25th August, 2016 Six of the Best

A really long day with horses from start to finish. Before I began I pulled over at a New Forest 'hat', the name for a small clump of trees, in order to take pictures of the ponies as they arrived to shade for the day.

 

Just down the road, Sandra's horse, Honey, was being massaged before being ridden and seemed to really appreciate it.

Clearly she is not concerned about fly spray as Sandra goes in with all guns blazing...

Ivy made even more progress, allowing me into her right hand side and to work on both of her ears...

...and on our last course for now, Magic finished with a headcollar on and off nine times. Great that Sarah and Amanda were present at the very first course and now for the last.

They also came up to the fields with Carla, to practice for the show on Monday.

24th August, 2016 Something Suething

Seem that Henrietta is ruling the ROAST this morning having denied access to all the big riding horses. I am not sure how she gets away with this. Still, both Théoden and I are feeling a lot more comfortable on our collection of painkillers and anti-inflammatories.

Another session with Magic today with students Karen and Sue. Karen had camped out in my field overnight and half finished the field poo-picking before I arrived this morning. Guests like this are always welcome! Sue was taking a significant step down from her Friesian gelding, Atse, 15.3 hh, to Magic, but at least they are the same sort of colour.

More scarf work today concentrating on asking her to lead and seducing her little face. She marched into her stable very positively this morning and waited for the party to arrive. Once again every student brings something new in terms of their skills.

Time for a lie down afterwards...

23rd August, 2016 Ivy League

Little Ivy continues to make significant progress each day, deliberately offering her right side towards me on a number of occasions today and resting her head in my hands. The rub at the base of her forelock seems to have been a bit of an ice breaker. I also put a real headcollar on her for the first time today although it was a ghastly colour and led her using the scarf on her noseband. I also picked up her two left feet. Beyond all of that though was a major step towards wearing a sweet itch rug - it's not just Olympians who can carry a Union Jack with pride.

Work with Zoe and Zelda can seem very routine and it easy to forget that these two Fritham bred ponies are only two years old.  We took them out on the Forest today to practise our walking and trotting so that they don't become ring sour. 

Marvellous progress with Magic this afternoon with two more students, Katie and Karen. Katie is the owner of three free-living New Forest ponies, and Karen who came all the way from Suffolk, has a semi-feral, seven year old Welsh pony mare to train. These two had just the right approach and great timing and succeeded in doing a lot of work with human hands on Magic, and all down her right hand side which had been off limits.

22nd August, 2016 Head Space

On my own with Ivy today and, as usual, trying to go into a quiet, peaceful place in my mind in order to work with her intuitively and sensitively. I wanted to help her to become a lot more comfortable about having her head touched and show her that it could be nice. It really is so important to find the right touch, the one that relaxes the horse, rather than one that is fiddly, scratchy or tickly. Touch is for the benefit of the recipient!

My morning was taken up with a hospital appointment, trying once again to get some help with the pain in my neck and shoulders which has not diminished since I was squashed by a horse in February. I feel a lot more optimistic now that I have been taken seriously, sent off for immediate x-rays and given an upgrade of anti-inflammatories. Incidentally I have never heard a word from the owners of the horse that did it to me even though I made it quite clear that I didn't blame them or their horse. Like so many horses he was out of control and lost with people on the ground and if I had been at his own home instead of my yard, I would have insisted on a lot more groundwork, rather than just an hour, before working on his loading problem. You live and learn, unfortunately the hard way.

Meanwhile Théoden is under the doctor too - lame for the very first time since I have owned him and possibly in his entire life. The vet and I have chosen plan B, rest with anti-inflammatories for a week, to see how he goes on. Luckily no tendon damage so no box rest. If he is no better in a week I shall have to take him down to the vets for a full work up.

21st August, 2016 Hide and Seek

Henrietta is getting to be a whizz at hide and seek, and seems to enjoy leaping out behind Jack and making him jump out of his skin. He's not all that impressed.

Fabulous to be accompanied by Rachael today (she looks after Bryn the Exmoor for his owner, Diana) and of course we couldn't resist doing a bit with Ivy. Jack is always happy to help...

Today a longer scarf which can be used to caress and massage, as well as to ask. The elasticity of the scarf ensures that the pony doesn't perceive the pressure as a hard tell...more of a suggestion.

20th August, 2016 Showing On

With ridden sessions cancelled for the second day on the run, it was good to be able to do some solid groundwork with Zoe, Zelda, Bella and Ivy. With three of us on hand, it was easy to go in hand.

We worked on asking Zoe and Zelda to move around independently of each other and without being distracted by the other horse. We walked and trotted them around the perimeter, for varying distances, and also did individual shows, walking and trotting and standing up for the judge. At the end we also put rosettes on or near them to make sure that they were alright with that. It was an extremely windy day and they had plenty of neighing (and braying) to contend with from Jack, Ivy, Theoden and Henrietta who had been left behind in their fields.

Without meaning to be rude to Exmoor Ponies, it is always interesting to see whether they will remember anything they have learned the day before or whether it will have been washed away with the rain. It is also interesting to try and ascertain whether a pony's behaviour is due to nature or nurture. Ivy has never been manhandled, hasn't been branded, inspected, or forcibly haltered, and yet she is as nervous as some of the semi-feral Exmoor Ponies that I have met which have endured far more. There seems to be nothing, other than her own nature, to account for that.

It's good news then that within five minutes of starting work with her today I had accomplished everything that I achieved yesterday and that she started off in the middle of the pen, unlike yesterday where she was at its edge. Moreover she accepted the attentions of two more strangers, Julie and then Tracey, and worked equally well with them. Once again we were seemingly working at a lower level than she has reached with her owner, not even putting the headcollar on, but I want to get to that part of her that is super-sensitive around her head and see whether we can make her more accepting of touch around her face. A soft scarf is excellent for this and can do a lot of the work for you. Ivy seemed to really like it, and we can move forward with this technique on another occasion.

19th August, 2016 Hallelujah!

I've often found that Exmoor Ponies are one person ponies and therefore if I am going to inveigle my way into Ivy's life, and become her temporary Auntie, I need to start at a much lower level than her owner has reached. Luckily she followed Jack up the field this morning and into the barn so that I could work with her in a safe environment.

She was quite worried when she first came in, and well-versed in 'stranger danger' but the feather duster, at its longest extension, enable me to start touching her and to show her that I might just be useful. With itchy ponies a cool hand, gently rubbing with fingers held together, often meets with approval. I also introduced the three click clickered rewards system which started to make an impression especially when she was offered one of Henry's ginger biscuits. Things to note: she was more worried about her right than her left - although happy to turn that way towards me by the end of the session; and she appears to be sore behind her ears but she has never been tied up or pulled back on the lead rein as one might summise.

It was all halters and a mock showing class in the rain this afternoon. Zoe and Zelda are now trotting with ease but slightly surprised by the dazzling white of the show halter and wary of the chain underneath. Wendy's hoping to get discreet covers for these to minimise their effect on the lower jaw and the tooth bumps that are part and parcel of being a two year old pony.

I am even more certain of the existence of the Horse God as of yesterday when Tracey's torn rotator cuff in need of surgery turned into a ganglion which, putting it explicitly, exploded, giving her 90% less pain and 85% more movement in an instant. Here we are, putting it to the test and we might be able to go night clubbing this weekend.