31st December, 2008 End of term report

I was pleased to receive a Christmas card from a client I only met briefly back in the summer and haven't heard from since. As the session had gone well and I had even gone out and bought her a couple of full length bars for her trailer prior ot her arrival, I did wonder what had happened.

In any event, this is what she said: When going through my cupboards I discovered a 'Thank-you' card I forgot to send. I am so sorry this has been so long coming, but I would like to thank you for coming to D-pony's rescue at the _____ stud. I was beside myself with worry, but with your handling and direct instructions to myself and my sister the loading couldn;t have gone any better. A far cry from a few days previous. I still have nightmares about sending her there to be backed, and about the day I tried to bring her home. D-pony settled back home immediately, and things have improved slowly. Hopefully all Monty's associates are as nice and kind as you! Keep up the good work.

Over Christmas I have given e-mail help to three people (at no cost to them), one who was having difficulties treating a wound on an unhandled two year old, one that is having loading difficulties and one that was being bucked off because her saddle kept slipping forward. All I ask in return is a thank-you and if they get stuck to call me out sooner rather than later.

This is what I said to the first one, followed by her replies to me...

I am very happy to help if I can. It sounds to me like you have done all the right things so far. You could try using warm salty water and bathing his whole face very gently - as if he were your best boyfriend and he had a fever! If touch and move away (advance and retreat) doesn't work then you could try just using a little more pressure in your touch - I am learning more and more that some horses prefer a deeper, flatter touch. Try using a dark clean cloth - a flannel - rather than bright white cotton wool and use all your powers of seduction. Tell him very quietly that he is fine and tha you are trying to help - keep your adrenalin down and breathe! I am sure you know all this stuff but it bears repeating.If this doesn't work then you need to weigh up the options (as you have been). If it isn't a very serious wound it will probably look after itself - if you can't bear to leave it to its own devices then you could ask the vet for antibiotics to see whether you can get it to heal from the inside out. Obviously I am not a vet and you need to err on the side of caution if it isn't healing. If he was really in the wild he would have to cope.....Please keep me informed!

Thanks so much for that! Some excellent ideas there - I hadn't even thought about using something dark. And its very interesting what you say about some preferring more pressure when being touched. I think this may be the case with Impy as we didn't make much progress in our early sessions when I was being especially light when touching him as I assumed he would prefer that. Since being a bit more matter of fact and pressing slightly more when touching him, we've made much faster progress.I'll have another go with him this afternoon and I'll let you know how we get on.

And later:
Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU! Impy LOVED having his face gently washed with warm water and my best flannel (oops...best not tell my husband where its been!). He was still being protective of his eye but I managed to give it a little wipe without too much distress so I think I'll leave it alone now unless it looks infected.He's a very sweet boy but very shy. He was taken off the Yorkshire moors as a yearling and then just turned out in a field for the next year with minimal handling and I've only had him just over 3 weeks so it was a big ask really.Many thanks again, your advice was absolutely invaluable. Nikki