5th June 2008

Another training day.....

Jo was shoeing Charlie (Shetland pony going to Royal Highland Show this year) so I was at a loose end. Charlot is an escapee - he gets over fences and just potters around outside the house. Eggwub is usually in evidence too so I let them into the school, caught Eggwub and tied him up.

I decided that Mr Headcollar was the special skill to work on. I got a particularly "nice" purple one and a pocketful of carrot pieces. Charlot was in the school, wandering about but could not escape outside. With Eggwub already nodding off, standing quietly tied up, I approached Charlot, gave him a carrot and put on the headcollar. He stood there and let me do it with barely a flinch. So, I took off the headcollar and did it all over again.... and again..... and again until he stopped reacting. I had long since run out of carrots and the headcollar issue seemed solved.

Then, we worked on leading again. Charlot would like to walk behind you and bunt you if you halt. With my body language, I said that bunting was not the best thing and asked him to walk beside me. He was reluctant to do this, but eventually was walking calmly. We did try a trot, but he didn't understand what I wanted and ended up behind me again. I won't push him on this yet. More work is required obviously.

Feeling that this was a good time, I attached a lunge line to Charlot's headcollar and took him into the middle of the school to teach him to lunge.

He tried to evade the issue, standing still, changing direction or walking backwards. He wanted to be with Eggwub (now snoring!) and I wouldn't let him. Eventually I got him walking calmly in small circles preventing him from stopping. He worked better in one direction than the other but he learned quickly and clearly enjoyed it.

Jo took over so I could take photos and was much more successful. She is better at lungeing than me! Charlot worked very well and was listening and learning. She kept him in walk and taught him to stop and walk on. She then did a quick Mr Headcollar lesson and could see that he was now fine.

We gave him an apple, woke up Eggwub and put them back in their field! Jo took the headcollar on and off in the field just to see if Charlot would co-operate. He was 100%!

Good lad!

1st June 2008

Today, we start work!

Charlot has been with us 2 months. He has settled in and has a place in the herd.

So, we bit the bullet. Everyone was herded into the indoor school, caught and tied up around the edge.

Charlot was the last to be caught (Ljosfaxi's influence) and was not easy about having a headcollar put on. We ignored this small hissy fit and he was tied up while we did a few chores around the place first.

I did some leading work with him and he appeared calm and attentive. He could see his friends and was happy to work with me at the other end of the school. Leading is getting better. He follows my body language, stopping immediately when I stop and walking at my pace.

Jo decided to have a better go at Charlot's back feet. He was stood in the middle of the school with one person holding him (and talking to him) while Jo picked up his back foot to trim. An initial kick-out, Charlot immediately got the message and co-operated. This is a huge improvement and his feet are now much nicer and he is putting up far less of a fight each time we suggest a trim. He was not bothered by his general surroundings as everyone else was calmly standing still while the dogs and hens milled about.

Floss, my daughter, had a conversation with Charlot and he stood quietly enjoying the attention. Pink does not suit him as a colour - they clashed horribly!

Then Jo brushed him. Charlot was not thrilled with this idea but tolerated it, even relaxing by the end. It is all new and he is realising that we treat him like everyone else and he is still alive!

30th May 2008

Sorry, no photos of this event! No time to grab the camera.

Anyway, never ever trust your pony. It is not a good thing.

We decided, in our naive stupidity, to move the herd up to the fields surrounding my house. On paper, it is an easy enough task (about 1/2 mile away) and one that we have done many times. My house is next to open hill which is basically a 25 mile square field.

So, we positioned my neighbour by her garden with a pitchfork (78 years old and not afraid to use it!) and Robert (Jo's lad) on the cattle grid. My Landrover across the road to block it and Jo opened the gates and pushed the ponies up the road with her van.

They went at a steady speed and trotted happily up, ignoring my neighbour brandishing pitchfork, the cattlegrid and turned right down my track, breaking into a canter. I jumped into my Landrover and followed keeping the pressure up for them to go forwards and go home. The gate was open, two Shetlands in the home field calling them, and to a man, they all swerved right into the hill giggling, bucking and farting, leaving their two Shetland friends irate in their field.

We ran after them for miles while they ignored us and kept going, onwards and upwards. Eventually, about 30 minutes later, they saw their "friends" and headed for the field. So, we opened the gate and everyone piled into the field except FOR TWO PONIES (Ljosfaxi and Charlot) who thought it would be more fun to play together and keep going.

Try as we might, we could not get them into the field. They were wild, uncatchable and stupid, egging each other on. Deciding that they could never go through the gate, while we meanwhile tried to herd them through and stop the others coming out again, we let them canter back to the original gate (the one they had swerved past), whereupon they turned in and someone let them into the field.

Bloody, bloody ponies!!!! This whole debacle took 1 hour of running and swearing.

So, we are splitting up Ljosfaxi and Charlot (the two wanderers) as they are very bad for each other. Ljosfaxi is a known mad horse and he is difficult to catch and handle with many issues. His ideas are rubbing off on Charlot and doing him no favours. The decision has been made!