Home turf

We got back from Kenya just two days ago and I have a mountain of photographs to go through. In Hook and in Fritham, the horses, ponies, donkeys and mule have been cared for by Sue and Nathalie and the team of Lookers for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

The horses have all been fine and fed, but the poor carers have been chipping through 4" of ice on the troughs, and bringing in water to refill them. I think my days of going away in the winter are numbered, lest I kill all my friends. 

We called in on the ponies in the dark and wet on our way back from Heathrow. They're all looking really well and have plenty of shelter. 

Bonus Post

 

Tom, the Reserves Manager, was beating the bounds yesterday and clearly taking pictures for the ponies' next album cover. I'm not sure what is going to be called yet. 

Jack Frost

 

It's very easy for people to instil doubts into your head about the way your horses and ponies are being kept. "I hope you have got rugs on them," or "They must be tucked up in bed at this time of year?" To be honest some people would rug a polar bear but it did make me take a good look at my set today. Are they keeping enough weight on? Do they look cold? 

Nelly looks very comfortable and we have to remember that their teeth and their hooves don't feel the cold like ours (feet that is). Their coats fluff up to create an extra layer of warmth just like we wear layers in the winter. 

They have the option of moving about all of the time and there is plenty of shelter on the Reserve in this case, and the barn in the case of the horses and the long-ears.

They all look picture-postcard beautiful against the frosty scenery. 

The short grass is sheltered too and still providing some nutrition while the long grasses and shrubs provide fibre. 

Pie is the colour of slush but still cleaner than usual. 

Together they form an autumnal group in a wintery background. 

Over at Fritham the long legs and long ears have been kept amused by an orienteering competition which was taking place in one of the nearby car parks. 

This is the last time I will see the Hook ponies before I come back from holiday. Thank goodness for The Grazing Team and all of the Lookers who will be keeping an eye on them while I am away. One last day seeing the horses and donkeys tomorrow and then Sue takes over. 

Heading in the Right Direction

Ruth is continuing to make small but significant progress with Prince and sometimes in unexpected directions. Lately, whenever the other horse and ponies have been taken out of his field, staff at the school where he lives, have let him out onto the trackway which leads up to the yard so that he doesn't have to be alone. On this particular day, he followed them all the way up to the covered yard where the farrier was attending to some ponies and had four dogs loose and running around.

Despite these noisy activities, Prince was happy to stand close by, munching on the hay and minding his own business. 

Best of all, when it came time for him to go back, he followed another pony, and Ruth with her clickered treats, all the way back to the field some distance away and only hesitated a little to go through the gateway. I'm wondering if he can be persuaded with a hard feed to enter one of the pen-like stables which are under cover with the door left open at first until he gains confidence and then see where Ruth can go from there. 

 

New Wellies

Agent M found the ponies yesterday and they are all looking suitably round. During heavy frosts they have access to more food than most field kept horses as they can browse at a higher level. 

Good Ponies

Yesterday two of the cattle at the reserve got out by the tennis court and managed to trash the square in the middle of the cricket pitch. Having seen the loving care and attention that is paid to the sports field, I can imagine that the green keeper was seeing red. Thank goodness the ponies hadn't joined in. 

This sports field is one of over 500 King George V playing fields across the country set aside in memory of King George V and protected forever with Fields in Trust.The playing fields at Hook are home to both cricket and football. If you want to find your nearest one, look up: King George V playing fields

Haven't got the Foggiest

 

The lookers had struggled to find my ponies for various reasons last week - the fog being one of them! Fortunately, it was much brighter today so David, Agent M, and I had a very good morning bringing the ponies in and trimming Jack and Blue's hooves. 

It was as if the ponies knew we were coming, and they were not far from the top gate.

Those that know Jack will know that it is not only a minor miracle for him to have his hooves trimmed but now to do it completely loose. The haylage helped and the fact that David can cope with the weight of a pony leaning forward to reach it. 

He tends not to use a hoof stand for the semi-feral ponies, instead balancing their back hooves just a few inches off the ground so that they don't feel so worried about it. 

The cattle at the reserve were all safe and well...

And we teamed up with Agent M at the end of the day to pick up the last (I think I say that every time) of the vintage rubbish and put it where it can be collected. 

Walkies

Back to being a non-horsey human for the day. Lovely walk with my friend Marie, and her gorgeous dog, Rose. 

No-one is irreplaceable

By the time we got back from tracking Snippet and her son yesterday, we had two more lined up for attention. 

These two were very happy tidying up.

Still got it?

Gypsy wonders too

It's easy to wonder after you have stopped working with horses, whether you have still got it in times of need. It's certainly rewarding to see so many youngsters going through the Beaulieu Road On-line sales that have been halter trained using the methods that I have developed. But could I do it again myself?

Unpicking poor halter-training or, let's face it, forceable restraint and jamming a headcollar on, can be far more difficult than putting a halter on a naive pony, and it is even more important in these circumstances not to resort to squashing them up a wall to take it off again. In this foal's case, the aftermath of the headcollar being forced on was made even worse by how tightly it had been fitted and how much his head had grown. He couldn't even yawn comfortably. Add on top of that the effect of a left-handed headcollar (most of them are) and a right-sided pony (many of them are) and it was easy to see why he had earned the nickname 'Feisty'.

With so little time before going away, and a little pressure from the owner, I was not sure if my own 'intent' would be transferred to the pony and therefore undermine what I was trying to do. Yesterday's session had certainly helped us along, and it was easier to separate the mare from the foal once the mare realised that I could be trusted with her beloved son. With the pair side by side, I could work on him alone and soon moved from touching him with the feather duster to touching him with one hand - albeit only on his righthand side. Further in-roads were made once he began to take coarse mix and chaff out of my hand, still refusing the carrots he had also rejected yesterday. 

Once I'd began to rub his neck and to touch around his face and even to manoeuvre his headcollar as much as I dared. it was simply a matter of going over his poll and pulling gently on the strap. As I said "I've undone it" to his owner, the headcollar started to drop very slowly but definitely down his face and onto the floor leaving me, her, and him with slight looks of astonishment.

For him it meant that he could have his freedom out on the Forest with his Mum after six weeks during which she had picked up condition. I hope that next time he comes in, his owner will be able to intervene and ask the transporter not to force a headcollar on him. 

The plan for turning them out didn't go to plan at all. "I'll get them to follow a bucket," said their owner but the ponies had clearly told each other, "I'll get her to follow us with a bucket." 

Off down the cul-de-sac which has direct forest access

A friendly figure shows them across the road and then they were off!

Snippets

I am meant to be taking it easy before we go to Kenya. Just feeding the horses, visiting the Hook ponies, and maybe holding a donkey while he has his hooves trimmed.

Oh whoops! Did I go wrong somewhere? We were just asked for the loan of our trailer so that an owner could take their 22-year-old mare and her unweaned colt to the nearest pound so that she could get his headcollar off and then let the two of them go.

Neither pony was willing to go into the trailer even for a feed without being put in there by force. Nothing else for it but to try taming him enough to be able to remove the headcollar at home but first of all we needed to convince his Mum.

The mare, Snippet, took amazingly well to the feel of the feather duster and stopped kicking after she had been touched with it twice. By seducing her at the same time as him, I succeeded in touching him on both sides of his body and part way down his back legs although he was still extremely sensitive about his head, and more worried about his lefthand side than his right. Whether this is nature or nurture I don't know. All semi-feral foals seem to have a side they prefer to have outwards for danger and he very obviously chose to nurse from his mother with his right eye on the outer side. On the other hand, the headcollar would have been jammed on from the left in the first place,

After a very promising start, he now has another appointment for tomorrow.