady temperatures of pushing 40 degrees. The purpose of our trip was to spread the Equionics word and expand our Equionics Community.
We can honesty say the welcome we received was heart warming and we were delighted to be able to treat some beautiful horses. The issues remained very much the same as those we see daily in the UK
- struggles with saddles due to the ever changing shape of the horse, creating tension and soreness
- confusion as to the best way to get the horse to work from behind, coming through into the contact and not rely on the horse "pulling" itself along.
- DDFT and check ligament strain and damage
- development of young horses and their top-line
- the desire to give the very best for the horse
As the UK is experiencing its hottest summer for 225 years, it was great to see how the Maltese manage to continue with their equestrian passion. The stables were beautifully cool, made out of sandstone rock, sitting within an underground environment. The horses manage on very little, if no pasture, but have the benefit of small paddock turnout linked to their loose box, enabling them to come and go as they please. Some are real sun worshippers, others choose to keep out of the midday sun.The best bit for us... no horse flies... We couldn't believe our luck!
But in all seriousness, it was great to meet such cared for horses and enthusiastic owners.
We treated around a dozen horses in total during our time there and were able to share useful groundwork as well as ridden exercises with the owners to practice until we meet again. It's been great to hear how they have all been getting on since and its seems the age old problem of no inside bend finally seems to be resolving itself.
We can't wait to go back in September to see how everyone has got on and are delighted to have expanded that community to a European one. Until next time Malta .....
