Francis, Lucy Rees

[Chilli]

Did you get any further with the video?

Is this a fair representation of Lucy’s methods ?

http://www.thejoyofhorses.com/march99/rees.htm

It seems to be very similar to what a lot are doing, after reading the link I happened across an interview with her at SEPA on a Living abroad Sat channel and I think I really need to see her working to make my own mind up if its really a different approach or not.

Do you know if she has an English web site? This is the only one I could find http://lucyrees.com/

[Francis Burton]

First of all, sorry for the delay in replying!

Did you get any further with the video?
I'm afraid not. The person organizing the meeting had so much to think about on the day, including looking after two of the guest speakers, that she didn't bring the video tape with her. I don't blame her at all for that - I might easily have forgotten it myself in her position. However, I will ask her if she would be willing to post it to me, and, failing that, I could borrow it from her next time we meet.

Is this a fair representation of Lucy’s methods ?
To be honest, I have no idea. I only saw her working with horses on two occasions: once at a demo/workshop she gave in October 1999, in Acklam, Yorkshire, and in 2001 at Charles Wilson's place in Sinnington. She did some work in a round-pen at the earlier demo which bore more than a passing resemblance to Monty Roberts' join-up, but I know she is less keen now on the "sending away" aspect of round-pen work. However, most of the time at the first demo, and all of the time at the second, was spent working with individual horses in a larger rectangular sand manege - all very quiet, unspectacular stuff. She used a variety of methods in a rather piecemeal ad-hoc fashion, with standard tack, but they were clearly tailored to each problem/horse/owner that she was dealing with. (The only "gadget" she used, if you can call it that, was a plastic bag tied to the end of a dressage whip, which she got the owner to use to keep the horse's attention, but not to scare it.) She is strongly critical of "conventional" ideas about dominance and how they are often applied in training (and I agree with her).

http://www.thejoyofhorses.com/march99/rees.htm

It seems to be very similar to what a lot are doing, after reading the link I happened across an interview with her at SEPA on a Living abroad Sat channel and I think I really need to see her working to make my own mind up if its really a different approach or not.

I know she likes and respects the work of Mark Rashid, and isn't so keen on that of Pat Parelli - if that helps at all!

Do you know if she has an English web site? This is the only one I could find http://lucyrees.com/
In Cambridge, she told me she had plans to revamp her web site and that she wanted to include an English translation.

I noticed on another dg that she had appeared on cable TV recently:

http://ihdg.proboards91.com/index.cgi?board=talk2&action=display&thread=1194910618

Could it be the same programme you saw?

[Francis Burton]

Some random pictures from the two workshops/demos:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/External/EBF/LucyReesAcklam.jpg

http://www.gla.ac.uk/External/EBF/sinn05.jpg

http://www.gla.ac.uk/External/EBF/sinn06.jpg

http://www.gla.ac.uk/External/EBF/sinn13.jpg

http://www.gla.ac.uk/External/EBF/sinn14.jpg

http://www.gla.ac.uk/External/EBF/sinn15.jpg

http://www.gla.ac.uk/External/EBF/sinn17.jpg

[Chilli]

Sorry got a Wow saddle then was ill for a few weeks then had to catch up on all the stuff I hadn’t done while ill, but I digress.

Sorry I misunderstood you, I though you had studied her methods quite a bit and were suggesting she had one of the gentlest, least confrontational methods for starting a horse.

The program was the one mentioned on the other DG.

It seems to me her core message/philosophy is the same as most (the good ones) out of the Dorrance school with her own personality heavily involved, which I guess everyone does.

It was very interesting watching her talk and reading about her views, I’d love to see that documentary, maybe one day.