This morning's little horse is a home bred Connemara cross Thoroughbred filly called Magic. She is just nine months old and her owner wanted to do some work on leading. Facilities were somewhat limited with no schooling allowed in the fields and the nearest arena about a mile away so we took things very easy in the stable yard. We worked on removing the pressure as quickly as we could so that she never learns to brace.
For reasons that we may never get completely to the bottom of (she has never been tied up), Magic is very sore in her poll and this is exacerbating some ambivalence about the head-collar which you can spot in the top picture as I put one headcollar on over another. As well as working though this, I spent some time showing her owner how she could massage her to make her more comfortable. Here I am gently rotating her ear which apparently requires me to close my eyes! At any rate this resulted in her closing her eyes too, lowering he head and relaxing.
Back at the fields Henrietta can find no ancestral connection between herself and the creatures outside. When one of them brayed she looked astounded and mildly disgusted.
Bear's owner came over this afternoon and so we took him out for his first walk away from the fields. We took Jack to keep him company who dealt very well with having to be on a lead rein rather than naked as he normally is in the inclosure.
