Yesterday I worked with four lovely owners and their families with their ponies. There were some common elements between all four ponies (one was actually a very tall horse!). First and foremost they wanted to work on leadership and setting a few boundaries. They also wanted me to investigate why one of the ponies had begun to plant himself out on the road and absolutely refuse to move unless turned for home. It seemed to me that it was all to do with his feet - having gone barefoot in the winter, the behaviour started in the spring when he started to be ridden again. He is 17 years old and his feet are trimmed by a farrier rather than a barefoot trimmer and he seemed to be pretty sore; he rode nicely on grass. The final horse was also extremely foot sore having lost a shoe a few days earlier and then been trimmed that morning - so sore that we couldn't work with him. It gave us the chance to have a good look at his tack and brought home that owners need to be aware of the dangers of inherited tack, i.e. tack that comes with the horse. Just because they arrive at the same time doesn't mean that it actually fits. Luckily he hasn't been ridden in it yet so there is time for the owners to get something much better.
"Thank you for a very informative and enjoyable day yesterday. I found it very helpful for Rocky and even today he was much more co-operative which shows results already. I did a small session with him which was successful, however I need practice especially with the going backwards bit!!! I know as women we are great at multi tasking but it does take time! lol.
Brian, as a new comer to the horsey world also said how much he enjoyed the day." LM
Brian, as a new comer to the horsey world also said how much he enjoyed the day." LM
