15th December, 2013 Little Welsh Dragon

Just when she thought it was safe to go out, Indy has been reunited with Rosie. It has to be said that she detested this pony when they last lived together and seemingly replied to Rosie's "See you later" with "Not if I see you first!". At that time they were both too young to be leaderless and Indy felt the loss of Petra and Theoden as her foster parents very badly. She really lost her confidence. It must have come as a great relief when Charly decided to buy her since that meant she could be with them again. Now with a lot more confidence and independence she greeted Rosie as a slightly odd if not old friend and they soon settled down to eating hay.

Rosie has come in for a little leading work but really to wean her from her own sister. Their mother delegated responsibility for this foal very early on and Rosie has been her little mother ever since. It meant that there was pandemonium if ever Sally wanted to take Rosie out of the field although it has gradually improved. The time felt right to make the bigger break and give Rosie some much needed rest from the attentions of her garrulous sister.

Although Rosie lived on a pig farm for a while she was never formally introduced. Later today she got up close and personal with one of our visiting pigs.

14th December, 2013 Settle Down!

The pigs came in for a very early night at 2.30 p.m. and settled down for the night. Sadly they have no telly or they'd be able to watch their friends Otterley and Hiccup who will feature on Horse and Country T.V.'s Kelly's Angels on Christmas Day at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Please be careful when Googling for information, there are some other Kelly's Angels it seems!

14th December, 2013 The Seven Streams

Back at the fields, Tracey and I took Bella and Indy out around the seven streams walk. Both are happy to wade through or jump the various streams and ditches that we encounter and to drop down and jump up the banks on either side. We risked letting them off their lead reins again the the inclosure to see what they would do and they had tremendous fun dashing through the undergrowth. As they both had Duallys on we caught them again after just five minutes.

14th December, 2013 That was Then and This is Now

There's a useful mantra that I have been working with recently in respect of my own life, letting go of some old stuff that has been getting in the way. I'm starting to see that it has a relevance to horses and humans alike. Today I went out to work with a super young horse called Jasper. Just six years old he has not been spoiled or spoilt and is proving to be a very good find for his new owner. She has had a difficult time loading a previous horse that she had, not helped by people who were trying to help, which resulted in him rearing and frightening her.Trying to leave behind images like that is not easy - nerves are there for a good reason - but it was important to understand that Jasper is different and wouldn't present the same behaviour. The phrase That was Then and This is Now came in very useful. For Jasper himself this was a copybook session - learning to load bit by bit until he was happily going in and out via whichever ramp we chose.

For horses that have had poor experiences in the past it's also a good mantra to use. Horses, like humans, store their memories as pictures. They have no other way of storing them. They are probably more like short movies which they archive under headings such as "What happens when a person approaches me". Our job is to dilute any bad memories with as many good ones as we possibly can so that when they throw open their storage file as someone approaches them they are likely to fall on a good picture rather than a bad one. Saying phrases to them like "That was Then and This is Now" might not mean anything in terms of the words that we use but the energy and good intent with which we say it will definitely help to bring joint adrenalin levels down.

"Thank you so much for your help today. As you probably noticed, I was very nervous when you arrived due to my experiences with my last horse. It didn't take long, however to realise that you had Jasper 'eating out of your hands'. He was calm the whole time and learned to fully trust you. When I took over and he loaded like a pro, I was so pleased and knew I'd done the right thing by asking for your help. It was an incredibly stress-free experience for both Jasper and myself. This is exactly what I had hoped for today.
The photo's are lovely and will serve to reinforce the feeling of calm and confidence from out training today." JF

Postscript: I have suggested that J asks an Ifor dealer to put in a third setting for the bar in her trailer so that it is neither to high (and pressing on his esophagus) or too low (so that he is tempted to jump over it). It is always worth thinking of padding the front bars of forward facing trailers too as they can bruise the chest during braking.



Facebook message 28.2.14: "...moved yards to get a really good outdoor school to school Jasper in. He loaded perfectly 1st time." JF

12th December, 2013 No Vaccinations Required

This morning Tracey and I packed our bags, picked up our tickets and set off across the sea without our passports to the Isle of Wight. Destination Totland to see a small family of smaller Shetland ponies and their owners. Pie had arrived about a year ago via a lovely home in Dorset rescued from the hands of travellers. Mollie, arrived in her Mummy's tummy!

His equilibrium pretty much restored, Pie is still a little nervous when approached from behind. This is likely to stem from the days when he was tethered and felt the need to protect himself from people approaching him. Apparently, left to his own devices, he still grazes a compact circle of grass, always clockwise, until he realises he can move on! We worked on reassuring him about approaches and also asking him not to present his bottom as his first line of defence.

We also worked on leading techniques for him and for Mollie. One thing I have learned about Shetlands and Miniature Shetlands is that they get sick of looking at people's knees. Getting down low and friendly really makes a difference. They also like to be taken seriously and not treated as toys.

"Thank you so much for today, absolutely wonderful to see such results from both ponies so quickly, amazing. I will continue the training and try to remember all you taught me, I am sure Pie & Mollie are quicker to remember than me !! It was also great to see Mollie working with someone else as I rarely see her ‘doing things’ as I am always the one doing it with her." JB

12th December, 2013 Seasons Greetings

To all my lovely friends, clients and frients, I really hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a bit of a rest. I'm going to make a donation to the fantastic charity Shy Lowen in lieu of Christmas cards and hope this meets with your approval.

11th December, 2013 Method in Our Madness

Anyone looking down on the inclosure where we take the youngsters our for a walk might think that we had all gone mad as we take each one off in a different direction, crossing and re-crossing each other's tracks. Bit by bit this gets them used to the idea of going alone and yet knowing that the world is full of horses. Today this enabled Tracey to take Bella out for her first walk on her own in a safe environment with no traffic to contend with.

"Bella and I went on our very first ever solo walk, she did really well, we went into the enclosure and turned the same way as we did yesterday and just did one small loop as I wanted it to go and end  well, it did. Barbs took a picture of us on our way back looking at the pigs arriving who then followed us into the field! Bella then, with piggies in tow went off to graze with Petra! Thank you again, and so much, for having us at the farm with you I am loving it!" TP