Exciting to meet Warmblood foal Minstrel again after a gap of four months and my, hasn't she grown!
She's a personable little soul, generally really well mannered, and gently affectionate. Laura and I worked on leading now that she has graduated to a head-collar and lead rein.
She has a slight tendency to plant, sometimes tries to take control by nipping or taking hold of the lead rein, and occasionally rushes ahead. Rather than pulling at her head in straight lines to ask her to walk forward, it's easier to work using angles and turns. When the handler is on the left a turn to the right encourages the horse to keep up and also allows them to 'reward' the horse for doing so by putting the smile back in the line.
As always foals need lots of breaks - sometimes that can be just changing the subject - but they should always be allowed to suckle when they need to.
Once free, Minstrel showed us just how much energy she has.
Sometimes when I'm working at my fields I can hear the boom! of tank-fire all the way from Salisbury Plain. Today all I could hear was the clatter, clatter of tiny feet as Henrietta practised her loading on her own. An orange bucket with orange biscuits seem to be most attractive.
All of this meant that I was able to load her very easily when it came time to take her out for a walk with our friend Lorraine. Jack came too...
