6th February, 2011 Little Excursion

You don't think I'd go all the way to Taunton without a little excursion do you? This is semi-feral Quantock pony Jack who arrived with his owners before Christmas. He has been accepting touch over the gate for some time and is very curious about everything new. He thought the scarf and feather duster were fascinating and tried to eat them.

6th February, 2011 David's New Friend, Katie

This morning it was off to Taunton to look at a new motorbike for David, a 650cc KTM off-roady road bike (hard Enduro to be correct). Being orange, Katie will fit in very well with our little herd. I hope she will be involved in motorbike training for horses.

6th February, 2O11 Memories

Until yesterday it had been a fairly uneventful week. Beau accepted a rider with a saddle and Champ short reined like a star. Alby had remembered everything I taught him two weeks ago and his little sister settled with another pony to keep her company. I am beginning to think that training horses with quite long gaps between sessions works just as well as working on consecutive days and still benefits from latent learning.

I am a little sore after yesterday when a horse I was working with suddenly exploded in the trailer and took a while to calm down. His owner had called me because although he would load he would run out backwards and she was wary therefore of putting the back bar up. In fact, when we began working with him, using the pipe insulation first and the back bar next, he accepted this very well. It appeared that it was the front bar that really worried him and perhaps the combination of the two. Once again I used the pipe insulation to imitate the front bar and he stood quietly with this in place. I then substituted the proper front bar and had in fact taken it down again. when he created havoc. I'd been working alongside his owner's partner and everything had been going very quietly stage by stage so it was disappointing. However, at least now we know which aspect of loading troubles him and can decide how best to proceed or indeed whether it is ethical to try. It can be no coincidence that this horse originally travelled, sedated, in a trailer for emergency treatment at the vets. Once there he was probably restrained in stocks. He has received extensive treatment for sarcoids on his chest which may well have left him mentally as well as physically scarred. It's possible to rationalise with humans as to why it is necessary to cause them pain in order to cure them of more serious problems but impossible to explain to a horse.

3rd February, 2011 Foot problems

Jack is in fine fettle and his feet look amazing after just a few weeks of going out and about on more gravelly and hard tracks. He never seems to struggle and when you consider that he has never had his feet trimmed or pared, they are in great shape. Mine on the other hand are not. Just over 10 years ago I dropped a motorbike on my foot and broke the 5th metatarsul. Needless to say I screamed at the time which was probably a good job as it prevented David from killing me for damaging his BRAND NEW Ducati Sports Tourer. The bike never forgave me and insisted on breaking down even when we took it to Italy for its holidays. I think this injury has come back to haunt me and at the moment it is looking set to prevent me from doing the sponsored walk/run for the IH charity that I hope to complete with Jack in September. At bang on 1 hour and 10 minutes into any walk it starts to burn like mad and it really is excrutiating. I doubt there is anything that the doctor can do I'd like to have it x-rayed before going to see a podiatrist.

3rd February, 2011 Mary Mary Quite Contrary

This is New Forest pony, Mary who is the mother of Lily who features in my book No Fear, No Force. Now in her 30's, Mary has switched semi-feral life for sheltered accomodation with her kind owners. A little while ago she developed an abscess in her foot and so had to be sedated while her foot was excavated and then poulticed. I received an urgent telehone call from Sue to say that Mary was no longer speaking to her, woudn't accept food or her headcollar and therefore they couldn't get the bandage off her foot. This morning I went down to see what I could do to help. Having decided that I was friend not foe, Mary parked herself in her shelter where I was able to put her headcollar on in the NFNF way and then start to handle her leg and foot. Centimetre by centimetre I was able to use blunt ended scissors from my first aid kit to cut away the silage tape and vetwrap bandage. Once I had released her foot she decided to forgive me and accepted food from my hand before going off to pose for photos in the field. Her tail, incidentally, has been eaten by the donkeys who share her field, special rates for pensioners apparently.

3rd February, 2011 Guest Blog: Over Promotion

From Carol Hartman - right (owner of Gingernut - left)

"I was made the milk monitor at school once and although thrilled by the prospect of such heady responsibility I found myself lying awake at night worried about my new role. I have a little Exmoor pony who has gone much the same way. Although no milk is involved he has found himself in a new role in the herd and frankly his nerves are just not up to the job. He was the bottom of the pecking order of my group of three when last year we bought our lovely Welsh Cob mare. She, by her sheer size, can get her own way simply by throwing her weight or should I say heels about. She has fallen in love with the little chap and he now basks in her protection and glory. He has moved up the ranks but this new found promotion has left him jittery and spooky. My once sweet, calm pony is now “on watch” and consequently completely different to handle. I was chatting to a friend about my “changeling” pony and she said the same had happened to her horse. The moving out of her yard of the “boss” elevated her horse up the rankings and he too changed from an unassuming kind of a guy to a wary and watchful individual. It just goes to show, being “promoted” is not all its cracked up to be and some equines are just not management material. It is interesting to witness how often the herd leader is very often not the happiest of horses."

3rd February, 2011 Reincarnation

If you could choose to come back for another life, would you come back as your own horse?