May 2004

Start working on a neighbour's wild colt, Thomas. I use clicker training to ask him to come away from his mother so that I can touch him. His mother is untouched. Thomas is a very very nervous colt.



Went to Beaulieu Road sales. The New Forest ponies are fetching much higher prices as a result of the Stallion Scheme (limiting numbers of stallion on the Forest). Little Thomas is sold for just £70 to a complete stranger. I learn stoicism.

March, 2004

I attended a donkey driving course at the Donkey Sanctuary. I am pleased that some of my techniques can be translated into donkey language - particularly with long-reining. Midway through the month I attended a Mary Wanless Demo at Kingston Maurwood. I gain an awful lot from this and am very pleased to see that she doesn't believe in thrusting your seat backwards and forwards. I've never been any good at that!
Towards the end of the month I go and visit Tom and Sarah Widdicombe (both RA's) and get some very useful business advice. It is so relaxing to be around people and discuss horses without the risk of boring someone. Tom and Sarah have some lovely coloured cobs at their yard. I spend a long time talking to their stallion. (Tom is the author of Be With Your Horse). Tom and Sarah's website is at www.bewithyourhorse.com .
Article about me appears in the Farmers Guardian.

February, 2004

Went to help at the Monty demonstration at Quob Equestrian Centre. Quite nervous as this was a venue I had picked out for him. It was sold out and apart from a short power cut (aaagh!) it was fine.

January, 2004

New Year's Day and January
Moved the horses to the new yard at Fritham. Yard is rather a posh term but the fields consists of nine acres in the middle of the Forest with a couple of barns. We've got lots of work to do there but the idea is that we get it all fenced properly and that I have extra horses to stay for training and remedial work. As my customers will be able to combine this with riding on the Forest I may even get a few horses from further afield should people want to find accommodation for themselves too. I know a great bed and breakfast where the owners do massages and manicures. I'm really pleased with the land - it has barns rather than stables, a pony pound (where I can train untouched horses) and a flat area where I can put my round pen and do other groundwork. The fields slope downhill so there's somewhere I can ride the Pie pony uphill without him being able to put in a good buck and of course there are miles and miles of Forest just beyond the gate (plus the pub where you can take your horse for a drink). There's rather a lot of fencing, painting and repair work if anybody fancies a visit! All volunteers will be rewarded with food and a lovely rub in the middle of the forehead. Anyone who fancies a ride could take either Petra or Sasha out with me. Barns full of ancient hay, fences and buildings that need upgrading. Oh joy! The horses are delighted with their new field. Registered as business as from today.
3rd January. My birthday and my first properly paid job. Lovely Welsh Cob that barges and pulls and lies down in the trailer. Showed her owner how to do the groundwork exercises and eventually worked with the horse in the trailer. Next time she will take a short journey. Advised the owners about some simple safety precautions to take when the horse is travelling.
New farrier started with the horses. I have promised him a bottle of wine of he can keep Petra's shoes on for six weeks or more.
Started work with two donkeys who are going to be trained to pull a trap. Neither of them lead easily so that was a good starting point.
Later in the month the fencing materials and gates arrive at the field. The new vet from Endells came to visit the horses for their jabs and I booked myself onto a donkey behaviour course at the Donkey Sanctuary at Sidmouth in Devon.

Winter 2003

Attended the Stage II course to complete my Monty Roberts' Preliminary Certificate in Horsemanship. What a week. I never thought I would sit exams again after so many years. I couldn't believe my bad luck when I pulled out a 17hh horse to do my Join Up with tack. When his name was Grose I knew he was going to be big. This huge horse did his little best with me and I came out feeling that we had done a good job.
After the stunning news that I had passed my course there followed a flat anti-climax feeling which was only heightened by my filling the diesel van up with unleaded petrol and parting with £209.75 to have it all drained off. All set to start my business I discovered that it would be £1,300 to get myself insured properly. My field promptly flooded, the fence started to lean over and the horses took great delight in skidding about on what was left of the grass.
Last weekend I went to assess a pony all the way over to Portsmouth and discovered that it was an untouched New Forest mare - nothing new there then! As she is loose in 7 acres of land and wants for nothing, she has very little incentive to be caught. The fences are all wire so I've said I will go back when there is a smaller safe area for me to work in. If it was an emergency I would have caught her there and then but I want it to be a gentle experience for her rather than a repeat of the round-ups she will have experienced before. On Sunday I went to work with Magic who seemed to have remembered everything we have done so far and even been practising it while no-one was looking.
Later I learned that I passed my course with a distinction which hopefully means I should be able to become a Recommended Associate of Kelly Mark's much more quickly. You can imagine that I was delighted.


Attended the RA Conference as a guest. Lots of issues to discuss from advertising to ethics.

Autumn 2003

Completed my Join-Up videos for my Stage II course. Horrendous technical problems with digital video recorders not talking to the computer and the computer not accepting certain formats and a horse squashing the video camera and and and and... tapes running out and batteries running out and a 45 minute video of the inside of my pocket....
Attended Beaulieu Road Sales to take more video footage for my project.
Rode out with Agister Peter Rix on my own horse. Decided that Petra would be a liability on a Drift. She doesn't seem to look where she is going at all. Peter rides as the crow flies and he looks at the horizon and the horse looks at the ground.
Helped out at the Alfred's Tower Festival of Endurance - just opening and closing a gate all day. All the riders say thank-you so it is worth it.
Buy a New Forest colt off one of the Commoners and get some free snuff into bargain. End up coughing and spluttering all over the shop! In this way I manage to save Vigo going though the drifting process. His new owner takes him home after a couple of days.
Helped at the Three Rivers Endurance Ride which ran from Salisbury Racecourse. Vet writer for the day. I have to record the horses' pulse rates and whether they are fit to continue. The venue was at Salisbury Racecourse so it was great to have the opportunity to have a nose around. It was also a good opportunity to quiz a vet without having to pay for the answers.
Visited Martin Meaker who is a farrier on the Forest and his wife Diane (both Commoners). We discussed management of the New Forest ponies and their methods of breaking ponies in. I was then taken out in the carriage with Martin riding one horse and leading another behind. it felt like a scene from the Little House on the Prairie.
Took Pie to Folds Farm show where he came last in the Handsomest Gelding competition. What poor taste! I'd even given him a bath using warm water from our jacuzzi. It has been an exciting weekend for Pie. Since he has let himself into the girl's field I have realised that I should be able to lead him from Petra. This gives him a chance to get used to people being above him and moving about. Yesterday he went out for two hours with the girls. At stage in the enclosure, I let him off his rope and he trotted and galloped about after us quite happily. We had a sticky moment when a horse went the other way but as Petra is his girlfriend he stayed close.

I watched the pony drifts at Burley Rocks and learned a lot about what the agisters do. Hard work and very dangerous but the ponies have a tough time too. (More on that in my New Forest Project). Jonathan Gerelli, who has recently been appointed as the new head agister anticipates the ponies movements instinctively and tries to minimise adrenalin levels all round. A guy called Arnhel came to take photographs and stood on top of the posts inside the pen! Apart from possibly alarming the ponies, I was amazed that he dared do it - I have been pussyfooting around people taking the most discreet photos I could for the last six months.
My Join-Up videos have gone off to my course assessors this week - I am feeling very pessimistic as you can always spot faults after you have done something. Whatever will be will be and all that...

Helped out at Kelly's Demonstration at West Wilts Equestrian Centre. Jenny Tillyer came with me nursing her poor thumb which had been decapitated by a frantic pony. Kelly was on fine form as usual. Later went to see Richard Maxwell at Quob Equestrian Centre. Both demonstrations were enthralling but it was very funny to watch Richard being chased by Lynn Chapman when he asked her to catch him. He was worn out but she said she hadn't even been trying!
Revising like mad for my exams and putting the finishing touches to my Project aswell as putting together my homework together. This is the first time I have enjoyed revising.

Summer 2003

I work with a small Welsh Mountain pony called Pie. Born wild, he had been sent away to a BHS yard for breaking but he was absolutely terrified of people. When he bolted they used a Chifney on him and he still bolted. (Pie subsequently came to stay and never left. He bucked me off in late June 2003 and I broke a rib. He also appeared on Meridian TV on the New Forest programme showing some of my work. I don't think he will ever be safe for a child to ride so he is now a meeter and greeter at my yard).





I went to observe the Stallion Passing at Beaulieu Road. I met all the stallions that would be out on the Forest this summer including Knightsway Bill Boy and Smiler of Sheepwash. (Sadly Smiler of Sheepwash was subsequently killed by a van driver three days before he was due to come off the Forest).



Attended the Stud Management and Foal Handling weekend course with Ian Vandenburghe. I learned all about mares' insides and just how much intervention goes on in the racing industry. I led a foal in from the field which I was told was worth £100,000. Good job I didn't let it escape then!

Last week I finished the work I was doing with Tiara and Trixie, Soldier and Samson, Beatrice and Eclipse. Save for the two young fillies (T and T) it has been decided that all the ponies should now go back out onto the Forest and they were going to be turned out last Sunday. We all ended on a high note - the farrier came out on Thursday to trim all their feet and they were all perfectly behaved except for Soldier who felt that the farrier had looked him in the eye and was far too predatorial (I agreed with the pony). One of the Agisters had also come to watch what happened and I think he was quietly impressed. I was amazed that the macho farrier and the macho Agister spent much of their time discussing their diets! I was particularly pleased with Samson's progress. He was altogether calmer and completed the scary obstacle course I set up for him. This consisted of walking up to the false arm and being rubbed all over with the false hand, walking between two tyres, stepping over a pole, walking upto a brolly, letting it be opened and then "chasing it" round to the next obstacle; allowing himself to be flapped over with a dayglo safety waistcoat, stepping over a raised pole and finally allowing himself to be touched all over with a halter. He looked rather pleased with himself by the end and proudly led the others down to the Reserve where they were spending the next few nights. I shall go out and find them and see whether they will allow me to touch them and catch them when they're in the wilderness.

Went to Spain for two weeks on the motorbike. It broke down. Saw wild horses in Galicia. I did some research on these horses and found out about the Repas de las Bestas (Shearing of the Beasts) where the horses are brought down from the mountains and have their manes and tails cut for identification. However the festival also includes the struggle between man and beast - basically all the horses are put in one pound (curras) and youths from the village mount the horses and fight to subdue them - I wonder if the horses get the religious and cultural significance of the occasion? In Vigo there is a magnificent statue celebrating the wild horses.



I went to see if I could find any of the project ponies. Unfortunately it was very windy and the all the groupswere huddled up behind gorse bushes. Pat had given me permission to feed them so I took a brand new rubber bucket and some pony nuts with me. I learned that if you call a horse Eclipse, you can't expect to see it very often. Iwandered all over the area where she had been turned out but couldn't find her. First catch you horse? First find the wretched thing! I'd been told that Beatrice was at Balmer Lawn so I trecked across there with my binoculars and spotted a pony with white socks and a white stripe. As I approached she took no notice of me and then looked up ... and walked towards me. I gave her a lovely rub and offered her the feed which she gladly accepted. I put my arm right over her neck as if I had a rope and she didn't move. A success I think! As I wandered back across the Lawn the rain came down heavily and I found that the best use of a brand new rubber bucket is to turn it upside down and wear it as a hat. The rain pelted down so hard that I decided not to look for the geldings but I was elated to have found Beatrice and touched her.



Started work with a mare called Magic. Magic had bucked off the first person to sit on her. I started her off with groundwork and a Join-Up and eventually rode her. (She did eventually chuck me off and I ended up at Salisbury Hospital for the second time in a month).

I attended the Verderers' Court where the issues included National Park status, deer population levels, routes for cyclists and the latest sport of wind skateboarding. Many members of the public attended to make their presentments to the court. I interviewed Rick Manley, Chairman of the Commoner's Defence Association about the welfare and the management of the ponies and future initiatives to promote the ponies. A foal was badly bitten by a Staffordshire Bull Terrier last week and had to be put down and seven foals have been killed on the roads in the last few weeks.

Kelly Mark's niece is coming to stay for a week - she wants to become a lawyer and is going to shadow me at work for three days - after that we'll go and play with ponies instead. I'm sure she's going to need agood Indian meal or two..........

Interviewed Tony Gerelli, Verderer and Commoner and heard his views on the future of the Forest and the management of the ponies. He takes me round to see a selection of his (wonderful) ponies. He likes to wean them late and the yearlings look really well.
Went riding with Agister Robert Maton. Before we set off he put me up on Gigolo his New Forest stallion that he had quetly backed that morning. Our job on the Forest was to count the foals in a given area and decide which stallion had sired them. It was very poignant because some of Smiler's foals were there. The ponies were in great condition and I got the impression that Robert really cares about the welfare of the ponies in his area. He gave me a four year old to ride and went on to explain that she had only been broken in four weeks ago and then shot off on his own horse. Thanks Robert.


Helped on the Verderers's stand at the New Forest Show. Brian Ingram, Head Agister for forty years was given a special award for all his years' service. Went to the Intelligent Horsemanship Barbecue at Hartsop one day, followed by the Hoofing It Barbecue at the New Forest Showground the next day.


Got my new van.