Well change is a foot again here at Discovery Horse Tours. The couple that we took on to replace Alonzo and Gisele didn't work out, but as always, everything happens for a reason, and now we can welcome the wonderful Edward and Dora who are proving to be a breath of fresh air. They have wanted the position for so long, but i foolishly was put off by them being a bit young. It shows the law of attraction works wonders as their persistence and asking paid off and we are so happy and lucky to have them.

As always the tours have been wonderful, and due to popular request we are introducing a new ride soon incorporating the beach and the mountains, watch this space for details. Wednesdays are now being given over to the horses! It´s is going to be all about our babies (as if everyday isn´t!!) We are welcoming good riders to come and join us to take the horses on new trails, to gallop, jump and of course play lots of Parelli games. This helps to keep them mentally engaged and stops them turning into nose to tail machines (over my dead body!!) Making sure the horses are happy, willing and enjoying their work is the central focus of our life with horses and this is going to make that even easier.....and FUN! We are excited to dedicate a whole day to play!

On a sad note we lost the beautiful Cappi dog last week. He came to us through the McKee foundation, who we help and support whole heartedly as a foster home, suffering from kidney failure, we took him so he could live out his last few months surrounded by lots of love. Miss you so much Cap man. Thank you so much to the clients that came on the tour and very kindly sponsered Cappi to help ensure he got everything he needed. You know who you are! xxxx

Of course any space left by a rescue dog is quickly filled and we now have the crazy and energetic Cassie, who is probably as i type tearing around ripping up the farm! She is a blast. Another new dog comes tomorrow and he has only three legs. Chris wants to call him Tripod!! seriously, we can NOT call him that......any name ideas people? Any one looking to adopt, please get in touch!

Archie and I have been making great strides with his training lately, as i become more and more focused on learning to slow things down and be less task orientated. His confidence is growing so much each day as he realizes i am not going to ask him to do anything he is not happy about. No more pushing him over the proverbial cliff. Chris has been having fun doing Monty Roberts Join Up with Casper, it is so great to see Chris is now as obsessed with the whole horses as i am, not just their hooves!!!hahaha i knew i would get there in the end.

I did have some lovely photos of Archie learning to smile and a video of Chris joining up with Casper. BUT somehow i managed to delete them! I will try and get the footage again and post it up next week.

Hope everyone is doing great where ever you are in the world. We hope to see you here soon.

Oh and before i forget, David Lichman in January. Places being taken now, check out the website for more details.
www.horseridecostarica.com

Pura Vida
Andrea 

It has been great to have a little time to play with the horses this week. All our horses have a lot of different people riding them so there are always little things that need tweaking. 
Like humans all horses are different, and their training needs to be adapted to suit them, not the trainer! Parelli call it "horseanalities" and this is such a great phrase. Cookie cutter training will produce robots not willing partners. We like our horses to be our partners!
Take Archie (my personal horse) to get inside his head and find the best horse you have, you need to provide him with safety. He came from a nearby ranch that used "Old school methods" (unfortunately many so called "Horsemen" use these outdated and harsh ways), the experience all but destroyed him. Thank god i found Parelli Natural Horsemanship and was able to bring him out of the shell that he was hiding deep inside. Now we can train without using ropes and he has a willing look on his face instead of a petrified one. We always say, take off the ropes and you will get the truth, will the horse stay with you or leave? 
Horses are a prey species and humans are a predator species, to really get inside of horses mind you have to think like a horse. Take Moro for instance, he is a firm favorite with our guests, but when it comes to training you have to work out what is important to Moro, in a word.....FOOD! A little treat here and there can transform him from the sulking teenager at the back of the class to the swot at the front with his hand up every 10 seconds. He would jump through fire hoops for a little cookie!
Coco on the other hand is a different kettle of fish, she wants to play, walk her near the podium and she will stand on it, leave a barrel out and she will roll it around. She loves to solve puzzles, and the more the merrier. She was sold to us by a sniggering cowboy who figured he had one over on us, they had her labelled as mean. She wasnt mean, she was bored!! Going around in mindless circles just made her mad. Now Julia our guide can ride her with the reins laying on her neck, not in her hands, just using her body as she takes out the tours. She is so clever, we just have to keep her stimulated.
On the other end of the scale, you have our amazing baby sitter Whiskey, he takes care of everyone that rides him and they love him. When it comes to training with Whiskey, he needs time to mull things over, he is a little slower to work things out (just like people can be) but once he gets it with no pressure or bullying from us to get the job done, you can see the happy look on his face. He is a horse that could easily have turned mean in the wrong ranch. Pat Parelli has a great saying, "When you touch your horse, put your heart in your hand." This is so true and something we remind ourselves of everyday when working with our horses. This doesnt mean you smother them in only love, this would be as detrimental as beating them to do something. We use Love, Language (their language not ours) and Leadership in equal doses. The result? The most willing, happy and contented tour horses on the planet. We love each and everyone of them for being exactly who they are!

What a wonderful season we have been having. With the tourist season winding down for the next month, it is a great time to take a breath, and remind ourselves how lucky we are to be here in Costa Rica. 

Everything is so green right now, we have had small patches of rain but it has spruced everything up. Chris has been a very happy man this week as he works along side our new employee Paulo getting all the little jobs done that he doesn't have time for in the midst of the tourist season. Paulo and his wife Tina arrived to live full time this week with their beautiful little girl Alondra. It is great to have them and welcome them to the Discovery Team.

The horses are looking so fit and shiny and have come through the season incredible well, and so they should. We are dedicated to making their lives fun, engaging and as stress free as possible. They too are winding down now and today several enjoyed a good massage. They love to be rubbed, they get aches and pains just like we do. We use their own signals to guide us to where they like it. Deep sighs, blinking and shifting of their weight all show us where they are enjoying it and where they are not. It is lovely to see them so sleepy with it afterwards.

Hopefully tomorrow i have time to go riding with Julia our guide. She is going to show me a new trail that combines the beach and the wonderful mountains near our beach ride location, that way people get the best of both worlds. She has been seeing lots of monkeys up there too, can´t wait. 

Those of you who are interested in our Parelli in Paradise program, it is looking like David Lichman (5 star Parelli instructor) is coming down the first week in January. Places are limited, so if you are interested you should get in contact soon. Davids style of teaching and immense experience make the learning process so much fun.

The birds on the farm have been unreal this week. It must be to do with the changing of the season. The Orpenolas (their call is the most amazing i have ever heard on a bird) have been hanging around the main farm area. Also we have been seeing a pair of Mot Mots on the waterfall trail. The best though was a toucan who doesn't seem to notice we are there! He is not shy and has been coming right down on the ground whilst we sat near the waterfall!! Incredible. The tour that day were so excited.

My new blog for Parelli Central went out this week too, so if you are into Natural Horsemanship, you may want to check it out! http://central.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/2011/04/walk-before-you-can-run/

It is all change at the Discovery ranch today. The couple that helped care for the horses left today for pastures new and we welcome Paulo and his wife Tina, and their adorable little girl Alondra. We are so happy they are here and they love the horses. The wonderful thing is Paulo is showing great interest in Parelli Natural Horsemanship, which is lucky as his training starts tomorrow! For those of you who follow our blog, you know we use Parelli for all our schooling. It will be wonderful to share it with him.

We are currently in talks with Glenn Stewart of www.horseranch.com to arrange for him to come down and do a "Colt Starting clinic"  as a part of our Parelli In Paradise program. Glenn regulary trains with Pat Parelli and many other great teachers, we are excited for him to come and share his knowledge. The package will include lots of other fun things including endless trail riding, surfing and yoga, or just swinging in the hammock if you prefer! If you are interested in attending, you can email us through our main website www.horseridecostarica.com

Life on the farm is coming to the end of the dry season so we have been busy preparing for the impending rains in May. Chris has been busy tweaking drainage etc. For once we are doing it ahead! haha. I love June and July here the tours always see so much wildlife! The green forest needs to be seen to be believed!

The horses are all doing amazing, although poor Byron came in this morning with a horrible cut on his leg, so he is sporting a pretty bandage now i have cleaned it all  up.  I think my horse Archie has been getting a bit bossy and chasing him around a bit too much. Talking of Archie, i had a little photo shoot with him today for my Parelli Central blog (central.parelli.com), and he stole my hat mid photo. i will post it below!! Cheeky chap that he is.

The monkeys have been putting on a show this week, they have lots of babies with them which is a great sign that they are breeding and expanding their troop. I have been excited too with the amount of new birds around. Mots Mots both male and female are hanging around on the trail to the waterfall, i have tried to get photos but on the back of a horse that is a hard one as the birds flit around so much.

As you know we work with the dog rescue, we had great news this week as Slider, a small terrier that a friend of us rescued, but she lives with us at the farm, she got adopted by a lady that came on the tour and is off to Florida!! yay Slider gets a green card! We are so excited, as is Caroline the lady who is taking her, she has a nice soft pink bed and lots of toys waiting for her! Cappy the old dog with kidney problems has taken over the rancho and seems very happy curled up in the hay, he is such a happy chappy.

As always we are loving our life out here in Costa Rica, i love that in our life we truly are enjoying the journey, not just thinking about the destination! Happy days.

The photos below are of Archie, my equine life partner!! haha Also of the horses on a day off munching contentedly. Check out Chris´s new fence too!

We are so excited to be putting the final touches to our Parelli in Paradise vacation package. As you know i love using Parelli for training the rescue horses (any horses come to that!) We are taking all the things we love to do here in Costa Rica and putting them into a vacation of a life time.
Imagine, Parelli horsemanship, Yoga, Surfing, Waterfalls, Beaches, Mud baths, Sunsets.......oh and cocktails in the hammocks.  Be limited only by your imagination. Check the website for more details. www.horseridecostarica.com

This week we have met some great people as always on the tour. It has been really sunny so the cooling water and mud has been a hit! I had time to work with my project horse Archie too, on the way to the mud bath i had him touch his nose on anything he found scary, he got a treat as soon as he did it. This horse would jump through fire hoops for treats, so once he understood the game he was all over it.  So rewarding to see him working out what i wanted and offering to do it, then turning his head to get his treat!! I love my horse!

It is all change in the herd dynamics at the moment. All our horses are not kept in stables, but loose together as nature intended, so there is always a very definite  pecking order, but recently we moved Mr V (who has always been the leader) to our Beach Tour location (check out the website for more details) , now all the other horses are figuring out who is going to be boss. We have two contenders for the post Centenario and Moro. Both want it and neither will back down. Number 3 Shera is a floozy and will slot in with who ever wins, the rest are just hanging back till the dust settles! It is so fun to sit and watch a herd in action. One look from the boss will keep all 14 in place! I have tried this with Chris but it doesnt seem to work!!! : )
The photos below are Centenario and Moro! Hows your money on for the new Godfather???

Can it really be nearly a month since i last posted. I have no idea where the time goes.
I have just got back from the National Park at Manuel Antonio with some friends that are visiting from the UK, it is fun to play tourist in this wonderful country.
Last weekend saw us hosting the Dessa Hockley clinic that was wonderfully insightful. We learnt so much about learning to read our horses and listening to what they want out of life. I was very happy when Dessa told me how open and happy my horses all were! Well Costa Rica did get voted the No1 Country to live in when they released the Happy Index!
Cappy the new rescue dog arrived and is settling in really well. He is still skin and bones as he is on a special diet to try and get his kidneys working better, but he is now playing and runs to see us when we arrive at the farm. He will stay with us now and see his days out with us.
I had wonderful news recently too that i have been awarded a scholarship to go and study at the Parelli ranch at the end of October. This is such an honor, Now i have to magic the remaining money to make this happen. If it is meant to be it will happen, but i was so flattered to be accepted. 
We have been enjoying listening to our horses so much (thanks Dessa) that we have decided to open it up to everyone. We will now be offering a Horse / Yoga vacation that is going to be SO much fun. You can learn so much about who you are from how you work with horses, even if you have never touched a horse, you will love this. Check the website for more details. 
Well dry season is well underway, but thankfully we have been blessed with some lovely late evening rain bursts that damp everything down and make for fresh mornings and so much greeness. Green is my favorite colour, i think that is one of the many reasons why i fell in love with Costa Rica.

Just back from a wonderful tour with a very happy group, we had 30 monkeys that followed us through the trees above our heads for about 300 metres. So cool. Well until one dropped a stick on my head!!

We have been marveling this week about how cool the "Universe will provide" philosophy is. If ever we needed confirmation that we were doing the right thing with our lives, we certainly got it this week.

Chris had a wonderful email from a person he met here on a parelli clinic to say that a great barefoot trimmer was coming from the USA and could he meet up with her. Chris has been trimming horses hooves, and getting them healthier and much happier without having metal nailed to the hooves, for about 2 years now and is a sponge for new information. Well tomorrow he leaves for a 2 day clinic with the USA trimmer and will come back i am sure full of ideas to help make even more horses happier! It is not often that renowned people make the trip to Costa Rica, so he is making the most of it.

I had great news too. There is a wonderful book that has been published called " Is your horse a rock star?" by Dessa Hockley. It is about how horses all have different personalities and how to train them accorded to that personality and not just the cookie cutter, this is how we train horses mentality. I was reading the book and marveling at how it can help us so much with our rescue horses, and how it can make sure they are happy doing the job that they do here on the tours.  I wrote to Dessa to congratulate her on her book , and lo and behold, she is now going to come to Costa Rica and meet with us and hold a clinic here. So excited. Isnt it wonderful when the universe shows you in no uncertain terms that you are doing exactly what you were put on the earth to do!! Yahoo to that.

Well it is really drying out here now after such late rains, the trails are wonderful and dry and the forest is alive with animals right now, i even saw an amardillo today,so cool. Hope to see you here soon.

Here are a couple of photos i took exploring up in the mountains.

I am sorry it has been so long since we wrote, life has been very very exciting with not much time for writing!


Last weekend saw David Lichman visiting us here in Costa Rica. David is a 5 star Parelli instructor and a god in our world!! We spent a weekend with him and lots of like minded inspiring horse people who know there is another way to training horses, other than drill drill drill.  All of us left with great ideas, plans for our partnerships with our horses and full of thanks.

 It is Christmas eve and what a wonderful week we have had. I have to say we have had some of the best clients all year packed into the last week! Fun fun fun.


Last night we had our staff Christmas dinner at the lovely bar on the river.  Much food and beer was consumed! Everyone has worked so so hard they deserve it.


I have bones in the fridge for all the dogs and the horses are getting turned out into the big pasture by the river for 25th and 26th . They deserve it more than ever, the whole team of horses are complete superstars.


We want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone that has supported us this year and thanks to the whole Discovery Team who's efforts have taken us  to the top spot of Trip Advisor.


Happy Christmas and have a wonderful New Year.

Goodness where did that time go. Things have been wonderful here at the farm. The ground has dried up after our terrible rains, the sun is shining and all is well. It has been a birders paradise this week, we have had a visit most days in the coral from the Fiery Aricais ( a small type of toucan). We have a papaya tree in the front of the coral and they love to come and nibble the fruits. Also the Scarlett Macaws have given some great aerial diving displays. 


Julia has been guiding some wonderful tours on the beach in Esterillos for 'Discovery at the beach' the sunsets are just stunning and everyone has LOVED it. 
One good thing with the rains is how green everything is, the farm looks so vibriant and the rain forest is positiviely glowing! There really is nothing like riding through the rainforest when the sun is just filtering through the canopy. Divine! Its a tough job but someone has to do it!


This week we had to say goodbye to Muma dog which was very very sad. She came to us after we found her in the road in a very bad state, so she had 4 months of love and fun at the farm. We will miss her greatly. But always there is another rescue on the horizon, yesterday we found a Great Dane that needed help and hope he will go on to make a full recovery, he is a beautiful dog that will make a great pet for someone.


Well next week is Christmas week and we have a full week planned, so come and join us for a Christmas ramble through the rainforest or a meander on the the beach at sunset. We have very limited spaces left, so get in quick if you want to go.


David Lichmans wonderful clinic is coming up in Janaury, so any budding horse trainers get in touch!