3rd December, 2010 Your Horse

The article about our foal handling course at the Dartmoor Pony Training Centre is now available in the January edition of Your Horse which came out on Tuesday. Fabulous photos of the ponies.

3rd December, 2010 Baby, it's cold outside

Four days teaching on the Handling the Untouched Horse Course at Hartsop Farm. Despite the minus temperatures and deep snow across the country, two-thirds of the students turned up bringing their colds and sniffles with them. I'm wasn't sure whether Ian and John, my co-tutors, were ready for the feather duster and fluffy scarf approach but apart from gently ribbing me, they let me get on with it and we had good results. I came down with a heavy cold half way through but survived with eight layers of clothes on and a wooly hat. John and Ian both use ropes following the initial touch with a padded stick. They are both really gentle, light and subtle in their work and I gained a lot from hearing them teach - John has a fabulous rope trick that means that horses can be freed very easily and Ian has lots of little gadgets and ruses which mean that he can get a headcollar on from a distance; all clever stuff. There is certainly nothing I could argue with.

"I've just got back from taking care of my girls in the snow and I wanted to say thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge and experience with me for the past 2 days. I counted myself very lucky to have chosen you as my instructor. You have given me a great deal to think about and inspired me to carry on with my IH studies. You are an excellent trainer and have NOTHING to prove at all!" J.E.

25th November, 2010 Stop meddling

If there was one thing I could stop people doing to horses it would be meddling with their noses. This overhandling irritates the life out of them and leads them to either move their head away or to start nibbling and messing back. Have a look at how many people automatically put their hand out to a horse's mouth when they approach it and how many then go on to play with them until they react. Instead of reinforcing this sort of behaviour which shows the horse how to demand attention, reward the horse for being calm and quiet by giving him a lovely rub on the neck.

25th November, 2010 Shetland, New Forest!

You'd be forgiven for thinking you were in the Shetland Isles in Fritham at the moment - what with the bleak chill and the Shetland ponies all over the green. These ponies are very popular with buyers and are put in foal to Shetland stallions rather than crossing them with the Foresters. They often behave like highwaymen, stopping cars and demanding food.

25th November, 2010 Hughie

This pretty little chap is Hughie, a Welsh Mountain pony. Although happy once he is caught, Hughie can be iffy about actually being caught and Anne, his owner, spent four frustrating hours trying to bring him in last weekend. Today I used clicker training to establish a link between his headcollar, a click and a treat. He was soon asking us to put his headcollar on in the stable and we then ventured out to a small paddock where he allowed us to do the same. Hopefully, this small change in technique will change his mind about being caught.

24th November, 2010 Lyndhurst Fire Station

From one emergency service to another. Jenny and I were invited to the fire station today for the formal commissioning of the Animal Rescue Tender which has been sponsored by the Petplan Charity. Jim's talk about the role of the Team in national and international training of fire officers and trauma vets was a good reminder of the serious purpose behind all the work that they do. Louise Minchin from BBC South who is also involved in Real Rescues came along too. To support them please see the Friends of Hampshire Animal Rescue Team page on Facebook.

Last week saw the team heading off to accept the award of the Tarquin Cup from the British Horse Society, talking about the importance of animal rescue to heads of service across the country as well as defending their funding; a busy busy time. Thank goodness for organisations such as Petplan that saw the passion and dedication within the team and agreed to support them.

23rd November, 2010 Imber Court

A fascinating visit to meet the police horses at Imber Court today with the Wessex Classical Riding Group. We had an excellent guide in Civilian Groom, Natasha, who has worked with the horses for years and years and clearly loves her job. With 110 police horses within the Metropolitan Police force, 63 of which are living at Imber Court at present, she has plenty of work - here they train mounted police officers as well as the horses themselves. The officers attend a 22 week full time course and some of them have never been near a horse before. This was week 8 and they were already jumping - they do however ride three times a day! The horses are used at football matches, concerts and carnivals such as Notting Hill as well as every day duties dealing with whatever crime is thrown up in London including burglaries and robberies. Some of the horses live at local stations where they are stalled all the time although they get plenty of exercise every day. The horses are also used for ceremonial events and now have to look forward to the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.

They have a website at: http://www.met.police.uk/mountedbranch/duties.htm