I think the ponies have been given a copy of my timetable as they were wandering along to the fields as we arrived this morning.
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Tilly enjoyed being in the top paddock where she could look at the Forest ponies (something we wouldn't have dared to do when she arrived for fear that she would have gone through the fence).
More work on asking Tilly to soften to the bit. Tasha has her fingers under the bit at the sides of Tilly's mouth. The key is to release the instant the horse stops leaning in any way.
It was off to the fire station at Lyndhurst this afternoon to help out with the training of Animal Rescue Team Specialists. There were 17 officers taking the course from all over the UK. Many are commanding officers in their home counties.
This is just a tiny proportion of the smaller specialist equipment that can be used during a rescue. As Fire and Rescue Services look to make cuts in their budgets, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service has announced that it is going to cease offering Large Animal Rescue as part of the service it offers. Difficult to know how a charity or volunteers could ever the equipment and skills it would need to provide a comparable service.
Today's scenario was set at an event where the Historical Re-enactment Society has spooked two horses with gunfire at the same time as a tractor has ploughed down a hill and into the side of a trailer. In the trailer the horse is down on top of it's handler, Diane. She and her friend, Kay, are screaming their heads off.
Meanwhile the other horse has got trapped in a tree with it's handler, Jenny caught underneath. She is unconscious.
While the first friend is helping with the rescue effort...
another one, Barbara, is getting in the way, getting stuck in the mud aswell.Her carer, Tracey, is in on the act.
She has to be removed from the scene while the officers got on with their jobs.
Tasha was promoted to vet for the afternoon.
Jenny is extricated and appears to be unharmed...
...and the 'vet' seems very happy with the horse.
Apparently this horse needs to go over there!
And duly arrives, heavily sedated but unharmed.
The other horse is also out of the woods.
