A good few years back, a former client of mine, who by then lived in Spain, asked if I could run a course on handling the wild pony for two young women who were involved with Pottokas ponies which are native to the Pyrenees and Basque regions of France and Spain. These are similar in stature to the New Forest pony and live semi-feral, and are gathered and handled very roughly at the reza or rapas de bestas. For example the ponies are put to the ground for branding.
Vicky, Julia and Nora came to the New Forest to work with an unhandled 22 year old New Forest Pony called Vino. Working with feather dusters and scarves and the techniques in No Fear, No Force, they tamed and headcollared Vino in just a few short sessions.
Recently Vicky contacted me again and asked permission to release her translation into Spanish of the book - just the methodology parts. I was happy to agree, and sent off a copy to my friend Xanthe in Mallorca to give it an extra proof read. She was delighted with it. As a previous graduate of the Handling Wild Pony course held in Dartmoor that I ran for a few years, she had been working with a little chestnut filly and was able to give the translation to the filly's owner for reference.
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| The filly when younger |
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| Xanthe used a dressing gown belt! |
The owner called Xanthe a witch! A good one, I know.
Previous 'graduates' of my courses are working with ponies all over the place, for example, Horseworld, in the New Forest, The Exmoor Pony Centre, and as IH Trainers and the book has made it's way all over the Europe and as far as The U.S., East Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
I only have a couple of boxes left of them and they are available from my website: sarahweston.co.uk along with my three more autobiographical books. These too describe the attitude and approach that I take to horses and ponies as well as some of the horses and people I have encountered.
