Allie's Life with horses

My name is Allie Booth, and I work with horses. They have been part of my life for more than 30 years. I was one of those annoying children who harass their parents for a pony every Christmas and Birthday. Since I lived in the middle of suburban Adelaide, it wasn’t until I was 12 that I finally got Woofy – poor fellow. So old he was, over 35. But still, it was the start.   For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in getting my horse to go better, to be a better ride, to jump higher, be easier to stop, to get on a float easily. I’d spend hours looking for flat areas I could ride on to practice, and any log that I could jump. In fact, anything at all that looked like I could try, I did. Pony Club was a big thing. My local club, Mylor Valley was no great competitive force, but there were some good riders there, and I learnt quite a lot and did a huge amount of eventing and jumping at that stage. Eventually, of course, I grew up, and grew out of Pony Club.

During this time, before I could drive, I had to depend on the generosity of people to get to events. The kindness of so many people, very few of whom accepted payment, I owe so much to. Thank you to all of you, many who won’t remember me, but it doesn’t matter, your kindness I remember.

Once I could drive, and had a float (no great shakes – it cost $600), I travelled to events even more. I competed over most of South Australia.  One of my favourites was Moonta – a nice weekend away, fun course, and the drive-in on Saturday night.

When I was 21, I moved to Whyalla, where distance to events was challenging, so I competed less. I also grew past my horse Duke, and bought my sixth horse, a race horse off the track. Such a pretty boy – but never going to be an eventer. Way too scared of his own shadow.  So I turned to dressage and showing for a while. I called him Spaz, and I journeyed with him for 12 years. He was very successful in the show ring, but I preferred dressage. There I learnt a huge amount, and had some very successful years in the competition arena, before I went to university as a distance student. The year I started to study, my competitive riding fell apart in a big way.

By the end of the year, my competitive nerve was so bad, I was thinking of giving it up. I came down to asking myself – Why was I doing this? Did I want to win (which meant sell the horse and get another one), or did I want to learn how to ride better, which meant keep the one I had and learn what I was doing wrong. For me, I wanted to learn. So I stopped going to competitions, and started going to schools, taking lessons, reading and practicing until I knew I could be confident that I was doing the right thing. From Spaz, I learnt that aggression was not going to work, and that gentle persistence was much more effective, and more fun, and safer. And of course my horse was happier.

By this stage, I had been working and schooling horses for friends for many years. I have always been fascinated by horses and their attitude. It constantly amazes me at the generosity and willingness of horse’s to co-operate with humans. By taking the approach that most horses, given a chance, will try and please a human, when this doesn’t happen, I look for the reason why. Generally, humans have not explained properly to the horse what is wanted. Horses are not capable of speaking human, so it is up to humans to learn to speak “horse”. After all, we are supposed to be more intelligent, aren’t we?

I moved to Wagga NSW, found a great coach there, took weekly lessons, and learnt more. After a 7 year break, I was ready to try competing again. I had my plan, I had my goal, “Do a calm test”, so armed with what I learnt, I succeeded in achieving my goal – a lovely calm test without me or my horse panicking. WHOO! I was back in competition again.

Then, disaster. My lovely boy Spaz started to go lame. Not all the time, but enough to be unreliable, and occasionally he was so sore that I couldn’t ride. With x-rays, he was diagnosed with inflammation of the pedal bone, a chronic condition caused by flat thin feet being asked to work on hard ground too often. Now, I’d put synthetic shoes on him, but then, there was no choice. I retired him and started looking for another horse to take me on.

5 months later, my old friend Michelle was boasting about how good the horses in Tasmania were. “Prove it” I said, so she did. From a video and photos, I bought Powder Monkey as an unbroken 2 yr old. Now I have a love affair with the Cleveland Bay breed, which nearly became extinct. Monks has become my heart and my soul. With Monkey, I have learnt accuracy and precision, timing and feel. I have let other people learn why a dressage horse is just so much better to ride – no matter what you are asking them to do. Why dressage is a tool designed to make your horse be better, both physically and mentally. Why my successful Medium level “Dressage horse” can trail ride, do games, go to Pony Club, carry my dog when his legs collapse. Why dressage has given me a horse that I can ask to teach just about anyone, from first time beginners, to riders who have years of experience. In each case, they have gone away have felt positive, encouraged and having learnt a huge amount. In some cases, I have had students tell me they have learnt more in one lesson with me, than they have in years of going to many other instructors. If that is so, then I am doing a good job.

4 years ago I became “professional” and started giving lessons on a formal basis. Through our business, Powder Monkeys Business, I offer lessons in horsemanship, dressage, harness and anything to do with horses. I train and reeducate, I start young horses off, and am building a herd of horses I can use for lessons and occasionally for sale (to appropriate homes). Currently, I have 2 competition horses, Cheeky Monkey for kids, Night Monkey for harness work and Chunky Monkey the Clydesdale to work in chains and provide some heavy labour. Night Monkey and Cheeky are ready for new homes.

One of my latest challenges is learning Sign language so I can communicate to 2 of my students who are unable to talk or hear. Since teaching is about communication, and horses communicate strongly with body language, learning sign language is a very appropriate addition to my skills – and a lot of fun!

 I operate from our property in Portland, and mostly travel to people’s places to give lessons. It is easier for me to get in the car, than it is to hitch up a float, load the horse and all the rest of the business. With lights on my arena, I can work late into the night and am looking forward to summer. I offer lessons on Powder Monkey, as I found it frustrating as a rider not knowing what things felt like, and finding an educated horse to learn on was close to impossible.

I took what I liked about instructors I had been to, and what I didn’t like about them, and use that to develop my own style. My focus is on positive encouragement. People ride for enjoyment, so lessons must be enjoyable. I don’t care if people compete or just want to learn more about horses. I love to teach, and to see my students with either two or four legs achieve things they have never done before. With my love and admiration of horses, and my experience of riding over the years, I hope that I can share this knowledge and help other people to enjoy being with this amazing species.