FREEDOM EQUINE  

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

19 / 06 / 2020

 FREEDOM EQUINE INTERNATIONAL NEWS UPDATE:

Hi guys, I hope everyone is staying safe and supporting their families and friends through these very volatile times. We encourage everyone to buy local and support your local and small businesses. The little guys/girls. Even if it is just a facebook like on their business page, lets support each other peeps so we all stay strong.

A big thankyou to everyone who has sent in updates on their purchased horses and support, you guys are awesome, keep holding true to your relationship with your horses and refusing to bully them. Your reward will be immeasurable.

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Also a special shout out to those who continue to try to milk our business for money, use us as a scapegoat for their lack of willingness to learn and to those who, instead of wearing the cost for their horses upkeep, prefer to bail and label horses as no good to escape their duties as horse owners and abuse our business goodwill. If you can't afford to feed a horse don't buy a horse. Very simple. Do not try to obfuscate your way out of your commitments to your horse. We did not come down in the last shower. To those still obsessed with us and driving discontent, perhaps your energy would be more successful focused on helping some horses get homes that need it. We have successfully forever re-homed around 1000 thus far, that is what is needed.

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To all those who keep missing out on our horses, they do get snapped up fast and often don't make it to uploading and advertising so your best bet is to contact us for horses.

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Stay strong people.
~Phoebe

07 / 04 / 2020

FREEDOM EQUINE INTERNATIONAL: UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE DO

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Hi guys, we hope you are all doing ok in this mess we call society!  Stay strong, stay focused on sharing kindness and love to everyone you meet, like most of you do anyway top peeps. 

For us it is business as usual.

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Understanding 'US'.  We are an International educational business which also sells horses.  We have sold nearly 1000 horses nationally in Australia and Internationally and support and educate clients.  We are the only International business whose horses sell almost immediately when offered and we have the best strike rate of successfully matching buyers to horses longterm of any regular horse sellers in the world.

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However what we do is not comparable to other horse sellers so we will explain so people can understand.

We provide quiet riding horses only, suitable for beginners, people with disabilities etc.  Our horses are sourced Nationally,  screened through 2 filters before being shortlisted from hundreds of contenders into those suitable for us and our buyers.

From there, our part and what we do after these horses have made it to that stage is pressure test and video them at their worst while implementing normal kindness and normal caring gentle psychology (our Relationship Based Equitation is mental normalizing of horses thinking / psychology so horses understand being a riding horse and love it rather than just being worked into a state of physical and mental exhaustion then being controlled and hating riding

The videos you see when our horses are advertised are the videos taken that day, during their pressure test, this is them at their 'worst'. 

We fill them up on hot hardfeed and expose them to highway traffic among other things to make sure they are quiet with these things while fresh.  We then take them to a place they don't know with us; people they don't know, jump on and ride them fresh, no lungeing, no tiredness, no cool feed, unknown area, unknown people. 

We get on them bareback first only, halter and lead and go straight out onto the road, as seen in the videos, no lungeing, completely fresh, then they are taken back and the halter taken off and ridden in a large paddock with no gear at all, they must remain placid and quiet, there are cows right next door and chickens running around, machinery, tractors, hay balers, trucks, etc. all around them. 

They must remain quiet or they do not pass our pressure tests and we do not sell them.  We then mount them and they must be able to be mounted without being held and remain still while we jump off and on. 

We ride them through all their paces with a loose rein and no reins and with the rider changing positions, moving around, gathering up the reins and dropping the reins, other horses running past them, etc, etc.  and they must control themselves without being controlled by the rider. 

When horses pass this test they are assessed as suitable and offered for sale using the pressure test videos, to show them at their worst to potential buyers.

In stark comparison what other sellers do is feed cooling feed, put the horses in work and exhaust them mentally and physically.  Control them while riding them, make horses hate riding and run away when they see you coming with a halter or gear (our horses run to us) and then present them for sale in a 'crushed' state of mental and physical exhaustion (and a broken frustrated spirit), telling the buyers to 'keep them in work', lunge them to make them tired before work, feed cooling feeding etc. 

The buyers then get into trouble if they are inept at 'control', or the horse doesn't get enough 'work' to keep them in subjection.

While we do sell all breeds, we have consistently found over the years that the Thoroughbred who is not interested in their previous racing career has become our shining star when it comes to passing our pressure tests with flying colours.  Obviously not 'any' or every TB is suitable and we only select on average that 10% that are the article we require and on occasion other breeds also meet our very strict criteria, such as stock horses with previous polo careers, ex-eventers, ex-show horses, etc. 

10 / 03 / 2020

FREEDOM EQUINE INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE TO THOSE 'ATTEMPTING' TO ATTACK US: BUCKLE UP.
We've been in business a long time, we didn't just come down in the last shower. We are used to dealing with people banding together in lies, forming hate groups, spreading lies, for many reasons, many are jealous competitors, or obsessively jealous females, my jealous step sister Crystal Winning who myself and others in my family have had to cut off because of her narcissistic and jealous behaviour. Customers who buy horses from us and don't follow our advice, etc.

This is nothing new we have been dusting these scavengers off for years because they aren't 'real', they lie. As hard as they try, messaging and calling our clients and friends every day, trying so hard, making us their full time obsession, we flick them off.

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Then they usually end up crying and asking for mercy when we put them '6 feet under'. So a message to all those obsessed with what we do (ie, successfully forever homed hundreds and hundreds of horses over many years with our horses selling within minutes of being advertised) get ready because we won't be going easy on you or letting you off the hook.

It's because of people like you that hundreds of horses are labeled wrongly and sent to slaughterhouses so buckle up, you're in for the ride of your life.

We know you're trying so hard, you begged so many tv stations to get your lies broadcast by them and when 1 finally tried the story was such a defunct flop it was laughable and made us look so good we got an influx of new customers, we're just not the type to get upset by a bunch of morally deficient, weak try hards.

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By the way to all those haters who then come begging to buy our horses thinking we don't see what you do? It ain't happening. Don't cry, don't send your friends, maybe you'll think twice before breaking the law defaming people working to help people and horses. Perhaps instead of spending 24 / 7 obsessing about and stalking me you could be rehoming horses who need homes like us. We see many of you tried and they didn't sell, perhaps you need to study how to do it properly from us, then put your pants back on, go outside and input the time you spend stalking us into that instead.

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So while we relax and enjoy our good work, you guys keep stalking, copying and wishing you were us, you might learn something.

A big thankyou to all the top people that make up who we are and who don't buy into bullshit.

A warning to those who still think defamation isn't illegal. We will continue to take screenshots of ALL those who engage in this illegal behaviour and you will reap the consequences along with your ignorant hateful peers.

24 / 02 / 2020

ADMIN UPDATE:

EXAMPLES OF HOW PEOPLE CAN'T BE TRUSTED: 

Funny story: We sold Sox many many years ago now to Roxanne Livesay, the many people that rode Sox prior while in my care said he was a total beginners horse and one "wished she could bottle his nature and put it in all her horses". Sox was purchased by Roxanne Livesay many many years ago when we still used to have people coming out and riding horses.
Roxanne turned up with beer in hand in thongs and rode him for approximately an hour before deciding to purchase him. I was contacted quite a while after her owning Sox by her stating her drunk friend was being silly and rode him while intoxicated, fell off and hurt himself but Roxanne assured me it was "100% not Sox's fault" Funny how things go over time. 2020 Roxanne shows up on The Project telling everyone she was a victim and Sox turned up at her place as an unrideable horse (no mention of her ever riding him prior to purchase) that you couldn't even turn him left or right, hurt her friend not because he was drunk and fooling around and just fell off, but that I sold her a 'bad horse'.

Also years and years ago, Tania Deller bought a horse off a person we sold the horse to years and years ago (before us he was a show horse). The person she bought him from literally had him used at a childs party to handpaint just before leaving to go to Tania Deller's he was so "gentle with young children" she stated, she apologized that she could not remove some of the children's hand prints before his arrival to Tania (which Tania stated she was unhappy about) and she and her friend adored riding him, he was so good to ride: Tania Deller shows up alongside Roxanne Livesay in 2020 stating he was unrideable and that she was lied to about his quietness.

Leah Manning, a lawyer up until 2019 then suddenly leached on to these people creating a business from inciting others, alongside others who lie and tear our business down such as Laura Cheshire. Example of Laura's lies, just tonight, states a photo of a horse that is an American Racehorse never been to Australia, lives in America and reefing into the air dumping the rider, was a horse I advertised as a good jumper.

2020 The Project, runs a story about me, Phoebe Norling, without checking even the basic facts with us, showing photos of model Tanya Meyer stating it is me, defaming us and using these people's lies that purchased from us years ago, as if they were truth.

Don't believe lies people and keep everything screenshotted and in writing like we do, because people lie and band together with others to support their lies. We have experienced these crimes against us for many years and much worse. We are involved in human rights work which includes exposing the dodgy media like 'The Project', we have been targeted since, heavily. Those who want us to fail or make a buck off our money back guarantee are happily part of it. I would just like to say thankyou for all the kind, supportive messages, I am so proud to be associated with people who refuse to engage in bullshit. Champions every one of you. Keep spreading love not hate, you're all kickass.

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01 / 02 / 2020

ADMIN UPDATE:

Hi guys, I just want to say, I am so proud of our community for not getting involved in malicious internet trolling and attacks.  It just goes to show that those who have learnt to be gentle with horses have also learnt to be gentle with people. 

As an entity which sells horses in a social media era, there are always going to be rumours, gossip and attacks, no horse seller in the history of selling horses in the modern era has escaped this and most if not all close down because of it over time.  It has been like this for all the years we have been in business.

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I ask that people understand our real enemy, being hatred and tearing each other down.

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It is hard enough for all of us, most of us are literal slaves most days, just trying to survive in the current systems we all live under, without tearing each other down.    

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So while none of us can claim perfection, our intentions are good and we are all capable of kindness and as we all walk on our diverse individual paths it is a lot easier if we all help each other and build each other up as best we can in this imperfection.

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If we are all imperfect and we all tear each other down when we spot these imperfections where does that leave us all?  We need to advance not go backwards, love not hate, be kind and supportive, not destructive to one another.  Learn to get along in our human-ness.

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If we all in our imperfections build each other up in kindness, where does that take all of us?  None of us have 'arrived', let's be kind and get along.

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Thankyou so much to those who took time to encourage us over the years.  You have no idea how far your kindness strengthened us.

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I am proud to be associated with such kind and loving people and when I at look at your various stories and positive journeys with horses we have sold to you over the years we know there is good present.

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We will be here and continue to do this and love will see us through everything as it always has.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so thankyou to those making us strong also, we will continue to choose love and to sing our own song ~Phoebe

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28 / 01 / 2020

ADMIN UPDATE:

Hi guys, the APP is now updated and will be updated in real time from now on.

For those who don't have our APP but want it, here's a link to get it on your phone :)

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27 / 01 / 2020

HORSE INDUSTRY UPDATE:

Hi guys, I hope everyone is having a great 2020 thus far, a big thankyou to those who have sent in updates on the beautiful horses purchased from us over the years. We adore hearing all your stories.

There have been a lot of attacks on us and what we do in the media over the years and especially recently in the last few months, spurred by a Jockey named Laura Cheshire and her friends over a TV show portraying awful horse slaughterhouses and featuring a story on a horse named War Ends. While we are not the kind to get involved with internet gossip which, like Chinese whispers, spreads rumours and mistruths, we do feel the need to verbalise the 'actual' truth about the horse War Ends at this time.

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War Ends was a beautiful horse, we sold him into what was supposed to be his forever home years ago after him flying through our tests to meet our strict criteria for quietness, nature, etc. However, before War Ends was transported to his new home I was met with frantic phonecalls at 1am from his buyer. This lovely lady had been contacted by the Jockey Laura Cheshire, who had told her all sorts of lies about the horse, stating it would have been drugged to be so quiet in his videos, etc. This poor lady was justifiably beside herself and from that point was too terrified to even ride her new horse, believing what she was told, she saw me as an enemy from that point.

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I later found out Laura had always wanted but had missed out on purchasing this horse.

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Laura then proceeded to harass the buyer of the following horse we sold which was also a black horse but a completely different horse. She told the buyer it was really War Ends and that I had lied to them also. Laura Cheshire then started and incited hate groups for years which continue to this day in the name of caring, public service and safety. Encouraging and spreading lies attacking our business, creating a police investigation, which was dropped and years of harassment of our buyers, staff, friends and horse owners over the years.

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While these things saddened me and often made me want to just give up rather than be constantly attacked, I continue because I believe in what we do. I often thought the name War Ends was significant over the years, as this beautiful horse was literally what started all the hate groups and rumours for all these years, I hope, if nothing else, War Ends and his fateful end will open peoples eyes to truth.

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I believe in the beautiful partnerships created, the endless stories we get back about how our horses and education has helped them and in some instances really changed their lives.

I am blessed to have some very genuine lovely people who support us, no matter the rumours, who see the good in what we are trying to do. For those people I am eternally grateful.

Your support and updates are so needed and the wind beneath our wings. We are not perfect but do our very best and grow and improve as best we can and we are nothing without you guys so thankyou so much. ~Phoebe

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26 / 01 / 2020

HORSE INDUSTRY UPDATE; THOROUGHBREDS

Again I feel it my duty to relieve the minds of those horse enthusiasts who believe horse riding should be all about relationship with their horse, a bond, a communicating partnership and an enjoyable experience for rider and horse alike, and regardless of what a horses job has been prior, if simple communication is effective, this horse will do the task at hand as required.

And a horse is a horse, across breeds, same thought processes, same makeup.

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The Thoroughbred however is the ONLY breed in the entire world which is consistently handled, ridden and exposed to the broadest range a horse can be from a young age daily.

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When you compare this to ANY other breed of horse on earth or horse sport, none come close to comparing to the sheer volume of regular exposure to all aspects of being a ridden horse, the Thoroughbred is exposed to on a daily basis from the time they're born.

In comparison, a horse prepared to become a general riding horse, on average will be left in the paddock, wild until it is quite old, then broken in, with barely any cantering work at all, and no gallop work, and generally not followed up on this education, and sold into the buyers market. Generally half starved to keep them quiet, overworked and VERY green, not to mention UNEXPOSED to almost everything and if they have been exposed it was all in 1 go bombarded and they were so tired they couldn't absorb or process what they were being subjected to anyway.

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The Thoroughbred is made to behave in all four gaits, worked daily, by different riders, has different handlers, is washed, weighed, groomed, led, tied up, shoed, teeth done, injected, had boots and bandages on, rugged, treated by chiropractors, scoped, vetted, transported on trucks and floats, gone to the city, seen large crowds, flags, banners, loud carnival atmospheres, worked with horses galloping around them and made to behave and continue to go slowly while the horse is galloping past them, made to stand patiently and quietly for hours while horses are galloping around them ...need I say more?

It is a given to say the Thoroughbred is the most likely candidate to become the ultimate un-phaseable, unflappable bombproof horse is it not?

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Horse riding should be all about relationship with the horse, a bond, a communicating partnership and an enjoyable experience for rider and horse alike, and regardless of what a horses job has been prior, if simple communication is effective, this horse will do the task at hand as required.

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There are some Thoroughbreds who have been mistreated in their careers, as there are in other horse sports. But Thoroughbreds have, and will continue to, provide us with the quietest and most versatile riding horses we have available to us.

I recently spoke with a lovely man who was very gentle with horses and had a lovely understanding and way with them. He told me he was a member of the Mounted Police for more than 20 years. Mounted police horses are required to be the quietest and most bombproof horses can get, they must behave themselves calmly and remain completely pliable and obedient in the most hyped and scary of settings and they must be quiet and tolerant with everything thrown at them and be easily managed so the officer can fully focus on their job of law enforcement effectively.

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He said they tried many horses in the Police Force but ALWAYS ended up using Thoroughbred ex-racehorses consistently for all their mounted policemen. This is because they were the best horses for the job consistently.

The racing industry is a very exclusive and closed one and there are a lot of myths surrounding the work these horses do and the residual effect on them.

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I have been inside the racing industry since I was 15 years old. I know what training and exposure they get first hand.

The most common problem I see is rider ignorance and riders not learning the proper ways of horse communication, it is too easy to blame horses for misbehaving rather than wear the blame ourselves or look at what we are doing to cause misbehaviour.

Like the children and parent relationship, young children are not the cause of consistent bad behaviour, but it is a reflection of the management of the parent. Horses and riders are the same relationship.

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Therefore, I will conclude by saying in my experience, in agreement with many including my Mounted Police friend, with normal, kind riding as it should be, the Thoroughbred makes the ultimate riding horse.

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Horse Sales Hub has proven and re-proven this hundreds of times over the years with repeat buyers, our Thoroughbreds being used to aid riders with disabilities, our Thoroughbreds being used in Some of Australia's largest and most prestigious riding schools, teaching beginners, as sporting horses in all sports across the board and as quiet riding horses etc etc.

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Where horses get blamed and everything gets grey is when riders use harsh, cruel, domineering mind games with horses.

We do not support these commonly and broadly disguised and accepted methods and we look forward to sharing many more happy journeys with our horsey friends.

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18 / 01 / 2020

HORSE INDUSTRY UPDATE:

Hi guys, hope you are all getting some of this much needed rain!Keeping an eye on our industry is our job and I am very protective of the people and horses in it, hence the work we do.

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Growing up poor and in a volatile home in the suburbs as a young child of 8yo, I found many ponies in the nearby countryside to stalk and escape my home life, most unbroken and wild. Often with no gear and barefoot I learnt how to work with these ponies to get to ride them and I constantly studied all horse methodology taught, from that young age, staying up at night and taking notes from books from the local library.



I wrote my own Code of Communication for horse riding at the age of 11yo which is exactly the Code I use and teach today. This still remains solid and infallible. I also sought out formal education in horses at that age at a local riding school and was providing professional riding lessons for this riding school, breaking in, training and competing successfully by my teenage years, easily beating my fancy peers on their expensively bred and trained ponies with the ponies I had to train myself, sponsored by the Lions Club. But as I learnt, hardship hides great treasures, the treasure of knowledge and learning.



As time progressed I saw more and more how the things that really worked with horses, were in stark contrast to the methods always being taught and I stuck to the treasures I had learnt, to the point I found myself constantly breaking records and doing the 'accepted impossible' with horses my whole life, much to peoples constant amazement. That which is so simple and natural, I have learnt, has been buried in methodology which is extremely counterproductive and further, gives a wrongful impression of what horses are naturally, normally like and capable of.

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With the advent of the internet, I studied all the global trainers and methods over the years to this day, thinking I would find those who had discovered the same as I had and who I could learn from also. I am disappointed to tell you all teach dominating horses and this is very saddening to me, I wish it weren't the case, though most (if not all) have kind 'intentions' and believe what they do is kind.

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Horses are naturally gentle, friend orientated herbivores. However my whole life they have been painted as nervy, unpredictable and excessively flighty. They appear to be these things when domination methodology is used on them. Because it is always used, it is accepted that horses are just inherently nervy, unpredictable and excessively flighty.

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The Horse industry is 'parked' and invested in this wrong methodology. It has people sitting at mahogany desks teaching it from it's leather bound books. It is currently accepted and used globally and creates the nerves and behaviour we see in horses. I don't have any leather bound books or a mahogany desk, but I can tell you

this is not horses at all. It is the result of what can only be logically termed 'abuse'.



I refuse to control the energy content of horses food rations, I refuse to drug horses, I would never dream of trimming horses hooves back to be sensitive as many do to minimize nervous behaviour, I would never work horses daily to make them physically tired and mentally 'beaten down' and call it 'training', but these are all accepted ways of methodology taught. This is not true horsemanship and causes horses to be seen as something they are not.

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What we do is make everything normal again. Take away the whips and control. Show horses that humans can be kind and trustworthy, this is always met with relief, gentleness and horses that will do anything for their humans (their true nature when fear of people is no longer present).



This is also why we provide true horsemanship and commonsense support programming to new owners of the horses we re-home. Supporting them continuing on a path where the absence of control and abusive methods is normal. This is also why we created Ethical Equine Sellers International (E.E.S.I) and Relationship Based Equitation International (R.B.E.I) and their Codes of Conduct.

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Control and bullying is a selfish shortcut that causes only harm, fear and stress. Let's not do that anymore people.

~ Phoebe

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01 / 01 / 2020

HORSE INDUSTRY UPDATE 2020

Happy New Year everyone :) We've had a great year!

Thanks to everyone's vigilance The Equine Industry climate is improving dramatically with many more people recognising and calling out the industry on it's destructive and cruel methodology.

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One thing I have noticed however is the growing epidemic of drugging horses rather than riders actually educating themselves. In a world where escapism mentality, quick fixes, cheating and shortcuts is now commonplace we need to understand and call out this destructive attitude.

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Drugging, sedating or even naturally herbal drugging horses to make them 'quieter' is no different than 'keeping horses in work', 'on cool feed', mentally and physically worn down, making them tired before riding them etc, this has never been horsemanship.

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We need everyone to resist and reject these methods and this rampant destructive ignorance. These things are NEVER ok.

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Kindness, patience, empathy, fairness, gentleness and understanding is our only sustainable collective way forward.

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Hundreds of horses are still being wrongly labelled because of the horse industry clinging to counterproductive methodology and refusing to evolve from this.

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To help we have now made our Masters Courses free and accessible to everyone. The content is still being uploaded and is a slow and long process but we are aiming to add new content daily so people can continue learning.

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Our generation gets to usher in this new and golden era for horses now, we need to continue to struggle for this to grow and take precedence.

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When I look into the eyes of every one of these beautiful gentle soulful animals, I know I won't stop struggling for them and until this is achieved fully.

Awesome times! See you at the goal folks ;) ~Phoebe

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TARANAKI DAILY NEWS​ (NZ)

Praise for rescue work

08:25, Jan 19 2011

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GUARDIAN ANGEL: Phoebe Colomina with her stallion Genereux.

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A former New Plymouth woman has emerged as a one of the heroes of the Queensland flood disaster.

Phoebe Colomina [nee Norling], lives in Minden in south-east Queensland and her actions in saving valuable stallions earned her extensive news coverage in newspapers around Australia including the Sydney Morning Herald.

It had been raining non-stop in Minden, at the bottom of the Lockyer Valley, but soggy puddles turned into a raging torrent and claimed the life of one of their neighbours, a four-year-old boy, Jesse.

"The mares roaming free on their property, Minden Lodge, quickly found their way to higher ground. But Ms Colomina, 35, and her husband Christophe heard the screams of panic from the stallions, trapped in their stable on low ground," the Sydney Morning Herald wrote.

"Rushing into the waist-deep water, which was fast forming a small ocean, they waded past snakes and floating spiders. The horses brayed and screamed as they were being led."

But it was not only their "kids" the Colominas helped that day. Phoebe's husband and another man carried five children from a neighbouring house as flood waters lapped at their second storey.

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The family now refers to the Colominas as guardian angels.

Ms Colomina's mother, Patricia Norling, still lives in New Plymouth and was proud of her daughter.

"Phoebe's lived there for five years now, and while we were concerned when the floods first started, she was quick to assure me she would be all right.

"Ever since she left school she has worked with horses and she used to ride horses for Alan Sharrock, so there was no way she would ever let anything happen to them. "I am very proud of her, she's a great girl."

Attempts by the Taranaki Daily News to speak to Ms Colomina were unsuccessful.

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SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Blood-curdling screams from panicked stallions

By Josephine Tovey

January 17, 2011 — 3.00am

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WHEN a horse is in trouble it doesn't just whinny, it screams.

It was a sound Phoebe Colomina heard over and over again as the stables where her valuable stallions were kept disappeared fast under water last Tuesday. ''They're usually gentle creatures,'' she said. ''It's bloodcurdling.''

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"Our horses are our kids - we would die before they did" ... Phoebe Colomina with her stallion Genereux at Minden Lodge.

CREDIT: JACKY GHOSSEIN

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It had been raining non-stop but few in the picturesque town of Minden, at the bottom of the Lockyer Valley, were prepared for the soggy puddles to turn into a raging torrent as it did that day. It would claim the life of one of their neighbours, a four-year-old boy, Jesse.

The mares roaming free on their property, Minden Lodge, quickly found their way to higher ground. But Ms Colomina and her husband Christophe heard the screams of panic from the stallions, trapped in their stable on low ground. Rushing into the waist-deep water, which was fast forming a small ocean, they waded past snakes and floating spiders. The horses brayed and screamed as they were being led.

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It was a daring act that might puzzle some in the city, but in this horse-breeding area, it was a no-brainer. ''Our horses are our kids,'' she said. ''We would die before they did.''

But it was not only their ''kids'' the Colominas helped that day. At the bottom of their property Amber Hartley and her five children, aged four to 17, and one of their friends, were watching from the upper floor of their house as the waters crept higher and higher.

Ms Hartley, who had moved to the town only six weeks earlier, became increasingly fearful the second storey would be inundated too. Though she had not had time to get to know her neighbours, Mr Colomina and another man were soon at her door, carrying her younger children on their backs up the hill to safety.

As the waist-deep water swirled around them, Ms Hartley's daughter Chloe, 17, became paralysed by fear.

Without hesitation, her brother Jamie, 13, scooped her up and over his shoulders and carried her up the hill. ''The waters were so strong, if you stopped you could feel yourself losing your balance,'' she said. The family now refers to its neighbours as guardian angels.

Later, when Ms Hartley saw the rescue helicopters searching for the missing Jesse, she felt in even greater debt to her neighbours. ''In my couple of moments I kept thinking that could have been my four-year-old,'' she said.

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