2nd December, 2011 Pig Encounter

It is absolutely instinctive for horses to be afraid of pigs. Whether this goes back in the evolutionary chain to when they were much smaller and wild boar preyed upon them, I don't know. However, pigs can be pretty vicious if annoyed, and so their fear is entirely justified.

If you would like your horse to meet pigs in a safe environment, then Longdown Farm have given me permission to use their premises during the closed season which runs all the way through January and up to February half-term. The price for a half day session is £150 inclusive. Other animals are also available!

1st December, 2011 Remember me?

Little Mussels is living in the lap of luxury with his best mates Elmo and Welly (Wellow Leaf). Mussels was such good company for Chancer last winter and very fortunate to find a home with Linda and her family just the day before he was due to be branded and put back out on the Forest. I also played a part in Welly's life a few years ago when I halter trained him as part of a course and he is one of the stories in No Fear, No Force. He is now being ridden and doing very well. I believe that Wellow Nettles is still available if anyone would like to buy him off Diana. They always turn into lovely ponies and of course Jack is a Wellow pony too. This winter Chancer is likely to be joined by Peechay for a month or so and a further mystery guest if she decides to come and stay.

1st December, 2011 No soft soap

Like any village, Woodgreen has it's fair share of highs and lows and things seem to change just as quickly as in one of the soaps. In the last few weeks we've been to a couple of great parties, meeting lots of people who have moved into the village but also attended the funeral of a 50 year old man. Someone said that funerals always make you wish you had known someone better and that was certainly the case here where the tributes were very touching and poignant. Today Meryl and Brian moved out of the village to go back to their beloved Yorkshire and they will be sorely missed. They made us so welcome when we moved here 12 years ago when they ran the shop and took us over to the pub and invited us for dinner. Getting up at five to sort the newspapers every morning can't have been much fun and yet they both oversaw the shop when it changed hands and only finally stopped this year when the new shop opened in the Spring. I will never forget seeing Meryl delivering Christmas turkeys on her hands and knees in the ice and snow one Christmas Eve to make absolutely sure that no-one went without their Christmas dinner.

30th November, 2011 Team Works

Tilly's idea of how to pick up her back feet when requested bore a striking resemblance to the 'frock wafting' that goes on on Strictly Come Dancing. One session with the clicker, a bit of team work practice by her owner Susi and her husband and we were ready for the Matt the farrier to trim her feet just one week later. One of the things with Arab horses is that they tend to take over and say, "I know, I know..." before they really do know how to do something. By showing her what we wanted incrementally, and only rewarding that, she got a lot less wafty. Like my own farrier, Guy, Matt is a real find and I am so pleased that Guy doesn't mind me two-timing him. GOOD and KIND farriers are like gold dust.

28th November, 2011 The Story of Old MacDonald

This little piggy

Met a horse called Sparkle

Who whispered in his ear

 Today a small but kindly gang of us went down to Longdown Activity Centre where we were fortunate to be allowed to run a small experiment. Amanda brought two of her horses - Hugs a laid back Icelandic pony and Sparkle a four year old Crabbet Arabian destined for the world of endurance. Sparkle has not met pigs before. I brought the round pen with me and made it into a large square opposite the paddock where Longdown turns out its pigs. Ably assisted by Julie and Hannah, and most essentially Jodie from the farm, we introduced Hugs and Sparkle to various farm animals starting off with a little piglet.

A running foot - reserving the right to leave if things get too hairy.

 The idea is to work without drama. Easy to think with a confident, curious horse like Sparkle that she isn't in the least bit worried but she had the occasional running foot (also see the picture of the ducks) and liked to stay close to Hugs. Once she was relaxed we let out approximately 40 pigs into the paddock opposite and allowed the horses to observe them.

The farm's own Shire horse looked on.

The pigs were very lively and came out in quite a rush,

This one was particularly beautiful

Hugs and Sparkle watch the pigs cavaroting.

The horses stayed close to the top part of the pen, closest to the pigs, and watched them closely. They would take mouthfuls of hay and then watch again. Sparkle licked and chewed from time to time and huffed down her nose - but getting no reaction from Hugs she grew more and more relaxed. So we decided to take them even closer with Hugs in the lead. We would stop from time to time but moved on again so that Sparkle could lose any energy that built up. We always walked between the horses and the pigs no matter which direction we were going in.

Hugs particularly liked the orange ones

Sparkle liked them all

Then we went and got some goats for them to look at before going on an excursion to look at the ducks, alpacas and some more pigs.

I think I need a goat in my life

Two Hugs for this goat

The ducks weren't too sure of the horses either...

...but the alpaca wanted a close up view.

Just before the end we took Sparkle back to see the pigs where she walked up and down completely relaxed.

The pigs are actually on the left hand side of this picture.

26th November, 2011 Good news day

Not only did Monty the Appaloosa have his headcollar on yesterday (see update on post 19th November) but Melanie put a headcollar on her Exmoor foal too. She looks very pretty in pink and all done with the NFNF technique that Melanie practised on my course this time last year. Over in Ireland Catherine is giving it a go with a sturdy but shy foal that she has got:

" Yay book came today!! SO excited! and I only got time at lunch to read the first few pages but the predator/prey explanation hit home. Obviously I knew about it all before but never had it explained in that way. Any time I have been around Willow the wild foal I have been careful about my body language, where I look etc, and I had him coming right up to me and sniffing me etc, but it was the hand.  Today I kept my hand in a fist inside my sleeve and he did his usual sniffing my outstretched arm etc, and I built up from that by retreating when he did as I had been and eventually keeping my hand in a fist but outside my sleeve i was able to rub his chin and underneath his jaw......!!!!!!! Just a knuckle first, then I stopped and just left my arm there and he LEANED INTO IT!! and I scratched him for a second more and he liked it! So then I noticed he raised his head a millimeter and I felt his heart quicken so I slowly took my arm away and went about my business before he moved or pulled back, and he followed me!!!  I was so thrilled, I had the eyes, I had the breathing the body language etc, but I hadn't thought about my claw!! 3 pages in and we have progress ha! So delighted!!!! I am going to keep a Willow diary!" CR

and the next day, on Facebook:  "RESULT!! willow has decided I can touch him! Got to scratch all the sides and underneath his head and from ears to withers all along the top half of his neck. I knew once he let me once he'd like a good scratch!! Yay!! Wild foal is a bit less wild this evening!!"

24th November, 2011 A funny view of things

At long last I have plucked up the courage to take Petra and Jack out on my own. I'm heavily reliant on Petra not reacting if Jack decided to gallop past her. As it was it was all fine and as you can see, they were both very attentive.