5th May, 2014 Things That Go Bump in the Night

Set off across the Forest really bright and early this morning hoping to see some new foals before I started work. Whilst not one of the ones I saw will be eligible for the Register for Pure Bred New Forest Ponies, they were all beautiful. Most of the ponies on the Forest are pure bred and the quality is maintained by carefully inspecting the limited stallions that are turned out. Everyone else must have been covered at home as only pure bred stallions are turned out. The mares can be any breed but the majority are New Forest.

This one's sire is clearly a coloured pony.

This foal's mother looks as if she is Welsh

This colt is likely to be pure bred Shetland. Shetlands often sell for more more money than the New Forest Ponies and are more likely to be stolen. One was recently bundled into a van near Burley.

Kitty-May will shortly be entering her last week with me and I always like to make sure that the pony is ready to go home. Kitty travelled loose to get to me and so I practised loading with the partitions in this morning. I used clickered rewards to say thank you for any steps forward and she was soon going in and out very happily indeed. This is a pony that hasn't missed many meals!

Later on I rode her out again. Today I tried her in the Rocking S snaffle as I thought it would give more clarity than the Neue Schule which has a tendency to go into her mouth if she misunderstands a request to turn. The Rocking S had an immediate effect and I felt I had much better communication with her.

One of our first trots together - a bit of a pokey nose but her head carriage will come when it is ready.

Another practise at loading before we finished and here she is going in without a lead rein.