Two Stroke

I met a very special little horse today - one of those 17 hand horses in a 11.2 hh suit. Diesel is a four year old Shire horse who has lived an idyllic, almost semi-feral life, as a youngster. My friend Claire has recently been enlisted to begin training him for driving, the only issue being that he doesn't want (or know) how to be caught, and doesn't like anyone touching his face or the lower parts of his legs. Claire, who worked with Spotted Pony, Barney who appears on the front of one of my books, knew exactly where she wanted to start. Clicker training! Only problem, he wouldn't accept treats from her hand. I advised her to try different foodstuffs but couldn't resist the temptation to go and meet him myself.

Diesel arrived with a headcollar on but until he accepts having his face touched, it doesn't seem like a good idea to take it off. Claire's first concern is to 'seduce' his face and show him that it is pleasant to have it touched. With a soft scarf to hand, we began by offering him coarse mix as a clickered treat and for the first time he began to softly take food from the hand. 

Having found the key, Claire and I then took it it in turns to start touching his face and asking him to touch the scarf and our hands. All the time he was very focused and really thinking about what he was doing. 

Leaving Claire with the scarf, I was no longer needed, but I imagine I will find some excuse to go and see him.

p.s. David informs me that two stroke is made with petrol not diesel. Sort of spoils the pun.

And there it is! He is allowing himself to be caught. Always best to use one headcollar over another, if it is already on and not doing any harm, until you can almost guarantee that he will allow himself to be caught. For the Prince lovers, the horse behind Diesel is a Prince too. 

Christmas Present

This morning I received a mysterious parcel in the post which revealed a delightful book created by Hilary Charlsworth about her two ponies Mancha and Gato. These two had arrived direct from Bodmin Moor and the book traces their progress from being entirely wild to being ridden. David and I called in at her house on the way to our holiday in Kent in order to help and advise how to get a headcollar off Gato, before it became far too tight. Fortunately I was able to get it off towards the end of the session and he looked at me with disbelief when he felt the pressure released from his head. 

On Top of the World

A long while ago I promised Ruth that we would help to move Prince if she ever felt the need to. Today all of her work and skills bore fruit, and together with our safe method of moving semi-feral ponies, Ruth, Julie, David, Carrie, and I were able to move him from one yard to another without any drama.

Ruth took the opportunity to give him a little practice at at least looking at a trailer before we moved him.

Step one was to put him in a stable with a nice feed and the top door closed.

Then we quietly backed the trailer up towards the door and set up panels between the door and the open ramp. Ruth reassured him with clickered treats and we closed the panels down a little so that he was encouraged to take a good look at the ramp ..

He loaded himself and then David calmly closed the gates and put the safety gate across the top. Prince ate his second feed while David closed up the ramp.

A sedate journey around Salisbury and towards Pepper Box Hill led to a farm right on the very very top.

Ruth led him up to the field where three horses were waiting to meet him. 

He soon looked completely at home and the other three treated him like the return of the prodigal son.

Jackpot!

We had a secret mission to perform today which meant going back to the yard where Prince and Jack are kept. Unfortunately Jack's owners weren't able to make our last appointment but it appears that it wasn't needed! While we were making arrangements for Prince I came across this little scene in the stable block - Jack having his legs washed with gentle shampoo and hardly a burr to be seen on him. Only a few weeks ago he would have been kicking away any attention to his legs. (Incidentally I would advise hats for this sort of activity.)

Burr!

A second visit to Jack and his owners today to see if we can make progress on Operation Burr Removal.  We began with the basics and then began to handle his legs with our hands. Once he realised we weren't going to haul the burrs off him, he settled down nicely and was much less defensive.

It was good to have Julie in tow, and having taught Jack not to tow, we were able to hold him while we worked. 

He was still paying great attention to what Julie did but not reacting to it in any way.

Now his young owner felt brave enough to touch his back legs herself while daddy, Billy, held him for her.

Before the break, I cheated a little by trimming his tail which removed some of the burrs.

And then I rubbed the entire contents of a bottle of baby lotion into his mane (not forelock), tail, and all down his legs. This meant that after the break we were able to remove some of the burrs and his owners will be able to continue - without pulling them too hard - over the next few days. 

Princi-pal-ity

I spent this warm afternoon with Ruth who treated me to lunch - well actually, afternoon tea by the time we had been to see Prince. He is looking really well this side of Christmas and is calmer than ever. The relationship between him and Ruth is so trusting. 

I loved this picture that I took of them together...

While I was there, one of the other liveries, brought in her pony Applejack, a small hairy cob. He was covered in burrs and she and her Mum were struggling to get them out of his mane. Morever, they told me it would be impossible to get them off his legs because he didn't like them being touched. Of course I was tempted to see if I could get anywhere with him and began to get him used to accepting touch using Ruth's feather duster and clicker training. Although his owner is very young, she was keen to give it a go herself and had the most fantastic timing. I think there is hope and of course, I will go out to help again in a week's time. Hopefully an application of baby oil on his lower regions and tail may reduce the number of burrs that he attracts in the first place. 

Normally I wouldn't recommend doing this type of work while he is tied up but he showed no inclination to swing his bottom round to me. 

I worked on the non-controversial areas first. He was quick to catch on to the pattern of rewards.

After I'd worked my way down each of his legs, his owner did the same with great success...

The advantage of the feather duster is that the burrs are almost magnetised to it. Still hundreds more to go though!

I finished with his tummy which he didn't mind provided I didn't go beyond the vertical brown line of his coat.

And lastly I began to rub his front leg with my hand and to GENTLY remove some of the burrs.

Habari

I know that there are a few people looking in for news of Blue. She has almost completed her course of steroids and her iron supplement. She looks slightly less tucked up but it is almost as hard to get weight on to a horse as it is to get it off. We're certainly not off the hook yet. She continues to have a fibre-based diet, a protein supplement,  ad-lib hay and access to long grass but she was delighted when I accidentally order seven kilograms of carrots instead of our household seven for the week. 

She loves her rug which I take off to check her measurements, and she is seemingly very happy and lively.