December 2006 (2)

After one week, the two newcomers are progressing well. Both have seen the physiotherapist and are due to have their teeth done on Tuesday. The starter had his first long-reining session today having been introduced to rugs, pigs and dogs last week. He is really enjoying his walks out on the Forest - as a stud bred pony he hasn't really had the chance to explore before. The coloured remedial horse is enjoying her walks too and loves jumping over the streams and logs that we meet. Today I rode her for the first time and she was fine. On the way out of the fields tonight I thought I would just back Nell. I put a headcollar and lead rein on her and leant over her a couple of times and then got on. She stood there as if nothing had happened before turning and chewing my shoe lace. We then pottered off for a few strides before I got off and gave her a big kiss. Not bad for a "wild" pony.

Approaching Christmas we have had a lot of visitors - mainly to see Piper it has to be said. Our daily session are now observed by two or three people at a time and he is becoming oblivious to their presence. These get togethers are an excellent excuse for lunch at the Royal Oak.
At long last I have got round to having Petra microchipped. I can't imagine the anguish of your horse going missing or the police finding it but not being able to prove that it's yours. She was very suspicious of the microchip reader and not impressed with being bar coded! She has never met a brush that goes bib-ip before.

Just before Christmas I received notification that my offer of free assistance to the New Forest Pony Publicity group has been rejected. They didn't give any reasons.

Horses may be unpredictable but life isn't, every high I have is usually followed by an equal and opposite low. Having put Piper's headcollar on for the first time on Saturday, I managed to get myself kicked the following Monday when I made a small mistake with him. He turned away from me and when he felt me against his leg he kicked out. Not his fault but ow, it hurts (a lot). My long-reining sessions with the other two horses were a bit limpy.

Neal from the IHDG has been staying and helping me with the horses this week. It's great to have some company and to be able to long-rein in tandem through the inclosure. He's also good at laying the fire and making supper when my poor injured leg forces me to rest. I love having people up at the yard helping with the horses and hopefully picking up some of the techniques on the way. I work on the basis that I don't pay and I don't charge! Over the Christmas holidays Sophie and Stephanie both came up to lend a hand and David went out riding on Petra.
On the Thursday after Christmas we had a long dog walk with dogs Fudge, Connie, Hannah, Lucy, Molly, Buster, Echo and Sasha.

December 2006 (1)

Two lovely horses have come in at the start of the month. A bay New Forest pony for starting and a big coloured mare for some general remedial work. It looks as if I will be kept busy all over Christmas. Little Pie decided to come home yesterday so he is topping up his calories and having a wormer before he goes out again. Petra, with her go-faster stripe clip is enjoying having her own herd home again.

The New Forest pony was stud bred and hasn't encountered pigs before. On day two I couldn't get a second of his attention because there were three pigs outside the field. I took him over to look at them and after trying to dive away, he settled down to just staring at them. After a while he became fascinated and we followed them up and down the fenceline to watch them snuffling away in the leaves. Good timing I think because when I left the field at night, three pigs had moved in and were gaily going over my trotting poles. D-pony just carried on grazing.
I have to confess to being an addict of programmes such as House of Tiny Tearaways, Supernanny and Dog Borstal.Although they can be formulaic they all show how being consistent and persistent definitely works along with being logical, using positive and negative reinforcement and some definite leadership. Last night Tanya was explaining how a three year old child could not fill an emotional hole in his mother's life and that the child just could not cope with those expectations or the disappointment she felt when he couldn't do it. Developmentally he could only be what he was - a child of three. I wonder how many of us get frustrated when a horse cannot be what we want it to be; they can only be what they are - a horse. Many of us seek solace in our horses when life isn't going right ........

I was delighted to receive a box of chocolates today as a thank-you from a client who's just been awarded her 50 hours rosette for hacking out. She is really enjoying her riding now and the pony has a lovely new saddle made by Clare Barnett. These rosettes which are presented by the Wessex Classical Riding group are a great incentive for people to get on and get out with their horses.

On my way to a client at Blissford, I spotted the hinny that normally lives at the Fighting Cocks in Godshill. She really is the most beautiful mule I have ever seen.

24th November, 2006 Piper's Story

Piper is a seven year old Exmoor stallion from the Anchor herd. He has lived out on the moor all his life and had his own group of mares. Sadly, his owners decided that they had one stallion too many and that Piper would have to go. I don't want to go into the reasons why Piper was chosen - it doesn't really matter. It could have been any one of the stallions.
Piper was booked to go to Potters for meat on Friday, 11th November. To some people this may seem unforgiveable but the truth is that there are very few people who can take on a mature wild stallion given the cost in terms of time and money, and the facilities needed to keep him while he is entire. Who knows, even now, Piper might prefer to be dead than to have to give up his moor, his mares and his freedom from human contact.
Having been successful with 23 wild ponies at the Moorland Mousie Trust aged from 6 months to 2 years, I asked to be given the chance to work with Piper before he was put on the lorry. "If I'm not going to do any good," I said, "he can still go." He was deposited in a stable at the back of the Centre and during my lunch hour I would spend just ten minutes assessing his attitude to being approached. I was struck by how polite he was - he would go to the back of the stable, stand sideways on to me and indicate that he was "just over here, minding my own business" and would I kindly do the same so that there would be no confrontation. He was not aggressive but like Marlene Dietrich he preferred to be alone.
When I telephoned David asking him to bring the trailer down when he came to pick me up at the weekend he wasn't in the least bit surprised. The fact that half my money from the Moorland Mousie Trust course would be spent on an unwanted pony was just about typical really. I started work with Piper the day after I got back. He was parked in the barn which is really a Nissen hut with bedding in one end, food and water in the other and the gate open into the pony pound; a sort of room with en suite and conservatory. He seemed to settle very well but would speed away if I even so much as looked at him. "It's okay, I'm going away...." he would say. He really was extremely sensitive and I was very conscious that I would need to work very carefully if I was going to bring him round. Being faced with a blank canvas like this can be very daunting. It's important to make the first splash of paint before you decide to avoid it altogether.

During the first two weeks with Piper I have been able to touch him all over his left hand side with the hand on the stick and also the feather duster. I have been able to touch his bottom and rub his bottom with my hand and to creep a little way along his back. I've even been able to brush his bottom with a rubber curry comb and a body brush. I can move parallel to his body with the hand on the stick and approach him from the front and touch his shoulder with the hand on the stick but if I attempt to move my hand further along his body or to touch the front of him, he either flees to the back of the hut or threatens to kick me. He has only actually kicked out at me once. I can touch his legs all the way to the floor and rub behind his fetlock with the hand on the stick. I can even touch his tail. I can reach over his back with the hand on the stick and touch him on his right hand side but he will not expose his right hand side to me at all yet. He is much less sensitive to movements of my fingers and will eat food from a bucket in my arms and he can now cope with my feet moving towards him as long as I don't get too close. I found that he loves the smell of Ylang Ylang and that it calms him so I put a little on my hands and on the hand on the stick. I have had to wrestle with my thoughts on a daily basis about the best approach to take. Should I have insisted on touching his shoulder rather than his bottom first of all to prevent him presenting his bottom to me whenever I approach? I think beggers can't be choosers and I'd rather be able to touch anywhere than nowhere at all. Although he sometimes rounds his bottom towards me, this merely seems to be him going into pressure as I come within touching distance and is more a polite acceptance of what seems to him to be inevitable rather than him warning me not to come any closer. Should I have insisted that I started with a rope round his neck so that I could direct his movement by force if necessary for safety reasons and teach him all about physical pressure and release before I did anything else? The trouble is that I don't know what Piper has been through before. He must have been branded and inspected at some time and this will have involved a rough rope being forced on his head and him being tied to something immoveable. These rope halters continue to tighten while the pony struggles and fights the pressure. He may also have been haltered and "swung" as a colt to teach him not to fight a rope. I doubt that he has ever met a sympathetic touch. I felt that whilst a rope might keep me safer, it could also break our relationship right from the outset - it was likely that he would tear around the pen with the rope trailing after him and I just felt it wasn't worth it. I wanted Piper to stay with me by choice albeit that I might make the choices very black and white for him.
Piper has made significant and positive progress every day that I have worked with him. It hasn't been as dramatic as the foals which switch within hours of first working with them; nevertheless there has always been a step in the right direction. Today (24th November), Piper has made a huge breakthrough. Until now, he has been reactive and yet prepared to endure something providing nothing goes too far. Today he started to be pro-active, working things out for himself, giving things a try and allowing himself to be curious.He's amazing.
I decided that I needed to be able to work at the front of him. I invented a game which I have called Grandmother's Steps. It goes like this: I take a couple of steps towards Piper's head from directly in front of him. I don't look him directly in the eye, I keep my arms down and I walk sideways like a crab. I don't want him to get confused when I ask him to step backwards by moving my feet directly towards him. If he stands still, I move away again and pause for a couple of seconds before repeating the exercise. If he backs up, I keep walking with him until he pauses or even looks as if he will pause and then I reward him by moving away from him again. If he turns and flees, I keep after him much more positively and send his bottom away from me but the second his head comes round, I drop my body language and walk away from him to reward him. It's basic Monty advance and retreat technique but I needed to apply it absolutely consistently and make my timing as perfect as I possibly could. In no time Piper was engaging with me - I don't think he could have done this a week ago, he would have just fled - as I approached he would nod his head even if he was backing up. In time I was able to take three steps towards him and then four and five until I was getting really close. I could pause for a little longer before moving away again. And next, he started to take the occasional step towards me - if he did I would instantly move away and reward him by staying away from him for longer. In time he was taking four or five positive steps towards me and I was getting closer and closer to him when I went towards him. Eventually I closed the gap by leaning my body towards him and then moving it away again. He started to reach out to smell me and each time I would reward him by moving away. And then he just leaned forward to smell me, dropped his head, gave a huge sigh and completely relaxed. We just stood together quietly while I told him how clever he was, how amazing and how beautiful and tried to put convey pictures into about how much I love him already.

Grandmother's Footsteps worked so well that the following day I was able to put my hand on his face and to stroke his forelock. As you can see from the photograph, every muscle was poised to go backwards at the first sign of any trouble but by the end of the short session he was far more relaxed. The day after that I could stroke him much more definitely and he allowed me to touch him between the ears and to rub his forehead. I was also able to touch his cheek and chin. By the end of week three he is letting me stroke him along his back, all over his face and part way down his neck - just a 6" gap between what I can touch from the front and what I can touch from the back! He chooses to stand near me when we are resting now and stands much closer while I do "room service". Although he is having to live alone, he receives regular visits by the Forest ponies and can touch them through the fence. The mare and foal next door often wave through the hedge.
Week four and I have bridged the gap. Piper now let's me stroke him all over his left hand side and loves being groomed with a body brush. I think there has been a distinct switch between him tolerating touch and now enjoying being touched. He softens his eye, lowers his head and relaxes. He likes his ears being touched (what a bonus that he isn't ear shy) and loves his mane being stroked. I'm really enjoying working with him now and am not so worried about whether I am doing the right thing, because it's obviously working! By the end of the week I have been able to touch and groom Piper along the right hand side of his face and neck and he is relaxed more and more as the week has gone by.
And here's the thing..... on 9th december, Piper's former owner contacted me to congratulate me on how far I have got so far. No-one wants their pony to go for meat if there is another realistic option. The truth is that Piper was never going to be easy and it's only because I have the luxury of working with horses all day that I can fit him into my life. We have still got such a long way to go.
Three days later and I have put a rope halter on Piper without a murmur. I haven't asked him any questions with it yet but he at least doesn't mind the feel of it around his head. I have also got as far as his tummy on the right hand side.
I have never allowed myself to have dreams. Partly because it's easier to cope with disappointment that way and partly because I don't want others to know if I have failed. I have a dream for Piper and I'm not going to keep it a secret - nor am I going to let it put pressure on him or me. I would like to ride him in next year's Moorland Mousie Trust sponsored ride on Exmoor; I would like him to go to one good show and I would like to complete a sponsored walk with him across a Long Distance bridlepath in aid of the Moorland Mousie Trust.

After 33 days (approximately 66 hours of gentle work), Piper let me put his first headcollar on. And....two days later he kicked me. It was my own fault as I just put a little too much pressure on him and he turned around and walloped me one. Since then I have put the headcollar on a number of times and he has been led around the barn. At New Year he is moving into a different barn where he will have access to more grass outside.

November 2006 (2)

Nell and Blue are treating my place like a couple of university students. They just turn up when they feel like it, use the place as a hotel and never tidy up after themselves. They eat me out of house and home and never tell me what time they are coming home or who they are seeing when they are out. I had to draw a line with Nell today when she turned up with some stray friend that I have never met before. The girl appeared to be barefoot and pregnant - but then mind you, so is Nell. Pie on the other hand thinks he is independent - he looks as if he could do with a good wash and haircut but he's got some nice friends that he goes drinking with. (It's okay, just humour me!)

I attended the APBC Workshop at Witney (Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors) which was entitled The Carrot and the Stick, an examination of different training methods for horses and the behavioural tools that they use. I was disappointed that the promised discussion and debate didn't really materialise and that different training methods weren't portrayed on a level playing field. In any event it helped me to clarify the role that clicker training can play in training. Clicker training is an excellent and positive tool to use during short training sessions and is a great way of teaching a horse to be imaginative and to offer behaviours. Nevertheless in my view it isn't a way of being with your horse all day every day since the horse expects attention throughout the sessions and needs to have a clear indication of when the session is over. In my view clicker training cannot avoid negative reinforcement altogether and this was accepted by the panellists - even the act of picking a horse's head up off the floor by lightly pulling on the headcollar amounts to negative reinforcement. I am very keen that there shouldn't be different "churches" within the horse training world and that our overriding aim should be to be as soft with the horse as we can possibly be (here I use soft as in attitude, not soft as in daft!). I will continue to use clicker training in circumstances where it seems the most appropriate way to go. Throughout my training I endeavour to use both positive and negative reinforcement and to avoid punishment.

November 2006 (1)

The Handling the Young Exmoor Pony course at the Exmoor Pony Centre was an absolute triumph. I have come home on a real high knowing that the 23 ponies that we handled have got an assured future. We worked with 19 foals, three yearlings and a two year old and by the end of the course they had all been touched, had there headcollars on, been led and had their feet picked up. On the last day all of them were caught in the big pen. We had 38 participants from all kinds of backgrounds: from conservation to probation, healing, hypnotherapy and reflexology, environmental health to tourism. All of us found it to be an immensley rewarding and emotional experience as these wild ponies began to accept and then enjoy human contact. 100's of people came to see what we were up to - most importantly journalists, pony breeders and staff from the National Park. We are already taking bookings for next year.
Pictures from the course are shown on the Exmoor Pony Centre website at http://www.exmoorponycentre.org.uk/ but here are a few more!



While I was there, the Johnny Kingdom programme "A Year On Exmoor" featured me and Billy Milton with david in the background. The general consensus was that I had come over well and David got an e-mail from RAF Lossiemouth asking him for a signed photo!



Came home with Piper - a seven year old Exmoor stallion.

October 2006 (2)

I finished a good run at the Margaret Green Foundation Trust on Thursday knowing that I had all but done myself out of a job. The staff there are all much more confident around the horses now especially the big ones like Tyson, Cassie, Barney and Cinnamon. Much of the groundwork has become instinctive to them and the horses are enjoying the consistency. There is also a greater acceptance that "playing" with the horses is really very worthwhile work. It was good to hear that Squirrel and Cinnamon are being worked regularly in preparation for them finding new homes. From now on I will only be going there to work with particularly difficult cases.

On Thursday night I went to a talk by Sally Fear, a superb photographer and supporter of the New Forest and the work of the Commoners. Her book and film "The New Forest Drift" provide a real insight into the workings of the Forest and the issues faced by the Commoners. She points out that 10% of the Commoners own 80% of the ponies on the Forest and without these commoning families the Forest just would not work. It is true that it is the same faces that turn up whenever there is hard work to do on the Forest; managing the drifting of the ponies; the running of the sales yard and manning various stands at public events. If the animals were taken off the Forest it would be an ecological disaster and the Forest would be overgrown and almost impenetrable within a few years. Sally's book is a must for anyone who loves the Forest or owns a Forest-bred New Forest pony.

The last week of October seems to be developing a theme. All three of the ponies that I met at the beginning of the week have been trained using natural horsemanship methods - including Intelligent Horsemanship and modified Parelli, most of which had been gleaned from books. Accordingly my work was simply to tighten up their groundwork with suggestions aimed at achieving better clarity and responsiveness. For example, it is so important to establish a neutral position at the withers before asking a horse to move his hindquarters away from you otherwise he may start to move as soon as you walk down his side. This can result in a horse that moves away from you when you want to mount. It must be excellent news for horses if this sort of horsemanship is becoming more widely used - although in each case the owners felt somewhat isolated within their own livery yards. One of these ponies was Flash, who used to be at the Margaret Green Foundation Trust, this delightful little pony is now so confident and came over to be caught. He had been frightened opf his rug but by the end of the session he was happily accepting it.

October 2006 (1)

The theme of this month seems to be long reining. My visit to the Margaret Green Foundation Trust entailed long-reining two horses for re-homing in the morning and in the afternoon we took Squirrel out on the roads. It is hoped that she will become a driving pony so Holly walked behind her with a squeaky wheelbarrow. We got some very funny looks from people going by but Squirrel was unperturbed. Later I started to long-rein Maisie the donkey. Maisie is quite a complex character but loves having something to do. That same evening I long reined a horse that has some leadership issues and objected to being directed at all. She performed the most beautiful capriole in protest and I was glad of my hat and all Kelly's warnings about being clear of the kick-zone!
I am always pleased to have a copy-book loader too. S-horse had a bad experience of being loaded four years ago and has not been asked to load since. Using very gentle pressure and release and rewarding two steps forward with one step back, I was able to ask him to load within minutes and we were able to spend the rest of the session getting him used to the bars going up, the partition being closed and the ramp going up behind him. By shaping his behaviour in this way we break down the loading process into a series of bite size peices that keep the horse's adrenalin down. I also feel it is important to put the person loading the horse in control of everyone else around the trailer. I get them to tell me when they are ready for the ramp to go up and to unload the horse when they feel that they are ready - not the second the doors are opened.
Happily I am busy every day this month. I had the chance to tone up my skills in handling untouched ponies when a lady contacted me after she had bought two New Forest foals from the Beaulieu Road Sales yard. Despite being weaned at just four months, both of these foals are well grown and well bred and should turn into lovely ponies once they trust people. By the end of our session, both ponies had been touched all over and were far more relaxed. I also had the chance to practise clicker training with a particularly sensitive pony who just cannot cope with long reins. Hopefully we can encourage him to stick around for long enough to learn that they aren't actually going to kill him.
It was good to see Hilary Vernon again at a clinic I helped to arrange at Caroline Douglas's yard in Sway. Both Hilary and Caroline are driving enthusiasts and it was extremely interesting to watch Hilary work with carriage horses and ride and drive ponies.
The following week started with a lot of groundwork training for horses and owners. Most owners don't have the facilties for a Join-Up and I usually make a start by establishing my body space and simply moving the horse around. Quite often I then have a calm and amenable horse to work with amd I am told that the horse hasn't shown it's true colours. I don't think it's because I have any special gift and I certainly don't have a magic wand. I have lost count of the times that I have seen this basic simple work change a horse's attitude. It was Tom Widdecombe who taught me the value of this and his book "Be With your Horse" is on my recommended list. Trust me, this stuff works.
One of the horses I saw this week is an 18 month old Appaloosa cross Arab. Two major injections of intelligence in her parentage - a very bright sensitive horse with manners to die for. Her owner had applied logic from the outset and despite a strong emotional bond had always treated the horse as a horse. I was called in simply to make suggestions as to the best way to prepare her for a ridden life. I emphasised the need to work on the left as well as the right (we do so much on the left because of our swords!), to work in her blind spots above her back and behind her tail and the benefits of getting her used to all sorts of objects. It's nice to be asked before things go wrong.
On Wednesday evening I accompanied Caroline Douglas to a demonstration that she was giving to the New Forest Pony Enthusiasts' Club in Brockenhurst. She took Norman and Torin, her two wonderful Hampshire Cobs, and gave a display of long reining technique that included figures of eight and lateral movement. Achieving such precision at the same time as obviously having great fun had the audience entranced. She is the epitome of Kelly's favourite quote: "An amateur will practice something until they get it right; a professional will practice it until they can't get it wrong".