22nd January, 2014 Orange and Lemons

Early morning start and the Forest donkeys are 'guarding' the road, waiting for the rays of the sun to burn off the mist.

Rosie and Bella are looking forward to their hay and the Forest girls appear like ghosts at the fence, waiting for theirs. I'm feeding thirteen at the moment.

Jack shows off 'Hair By Nettles'. It takes years off him!

Our first customer is Ollie again, seen here as a speck in the distance as she heads off for her first solo hack in three and half years. Returning from her triangular circuit, Emma is throwing her arm up as if she has completed Badminton. Very pleased with and for both of them.She no longer needs her orange and yellow guides!

Email received 25th February, 2014: "Just thought  I would give you an update on our progress. Me and Ollie have been out at least twice a week on our own since you helped me. We are now trotting away from home and even had our first canter on our own. I still can't believe how quickly you managed to change her mind. I have been singing your praises to everyone I meet. We are getting more and more confident all the time. But I am making sure we only take small steps at a time so not too push her too far to quickly." EH 

 

Next we worked with Jacob, her 18 month old Forest-bred gelding by Portmore Tempest. He's has three previous homes in that short time and had learned to pull very aggressive faces at people when there was food around. He has put weight on with Emma and is now a little less grumpy. We did some important groundwork with him today and then took him out along a quiet lane to see how he would be. Instead of dawdling on the way out and dragging Emma all the way home, he walked along calmly by my/ her side with a super 'smile in the line'. He was also really good at matching pace for pace - funereally slow, a lively jog, and everything in between.

Next stop was our regular visit to Anna who was having her feet trimmed. As the farrier was delayed we were able to give her a good brush and a massage and some friendly company which she lacks most of the time.