Experimenting with the Noavel

One of my 4 year olds had never had her feet handled before I got her and if you even touched her legs she'd blow up or bolt. I have had her for 2 years now and she is over the leg phobia so I decided it's time to work on picking up her feet. In the past this had been a fight and made our few farrier visits into a nightmare. I have recently purchased a Rick Wheat Noavel headstall system. It was recommended to me by my neighbor who has been to several of Ricks clinics/demos. After watching the accompanying DVD I decided to try it with this mare. I worked with her 2 days ago for about 1/2 hour to get her used to it then it was on to her feet. At first she behaved as usual - if she did pick her foot up she yanked it immediately away and backed up. After about another 20 minutes I was sttill having a little bit of trouble getting her to pick up her feet but when she did she was relaxed and stood quietly - what a difference!
Then yesterday I spent about another 45 minutes with her and she got consistently better about picking her feet up when I asked and staying calm and relaxed. The Noavel is designed to put no pressure on the horse but if you need to correct them you give them a bump with it and then pressure is immediately released (unless you actually pull on it). I noticed right away that my mare started looking for the 'right' answer to what I was asking of her. If you have a horse that disrespects you in any way while being handled you should look into the Noavel. Check out their website and if you have Dish Network they have a 30 minute tv show on channel 9411 W-Sun - the schedule and times are listed on the site.

I have talked to a few people who are using the Noavel none of whom have any of the same issues with their horses but they were all able to use the system and now they and their horses are safer and happier and are spending more quality time together. It's a useful tool for anyone who enjoys horses.

Ok the impromptu infomercial is over now back to our regularly broadcasted blog lol :)