Our final course with the Warmblood Foals at Little Minterne Stud today - although they will all be one year old, very shortly, so perhaps we could run a Handling the Warmblood Yearling Course!
Once again Archie was my chief demo horse and was very amenable even though he and his compatriots have been kept in for a few weeks since they were weaned and the colts subsequently gelded.
Lindy loved the course so much last time that she came back again. The foals change so much each time we work with them and we spend time consolidating and building on what we have done before.
Vicky came along because her Warmblood mare is expecting a foal in March. She is already a very experienced dressage rider with an equine degree from Sparsholt College. With that level of experience it was a matter of fine tuning only and showing different options for dealing with different situations.
Lindy is quite a tall lady and baby Bella (by Soliman de Hus) towers over her already at just eight months old.
Foot handling work...
...was followed by work on tying up for the first time. This is Bella mock tied...
...and with no tie up ring a bit of improvisation with Archie.
We finished with a little leading work for Theo but, having been so quiet during his sessions during the day, he just had too much energy to concentrate for long outside.
We have to be so careful when there is a concrete surface although that doesn't mean that he couldn't be encouraged to follow the leader.
The two boys went out with their new rugs on tonight and the girls will follow very soon.
While I was working hard in Dorset, David was working hard in the Forest, learning how to lay hedges with the Land Advisory Service. I'm not sure how much of our own hedges will get done!
