9th February, 2026 When It Comes to The Crunch

I can only heap accolades on friends Nathalie and Tracey who have been keeping the yard going in my absence. Since I can't do any lifting I would be totally stuck without them. Not only that, but Tracey has worked with yet another horse client with me this morning as it's not long before his next farrier visit.

This is six month old, Felix, a son of For Romance out of a mare called Glossy. Yet another posh warmblood for us to work with. He isn't so happy about having his back legs touched although he accepted the feather duster on his body with very little trouble.

Touching his bottom was fine too - especially with the 'ironing' motion that we use. The feather duster has never seen a real cobweb.

Touching his leg resulted in an instant, non-thinking, instinctive, snatching up of the foot which he had been following up with a kick - or simply walking off in a circle.The art first of all is to teach him to keep his foot DOWN until he is given a signal to pick it up, and therefore the feather duster stays in place until he stops kicking or stops circling and puts his foot down on the floor.

Once he accepts that, we can move on to using hands.

Out in the fields Jacqui has three more Warmblood foals including this two year old gelding, JZ giving me an excellent opportunity for some much needed horse rubbing and kissing.

All being well I should be back and able to work after the weekend with a few interim appointments where Tracey or the owner can do all the physical bits.

8th February, 2016 Everbody's Talk At Me

Just a few of the horses that have people have contacted me to talk about in the last two days in exchange for a donation to the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Animal Rescue Team.

This is Graham, a Shetland pony that has been trained with no fear, no force techniques and is now going to be taught how to long rein or short rein, or more likely, medium rein.

Aske, a Norwegian Fjord pony is also being prepared for being started.

Dragon, an Exmoor stallion, is being trained with clicker most of the time, and he is learning things like yielding. He lives with his wife, Feather, who is expecting a foal by him this spring. Will it be a filly or a colt?

Holly'hocks', the Warmblood x Thoroughbred Filly that has gone to live with Amanda and Tommy was my final appointment for today, talking about how to teach her to do a few more things independently and how to achieve that incrementally.

I couldn't resist putting in this final picture of Aske when he was 5 months old...smart pony on a smartphone.

6th February, 2016 Agony Aunt

WOULD YOU VALUE MY OPINION? Would you like a quiet word or a heart to heart? For the next week I am going to be stuck at home because of my gammy shoulder and will be next to my phone. If you would like a phone consultation about your horse (or anything!) for up to an hour, please make a donation of £5 or more to the Hampshire Animal Rescue Team through this page: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/sarah-weston  clearly stating when you would be available and then I will offer you a time to phone. The number will be 01725 512434 I cannot guarantee to 'fix' your problem but we could talk through the options and what I might try if it was my horse. If you decide to make an appointment to see me then I will take £5 off your bill on that day. You can't lose!

5th February, 2016 A Place of Safety

The Fire and Rescue Service definition of a rescue is the removal of an animal from a place of danger to a place of safety by the most humane method. Often the place of safety is a greater issue than the place of danger given that a horse may need to recover over time while he comes round from sedation or anaesthesia, or be kept calm while traffic stacks up around him.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service have bought a set of panels which will serve as this place of safety in many emergency situations, keeping the horse safe and allowing traffic and people to go about their business much more quickly. The Team now needs to buy a trailer which can carry these panels to the scene of an incident along with other emergency equipment.

A Crowdfunding page has been set up by me on behalf of the Friends of the Animal Rescue Team in order to raise funds for this trailer. If you have a horse, or indeed any large animal, then one day you may need the services of the Team. It would be great if you could make a donation towards the cost of purchasing a trailer for the Team knowing that it will help large animals and humans in the future. Everyday equipment for the Team is provided but this trailer goes over and above that general equipment (hopefully literally!)

The scenario above, this time in the West Midlands is the sort of situation in which a set of mobile panels, brought to the scene on a trailer, would be incredibly useful to keep the horse and the public safe.

To make a donation please follow this link: Friends of the Hampshire Animal Rescue Team TRAILER

4th February, 2016 My Friend Flicka

Ventured out this morning to work with a 7 month old filly, PRE x Cob, called Flicka. My role was limited to stroking and admiring, with Tracey and the owner, Sarah, doing all of the practical work while I did all the talky bits. I'm still very sore but getting better all the time but I will need to be selective about what I take on just until my two weeks rest and recuperation is up.

Sarah needed to work on leading and moving Flicka around as she had encountered some problems with the filly appearing to be over-confident and pushy.

In fact the filly was really just a filly, who has been handled quite a lot from birth and knows she has nothing to fear from humans. That makes a nice change for me (or Tracey on this occasion).

She's not really worried about anything much which is a good thing on a busy farm with tractors, cows, and lots of flappy plastic on the move.

We kept her interested by changing the scenery - first the field, then the track, and then the school, repeating the same work in each new place.

My final opinion was that both Flicka and Sarah were smashing to work with and hopefully we will see them again soon.

Email received 7.2.16: "Hi Sarah, I just had to let you know that I led Flicka around her field today and Jack my 17 year old son led her around as well, she was really good, she lagged behind a few times but we did the pressure and release and she soon came to where she should be, she was so well behaved, tomorrow we plan to walk her to the barn and the school, thank you so much." SS

While I toddled off back to my sofa, Julie toddled off on Nettles who hasn't been ridden for a while due to the general January-ness of the weather. He apparently didn't put a foot wrong and will be going back to his owner in a couple of weeks from where he will hopefully find a new home. So tempting to keep him but I haven't often got anyone to ride him more than once a week 

3rd February, 2015 It's Just A Little Crush

Touch wood (and proper risk assessments), I have always had a very good safety record and my primary concern has always been to keep my clients, their horses, my assistants and myself safe.

On Monday I failed and managed to get myself squished when the horse that doesn't like being in his horsebox decided to leave, squashing me in the corner as he turned. I damaged the ligaments in both of my shoulders and ended up at A and E. At least this time they struggled to find my records as it has been years since they saw me. Just a sling, painkillers and some rest required. With appointments stacking up, it is not easy to stop but I have no choice just for a fortnight.

I don't want to become one of those people who wear their injuries like trophies (in the words of Jim Green) so I will be assessing where things went wrong. Loading is one of the most dangerous things that we do with horses.

In the meantime, things are going extremely well with Tommy and Holly.

2nd February, 2016 Practising the Yes

Eight year old Irish Sports Horse, Jazz, came to Fritham yesterday to practice his loading. As you can see he is intent on forcing his way out of the box and through his handler. We needed to interrupt this pattern where his primary thought was to leave. His owners were very frank and admitted that they had been practising taking him in and out but felt that instead of making him more relaxed, it had actually taught him to go in and come straight back out again.

It was evident that pushing and pulling his way out of things was Jazz's usual modus operandi. Accordingly we took him for a walk in the inclosure, not only to make the reloading after a break more realistic, but to establish a few ground rules when leading.

Jazz can sometimes be persuaded to stay in by a bucket off food when he is loaded but then the owners have to be very quick to close the partition.

I used clickered treats to encourage him to think about staying in the box and to interrupt his pattern of loading and leaving.  The owners left with recommendations to do a lot more groundwork in order to gain control of him on the ground and to let him know that he could rely on them when he is worried. There is only one letter difference between leading and loading and the two are closely connected. However, I would still like to get to the bottom of why so many horses don't seem to like these type of boxes. Once in he had plenty of room but a high breast bar in front of him might be factor.

Meanwhile Henrietta is choosing her field mates each day based on what they are being fed.