9th January, 2011 Good things come in small packages

Yesterday I went to meet a very cute Miniature Shetland with what you might call a lot of character. At only seven months old she is charging up to her owners, turning and then backing up towards them kicking out. This has succeeded in moving them all out of the way. It would be quite amusing if she had soft feet. This behaviour may have started when she was much more uncertain about life and felt the need to defend herself but by now she is very confident and even the loudest body language has no effect on her. However, several shakes of the rattle behind her until she moved forward seemed to do the trick and the moment she turned to look at me I made a lovely fuss of her. Hopefully the rattle bottle can be put away very early on in her training because one day she may be asked to pull a small trap and we don't want her to be afraid of rattly noises. By the end of the session she was allowing the owners to wander around her paddock without chasing them and to move her food around. We also did some work on her leading so that we could end on a good positive note.

"Hi Sarah! Million thanks for your help yesterday. We're attempting to follow your instructions to the letter--its already made a vast difference. And of course once its been explained it all makes perfect sense! I must say also what a brilliant teacher you are--both of equines and humans. Your lesson was worth ten times your fee--love D & A & C."