Silversand Foundation Skills 1

The Silversand Horsemanship Programme is designed to teach the principles of good horsemanship to people who desire to work in a way that is more fitting to the horse’s point of view. Created by Steve Halfpenny, it takes into account the horse’s natural way of dealing with new situations and places and works on the supposition that he is always trying his best to deal with what is being presented to him. It is also the awareness that some things appear to the horse to be of a life threatening nature although this is not always apparent to us. In fact the hardest thing for us as humans to do is to be able to see things from our horse’s perspective. If we are unable to do this we will never truly get to the point where we can work together with the unity that comes from being totally tuned into each other.

Silversand foundation skills are designed to teach you how a horse thinks and learns, and has an emphasis on safety and control. Foundation skills 1 are designed to teach you to teach your horse how to become a confident, soft, riding horse. You will learn some basic ground skills from catching your horse and preparing it mentally to be ridden up to basic riding skills with safety being the main consideration for both horse and rider. We will take care not to miss any areas where our horse may require our help.

Groundwork skills:

-Show that you can catch your horse safely in a small yard
-Show that you can rub your horse all over including handling his legs to prepare for the farrier
-Show that your horse can follow a feel in all directions, including lateral flexion
-Show that your horse can follow a suggestion in all directions
-Be able to back your horse a few steps out of your space using the 4 metre line

Riding skills (using one rein):

-Show that your horse can stand still untied while you politely saddle him
-Mount from both sides without your horse moving
-Show that your horse can follow a feel in all directions including moving the hindquarters 180 degrees to the right and left
-At the trot show changes of direction
-Show that you are able to bend your horse to a stop

Steve Halfpenny starts at the beginning with a young horse that has done very little and scared of humans to his early rides. Steve shows how to begin teaching your horse to follow the feel of the lead rope, how to trailer load, how to catch your horse and lots more. Steve then demonstrates and explains the basic skills on an older experienced horse to show how it should look when the horse responds well to the cues used.

App features:

– Over 1 hour of instructional videos by Steve Halfpenny
– 10 Foundation skills explained in detail
– The horsemanship quiz
– The model used in Silversand, developed by Philip Nye
– Worldwide Silversand clinic dates and information
– Information on the Silversand online club

Installation:

This app is for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. This app is over 1GB in size and will require wifi for initial downloading for all of the videos. This app requires internet access during use.