March, 2006 (4)

I went to work at the Margaret Green Foundation Trust in Church Knowle, Dorset for the day. All the staff and the volunteers at the Trust are really nice people and some of them had come in on their day off to do the training and to see me work with the horses. The Trust does it's best to re-home their horses and wants to put them in the best position to settle in with someone new. I worked with ponies called Flame, Squirrel, Velvet, Belle and a big Bulgarian donkey called Maisie. All of these animals have difficult stories and yet their capacity to forgive is remarkable. Because of the way that they have been treated in the past, many of them have had to be "the leader" when a human is around and some of them have learnt to barge through people and move them around. With a little groundwork it was great to see them accepting their human leader and being able to relax for the first time in a long time. At the end of the day I worked with a little black Shetland pony that had been kept in a tiny pen for 8 months so that children could pet it. The Trust is doing its best to rebuild the pony's confidence and physical health. Alistair, the Trust manager and Amanda, the Stable Manager are very enlightened and want to do all their rehabilitation work without recourse to violence in any form; these ponies have been through enough.
The last week in March was filled with emergency cases - a 15 month old Dartmoor colt, an exquisite miniature version of the Lloyd's Bank horse, that was too wild to handle and an Appaloosa cross who launches himself at people to bite them. On the last day of March, Patty, Nikki and I took advantage of our free ticket into Somerley Park horse trials and had a lovely day watching fit and beautiful horses jumping solid and daunting cross-country fences. At lunchtime we managed to sit at the same table as Bettina Hoy - Patty started to talk to her in German and then Bettina was asking us about the type of work we do and how the New Forest works. Her first competition pony was a New Forest pony. This tiny lady was so warm and friendly and genuinely interested in what we do. I told her all about the biting horse and she wanted to know the outcome. It really made our day, week and month.
I am looking forward to a new ponies arriving on 1st April and then two more on the 8th. All three have already been started but for one reason or another two of them have had a break for a while and the third one is just lacking in confidence. I shall really enjoy comparing and contrasting. One is a Hackney Cross, another Welsh Cob cross and the other a New Forest Pony. The little Dartmoor pony, Ollie is also coming in for handling. He is so delicious.......

March, 2006 (3)

Went to see Michael Peace doing a demonstration at Hurstbourne Priors. I really enjoyed watching this quiet man work with the horses. There was no drama and the horses all made extremely good progress from a nervous youngster walking over a bridge, a New Forest pony having its ears touched for the first time in several years and an older horse being asked to listen and go through a gateway as directed. His timing is immaculate and his signals very black and white. I like the way he rewarded horses by taking them for a walk - a horse is driven by instinct to move forwards.
Out on the Forest, Blue has absconded with some Shetland ponies and is making her way up to the Nursing Home. Pie and Nell are still hovering around my fields in the hope that I might let them in to the big bale of haylage again. I have given the them some haylage to keep them warm and happy but have hardened my heart and kept the gate closed. (Later the three of them gave me kittens by wandering off to Telegraph Hill, one of the worst accident blackspots on the Forest. I made them life members of the Tufty Club and was very relieved when they turned up back at Fritham again).
My Safari Party on 25th March was a great success much enhanced by the arrival of a Black Forest Gateau and a lot of wine. It seems we are all getting too old for dancing though.

March, 2006 (2)

The show season must be fast approaching as all my customers this week have been non-loaders. A recurrent problem seems to be horses that will load to go but not to come back (perhaps they don't want to!!). Anyway, I was wondering whether it would be worth setting myself up as a loading service at local shows.......
Patty and I attended a bitting clinic by Hilary Vernon on Saturday, 11th March. What she doesn't know about bitting isn't really worth knowing. She was pleased to hear that I start all my youngsters with Myler Comfort Snaffles. She abhors Dutch Gags the way I do and was able to show me how nasty they really are. Why don't the competition authorities and the Pony Club ban these bits? They pinch the tongue and when the third curb ring is used they drive the bit down into the tongue. When the pony lifts its head up to avoid the pressure then a martingale and flash noseband usually follow. Hilary doesn't work exclusively for Myler and designs bits to suit the horse and rider's needs. We watched for horses being transitioned into new bits and then gently working in them. The improvements were immediate and significant..
Blue, Nell and Pie went out onto the Forest at the weekend. I had hoped that they would stick around so that I could let them in again later and gradually leave them out for longer and longer each day. We were able to trail them for half and hour and then they simply vanished. It's a big decision for me and I just hope they get through their first few days without an incident..... after that they should be fine.

March, 2006 (1)

This week, Patty, Sheila and I and I have been working with a pony that will load into the trailer but only to travel loose. We had to persuade her that she was fine and to accept contact with the partition and the back bars. This horse had previously been a complete non-loader and had also been frightened of going in the stable or through gate ways. We broke the training down to really small steps, working on entering the trailer with the partition to one side, opening and closing the partition down, ducking under the breast bar and back again, putting up the back bar and so on. On Friday I was able to load her completely on my own. It seems that once she understood that not every movement in front of her, down her side or at her bottom was not significant, she could relax and stay where she was. She is going to new owners tomorrow so it is hoped that they will try to load her sympathetically and not take it for granted that she will load like an old hand.
Trailer travelling is a very bizarre concept to a horse. Any horse, especially one that has been wild, will know by instinct (and because it's mother told it) not to get its head or feet caught up, not to get trapped in small spaces and not to go indoors when it is windy or noisy. Who knows what my creep up and eat you?! You'll note that we don't use full length travelling boots as we find these cause more trouble than they cure; horses feel as if their legs are tied together and that they can't move and they may also get too hot. We find a travelling rug does help ponies who avoid touching the partition and walls.

February, 2006

Had my first riding lesson of 2006 and Petra's first ever. She was such a good girl. I need to stop treating her like another one of the baby horses and present her with something more challenging! I have booked her in for the Rockbourne Ride in a few weeks. That'll certainly wake her up! There's always lots of horses there and we can have a go over the cross country jumps.
Went to the RA conference and discussed exciting things for the future. We had talks on the Port Lewis Impression Pad (good for looking for pressure areas under saddles); the Rocking S snaffle and the Tui Loading Bar.
From the 15th to 26th I went down to Exmoor again to work with some Exmoor ponies and to house-sit at West Hollowcombe.This house and cottages are situated in the highest village on Exmoor and the scenery is stunning. Apart from making a few beds for some holiday guests, we could do pretty much what we wanted. David worked with Bertie again and had a great success with him, eventually leading him onto a trailer to go to his new home on a conservation project on the Blackdown Hills. Bertie will never find people easy but he had really begun to trust David. I worked with an untouched colt called Billy and was filmed by the BBC on the first and last days. Billy was an absolute star and went from frightened baby to confident boy within just a few days. When the cameras came back he would lead around the yard and investigate some obstacles (a rocking horse and a bicycle) and then follow me over a tarpaulin. He also chewed the presenter's hat and washed his car! I also had the opportunity to work with Merrion again. I refreshed his groundwork and taught him to long rein and eventually got on his back for just a few minutes. While we were on the moor, Carol Barnett came to work with us for a couple of days and we had a very enjoyable walk with the two resident ponies although there seemed an awful lot of uphill. The plans for the Open Day of the Exmoor Pony Centre (owned by the Moorland Mousie Trust) are going well.
By contrast we saw some pretty appalling horsemanship while we were down there. The traditional method of halter-breaking these ponies involved tying them up to a post and in this case leaving them for hours. This pony had lost half its hair through a combination of stress, rain-scald and malnutrition. Val is negotiating to have this pony gifted to the Trust. If it doesn't happen very soon then the RSPCA will have to be called. It's a difficult line to tread because without the commoners co-operation there would be no Trust and without the fosterers and eventual purchasers there would be nowhere for these ponies to go other than for meat. In another livery yard I saw six horses that are never turned out and rarely ridden. There are two Exmoors, one cob, a thoroughbred and it's two year old son and another warmblood type all cooped up in airless dirty stables with hardly any room to move and filthy thin bedding with nothing to look at all day but the outside wall. The mare was extremely dull and her son was lethargic and had no muscle at all. I also had the misfortune to see their saddles - hard as rock, lumpy and far too narrow. They are all owned by a teenager who thinks she knows how to look after horses. I am rarely faced with such misery but I have been out to the odd client where I have had an ethical dilemma about whether to work with them or call the RSPCA straight away. The RSPCA's powers seem to be so limited and certainly don't cover mental welfare so I often feel that it is better to work with the owners to improve their understanding and change their attitude and then monitor the situation thereafter.

The day after got back from Exmoor I attended a First Aid for Horses Course at a fellow RA's yard. It was good to top up my knowledge and then top up my first aid kit. We spent the afternoon injecting apples with green food dye and I came home with a little green map in the furrows of my hand.

January 2006

Bah humbug! 2006 has started off quite gloomily. One of the New Forest ponies went home, I got a bill for denting someone's car and all my birthday cards were delayed in the post. Still, the New Forest pony had made tremendous progress and proved to be a wonderful riding pony so I had had a lot of fun over Christmas riding a straight forward pony for once. Connie the dog also came to stay so she came out riding with us. Having worked all over Christmas the first week of January has been quiet to make up for it. There's a new pony coming in at the weekend so it's full full steam ahead from then on. This one (a New Forest pony as usual) has been started already and will eventually be driven. However there has been a slight mishap on the way and my job is to overcome that and to get her fitter. All sorts of things to look forward to......... the Open Day for the Moorland-Mousie Trust where me and John Jones RA are hoping to hold a demonstration on how to handle the wild pony. In June I shall be doing my first talk for the Wessex Classical Riding Club on the Moorland Mousie Ponies. What with that and my party (for no particular reason) at the end of March, I have quite a bit to get on with. In the meantime I am making preparations for my two New Forest mares to go out on the Forest in April. Unfortunately they will have to be rebranded as this essential for them to be identified by the Agisters. I shall have it done while they are under sedation for having their teeth done. Hopefully that will make it much easier for them and the vet is going to give me some Bute to reduce the pain. My local Agister thinks I am mad to care so much and my vet thinks I am mad for having it done. If only we knew which microchip is likely to be adopted under the compulsory scheme I would have that done at the same time. In the future I hope they will invent a microchip reader which the Agisters can use to identify a pony from a distance. Until then, I have no choice if I want to turn my ponies out. The girls are also going to have a 5 day course of Panacur Equine Guard in advance of their liberation as Ivermectin is banned once they are on the Forest (harmful to invertebrates).

11th January, 2006 - an appalling day. I went out to work with a pony the other side of Southampton to find her owner waiting for the vet to come out to her seven month old foal. This lovely New Forest filly had been attacked by someone in her field and injured so badly that she had to be put down. Why would anyone do that to her? (Postscript: the vets eventually concluded that this injury was caused by the rope electric fence wire).
Next day: I never thought I'd get so much pleasure from waving a flag at a pony. The second starter that came in before Christmas is so afraid of seeing things out of his right eye that he whooshes forward and sticks his head in the air. Although I have ridden him, it has been impossible to even scratch my nose with my right hand without him being terribly offended. Today I was able to hold a flag above his back while he was loose and wave it from left to right without him disappearing. (Later in the month I started to ride him again and apart from the odd little whoosh of about two strides he was much much better. I used clicker training to help de-sensitize this pony and it had a great effect on him. He became a little more nibbly but I could move my arms about like windmills when I was riding and he was fine. It should also be noted that this pony had a couple of treatments from a physiotherapist and one with the osteopath while he was with me.)

An equine osteopath came out to see a selection of the horses at the fields. This guy also practices acupuncture and kinesiology. Each horse needed something entirely different and it was interesting to see what a wide range of techniques are available for dealing with different physical issues. Petra had her poll adjusted and some massage whereas one of the starting ponies had muscle testing which revealed a fungal infection. The same evening I went to listen to him talk on natural medicine for horses and this was followed by a massage clinic the next day. Petra really enjoyed the massage clinic because she got massaged by about 12 different people. Horses are great levellers though as she refused to load at the end of the demo and it took a little while to get her to go in. It's great to be at an event where everyone doesn't dive for their big brooms and lunging whips. Guess who will be having a bit of practice before we go anywhere again!

I've got a mention in Your Horse magazine this month - Page 90, Letters, Problem Solver.
I attended a meeting of the Wessex Classical Riding Group where Richard James recounted the journey of the Trafalgar Dispatch which was re-enacted last summer as part of the Trafalgar Celebrations. It took two years of planning and training to prepare four young Gelderlanders to pull a post-chaise along the route of the original dispatches - some 266 miles. The story was facinating and Richard's warmth and obvious love for his horses and for carriage driving had us all enthralled.



Had a lovely day off when I went to see Rowan in his new home near Lymington. He has fallen on his feet and is very well loved. I went up to catch part of The Handling the Untouched Horse Course (Intelligent Horsemanship). It was good to see Patty working with such confidence with untouched youngsters much bigger than the ones we tend to have here.

December, 2004

Bobbin


Rode Horace out on the roads for the first time. He was absolutely brilliant. I also go and meet an Arabian horse that will be coming in for starting next Spring.

Attended BHS lecture by Peter Maddison-Greenwell of El Caballo de Espana. The horses were beautiful and the high school movements artistic but I felt that I'd like to turn them all out in a field. Oh dear.



Attended the RA conference in Oxfordshire and Sasha went off to her new loan home (from which she subsequently returned). In the meantime Patty has arranged to have Bobbin on loan. Musical ponies. Went to Olympia with friends.

Resigned from my job as a Legal Adviser to the Magistrates' Courts. I shall be a full time RA as from March next year. Go around grinning as if I have swallowed a coat hanger.



Took a friend's pony to Endells Veterinary Hospital with colic. He was described as a diagnostic conundrum. What a worry. Went to work with a yearling Highland pony with no name. I taught him to pick his feet up and to allow me to touch his hindquarters. Did some good groundwork and then got him to walk over an reflective board on the floor. Everyone was much happier with some consistent ground rules.



House sitting six hens, ten geese, two dogs, two ponies and a cat. Worked with a horse that spins round when led to the field and disappears back to the stable. Did lots of leading work incorporating the "smile in the line" and worked with pressure and release so that she knew when she had got it right. Before that it was like having a balloon on a string on a very windy day. (Later heard that this horse was now leading freely to and from the field).



Worked with an untouched New Forest pony that had evaded being touched for two months since being bought at Beaulieu Road Sales yard. He had perfected the snatch and run food technique! Was able to touch him all over without him running away.



Over Christmas hear that the colicky pony had recovered and was back home (a bit slimmer). The vets were never able to say what had caused it.





Went to the New Forest Point-to-Point on Fritham Plain. Brian Ingram won his class but my farrier had to pull up on his pony. Met a journalist from the New Forest Magazine and talked about what I do. Took Liony and Rowan out for a walk and ride Rowan home bareback. Worked with a vet phobic New Forest pony. Took my white coat and stethoscope with me!