21 May 2008

I took the dogs for walk down to the field where Charlot lives. We recently re-introduced the big boys from their hill park where they have been on a diet. I think there has been some trouble. Charlot has a cut below his left eye and seems to be always on the outside of things. Perhaps we will move him in with some Shetland geldings for a while. He doesn't particularly need people at the moment, just food and space I think.

I have introduced Charlot to Mr Potentially-Evil Plastic Curry Comb and he lets me brush his chest and mane but not behind him. He always likes to be face to face with you so he knows where you are all the time. The head-collar is lost regularly and we haven't bothered putting it back on again. All fingers are pointed at Edward!

Anyway, Charlot is looking good. The warm spring weather suits him and he is fairly relaxed though Haakon, my Icelandic, is not helping and goes miles to tell him how much he loathes him. Putting on weight and a bright healthy summer coat coming through are all contributing towards a better life.

2 May 2008

Today Charlot met the cart up close. We had finished driving Fjord on the road and were just putting all the equipment back in the shed. Jo was pulling the cart and Charlot walked up to us. He has always been curious when we take out a Shetland for a spin and this was his chance to actually see everything close up. He wasn't phased at all and was genuinely interested.

Charlot is putting on weight and has a lovely shiny orange coat. Confidence is growing more and more every day and I think we might even start to brush him. He wouldn't let Jo get his claggy belly, though. Time to move to the next step - grooming!

27 April 2008

Today, after a bit of an absence from Charlot, we wormed him with a nuclear wormer. In Shetland we find the usual ascarids and red worms, but it has been known for bots to appear in imported equines. They are not a frequent visitor or resident.

Charlot took it like a man and was very good about having 4 lots of worming solution shoved down him (we only had a small syringe!). A bit of mutual grooming later, he led perfectly like a pro back into his field. He seems relaxed and happy with the little 'uns. The big guys have been moved into the slimming field as they had got a bit too fat so Charlot is with 4 Shetland ponies and one old mad Icelandic!

He really is the most beautiful shade of red. Now we've wormed him, perhaps he'll grow up to be a Suffolk Punch - he's certainly got the knees!

19 April 2008

We caught Charlot easily and took him, with Fjord (Shetland gelding in training), into our arena. Jo went through the routine of picking up his feet and apart from a small kicking session with one back one, Charlot co-operated nicely.

I did some leading training and Charlot was happy to walk alongside stopping and starting, reading and following my body language. He wanted to stop at the entrance as he had decided that he had enough and I asked him to walk on. He took a few steps and then bit my elbow.

The minute Charlot did it, I turned around so we were face to face and, outraged, I made him back up and keep backing up until I said enough (a couple of yards). His little face was one of amazement. He knew exactly what he had done and he then started to lick and chew his apology.

Apology accepted, we went back to the exercise once more just to prove that I say when it is enough and not him. Charlot was contrite and I had his full attention.

So, as we say, the cheque has cleared!

It is obvious that Charlot has not been handled. We stroke, touch and groom him with our hands all over his body so he gets desensitized as much as possible. He doesn’t jump anymore and Jo laid over his back to see what he would do - he was completely mystified and a bit jumpy!

Sorry, no photos.

16 April 2008

Another go at feet today and working on our trust issues - Charlot with us and vice versa.

Charlot now lets us pick up all his feet without too much problem. It is getting easier though he is still not 100% yet on the back ones. He tends to object immediately and then remembers that he can do this fine. Charlot wanted to have a good look at what Jo was doing while I held the end of the rope and to try and take photos!

It was such a nice day, for a change, that while I was taking photos of everyone, Jo decided to lie on the ground to catch some sun. I don’t think Charlot has seen humans lie down and he was very interested. Perhaps not totally to be trusted (it was funny to watch the Icelandic herd leader (Hakon) - he was quite tense about the situation), Charlot wandered around Jo to investigate this new approach. It was a lesson for both of them in trust.

15 April 2008

Over the past week, we’ve been doing very little with Charlot. Saying hello, trying to teach him to lead nicely but mostly letting him relax and graze with the herd.

Charlot is leading better and will walk alongside but he doesn’t like enclosed gaps, like a small gateway. Funnily enough, he had a complete hissy fit at going through a gateway and then walked calmly over our building site, drains and all, without blinking, just following me calmly.

He is nervous about us touching his legs. Back ones are still an issue but he will pick them up eventually and the kicking is getting less. Pony nuts are ok, but when something stressful is happening (in his head), then no amount of bribery will work. You can almost see the thought processes at work. He just has to decide to do it and trust us. In a way this must be better, because Charlot’s compliance to different situations will be based on trust rather than food. Edward, of course, is always there to help, offer advice and generally get in the way.

I had a reading done for Charlot by animal communicator Linda Desoer-Forster from Animal Communicare. Here are some extracts:-

“What a wonderful charming young man Charlot is. He comes across as being very sweet natured and very genuine, but very bewildered by everything that has happened to him of late......Charlot firstly wants to point out that he gets confused with words, much of what he hears he doesn’t understand, but he can understand the emotions and thoughts behind them......In his few years of life Charlot shows he has become a very well travelled young man, it feels like he his showing that his life didn’t start in the same place in France that he ultimately came from, cannot be sure it was even France, as a very young horse he was sold at market and moved across the country......On the whole Charlot has a bit of a dim view of humans, in his past life all the humans he has come in to contact with have been hard and aggressive, handling him and others like him like inanimate objects rather than something that has a heart and a soul, its only recently that he is starting to understand that humans can have a milder streak. This sometimes makes him slightly anxious, is something bad going to happen? Can he trust people?.....Charlot, whilst it is obvious he is only a young man, is so worldly wise in many ways, almost like a child who has grown up on the streets or in a war torn country.”

8 April 2008

In the pouring rain, we decided to trim Charlot’s feet for the first time. The weather has been nothing but unhelpful in the last few days but his feet really do need trimming.

He was a very good boy and, with the help of Edward (of course), we managed to get the front ones done without any problems. He even let Jo put his hoof on the stand to have it rasped. Not bad for a pony who has been here a week.

Now the back feet were a totally different matter and we are going to have to work on this. Charlot tends to lash out rather than trust us and who can blame him. He had no idea what we were trying to achieve and was not co-operating.

Rather than force the issue, we will just continue at the speed we are going - little things every few days (more if the sun ever shines - the rain was dripping off us all).

Charlot is still very friendly and is learning to lead much better as long as “best friend Edward” comes too. He does not barge but reads your body language and walks alongside nicely. He has so much to learn and I am looking forwards to some nice weather so we can work with him properly. In this weather, you can only do the bare minimum.