15th January, 2007

I haven't really said a lot about the remedial horse, Orca. She looks a lot like Kelly's horse Pie - super build and very attractive markings. The trouble is that she turns I can't into I won't very quickly indeed. If she spent as much energy on doing things right as she does on making objections then she would be a super horse. The first job was to ask her to be quiet on the ground. She was inclined to walk through you, constantly move around and to suddenly have hysterics. Out riding she would tuck in behind another horse and plod along happily but she wouldn't go alongside the other horse or go in front under any circumstances. She hasn't been ridden out on her own for at least a couple of years. Slowly but surely things have improved. She was quite sore and she has had some physiotherapy followed by appropriate exercises (Kate Barnett has done a great job with her). She now stands like a rock, ground tied when I get her ready. I really did have to insist that she respect my space and resorted to shaking gravel in a box when she wouldn't respond to the use of the Dually or my body language. In order to build up her confidence I have been taking her out with another horse and instead of pushing her to go on and past the other side, I have got the other rider to describe a circle and come in beside her. Surreptiously we have got to the stage where she is "accidentally" in the lead and she is starting to accept this more and more. I get the sense that there would be no point in getting mad with this horse (and certainly not in hitting her) - even a whip wop rope has no effect. She would be quite happy to escalate things to far beyond anything I can cope with and the rest of the time she would be metaphorically looking out of the window and distancing herself from what was happening. I felt and still feel that it's about making everything black and white for her - hassling her when she says no without getting cross or violent and then making life absolutely calm and wonderful when she at least tries to get it right. I am starting to feel a better connection whenever I work with her now and today she excelled herself by going out long-reining on her own (with me of course!) without protest. I made a huge fuss of her and told her what a wonderful girl she was and I could almost see her swanking. Let's hope this is a breakthrough and that she is starting to enjoy herself. Tomorrow she's having a luxury sports massage.
This evening I was called out to an emergency. A show pony that wouldn't allow anyone to catch him in his stable. He was quite adamant about it and turned his bottom on anyone who went in the stable and threatened to kick them. I worked with him with the false hand on the stick to begin with and once he had settled I was able to put his headcollar on by taking it apart completely and doing it up around his neck first. Everyone was at a loss to understand what had suddenly triggered this behaviour. This pony is 10 years old, an experienced show pony and never been known to kick before; indeed, when he was caught he was incredibly sweet and affectionate. It made me think about how necessary it is to find out what has happened in order to find the solution - so often we just don't know and can only surmise (although healers would say that they can find out). In those circumstances all we can work with are the symptoms and to find out the best way of quietly getting over the problem and persuading the horse that all is now well with the world.