A very pleasant session today with Cob, Dylan and New Forest pony, Olllie, a son of Farrier's Rambler. Dylan has only just arrived with his new owner and has settled down beautifully at his new yard which is all serene. Having lived on his own for quite a while he is getting on famously with his new friends Murphy and Ollie. He is that lovely combination of laid back and responsive which is often found but often missed in cobs. He's certainly fallen on his feet with his new owner and her little girl, R as they are both calm and sensible around him.
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| Asking for his attention - the line goes in the opposite direction to his head in order to bring his eye back to me. |
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| Asking him to come forward by making a space first - then, if necessary, little pressure, little pressure. |
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| R backing him up really gently - while Lucy the dog looks on |
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| Leading practice |
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| Starting to get him used to novel things - he was more worried on his right than his left and this is important to know |
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| Tracey works on asking Ollie to match her stride for stride |
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| 'Chasing' the brolly - Ollie isn't fazed. |
Ollie is a great pony and often entertains groups of eight children at a time!
"We had a fabulous day thank you, we both throughly enjoyed ourselves and got an awful lot out of it. We bailed out after distributing the carrots, got a fry up from the greasy spoon and eventually left the yard at half six! R had a lovely potter round on ollie who was as good as gold even when she insisted on riding backwards....
I feel very positive and pleased by your feedback...We have a lot to think about, I know I keep running through parts of the session and re-playing it, so we will both be continuing to practice over the next couple of weeks.
Thank you very much for today, I'm really glad T recommended you, because I am confident that with your help we will both improve enormously." DB
Incidentally, I always check whether people are happy with us taking photos of their session and whether they are happy for the photos to go on this blog. Mostly I am met with a resounding yes! If you are on the run, a celebrity, like to keep your private life private or would just rather not have your photo taken or have it on the internet, that's fine too!
