7th August, 2014 Going The Extra Mile

An 18 hour round trip involving a very early morning start and a very early morning finish to Wombourne in the West Midlands. April, the Hackney type cob has been in a fix most of her life having been abandoned by her original owner when he took her mother away and left her behind when he couldn't load her. Just a yearling at that time, she was chased around the field by 4 x 4s and was left with rope around her neck. She survived the next three years, come rain or shine, in a narrow paddock on her own with no shelter. Although she could see other horses she certainly couldn't touch them because the four strand electric fencing was transformed from the mains. Fortunately new owner L took over her care last winter and has been anxious to move her to somewhere with better facilities both for the filly and for herself.  April is still almost wild and although she will just about accept a headcollar she is terrified of ropes and the chance of her jumping through or over the fencing is just too great to risk it. She is also quite sharp, striking out or kicking if she feels she needs to.

L wanted me to help to load April and take her to a new yard where she can be trained in a safe place. Chicken and egg because in an ideal world you would want to train her to be loaded but without being able to lead her safely this was going to be impossible.

We headed North with all of the round pen panels on board and the first job was to set up a large corral where she wouldn't be tempted to try to jump out nor be able to hurt herself. Having never been in a stable she wasn't going to volunteer to go into the trailer and so once she was in the round pen we had to slowly reduce the size of the round pen until she really had no other choice. Nevertheless we did everything very quietly and once loaded she stood and ate her feed.

At the other end of the short journey it was very tricky to persuade her to leave the trailer again since she has never trodden on any surface apart from grass and didn't trust the yard. However, once she was off the trailer she went into the stable willingly and settled down immediately. A long and hard day for all concerned.

"Phew, what a day eh! (btw 2.39 for bedtime?  Aye carumba!). Thank you so much to you and the ladies for all your hard work.  April has gotten through the night with no mischief and is now munching her hay.

Can't believe she's here!  Me and Be got a tad emotional about it as we never thought we'd get her to safety, so that you for helping us save her from the inevitable.

Hope you got a good nights sleep after all the hard work and brain power!"  LH

I shouldn't finish this entry without paying respect to my two assistants yesterday, Tracey and Lindy, without whose physical and mental support I just could not have got the job done. I really don't know what I've done to be able to rely on such steadfast support but I really appreciate it.

"A tad k-nackered today but what an experience!  You mentioned yesterday you were not sure why we were interested in accompanying you - we learn so much Sarah!" LW