What a day! This morning X's owner rode her for the first time since she came in and she was perfect. I couldn't be happier with the progress of this little horse - she loves going out, works honestly and communicates all the time. For her part, the owner rode her quietly only stepping in to help when X needed her to.
This afternoon I went down to central Bournemouth, through traffic jams and housing estates, shops and industrial areas to find six Exmoor ponies that are grazing in Turbary Park. I am so excited about the prospect of working with the staff of Bournemouth Borough Council to ask these ponies to accept basic handling. My report to them included the above chart to give some indication of the level of time of commitment that might be needed to get these four and five year old ponies to the point where they don't mind being handled by a vet - fortunately they are relatively untouched which may make things easier than if they had been manhandled for branding and inspection.
