More About Callouts
If you have a particular budget to work within, please make that clear on the booking form, and we will endeavour to work within it. If we think it’s unrealistic for the learning required, we can discuss alternatives.
We will ring before we leave, and will always leave after the rush hour, and choose routes that are least likely to have problems, but you should probably allow for the occasional delay.
We will often bring along an assistant at no extra charge.
What to expect:
An appointment usually consists of:
Consultation: an opportunity for you to describe the problem, or the issue/skill you would like to work on. If this is a follow-up appointment, it’s a good time to discuss progress and issues that have come up since the last visit.
Theory: If you’re quite new to the work, you’ll want to know a bit about the approach we’ll be taking, and the principles behind it. Explanations will also be on-going during the training process, and if there’s anything you don’t understand or are uncertain about, please feel free to ask at any time.
Human to human: It’s an old cliché in the horse world that it’s not the horse that needs the work, it’s the human. It usually sounds a bit like an insult, but it’s our intention to equip you with as many skills and abilities as possible during the training session. If you’ve acquired skills, then we haven’t just “fixed” the problem, we’ve enabled you to solve future issues and improve the quality of your relationship with your horse. One of the ways we’ll often do this is during human-to-human role play. You’ll get some insight into what it feels like to be the horse, and some techniques to help perfect your timing.
Work with the horse: We may ask to see you work with the horse first, to see if we can gain some insight into the interaction, but it may be the case that we start work with the horse straight away, particularly if you feel anxious about “performing”, or are nervous of your horse, or there are safety issues involved. It’s likely that we’ll swap to and fro between us to make sure that you’ve really got the hang of it and that the horse fully understands.
Interim assessment: very often, there’ll come a time in an appointment when a decision needs to be made as to when to stop. When good progress has been made, and you’re both doing really well, you might feel that you don’t have any more brain space to carry on, and would like to stop, maybe to continue on a second appointment. However, if the travelling fee has been significant, you might prefer to keep going, perhaps after a break. In a loading scenario, for example, the horse may be loading very happily, but putting up the ramp and partitions may be a whole other issue. It’s a good idea to have a moment to discuss the pros and cons of continuing or tackling the issue on another session.
Continuing work or Summary: After the interim assessment, either work will continue, or we’ll summarise the work that has been done, making sure that you fully understand the process and principles.
Plan of action: Before we leave, we’ll discuss the way forward with you and your horse, suggesting homework or exercises, to do and a training schedule, if appropriate.
Spectators: spectators are welcome. If it’s someone who also deals with the horse, it would make sense for them to fully participate in the training, and perhaps to split the fee with you. If it’s just an interested friend, or someone who may also want to help, then it’s appropriate even if they can’t be there for the entire appointment. If it’s sceptics on your yard, or a large group of people, you might want to consider whether you want them there! A lot of questions can slow down and dilute the training process, and you might feel they should pay for their own learning! You might feel pressured if there are lots of people watching. Once there are more than 4 people watching, it becomes more like a clinic than an appointment, and we would expect to be able to charge additionally for that. If you are happy for lots of spectators to be there, it might be an idea for you to ask them to contribute to the cost of your appointment.
Assistants: Only one of us will attend an appointment (usually Adam), but we may well bring an assistant (such as a working pupil), and would not charge you any extra for this. If you are not happy for an assistant to attend, please let us know.