25th October, 2015 Benny and The Jets

Well, not Jets really, donkeys. Benny has recently moved to the Forest from the Isle of Wight and is absolutely fine with all kinds of farm animals; he just can't stand donkeys. At the moment there seems to be an incredible number of donkeys turned out on the Forest and therefore he and his rider, Debbie, are almost bound to come across some on every ride, particularly as some hang out on the corner close to where he is kept.

Benny puts paid to the theory that it is the rider's nerves that alert the horse to a problem since Debbie hadn't expected any trouble at all the first time she met them and was perfectly calm. However Benny had other ideas and hurried off at a fair rate. Since then he has become hyper-alert for them and even jumps at donkey-coloured logs.

Today we took him along the Purlieu to see if we could find any as typically they had disappeared from their favourite corner. We spent a good hour or more observing the donkeys at close proximity when we found some, with me interrupting his pattern of behaviour with clickered treats. Occasionally he escalated his behaviour and started to go round me in circles, using his shoulder to move me out of the way. On those occasions I used groundwork techniques to ask him not to but it does just show that adrenalin is a product not just of what you are doing but how long you do it for.

Hands too full to get many pictures but you can just see the donkey in the background and we did get much closer than this.

A more carefree afternoon with my next door neighbour's daughter and Jack in the inclosure. Such fun!

25th October, 2015 Pottok Pony

Vikki and her crew of two yesterday were especially interested in the No Fear, No Force method of training semi-feral ponies because they sometimes work with Pottok ponies, a breed of semi-feral pony from the Basque region of France and Spain whose name comes from the Basque for little horse. Declared a separate breed in the 1970's the Spanish insist on them being black and cull those that aren't,  whereas in France they can also be bay or coloured. This has echoes of the situation on Exmoor where Exmoor Ponies are rejected if they have any white on their bodies or even white pigmentation on their feet even though research shows that originally Exmoors came in a range of colours.

24th October, 2015 Sinceramente, Intensamente, Profundamente

They say that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the Plains but today it was meant to fall mainly on us. Fortunately it chose not to since we were hosting a Handling the Wild Pony Course for Vikki and two young women from the Basque region of Spain who had come over just for the day! Vikki, who has lived there and worked with horses for 30 years had her work cut out as she had to watch it, do it, and then translate it into Spanish. Vino proved to be a fantastic teacher being quiet enough for students to work with but still technical enough to ask some serious questions and to test their ability. Amazing that at 22 he is willing to co-operate at all. 

Remiss of me not to mention the amazing four layered chocolate cake with extra chocolate on it produced by Lisa and devoured by all of us.

Update 25.10.15: I've been waiting for permission from the father of the two youngest students to use their pictures and what a picture they make. Nora and Julie, aged 14 and 16, were two exceptional students and their work was just lovely to watch. Vikki has helped to turn them into thoughtful and empathetic horsewomen although they were already on their way there having rescued two horses desitined for meat.

The aptly named, Amigo, wonders if he can take part.

"Thank you so much for our Saturday- it was just right and exactly what we needed. Please thank Lisa and Vino from us." VC 

"We had a lovely time with you. Thank you for everything." J and N C

23rd October, 2015 Pas de Toss!

A great consolidating session with BB today. It's good to remember how important consolidation and maintenance are in building solid foundations for later work and adding to a horse's confidence and trust. BB can be a little sticky around the gate, with the odd tail swish and intimation of a buck, and we needed to avoid reinforcing that. So we worked on always having a plan for what we were doing next and making sure that rests and the final stop did not come at the gate. Tip of the week: ask anyone who is watching your session to move away from the gate so that they don't make it look like a good place for a pony party.

Fashion scarf: Kathryn Borrill: Hair by Debbie at Reflections

 

Ordinarily I don't like other women chasing after my man but today's ménage à trois was completely intentional. Last time Catherine and Ami met a motorbike out on the road, he dropped his shoulder, dropped his rider, span and left leaving Catherine to trot along the road after him. Needless to say she was apprehensive about today's session. We started off in hand and then under saddle. Ami grew calmer and calmer and more and more confident about the motorbike and Catherine was absolutely amazing. We had to be pretty cautious because although we were working in an enclosed area, it was on a hard surface and between buildings where the sound of the motorbike resonanted quite strongly.

22nd October, 2015 Victor-ious

Victor seemed keen to come in this morning...but wasn't impressed by a change of personnel!

He calmed right down and showed clear signs of releasing tension and energy with a properly resting foot and copious yawning.

 

"Have just been to see Victor, he let me put the headcollar on within minutes." TK 23.10.15

21st October, 2015 Old Trout

Today wasn't my most glamorous day at work given that I was soaked by half past nine and had to wear my least flattering coat. I was working with a highly sensitive Welsh Section A colt who wasn't going to cope with a shushy mac.

Victor was happy to engage in the open field providing it didn't involve any sort of headcollar or touch that he didn't quite fancy. Offered food he was conflicted between being avid about the food and ambivalent about the touch that came with it - as a result he thought he might bite. Without food he was just going to wander off when he felt like it.

Now inside the panels I was able to start touching him with the feather duster, covered in a small piece of towel,  and then rub him with another piece of  towel. I could then prove that I was useful and that touch could be enjoyable.

The scarf, damp as it was, came next, and I used it to desensitise his face and then to teach him to lead.

It proved to be a good mock headcollar. Although Victor has worn a headcollar before but he got it off after two days and then he wasn't willing to have it back on again. Putting a headcollar on, and leaving it on, does not train a pony to accept being caught.

Fashion scarf: Kathryn Borrill; Photography: Julie Noviss

The headcollar went on very easily and was then taken off again three times. After that I let him out again and I will return in the morning.

He seemed keen to stick around after the session...

Victor is looking for a new home and can be gelded before he goes or at his new home. If you would be interested in a perky, well bred, Welsh Section A, who will be quick to learn, then please contact me and I can put you in touch with his owner. More details of his breeding tomorrow.

Fifteen year old Arabian, Pinky, was not so keen to stick around. Since he was young he has rushed in and out of doorways and will not go into the field shelter without a human with him. Even then he blasts back out again when led.  He thinks that the doorway 'bites'. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy since when he comes to the end of the line his bottom turns and he can sometimes catch himself on the central section of wall.

I thought it might be worth trying clicker training to see if I could interrupt that pattern of behaviour. Posh bred and posh brains he soon cottoned on to how clicker works.

He was certainly going a lot more slowly although clearly still wary.

"Just had to tell you … this morning when I turned out, Pinks went straight over to the shelter and sniffed all around where you were yesterday , he then proceeded to go in! I could not believe it. I put a bit of hay in and he went in again and stayed in eating . How amazing .He obviously took it all in, more so than we thought." LS (22.10.15)

He can be a handful when taken for a walk, escalating his behaviour pretty rapidly. Some very basic groundwork calmed things down a bit and  was at least a good start. As he is retired he can be left the way that he is but the owner now has a few options for changing things.

We finished today by looking at George. His owner has discovered that despite his general nervousness he is really good to lunge. However she is concerned that he switches off and just goes through the motions. We can be more positive than that since I could see that there was definitely a connection between them and that he was observing her body language. Lynn experimented with asking him to go in straight lines, and turning his hindquarters away from her and his head towards. Whilst he could do the former, he found the latter difficult, and I expect he has been told off for trying to come in when he is being lunged in the past.

Single line work can be a really good way of starting a discussion with a horse and as an introduction to long reining. Here I am taking a more angled position so that I am driving him forwards but you'll note that I have a very soft expression so that I don't put too much pressure on him.

At the very end we introduced clicker training in the hope of encouraging him to get braver about things like the long reins touching his body. Lynn's husband runs a trout fishery so we explained it to him in angling terms. The way to keep anglers happy with their fishing is not to provide so many fish that they are bound to catch one with every cast of their line. It is the random nature of catching a fish, coupled with an element of skill, that keeps them coming back. At the same time you don't want them to catch so few that it is not worthwhile or they lose the reason for doing it. Making sure that they occasionally catch a Brown Trout amongst the more common Rainbow means they occasionally get a bonus which can reward the work of a dedicated angler or invigorate a disheartened one. (Sorry to all vegetarians).