Welsh Section C, Bliss, is on loan to a lovely family and is benefitting from more exercise and lots of fun. Her owner asked me to come and work with them all on loading and inevitably this encompassed the subject of leading. All in a line, we practised our counted stops and walking forward as if we were going to the chocolate shop.
Bliss' slight stickiness about loading has been reinforced by it's success - she plants her feet, or walks backwards towing her handler with her. Whilst the Dually helped to prevent that, I was keen to make sure that any forward steps were well rewarded...
...and soon she was loading consistently again.
It's easy to put all of a pony's behaviour down to stubborness but I think that Bliss has some anxiety about travelling which is expressed through her reluctance to load, some pushiness in the trailer itself, and passing loose droppings. Fortunately Dad was very open to a long conversation about driving style and the pros and cons of transport vehicles in the UK. The more I read the more I feel that horses have good cause for being concerned about travelling.
The great news is that the family can now all work together to protect their pony's safety as well as their own.
"I just wanted to let you know that Jane and I have practiced loading Bliss a couple of times now, she has been very good, with very little hesitation if at all. I also had to load her to take her to the vets with her field mate the other day, I was able to lead her away from him and load her first very smoothly. Another good side effect is that she is going into a stable more easily too. I think the ground work with Jane and Charlotte was a fantastic help all round and I wish I'd done it with her previous sharers! So thank you, I will let you know how Jane and Charlotte get on when they take her out and about." ED
Welsh Section D, Darcy, has never been good to have his feet done by the farrier and in his last home they gave up altogether. New owners Jo and her daughter Molly have sedated him orally to have his feet shod on three occasions but are very keen to resolve the problem in the long term. The main issue seems to be having the nails put in with the hammer. Darcy is only eight so there should be no underlying reason why this should be more difficult for him than other horses but it's always a good idea to keep an open mind.
I started off by establishing straightforward foot handling at first, making sure that he could balance and setting him up to accept clickered treats in return for holding his feet up. He cottoned on to how this worked exceptionally quickly and was soon standing ground tied while I did it.
I tapped his shoes with the metal end of a hoofpick to begin with and then switched to a medium weight hammer. I interspersed a few taps with a single click and then a triple click and a treat to finish. If he thought about objecting he was easily distracted with one of those clicks and waited patiently to hear a triple click.
Next it was Mum's turn...
...before Molly took over. One hour in and he had made brilliant progress. I was pleased to find out that their farrier is Matt Taylor who I have worked with many times before. With Jo and Molly practising in the meantime, we will have a grand reunion in a few weeks time when Matt is due to come out.
Clearly Nelly has also had a hard day....
