Easter Party And You Are Never Too Old to Learn

Finally the weather perked up and we had our Easter Party.  (More eggs were boiled!)  Sadly some children had already gone back to school, but it may have actually been calmer with less girls!!

Eli brought over her elderly but amazing Twix, and a new loan pony called Abby, who is a tall and very stunning Welsh Sec B.  I have to confess, she looked way too tall and leggy to me, for a Sec B, but she has a passport and we measured her.  She was just under 13.2hh.  We also measured Lily the other day, who came up at 12.3hh. As Daisy and Lu who are both only 14.2hh seem quite big to me, I can only conclude that I am shrinking with age!! 

So we had a great day. The girls had a short hack, followed by a lesson. Then they learnt to lunge, rugging, and points of the pony before lunch.

After lunch we had 'Field Maintenance,  Ok.... Poo Picking!  It has to done blah blah.  Its all part of owning a pony. The girls seemed happy!!!

Better than being indoors on The Play Station huh?  When I was a child (after I had finished my breakfast of road gravel, and polished the road with my tongue) I was taught to always look after my animals first! No matter how wet, cold, tired I was, make sure the dogs/cats/ponies/goldfish were seen to first!

After all that hard work we had gymkhana games. Always a laugh. Its the one thing that makes me sad about being an (aging) adult....No more Gymkhana games. And Bills, Wrinkles, and a stiff non bouncy body.....But mostly not being able to do Gymkhana.
The eggs got battered, everyone had fun. Gymkana has a purpose!  The kids are so busy trying to win, they forget fear, or to hold on with their hands etc. Its a great way of installing confidence.

And so to more serious stuff.. Charlie.  If you have been following, you will know Charlie has been special.  My normal attitude with horses throughout my life has been Gung-Ho to say the least. Get on, hope for the best, don't fall off.  Its half wild? Never mild, just ride it. take it to the shops, jump it, hunt it.....Its nervous?  What the hell, take it on a 120mile ride.  Two young just cut geldings? Pony them around the village on a mare. It bucks, rears, bolts? Sit it out and laugh. But with my dodgy lungs etc, and Charlies history (ie being taken off his mother and on his way to become a Tesco meal), not to mention his half sighted eye and riggy tendencies i have tried to slow up. 

Having tried to back Charlie as a 3 year old, and learning that flying lessons hurt at my age with my dodgy lungs and dicky ticker, i backed off. I have spent the last 3 years gaining his trust.  I have now sat on him, and rode him briefly in the School.  But, despite our good relationship, the basic building blocks are missing.....and this time round, I need a pony that will die for me. I need and want a two way relationship.

And so, I called in Bridget Colston for help.  Bridget books horses for Monty Roberts, and is fully trained in Intelligent Horsemanship.  We can all read the books and watch videos. But as I have said before, Horsemanship can't be taught, it is in you... or not. I watched a Monty Roberts demo in my twenties, and have studied horse language ever since. I think i have a pretty good handle on how horses think and can read most horses.  But, with your own you can sometimes get lost. Not read all the signs.  

And so I got Bridget in to help with the missing bits..... Yes Charlie will lunge, and long rein....but only if I get after him.  If he doesn't want to do something, he will get bolshy.  Is he just being naughty?  Or is he scared?  I am too close to see the answer. Bridget heard him immediately. Yes he is worried. She slowed things right down.  Today I feel humbled.  You are never too old to learn! And so, with a few more tools, Charlie and I will start again, and get it right before we move on.  

Feed Balls, Join Up and a Sonic Boom!

Its all been a bit 'basic care' just lately.  I am starting a drug trial for the dicky ticker and dodgy lungs so am up and down to Papworth.....the rest just has to be fitted in.
But last weekend, Jo and I managed to get to tack carboot, where Jo bought a couple of feed balls.  Great fun. We tried Lu and Charlie first.  They picked it up straight away, and it was funny watching their techniques. Charlie took to pawing at the ball, and kicking it.....typical boy.  Lu tried to pick it up with her teeth.  The Shetlands just got violent.

On Wednesday we had a strange occurrence over Suffolk.  Two jet fighters were sent to escort a commercial flight to Stanstead. The sonic boom was heard all over Suffolk.  The talk of many small towns! It must have disturbed our sleeping ponies.  Lu ripped a shoe off.... It was twisted beyond belief and can only have been pulled off violently by sudden movement and being trod on by another foot. The farrier (Vince Buckman) came out the same day and said it was the 3rd customer that day with the same twisted shoe. I guess we should bill the RAF

Today we had Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays.  As it was windy (yet another tail end of an american hurricane) I decided to get Chanice and Daisy to join-up.  Now there has been a bit of talk on Face-Ache about Join-Up being out-dated and stressful to the horse.  Well its certainly not as stressful as the old methods used to break horses.  Back in the day (for centuries) the horse was tied to a stake without water for 24 hours.  The next step was to tie up one hind leg to the horses belly and bring it to the ground. With the poor horse tired and frightened it would accept the tack.  Someone would then mount, while the horse was roped from all directions, and hang on if it dared buck. If the horse was a wild one, it would be beaten into submission. 

Then along came Monty Roberts.  He studied Mustangs in the wild and learned the language of the horse. In the wild there is an alpha mare.  If a youngster gets out of line she will send it out of the herd with aggressive body language until the youngster submits (lowering of head, licking, chewing).  The mare will then turn her back, allowing the youngster back into the safety of the herd, and he will follow her as leader.  Horses have a strict herd hierarchy. The Alpha Horse (always a Mare) is the one that moves the other horses feet. 

Monty Roberts tried this out in training horses.  It worked.  It always works. It is the way horses think. The whole premise of riding horses is pressure and release.  Simply asking a horse to walk on? You apply pressure with your legs until the horse walks on, then you sit quietly. Monty Roberts has changed the way people 'break, start, gentle' horses. At the end of the day (and the beginning) we need our horses to respect us. For that to happen, they have to accept we are the Alpha. We have the brains, they have the brawn. The horse has to trust us to think things through, and follow without question.  After all, their instinct is to flee from danger.  We are the ones who can risk assess any danger. They have to accept we know what we are doing. Nuff said.