Since I last saw Breeze three months ago in her new home in East Sussex she has really settled in and seems to be enjoying one to one attention. Today we upped that ratio to four to one with me, Hannah, Laura and Robin all taking turns to groom her and work her.
At seventeen years old she hasn't be handled much but since my last visit she has had her feet trimmed and her leading work is coming along very nicely.
She still has a tendency to push her way through people so we spent time teaching her to back up nicely and by the end of the session she was lifting up her back, lowering her neck, and no longer bracing.
I particularly wanted Laura to work with her as she keeps her pony, Juniper, just three miles away and it would be good for Hannah to have someone IH minded to work with her from time to time when she needs a bit of support or reassurance.
Breeze is still very protective of her legs which have been itchy and covered in sores for years making her hypersensitive to any touch. We used clicker training to ask her to accept touch from the feather duster so that she might accept cream being put on her legs without Hannah having to worry about her back or getting kicked.
She is such a beautiful mare and inside her tummy there is a large bun due to be born next March. She will be able to spend the rest of her life with this, her last foal.
Going back out to the field after a successful day...
"Hope you had a good journey home. Thanks again for today. You did so well even getting to trim her feather which will help her. Think we achieved so much today. She really engaged with us and was thinking - I'm sure she'll sleep well. Got lots to be going on with. You are definitely an inspiration to me. I will keep you posted with how we are getting on. Proud of our gentle giant:)" HM
