And photographs, if you have any.
Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Rosie Jones
Has chaps will travel...
Horse trainer turned blogger Rosie Jones leaves Sussex and heads off the beaten track, travelling the world for 7 months in search of horses and their owners; from Indian Royalty to a Bill Bailey look-a-like called Buffalo...
In September Rosie Jones (26) left her clients and horses behind in Sussex and headed east to begin a 7 month trip with a difference. Having ridden for dealers since she was 13, Rosie was training horses for clients well before her 18th birthday. Always keen to keep an open mind when it came to what constituted effective horsemanship, Rosie studied with a number of top horse people including founder of Intelligent Horsemanship Kelly Marks, eventer Chris Bartle and was the first female demonstration rider for 'horse whisperer' Monty Roberts. Ever keen to continue to expand her thinking however, Rosie set off on a round the world trip starting in India and Indonesia then following the summer through the southern hemisphere to discover what else was out there. She wasn't disappointed!
Working with Mawaris in India
Rosie intended to keep old clients and friends in touch with her progress through a blog. Less than five months in the blog has over 8000 hits with readers in 5 continents following her progress. Readers have teasingly likened her style to Sex in the City (with less sex and more horses!) as each adventure brings new topics of discussion into her writing.
In the past few months Rosie has worked her way across northern India, staying with descendents of the Maharaja in palaces and desert forts and watching loading problems in the starting stalls on race day in India’s oldest Turf club in Kolkata. In Indonesia she trawled across Jakarta to visit a showjumping haven in the middle of one of the world’s most polluted cities before heading to Bali to work with some troubled tourist horses. In Australia a tip off from a local bus driver sent her into the hills to find an infamous bush man known as Buffalo and she reported daily from the largest equine event in the Southern hemisphere, Equitana. New Zealand saw visits to a charity who used horses to work with students with behaviour problems and a day following foal handling specialists in kiwi horse capital Cambridge. Her latest adventure took place on New Years day in the baking heat on a Chilean mountain top with Rodeo rider and all round charmer Ramon. Next stop Brazil and Argentina where Lucitanos and Fallabellas are high on the list.
Sunrise at Kolkutta racecourse
She says ' You just never know what's coming next, I tried desperately to be organised and have most meetings lined up before I left Heathrow but found no one wrote back. If I arrive in town and email them that I'm here it's incredible how often I've struck lucky that way. In Jaipur I was moments from leaving on a bus when a call came through and within the hour I was in a jeep heading out to the desert to a grand palace and hundreds of stunning Mawari horses!'
‘Éach meeting is different' she explains ' I always aim to go with an open mind and sometimes I end up teaching, sometimes learning...well, always learning!'. The trip has already involved some of the most interesting challenges of her career. A horse with an extreme fear of starting stalls at Kolkutta race course provided a tough enough challenge without the added time pressure introduced by the startlingly different level of patience afforded. After just 15 minutes, she was given another minute before the trainers lost faith and returned to the forceful methods that had so far only ingrained the problem. The equine gods smiled down on that humid track that morning though and miraculously 'Rocketball', who, only half an hour before had been rearing and bucking at the sight of the starting stalls, went in, well ahead of schedule. 'Good luck and a good horse' Rosie claims!
Rosie riding in Chile
Ít's really great to know my skills can be useful in the most unlikely places too' Rosie says. On a beach in Bali she met Natalie who ran a business taking tourists out on horses along the beach. Some of the horses were amongst the most dangerous Rosie has ever worked with. A little digging and it emerged that the horses had suffered appalling abuse from some of their previous stable hands, being cross tied and beaten repetitively had resulted in angry, attacking horses who were near impossible to handle. Ít's hard when you come across these situations as you know you'll have to move on in a day or two, but you do what you can with the horses to provide some solutions. But above all it felt good to be able to offer Natalie an ear to bend about her horsey problems, Bali is pretty isolated in comparison to the horse community in the UK.'
Rosie and Buffalo in the Australian bush
But her favourite experiences? 'They are all so different it's impossible to choose but so far we have met two wild breeds. Brumbies in Australia and Kaimanawas in New Zealand have only been roaming wild for around 200 years but they are very much a part of the wild heritage of the countries they live in now. Unfortunately they are proving an environmental risk and their future in the wild is uncertain, I'm glad to have met them whilst they are still a part of these incredible landscapes.'. Their supporters are so enthusiastic about these beautiful horses, with temperaments and physical traits that were until now so foreign to me, it's just exciting to be around such passion.
Rosie hopes her own passion will inspire other people to follow their noses when it comes to their own equine education, to ask questions, search for answers and follow the advice of the odd friendly bus driver! To visit Rosie's blog go to rosiejoneshorses.wordpress.com. Rosie’s trip finishes in March 2013.
Contact
Blog- rosiejoneshorses.wordpress.com
Website- www.rosiejoneshorses.co.uk