Jack went home yesterday after his two weeks of training. He did an excellent Black Beauty impression when he was turned out with his friends. So only our own lot back at the yard - Nell should foal any day now. Piper is still waiting to hear whether he is going to a conservation project in Surrey but has lost enough weight over the winter for me to stop worrying about him. Petra is building up to a sponsored ride next weekend and Chancer is just building up.
I have dealt with an assortment of horses this week including two with real problems when travelling. Both of them just drop into the partition and go "into pressure" scrabbling along the outside wall with their front feet. It is really frightening at the time and a hard one to solve especially as they seem to become comatose. The horse itself is quite distressed and must be really fearful to go to such extremes. Some people have had success with travelling them without a partition and cross-tied with a full width breast bar and back bar and indeed one of them will travel happily this way. All options have to be considered very carefully to make sure that both the horse and the handler are kept as safe as possible and whether it is worth persevering at all.
I have also been to see a couple of young riding ponies who are full of energy and comedy at this time of year. One of them plays a great game of football and would be worthy of an England cap. We have just been working on installing a manners program for when they are with people.
Finally today I went to see a Dartmoor pony called Zippy and try as I might, I couldn't hide him in the back of my car.
