Late this afternoon I went off to see Hilary who has been working with a three year old wild New Forest pony guided by my book, No Fear, No Force. He's quite a sharp pony and apparently used to try to climb the walls when people went into the barn. Now he is really pleased to see Hilary and comes straight over. She's done a great job with him and today we moved things forward quite literally by starting his leading work and leg handling. He is still very much in touch with colt behaviour and wants to kneel down and bite if you touch his front leg with the feather duster and to lash out with his hind legs (instinctive, automatic behaviour). However, by the end of the session he was keeping his feet down and accepting touch and being rewarded with a lovely rub on his chest which seems to be his favourite place. We don't know much about his history other than that his Granddad is Knightsway Billy Boy, Nelly's sire. At some stage he has been gelded and he has been through Beaulieu Road Sales yard.
"Thank you so much for coming too. I'm not sure who learned more, him or me!" HP
"Today was good, I thought I should repeat what you did yesterday to see if I could do it on my own! We went for a 'walk' round his pen a few times (which he seems happily settled back into) and did feather duster on his legs. I also ran my hands down both front legs- feet on the ground :-)" HP 16.2.12
