I was so impressed when I went to visit my team of three, Richard, Jan and Anne, working with two of their horses, near Stonehenge. They have got their practice sessions down to a fine art, noting all of the little successes and improvements made by the horses, the body language and concerns, and working all the time quietly, patiently and thoughtfully. As a result, their horses, one which has previously jumped over the breast bar in the trailer, and the other which had previously dashed out of the front ramp and then got bolted into some fencing, are steadily getting their confidence back. Here's one of them, Archie, being loaded and the ramp closed up behind him for the umpteenth time today. He loaded easily thirteen times in total and had the ramp closed on eleven of those occasions.
Bond worked so quietly too, no longer planting on the ramp or shooting off backwards.
He still expressed his concerns through a 'running foot' but...
...he's becoming more relaxed... and his droppings per hour have reduced to just one lot.
I have left my panels with the team who will continue to practice regularly until I see them again in three weeks time.
Having got Ivy's sweet itch rug on yesterday I thought I ought to make sure I can get it off again especially as it has some particularly strong and noisy Velcro. I had to be extremely careful but, having achieved that, I bathed her with some gentle shampoo to help relieve her itchiness even more. Later, having dried her with a towel, the rug went back on and I shall be repeating that endlessly throughout the rest of her stay.
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| Ivy galloping through the gateway...this instinctive behaviour. |
Leaving Ivy in the company of Zoe and Zelda, Julie and I took Jack and Henry out for a walk. They absolutely love being out and about.
