Client’s Comments

February 22nd, 2010
“I decided to look into the whole Natural Horsemanship ‘thing’ a couple of years ago and soon discovered I hadn’t a clue how to really ‘read’ a horse and therefore know what it was feeling at any given moment and yet I’d owned one wonderful horse for 21 years and had now got another.
I was (and still am) following  the Parelli Natural Horsemanship programme but even with their Levels guides you  still need help to get past the difficulties which arise – horse being individuals too! Heather can see exactly where my technique, position, manner etc were letting me down and skilfully showed me ‘how’.
I have called on Heather several times to come and resolve my stumbling blocks and in addition I have learned such a lot about my mare and horse behaviour in general.
She has also given me great ‘after sales’ support and back-up via email so that my new found skills got firmly established once I was on my own.
I have watched my mare start to become a partner and I can now read her feelings/thoughts almost all of the time. I now have a real 2-way relationship with her which gives me so much pleasure.
I would say that if you want to have a truly understanding relationship with your horse Heather will help you achieve that.” from Dorothy Smith, Braemar.

I got in touch with Heather approx 2 months after my gelding had arrived, by this point I was having doubts as to whether or not I had done the right thing in buying him, his manners on the ground were truly terrible and just trying to lead him from the field was a nightmare.
Heather came to see us a couple of times and really helped us by showing me that he wasnt a bad horse but a misunderstood one!  We had a couple of groundwork lessons which really helped and we haven’t really looked back. I have and will continue to recommend Heather to anyone whom I feel would benefit from her help and knowledge. from L.A., East Lothian

Fergus, my Highland Pony, was getting the better of me. Fergus was second only to my family in my affections, and the thought of no Fergus was devastating, but I was becoming quite scared of him.   A friend told me about Heather’s work with ponies, and I hoped she might be able to help.

At her first visit, Heather talked to me, met Fergus, and listened to our problems.  She suggested an approach, and offered various ways of working with us.  Life improved immediately.  Now it is two years on, and Fergus is the friendly animal I had always thought he was, he is eager to please, and I understand how to deal with the thrawn side of his personality.  There is still a lot to learn, and we will never stop practicing, but Heather enabled us to rebuild the relationship, she has taught me how to work with Fergus, and she has supported us through the odd tricky patch.  What’s best is that Fergus and I both have fun now.  The family are getting used to their new place in the pecking order.

I believe my life would be very different right now if I had not been given Heather’s telephone number.  from V. East Lothian


‘I was having major problems with my 3 year old cob mare ,she knew just what to do to get her own way and had obviously sussed that I had no idea how to deal with her…..I loved her to bits but must admit that I was scared of her at the same time .I had looked at various articles on ‘ natural horsemanship’ but was afraid that I couldn’t afford to go down that road but I needed help and in actual fact couldn’t afford NOT to.
I had looked at the ‘Savvy Horse’ site – loved the cartoon logo!- and decided to contact Heather although I was worried that she would think there was no hope for me .Heather was brilliant ,easy to talk to and most importantly easy to understand – with that first lesson I felt far more confident and had the simple tools to enable me to handle the problems that lead me to ‘Savvy Horse’.
I look forward to resuming my lessons in the spring ,and am sure that my wee girl will enjoy a few more ‘healing’ sessions – don’t ask me how they work but I have never seen a more relaxed pony in my life !!!. ‘ from Irene F., Glasgow

I turned to Heather following a few nasty accidents with my pony Rolo. I bought her from a riding school where she was constantly stabled, underfed and over worked. Initially she was very subdued but quickly became very difficult and dangerous to ride and handle.  After many years riding and being around horses my confidence began to dwindle.  I was scared I would never have fun or sit on my pony again.

After a lot of ground work and explaining Heather taught be how to understand my pony and how to handle her in difficult situations.  With a lot of hard work, teaching and encouragement from Heather we began to trust each other and things have improved greatly.

I am now having fun with my pony and have a great friendship with her.  We even managed to take a first at a local show doing an in hand class.  I am glad I had my hankies that day!

I now have a yearling as well and have turned to Heather already for advice right from the very start!

I would recommend Heather because she is understanding, patient and is always there for help and advice.

from Lisa, Rolo and Skittles.

I had always read about Bach Flower Remedies and the positive results they could achieve and so when one of my horses had a serious leg injury requiring a long lay-off I contacted Heather to see if she could help him recover quickly. Unfortunately on the day Heather was coming I was judging at a local show and so left her in the capable hands of my yard manager until I got back. I was delighted when Heather said she had done some healing on him as well and we sat down to discuss the horse. She had been told almost nothing about him beforehand, and I sat with a growing smile as she told me her assessment of his character and issues. She was totally correct – and not only with his character but also his longterm underlying injuries that were still being worked on (she had only seen him in a loosebox!). I was truly impressed by her analysis and accuracy,  and was eager to continue with the Bach Remedies she suggested. Believe it or not but within DAYS of using the remedy there was a huge improvement in the horse’s demeanour as he began to chill out and relax.

I am absolutely delighted with the results and will continue to use Heather on an on-going basis – I recommend her highly!   from Morag Higgins, Ross Dhu Equestrian.

I asked Heather to come out and see my horse, Billy, two years ago, after he had bolted with me and my only option was to bail out which resulted in me breaking a vertebrae in my neck.

When i had recovered, six months later, our only option seemed to be to sell Billy, but i wanted to be honest with prospective buyers about his bolting, so I asked Heather to come and see Billy to see if she could help.  I’d read a Kelly Marks book and seen some Monty Robert’s video’s, so thought I’d have a rough idea of what to expect, but Heather seemed completly different.

When Heather first arrived into the yard i noticed the horses response to her, Billy seemed to say.  ” Here you are, at last some who understands me.  While Connie, my son’s pony just seemed amazed by her, and a little put out that someone could tell so much about her!

Heather spent the first session in the stable with Billy, telling us about him and what he had been through, it was quite sad to here all that had happened to him and how confused he was.  When she pointed out how she could tell he was unsafe to ride it seemed obvious and I wandered how I hadn’t noticed.  She told me that there was no quick fix, he probably would be safe to ride, but we would have to take baby steps one step at a time.

Billy has been a different horse since that day, and my relationship with horses has changed too.  Heather has also taught me to listen to my instincts, which has resulted in me being able to communicate a little with our two horses, it has changed my life with horses.  from Nicky, Borders.

Heather Gibson has visited our centre many times, working with our 12 ponies and helpers individually, as well as in sessions. Heather first approached us offering to run a clinic/workshop as a fundraiser. We were all sold on her methods and soon began to adopt her principles on working with and around horses and ponies.

She helped us to understand the, sometimes challenging, behaviours of one or two of our chaps. She looked at the job they all do with disabled Riders and recognised that the RDA pony’s life can be stressful. Contrary to public perception that RDA needs half dead old nags, we need ponies and horses who are our fit and happy partners in therapy sessions.

We are delighted to have met Heather and learned from her. We shall continue to use her expertise in our work.

p.s.If you would like to know more about the work of Muirfield Riding for the Disabled please visit www.muirfieldrda.org.uk or contact Susan on  S2LAW@aol.com from Susan Law (Chairman), Muirfield RDA.

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