9th October, 2011 A is for Amador

Phineas

Amador

A is for Amador and at his last session yesterday he walked calmly down the ramp every time and ended the session just standing on the ramp quietly eating some horse cubes. Today his owners practised again and took the panels away section by section. Amador continued to unload calmly and carefully. He goes for his lesson next weekend so it will be interesting to hear whether he is just as good at the other end of a journey.  "We are thrilled that you were able to help us and Amador". NB and LB

Update 24.10.11:  

"We are pleased to say that V managed to load him without any fuss, he travelled well and unloaded a little bit quicker than hoped but far better than previously. This we think was contributed to by a lot of activity around T’s yard and car park including M going round with a leaf blower!Having had a good lesson and feeling very tired, Amador again loaded without fuss and travelled home where we parked up in the drive in such a way that the ramp opened down towards the hedge to form a visual barrier. This worked well and he unloaded 100% walking down the ramp so we will continue to do this and hopefully get to the point whereby he will walk out even when there is no barrier."

B is for Boris. Two years ago I worked with a non-loader called Boris.  I recently met his owner when I went to see another horse at her yard. Boris has loaded ever since and is now competing at eventing. 

B is also for Blue, who had gone on strike about his headcollar.  Anton wrote, "Nadine is making very good progress with him and she's now able to put on a head collar normally out in the field. She has also put on a bridle with bit a couple of times so as far as she's concerned a great job done by your good self."

B is also for Bertie.  "Bertie seems to be doing fine thank you, (touch wood!) we have taken him out a couple of times, each time he stops at the ramps and E just gives a little tug and he goes on in, but at home he never stops just goes straight in.  (Funny little boy).  So hopefully we have got over this little problem.

Thanks for your help, it's really made a big difference." SH

H is Havanna. Havanna had her bridle on using clicker training within 10 minutes IN THE FIELD on the second day that she was home with Jane after a six month break. Horses don't forget their clicker training.

K is for Kanuthi. I was delighted to hear that Blue's foal from four years ago has been trained to drive and came second in the BDS 'Sunday Best' class at his very first outing (only four days after he came back from training). Incidently Cello is also being taught to be driven so it will great to hear how he gets on.

L is for Leo. An Andulusian stallion that I halter trained when he was 10 months old, won the three year old's class at the new International Championship PRE show.  The show was a qualifier for SICAB (the Spanish Championships) in Seville!!

M is for Milly and Molly who are now both having their feet picked up really easily and are ready for a visit from the farrier. They have never had their feet trimmed before because they lived out on the Forest and their feet looked after themselves. Now that they are in paddocks, their feet have become overgrown and we needed to do a lot of catching up with halter training never mind leg handling before they could have their feet done.

M is also for Magic - "Successful, calm long reining out [on the Forest] this morning, a ****** miracle!!"-

O is for Onca, the polo pony who has been terrified of having her back legs touched and particularly bandaged. Her owner has contacted me this weekend to say, "Onca is doing really well, I am able to easily brush her back legs all the way down to her fetlocks and she doesn’t bat an eyelid even if tied up. She has also become much more trusting of new people as a groom from the yard over the track has been catching her daily and putting her on the horse walker so hopefully we can play a little arena polo on her. She now comes up to the gate asking for human contact which is very unlike her. Interestingly she has also become a bit more assertive in the paddock and not getting bullied quite as much. I have no idea how much of her progress we can put down to the smelly stuff vs the clicker training but she is definitely motivated by food and quite enjoys her aromatherapy sessions!"

P is for Phineas. I haven't seen Phin for two years but I have been in regular contact with his owner and her daughter and in fact we have become friends. It was great to be asked to introduce him to long reins and to check over his groundwork. Jan wrote:

"What a fabulous morning today! Thank you so much for coming to us and for your patience with us and Phin. It was a shame we didn't record this session as I could see such huge changes in Phin's  responses as the morning went on and could see for myself the 'little' things you demonstrated so clearly which result in massive changes."

S is for Splash, Jenny's pony. Jenny continues to make amazing progress with Splash and today rode out on the Forest. I went to see her in Tuesday where we worked on mounting as Splash was starting to move away as Jenny went to get on. She has had Splash's saddle checked and so my job was to analyse what whether there was anything obvious causing her to move away. All I could see was that Jenny was tending to point her feet toward's Splash's rear as she mounted and that as she got on her toe was just pressing into Splash's side very slightly as she got on board. By asking Splash to stand just 3" forward the problem was solved! Jenny sent me an email today: "...you will be pleased to hear today I rode Splash on the forest, quite possibly the calmest she has ever been, and the getting on, she gave me her right ear and just waited patiently for me to get on with it, clonked her on the bum with my foot (slipped slightly on the bank I was using), she didn't give a damn, nor did she care at all about the purple treat bag I left on the saddle.   Quite possibly the best session I have ever had with her.   All these little things make the difference - thankyou, from an extremely happy Jenny :))"

W is for Woody actually Wicklea Wakanda. He recently came 6th in his class at the Horse of the Year Show and has won all over the place this summer including Supreme at BSPS Wales, I taught Woody to accept a headcollar and to lead when he was a foal and to load later on.