29th June 2010

Charlot, Charlot, Charlot.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

The worst day ever.

"Day 1 in the Big Brother Diary Room" all over again.

I sent Daisy, my eldest, to catch him. She came back 10 minutes later empty handed so I dismissed her trivial efforts and went out to do the job myself muttering "if you want a job done properly". 10 minutes later I had lost a carrot and got no pony on a lead rope.

Charlot wouldn't let me near him. He was bonkers mad and gibbering all over the place. It was odd because 2 days before a friend had come to meet him and he let her pick his feet up in the field without any fuss. Today he was a wreck, running around us, nodding his head, avoiding any contact.

We tried for a while and we decided he could not win this game so we opened up the gate into the small paddock and he ran in. When he realised he was on his own he tried to kill the dogs, chasing them and stamping if he could. We quickly removed the dogs so he chased them up and down the fence, charging it and stopping just in time. Daisy quickly caught a Shetland pony and walked him through the small field and Charlot followed, galloping after him. We took both into the shed.

Charlot was a nervous wreck. He would not look at us, he would not be caught and he was so tense, to the point of hysterical. Jo and I got him in a corner and Jo eventually put a headcollar on him. His body was taut, ready for battle, pain, anything. He would not listen at all. So she walked him around, picked up his feet (he was compliant) and generally talked to him. With the help of the Shetland pony, Spring, who managed to get in everyone's way all the time, Charlot calmed down and realised it was the same old routine, nothing had changed and maybe we weren't going to kill him today.

We let him go again in the school and asked Daisy to catch him. He has taken to walking backwards rather than let you stand beside his head. Again, with some help, Daisy put his headcollar on. With Jo at his head, talking to him, Daisy stood on a bucket. Charlot was terrified. Spring helped and calmed Charlot down by generally taking his mind off things, trying to get any reward first. Charlot was boggly-eyed with fear. With repetition of getting off and on the bucket, Charlot soon got bored of being terrified of Daisy. She is smaller than Jo and so we decided she might be a better candidate for the bucket thing. She could lie on his back but he still was not happy. He accepted the situation but was not happy.

Again, we let him go and I tried to catch him with no food. This time, he walked backwards for a while with me in front of him. I walked around his side and stroked the side of his face talking all the time in a calm voice. He was so wary of me flinching at any touch. I put his headcollar on and off, on and off a few times, stroking his back, his chest, his neck and just keeping on talking. He eventually calmed down and was back to his usual self.

What is going on? We put his old mad friend back in the herd today - is it that? We are having the house picked and pointed so there is noisy drilling going on during the day - is it that? Is there a full moon? We have no idea and are none the wiser.

Whatever it is, we could not let him win or end anything on a bad note. We will see what he is like tomorrow.