Happy Christmas!

Poor BG is finding the ground very hard on her hooves, and the farrier is due out on Monday to trim them which will probably make them slightly more tender. I really want to get them seen to though as the crack on her near fore, which had so nearly grown out last time, has started to split up the hoof wall again and with ice and mud getting in it, it is only going to get worse.
She was due to have her hooves trimmed this Monday but I got a text at 6:30am to say the farrier’s van had broken down so she couldn’t make it. She is still having issues with it but she will be borrowing another vehicle to come out to us on Monday. I must admit I am feeling very grateful to my farrier at the moment. Normally it is such a struggle to arrange a convenient time for us both, but she suggested Monday since she knew I would be off work, and then she is planning on finding alternative arrangements to make it out to us. I just hope there is enough to take off BG’s hooves to make it worth the trip, but it will have been 12 weeks since the last visit so there should be.
Also, with BG being slightly heavier than I would like and the ground still being frozen solid I hope she (BG) will be okay after the trim.

I can’t believe it is Christmas tomorrow – I am not ready for it, but for BG it will be the same as any other day. I haven’t bought her a present I’m afraid, I did look at licks but didn’t find a suitable one and she doesn’t need anything like a new head collar. I don’t normally get her anything. If she is lucky she might get a carrot chopped up in her breakfast and tea. I read that lots of people give their horses Guinness in their Christmas food, and I was tempted to try it, but BG can be quite suspicious if her food smells different so I don’t think I’ll risk it.

The best Christmas present would be the ground being safe enough for my husband and I to be able to take BG for a walk out of her field, and I think she would love that more than anything else too.

Happy Christmas everyone (if anyone actually reads this), and to all your pets too!

Ice, ice and more ice

The frozen weather came back with a vengeance, I can’t remember the last day the ponies were able to reach any grass. We are getting through our hay stocks and the water buckets are starting to freeze over again before I’ve even left the field, even with me removing every last shard of ice. They get a minimum of three visits a day, two from my husband and I and one from the owner of P1 and P2. The gate is frozen shut so we are having to climb over. The ground is rutted and solid so BG has started to tread very carefully the last few days. All three ponies are coping fine though.

I weight taped BG the other morning and she was a whooping 456kg. I guessed 450kg so not a bad guess. I like her at 400kg in summer and between 420-430kg in winter when it is cold, so she is over what I would like. It is difficult though, she is wintering well and I can’t not feed her with the ground as it is, at the same time I can’t really exercise her with the ground as it is either.

BG is an expert at getting hay out the small holed nets and wolfs it down faster than the other two. We’ve been hanging the hay nets along the fence between the ponies field and the field next door where some sheep are kept. A little sheep with a black face always comes over to share her net and she lets it quite peacefully. The sheep did try one day to share with P2, but he did his stallion impression pawing the ground, snorting and running up and down and the sheep never tried again.

Yesterday morning was cold. BG had ice on her whiskers, ice on her eye lashes and ice on the tufts in her ears. She had a beautiful frosting on the tips of her coat too, she looked beautiful.

A little update

The ground thawed for the first time yesterday, but unfortunately it went straight to mud. The sort of mud that clings to your boots and clumps up. This morning it was all frozen again. Unfortunately I choose Saturday to be the day I cleaned the final scab off BG's leg, thinking the cold and frost would ensure it kept nice and clean.
There is little news from up the field. All three ponies and doing well and have learnt they now get hay nets in the morning. I only gave them a handful yesterday as the grass was accessible again, then when I went to leave P1 called out and caused them all the come running down in the hope of more food.
This morning I was filling up their hay nets when the board across the entrance started to open. I have to leave it shut or the ponies come in to join me. I looked out thinking it might just be my husband turned up but no, BG had the board in her teeth and was pulling it open. I think I might have to watch her.

Everything seems a little different....

Everything seems a little different at the moment. The ponies have modified their behaviour for the weather and I am trying to keep up with the changes so I don’t have to worry about something being wrong.

Two nights ago we got up to do the evening feed and P1 was neatly tucked up on the ground at BG’s hooves as she munched the remains of the hay net. P1 is the boss of BG, if he wanted the hay he would have it. They don’t seem as keen on the hay as they first were, as they will leave bits. I actually prefer it like that, it means there will be more left for later as the weather cools over-night, but it is unusual to see them saving their food. Plus, I have not seen the ponies lying down in the snow, although damp patches on BG’s belly suggest she does sometimes over the night.

Last night P2 and BG were gulping back the water. BG does not drink a lot, but she had a long drink before her tea, and then after her tea she attempted to have another drink from the water bucket inside. This was frozen over and me removing the ice scared her so she wouldn’t then drink from it, but as soon as we let her back out of the shelter she was back over to the outside water buckets for another long drink. Maybe the hay was slightly dry, I don’t like the idea of soaking it in this weather though.

Last night was the first night I was really worried about them. It was cold, not as cold as it had been, and it isn’t snowing much here, but it was so windy and that makes it feel worse. BG was waiting at the gate this morning, and the other two were stood expectantly, but they were all absolutely fine. I think us horse owners sometimes worry too much.

As we were sorting them out this morning a lady stopped as she walked past the gate and told my husband “I like the bay”. Anyone complimenting my pony puts a big smile on my face, and to pick BG first out of the three makes my smile even bigger. It was nice as well to have a compliment as I hear lots of people in this weather being criticized for the way they care for their animals. Why aren’t they rugged? Where’s their food? Not all horses need rugging, and although ad lib hay is what most people provide over the cold weather some horses would just eat and eat everything they are provided with and grow far too fat to be healthy, so their intake needs to be monitored throughout the day. Different horses need different care, which is partly evidenced when you stand BG next to P1 at the moment. Both are coping perfectly with the weather, but in order to do so P1 currently has three rugs on, and BG has none.

Cold snap

As has been well publicized, a cold snap has hit the UK. We had a little snow on Sunday where we are, but only a sprinkling. BG looked like she was going old, with the top of her mane covered in frost. Her whiskers were frozen and her tail had icicles in it. I’m sure anyone walking past would see her un-rugged, and P1 and P2 double rugged, right up their necks, and wonder how mean I am. I felt all three on their skin though, and she was the warmest of the lot. That thick winter coat is doing its job, and it wouldn’t hurt if she dropped some weight either.

The ground was frozen though so it was the first morning this winter I gave all the ponies a full hay net. It was minus six degrees at nine o’clock, I think they appreciated it.

Then yesterday I got up the field and it looked as though BG had a thick white rug on her back of snow. I think it might have been irritating her a little as the first thing she did when we got up there was have a roll. I checked her over and again she was the warmest of the three.

I think we are now getting into the winter routine; de-ice the water buckets, put up hay in the morning, pick the compacted ice out of BG’s hooves... She seems happy in the weather, so that means I’m happy. I’m yet to see her running round enjoying the snow as she does sometimes, but perhaps that is a good thing as the ground is frozen, rather than the nice fluffy snow you get sometimes. I do hope the ground thaws soon though.

Grumpy girl

BG has been waiting at the gate the last two mornings when we have got up the field to feed her, looking out for our car. I have cut her feed down slightly though so she might loose the inclination to wait for just a measly handful. I was being a bit too soft on her thinking it was cold and wet and so her back is starting to look like a flat table top. Seeing as she is getting hay at night from the other owner it isn’t like she is being starved, so she can do with just one handful rather than two at both her mealtimes.

I gave BG a quick groom this morning to remove the mud that had dried on her coat. When I went to run the brush between her two front legs her ears went back and she swung her head round to snap at the air a foot or so away from my head. I tried again and although she didn’t look happy about it she had already told me that so she didn’t attempt to snap at me again.

I ran my hand between her legs to see if I could feel anything that would irritate her but there was nothing apart from some dried mud. She does have a thick coat so I might be missing something. She is definitely trying to tell me that for some reason she isn’t happy. The strange thing is she is normally fine about being groomed anywhere, but this is the second or third time recently she has snapped at me for grooming her there. She has never ever caught me, just swung her neck round and snapped in the air as a warning. It is all very odd.

Worrying

When BG was in her last home she had a rubber food bucket, which she would clear thoroughly at the end of her meal and occasionally move around her stall. She came up to me with a plastic feed bucket which was perfectly useable, but I always intended to get her a rubber one as I was worried the plastic would crack if she chewed the plastic one. I left it a while before getting her a rubber one, mainly because she didn’t actually ‘need’ it so I was a little wary about justifying the cost. That may sounds silly, they aren’t too expensive, but more cost than not buying one and it is not just my money I would be spending. I got her one earlier this year and I am so glad I did. She finishes her meal, licks the bowl thoroughly and chews on the handle, occasionally throwing it around her stall. The other night she looked up as she was still chewing the handle and threw the bucket so high it hit my husband on his thigh. He wasn’t hurt, but it does make me laugh to see her playing with her bowl like that.

Today is a bad day. We got up the field this morning and the wood the gate bolt attaches to had come off the gate post. I don’t know if this was deliberate or the horses, but it looked like it had been pushed from the road side. Then the fence alongside the gate looked like it had been cut. We have had issues before with people trying to steal the gate (which would leave the horses with free access to the road). We fixed the gate and I texted the other owner to let her know in case she spotted anything. In one of her replies she mentioned they are probably moving P1 and P2. I knew they were thinking of moving P1 and it makes sense for them to keep their two together, but I am just a little apprehensive about the future. The farmer might not want just one horse on the field, as he has mentioned selling it before, and I don’t know quite where that would leave BG and me. Also, P1 and P2’s owner is great to share with so I will miss that. I guess things work themselves out in the end, but I am worrying at the moment.

Unloved, uncared for?

I got up the field this morning and BG walked down as she saw us. She is looking like a little barrel from the front, although it is hard to tell how much of it is just her big fluffy coat. She was covered in mud! She looked a right state and it gave my arm a good work out brushing it all out of her coat. She was happy enough, very perky, wolfed down her breakfast, gave the bowl a lick, sniffed round the hay nets that had been put up for P2 last night, and then tried to nose the shelter door open after I’d taken her head collar off.

I know I will get up there again tonight and she will have the same amount of mud on her. In fact, it probably takes less than an hour after a groom for her to ensure she is covered again, I am beginning to think she’s a hippo. This morning was the first time I’ve really looked as her though and thought, if I didn’t know about horses and walked past, would I think you were badly looked after? My husband said a girl at his work thought there were some horses that weren’t very well looked after because she had seen them out and un-rugged. Would people really think that about my girl too?

May I just say that I know BG is both cared for and loved. As well as the minimum two visits a day I make up there the owners of P1 and P2 also visit so she is checked throughout the day. She gets two meals a day, albeit not always much. Even if I do not groom she is checked over thoroughly. Her hooves are trimmed when needed and she is up to date on wormers and vaccinations. I just hope no-one walks past who doesn’t know about horses and believes I am not caring for her, even if untrue I would hate anyone to even think that.

Bridle, fireworks and puddles

So I had a day off work last week and got to spend the morning with BG, which is lovely during the week. I spent a good while giving her a thorough groom, and then I tried to clean the scabs on her fetlock and re-cover them in cream. She didn’t much like this, I don’t think she wanted to be in when I normally only do the basics with her in the week, so she had a bit of a stubborn ‘I’m going to hide in the back of my shelter and turn my back on you’. Which is fine (though a little annoying) as I can ignore her just as well as she can ignore me. I did other things until she got bored and decided to let me do what I wanted to do.

I was going to pop the bridle on her and then lunge her (but with a head collar over the bridle as I don’t like the idea of attaching the lunge line to the bit) but decided, because of the mood she was in, I would just do the bridle. It all went on okay except the bit, which she threw her head around for and just generally didn’t want to help me out. I guess the last thing I stuck in her mouth was her wormer so I can understand her reluctance.

She walked round very nicely in her bridle. Considering in the summer she had started to be silly and trying running round in circles with it on, she walked out very nicely and responsively, so that was positive. Unfortunately when I took the bit out her mouth she clamped her teeth down on it when it was only half way out and scared herself. The rest of the bridle went off over her head reasonably easily though, without her throwing her head up.

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Then it was bonfire night, and something most horses owners dread. We went up late on the Friday night and BG took her time coming down for her food. There were fireworks faintly lighting up the horizon, but no noise, that she stopped to watch curiously. As P2 was out we had the shelter and she had her head collar on with no issues. BG munched her tea, made a brief break to look over the door to check everything was okay, and then finished licking her bowl. Luckily she didn’t seem too fussed and neither did P1 or P2.

Saturday night the fireworks were closer and nosier. BG and P1 didn’t look up from their grazing and P2 didn’t seem to worry either. Most horse owners debate whether to keep their horses in on fireworks night or let them out. Many opt to keep them in as the horse can’t then injury itself running madly round a field. As with all these things it does depend on the horse. When we last had lightening up the field BG got herself a bit worked up trapped in the shelter with us. As soon as we let her out another streak of lighting came and she didn’t even glance up from her grazing. For her I think I would always leave out, as that is where she seems happiest.

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Yesterday was a lovely day. After a thorough groom I left BG to doze over her shelter door in the sun. Normally I do whatever I intend to do with her then turn her out whilst I clear the muck in the field. She seemed so content just dozing I left her and cleared the field first. Then she had a brief lunge and I was just debating whether to take her for a walk on my own when my husband arrived. I prefer both of us taking her out in case something happens, in fact I have only braved it the once on my own.

We managed to sneak out the field without P1 noticing (he starts careering round and calling out) and walked along the single lane road until we reached the part we can turn off at. Thanks to all the rain there were massive puddles at the entrance to the part we turn off onto. Some horses do not like water and puddles, a fear of not knowing how deep it could be. BG happily walked through, some things I am grateful for. She will avoid puddles but won’t go too far out of her way to do so, so walks through if needed without blinking. On the way back my husband ploughed through the puddle rather than her and she scuttled a bit sideways to watch him with a concerned look. Once he slowed down she didn’t mind him going through the puddle, I think she just objected to him splashing her first time.

There is nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than go for a walk with your husband and your pony. We didn’t meet anyone else out. There were some people in the distance BG watched excitedly, and we met a car on the way back, but that was all. BG just stood on the grass verge and grabbed a mouthful of grass ignoring the car totally as it went past. It was a little slippery under foot out but it was still a lovely little walk. P1 had eventually realised we had gone out and was calling out and waiting by the gate when we got back.

Wormer

Time to administer BG's wormer again, Equest Pramox this time so it will target the tapeworms. I normally give it to her on the first of the month, but with work and the dark tomorrow I thought it would be better to do so today.

Poor BG tried to be good and let me put the syringe in her mouth a few times. Unfortunately the plunger on it was stiff and just would not move smoothly, it suddenly shot forward and scared the life out of her. I had to do that three times to get the whole dose of wormer into her. If the plunger had been smoother I think it would have gone almost perfectly, instead I feel sorry for BG. She is very good about not splitting it out afterwards though.

It took her a while to get the taste out of her mouth, she wouldn't even accept a polo for a good while.

BG had a thorough groom this morning, and then a lunge and got lead over some trotting poles which she was foot perfect over.

And apparently she has an admirer. I heard a gentleman stops up the field every day and she gallops down to him to take an apple. Once she has the apple she moves away and he hasn't managed to touch her at all. It is lovely someone else thinks she is wonderful too, but I don't really want random people feeding BG, it could cause issues in summer when I really need to watch her weight. I have no idea who he is though or when he visits as I have only heard it from someone else.

Just a little update

We’ve had three days of frost so far, including that on the Thursday. BG has been keen to see us and her food. This morning she was in the far corner of the field when we got up there, and came running down, which is always lovely to see. She has been so keen for her food I think we might even succeed getting the head collar on her in the field. I haven’t tried it yet though as I don’t want to fail before work or in the dark in the evenings, it might have to wait until I have time at the weekend. Hopefully then I can enforce it over the weekend and it can become part of the routine.

The scabs on BG’s fetlocks don’t seem to be clearing up. At the weekend she has a thorough groom and check and clean of the scabs, in the week I try to keep them clean and Sudocreamed over to keep them soft. I would have hoped they would have healed by now but the off-fore seems persistent in keeping them.

Hurry up!

I let P2 out of the shelter this morning which meant I could put BG in there for her breakfast and pop her head collar on. I’ve done this a few morning’s recently and she pauses before entering the shelter, checking that is the correct place to have her meal that morning, and turns her nose up at the mess P2 has made in her home, as I don’t tidy it up first.

This morning BG was waiting near the gate, half asleep but she perked up when I went to get her breakfast. Then she followed me to the shelter and went straight in behind me with no hesitation, sticking as close to my shoulder (and the food bowl) as she could. She was nudging me on the shoulder and pushing her head forward for her head collar before I’d even got it off the hook. I think she thought I was being far too slow and she knew the head collar had to go on before she could eat so she was there saying ‘hurry up!’

Such a change from the other times where she sees the head collar and runs away from you terrified saying ‘why would you dream of bringing that near me, it is such a scary thing’. The thing is, I think those times she is generally scared. Sometimes she is just being stubborn, when she swings her back round at you and has a grump in the corner, but other times she is genuinely scared, which is why times like today are so special. I love to see her confidence up and the cheeky side of her.

Frozen water buckets

The temperature in the car read 1 degree this morning, so not any colder than yesterday, but it had frosted over-night. It was the first morning this winter that the water buckets were frozen, only a millimetre, but still frozen. BG was stood by the gate when we turned up, I’d like to think she was waiting for us but I think that she just found a spot in the field with sun on it.

All three ponies seemed pleased to see us. P2 was in the shelter for the night, which seems to be his new routine. I hadn’t been asked to let him out this morning so just dropped him a bit of hay to keep him going and to keep him out the way while I mucked out his bed.

P1 was very good and kept out the way when I fed BG, who seemed to enjoy her breakfast. She was looking well, her coat had fluffed out but she was warm enough and let me check her over and pick her feet out in the field.

I quite like the chilly but still mornings. When it’s like that there is no where I’d rather be than up the field, I even enjoy the mucking out. Just being able to watch the ponies grazing and be up there with them is great, I am very lucky.

Rooted to the spot

So I haven’t been able to do a lot with BG. It is too dark in the evenings, the mornings I just have time to do the basics and muck out, and P2 has remained in the shelter a lot of the time so I haven’t been able to put a head collar on BG. I don’t have time to win the battle in the morning, and at night it is just too dark. I feel a little bad for BG, but she is perfectly happy with the arrangement.

When P2 did start to be let out again I got BG in the shelter and she was perfect with the head collar first time, and since, with only a couple of minor blips where we have had to have several attempts. She believes she knows exactly what you want her to do and tries to help you all the time. The first time the shelter was free she went and stood in her ‘pen’ instead and looked at me as if to say ‘but you feed me in here now, I’m where I should be’.

The heat in her hooves seems to have died down a lot, it is hard to work her at the moment but my husband has done some in-hand with her in the morning’s whilst I am mucking out. Then I made the most of last weekend to spend an additional two hours up there on Saturday and an additional one on Sunday.

Sunday I did some in-hand work with her over the poles in the field. Saturday I gave her a thorough groom, her mane went a bit static-y and stuck out. Then I cleaned all the scabs off her off-fore and gave the area and clean before re-applying Sudocream over the top. The scabs did appear to be going but the ones at the top are still there.

I lunged her a little and then popped her in to put her rug on. This isn’t because she needs her rug on yet, as mentioned before hopefully I won’t put it on her at all this winter. It was 1.5 degrees when I went to give her her breakfast this morning but she is plenty warm enough in her winter coat, and if anything she still needs to loose a little fat. It was again an exercise to get her used to it, for when she does need it, even if that might be when she turns 25, at least if I start now she might be used to it in time.

The only other time she has had it on I just put it over her to check the size and didn’t do up any straps. This time I put it on her and wanted to do up all the straps and leave her in it a little so she could get used to the feel. Her neck tensed up as it went over her (slowly) and down the far side, and you could almost see her eyes roll back. She stood there patiently though, and didn’t flinch when I did the belly straps or even those between her hind-legs. We kept her in her shelter for this, so it was a controlled environment if she did get upset. With it all going so well (or so I thought), I went to get a feed bowl to put in the far corner of the shelter, so she would move in the rug to go and get it, and then get used to the feel as she put her neck up and down.

She went to move when I first put the bowl down, then felt the rug move on her back, her head went up, her eyes showed their whites and she remained rooted to the spot.

I left her to it and went to muck out the field. My husband stayed near her in case she were to get upset. In the time I mucked out the field she did not move. My husband tried coaxing her with the food, but every time she thought about moving the thought of the rug scared her. I felt really mean, she obviously wanted the food but was too scared. Eventually we just put the bowl in front of her and she built up enough courage to bend down and eat some of it, but even then she didn’t manage to finish it. I wonder if we will ever get her happy in a rug, I am inclined to think maybe not after that. At least she wasn’t shaking when the rug came off.

Success - head collar on!

I have continued to feed BG in her ‘pen’ as P2 is still on box rest. For the first couple of days I think he liked being special and having his own little castle, but I think the novelty has worn off a little now.

The weather has been cold and miserable so BG’s thirst for food has overcome any apprehension she might have had entering the pen. She will enter quite confidently, eat her meal, and then occasionally get a little het up when she has finished and realises she is trapped. It seems to vary though as the second night she was in there she stood very patiently for me to groom her, even all up around her head. This morning she was on her toes and charged out when we opened the ‘gate’ for her, but the wind had put her on her toes anyway.

Last night was the first night I attempted the head collar with her. I felt really mean as you could tell she wanted the food, but just couldn’t quite get her confidence up to put her nose in the head collar. She thought about it a couple of times but just wasn’t quite brave enough, and every time she turned away I left her. If she wants my attention of food she needs to come to me, not take it when she wants to and turn her back on me the rest of the time.

Unfortunately I get up the field at seven at the earliest on a work night, so before long it got dark. I didn’t want to not feed her since I could tell she really wanted the food and did try so hard to overcome her fear and have the head collar on, but I couldn’t feed her and let her get away with it.

Eventually we went for the hoof, rope round neck and head collar on approach which I was a little dubious about doing outside. She was a bit reluctant, and pulled away when my husband went to put the head collar on, but when he held the rope and I went to put it on her she was perfect, even better than she has been recently in her shelter. She was perfect about having it off too, even the buckle being undone.

Unfortunately, with the wind this morning and us needing to get to work we were unable to repeat it, which probably isn’t sending the right message to her. It also looks like it is going to be a windy night so she might be on her toes then too. I have the farrier coming on Monday so really need to be able to catch her, especially as it isn’t at one of her normal meal times.

The good news is I got to give her a nice groom last night (mostly in the dark) and finally remembered to trim an inch off her tail to stop it touching the ground.

A change of scenery

P2 has been put on box rest on BG’s shelter for his mud fever. It creates a bit of a problem, in that we can not catch BG in the field, but it is good in another way as it forces us to do more with her in the field. She was hungry for her tea last night and came and stood right next to me when I put her food bowl down, but she wasn’t having her head collar on. Every time she would come back to me, even resting her nose in my back, but she was not having the head collar on. It was a pity because it was quite a still night, so probably the best night to catch her if I was going to be able too.

In the field she has too much room to escape if she needs to. So I got my husband to fence off a pen where we can feed BG, creating a little space which can become her safe spot and we will have a bit more control over her. She wasn’t too keen on it though, as she is wary of electric fencing. It was quite sweet though as she was looking to me for confidence all the time when thinking about entering it.

I put her food bowl in the entrance to the fenced off bit and let her take a mouthful and then gradually moved it back as she took a mouthful at a time. Once she was all the way in I just let her be. She ate her tea, spun on her haunches and charged out the gap in the fencing.

This morning she went in quite confidently to eat and I put the fence up behind her to trap her in, although I stayed in front of it. If she got scared being trapped I could see her charging through the tape, but not charging through me. She was a bit nervous when she finished eating and didn’t know where to turn but she left the pen reasonably sensibly when I opened it up. She looked for a brief moment like she might charge off, but didn’t.

Now she has gone a while without having her head collar on I will have to decide when to face that battle. I don’t want to leave it too long, but I don’t want to do it too soon and upset the little bit of confidence she has grown at entering that area.

Knocked over

The weather has certainly taken a turn for winter. The field is turning into mud, it’s getting colder, P1 and P2 are in rugs and BG has been soaked a couple of nights. I am pleased to say that she has not been shivering again, so the beginning’s of her winter coat is doing its job. BG has also been keen to see us, although still not 100% sure of having her head collar on. The other day she had a thorn stuck slightly in her cheek, so that might have been the reason that night. At the moment I only have to grab her food bowl and leave the shelter with it for a second and she clicks that she won’t eat until she has her head collar on, and second time is perfect.

I had a good check over the top of her neck behind her ears to see if there was anything there bothering her that could account for her throwing her head back recently. Her coat is beautifully soft there, but I didn’t find anything. Last night I had another feel and there was something in her coat, but it felt like it could just be mud. It was too dark to look properly and doesn’t seem to bother her the rest of the time, so I have left it to check when I am up there in the light.

Yesterday P2 had to be shut in the shelter as his owner believes he has mud fever and she wanted him out of the mud. He was back out by the time we went to give BG her tea. What I didn’t realise was the remains of his hay net was still up, so BG spotted that as she walked in. Why have your head collar on for your tea when you can eat hay and not have it on? I took the hay net down, so only the scraps on the floor remained. I couldn’t put the head collar on in the hay corner as it made her nervous, but if I went to her normal corner she would just go back to eating the hay scraps. So I asked my husband to stand in the hay corner so she couldn’t eat and might actually be tempted by her tea.

It was too scary with two people in there though. BG didn’t know who to watch and who to turn her bottom on. She swung it round on me and I wasn’t quite quick enough and got knocked. In a way I am pleased that we made contact. She didn’t kick me, and if she was too I think that would be the situation she would kick out, with me being where she felt her back end should be and me having the scary head collar. So I am pleased that kind of confirmed my belief that BG won’t kick me. (I’m sure she might in a really bad situation if she got upset enough, but I am confident it would be a last, last resort for her).

She had her head collar on and her tea after we removed her food and gave her a minute to calm down before trying again.

Rugs and fluffy coats - winter's coming

My beautiful pony is starting to fluff up nicely for winter. Her coat has gone so soft you just want to bury yourself in it.

She was a little keener to come in for her breakfast this morning, since it was raining, but is still needing to be herded in the rest of the time. She is not any better with the head collar strap going over the top of her neck. In fact, she has started to pull back when I am putting the head collar on, although I am very pleased to say every time she has come straight back to me thrusting her nose forward to try it on again.

I have been continuing to take the head collar off in her shelter as she tends not to pull back so much and scare herself. As it was dark last night my husband held her outside so I could see to pick out her hooves and check her over. She has scabs at the bottom of her legs which I think are from the brambles, so I have been Sudocreming them to soften the scabs up. She stood perfectly, even though we don’t often do this, and then my husband took her head collar off in the field. He had to be very patient and just rub around her ears a few times when she tensed, but it did come off without her pulling back and scaring herself in the end.

P1 has started to be rugged in the evening, so the other morning I was asked to take his rug off and replace it with his fly rug. I thought I would catch him in case he tried to run off before I can get the second rug on. He was as good as gold, if a little bemused about why I was catching him and then wanting to lead him down to the shelter. He happily licked the remains of BG’s breakfast whilst I changed his rugs for him though.

BG is not a pony that needs much care, she doesn’t need rugs on and off, she doesn’t have a stable to muck out….and I do miss doing these things. I like feeling business like around horses, with a list of tasks to complete, and then you have the quiet time to bond with them. I’d love to have several horses to care for, but there is no way we could afford that, and BG is the best horse in the world. Just sometimes it is a little hard to find things to do around her as she just wants to eat and go back out.

I rang the farrier yesterday day and left a voice message, she is yet to ring back. The thing is I know she will probably ring back and go ‘I can fit you in tomorrow at …’ but I can’t get time off work at that short notice. If she replied when I originally try to contact her I would have time to organize it, but she always leaves it to the last minute to get in touch. Last winter it once took me several weeks to get in touch with her. It is a pain and I dread having to organize the farrier visit, fitting things around work is always hard. She is one of the few farriers I know to turn up on time every time though, and she does seem to do a good job on BG’s hooves, even though BG doesn’t like her one bit.

Tea by torchlight

Last night BG had her first tea by torch light this winter. If it wasn’t for the fact I insist on her having her head collar on we could probably have done the whole thing in the dark. She was a little cautious about coming in but after the initial look to check everything was okay she was fine. She is still having her new head collar on every time, only problem is she is nervous about the strap going over the top of her neck and being done up/ un-done still. Luckily each time she has gone to pull back from this I have been able to move back with her so the head collar remains in the same spot on her head.

She lunged beautifully on Friday but other than that she has been having an easy time of it, although I made her do some trotting poles and basic ground work on Saturday night.

She is chubbier than I would like so I wish I could get some more work into her, but she is happy enough and the cooler weather will hopefully do it’s part in regulating her weight.

Now I have the dilemma about when to get the farrier out again. It is seven weeks today since she last had them trimmed and they are getting long, but non of the bottoms are looking anywhere near to splitting and the crack in her near-fore is holding up okay. If I had it my way I would probably have them done a week today, but then there is getting the time off work and seeing what the farrier’s calendar is like.

Miserable nights

Why is it getting so dark in the evening’s already? With the wind and the rain as well I am very limited on what I can do. I don’t mind working in the rain, but it isn’t fair on BG if the top of the ground is slippery.

So far this week BG has been better about her head collar. I have had to resort to using her old one but at least I am getting it on her on my own without too much of a fuss. I am taking it off in her shelter though since she is still being funny about the buckle when having it taken off. I normally like to lead her out and take it off in the field so she is used to having me move it round her head out there, but with the wind and her being silly I think it would do more harm than good. So I am taking it off in the shelter and last night she was perfect, but all the other times, including this morning, she has tensed when I have gone up to the buckle and looked as if she is going to move back.

Her coat is beautifully soft at the moment, her summer coat is still coming out but you can tell she is starting to fluff up for winter.

Although I complain in the title about the miserable nights the rain stopped just as I got up the field last night. We were up there at the time of day when the sun throws golden strips across everything, and we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow (with BG stood at the bottom of it as the treasure). Having horses really does enable you to see the best (and worst) of nature.

Flying back

Having said how well BG was getting on with her new head collar it all fell apart over the weekend.

If BG won’t have her head collar on she spins round in her field shelter and points her bottom towards me. I’m not afraid she is going to kick but I am afraid she will keep spinning round and get herself all worked up, which won’t achieve anything but a very upset pony, when really there is nothing to get upset over. So if she turns her back on me I take the attention away from her. I take her feed with me and just leave her to calm down. Normally then when I go back in she will let me put her head collar on, although it may take a couple of tries. She has to learn no head collar means no food.

On Sunday she was having none of this. She was in a really stubborn mood and would not have her head collar on. When I so much as looked at it to go to pick it up she would turn round and look at me with one eye as if to say ‘what are you going to do now?’ I think she was more stubborn than afraid this time though. Unfortunately I was up there on my own so I couldn’t go in with our solution to say ‘look, you are going to have it on whether you like it or not’ until my husband turned up to help. I think she had had enough by then so was a little upset when we did the ‘grab a hoof, lead rope round the neck, head collar on’. Ideally I wouldn’t have left her so long to get away with it, not that she ate until she was caught.

The strange thing is I did give her a groom, even her face which she is normally funny about, and brushed her forelock with no issues, but the head collar was a no go zone.

Sunday night she was similar. We resorted to the ‘foot, neck, head collar’ method a lot quicker though. Then this morning we almost had to use it again. I always try to give her a chance to do it on her own first, and luckily she accepted it (the head collar) on the second attempt. It is the old head collar again though.

So getting the head collar on has become an issue again. I am hoping this is just because she is in season and she will be fine once that is over. I always thought being in season never really affected her, but I have seen her squealing with P1 which is very unlike her, so I hope it is just in-season moody-mare-ness.

The other problem now is getting the head collar off. She has started to tense when you go to undo the buckle near her ear. She will fly back (not too far but I am dreading it getting any worse), and if the buckle is un-done I have nothing to hold her with so it drops down her nose. She will tentatively come back to me but she will snort her way round the head collar on the ground. This can’t be helping her confidence having it on either, and I am just afraid each time she goes back it will just get worse. I think lots of playing with the head collar strap near her ears is needed as I really do not want this to develop any further.

An update

I've been quiet on here for quite a while. It does not mean BG hasn't been up to anything, just there didn't seem to be anything that made me leap to the laptop and feel I should record this.

So, what has been happening?

Luckily there have been no more shivering incidents. I'd like to think there will be no more all year but I think we might have another one or two over winter. As mentioned before I was trying to think of an alternative to hay to feed as a way of warming her up. I turned to the horse forum I post on, where everyone is always very helpful and non-judgemental. The advice there was any food with fibre in it (or peppermint tea!) and Allen and Page Fast Fibre was suggested which looks like it might do the trick. I'll need to take a trip to a tack shop sometime and investigate it a little more.

It seems strange getting ready for winter when Christmas is still four months away. Although some hay has been stacked ready for this winter for a while. The evenings are getting noticeably darker already which is very depressing. I get up the field around seven on a work night, by the time I have worked BG I am struggling to muck out the field in the dark. Soon I won't have any light at all at night and BG's education will be taking a break. I won't be able to keep the weight off her, but the cold should do that for me. P1 and P2's owner remarked the other day how good BG was looking, not tubby at all. Personally I'd like to see her a little thinner, but we weight taped her the other night and she was 411kg. I like her at 400kg so she isn't far off.

BG is still being funny about coming in for her food. Now it is getting colder she is better; 50% of the time and comes down on her own, but we still regularly have to go and herd her down the field. Unfortunately she doesn't always walk away when we go up to her with the head collar anymore. This is good and bad, but if she has her head down grazing so we can't put her head collar on I'd like her to at least move so I can herd her down the field. Instead we are stood there at a bit of a stale-mate.

This week we have hit a new milestone with BG though. You might remember in June I bought her a new head collar along with her rug. I haven't really pushed this new head collar as much as I should; since BG was being caught in the field I didn't want to ruin the good work, and then she wouldn't be caught at all and I thought the new one wouldn't help. She can tell anything that isn't her old familiar head collar. For a while I was having to put on the old one, the new one on the top and then take the old one off, since she would refuse the new one every time. This week though, with a few refusals, she is now having her 'new' head collar on. It sits tighter on her head and looks so smart compared with her old battered version.

I put the bridle on BG this week too. She did not want the bit in and threw her head around a bit trying to avoid it. The silly thing is, as soon as she let me hold it in the right place, she put it in perfectly. I didn't lead her in the bridle as she is silly about this, so I lead her in a head collar over the top. I did put the reins on too and twisted these through the throat lash so they weren't too loose. I thought she might be upset with them resting on her neck but she didn't seem to mind.

I led her around and a couple of times I thought she might turn her back on me like she does when the saddle is on. I don't know if that was due to the bridle or the wind, but she overcame the thought quickly and was very good. Even better she dropped the bit out of her mouth perfectly (she still pulls back as if expecting it to scare her) and had the bridle off over the top of her head without too much of a scare.

Her lunging has been improving. I think it might be helped by reducing the work load (wind/ slippery ground/ dark nights) as she normally seems better if you leave something and come back to it. She now does trot to halt transitions, sometimes perfectly, and halt to trot transitions (normally with a couple of strides of walk in between). These are all off voice commands. I carry a lunging whip which I do occasionally use but she does very nicely without it too. The other day I didn't have the lunge whip (P1 had moved the field shelter rubbing on it and buried my whip half under it) so I lunged her without and she went perfectly. She barely ever tries to turn in on halt now too.

For a couple of days she did look a little sore on her off-hind. I'm not sure what that was but a couple of quiet days and she seems better now. When I left her up the field yesterday morning she was bucking and cantering around.

So, that's what we have been up to. Let's hope I don't leave it so long before writing an update next time.

Shivering

BG was shivering last night and this morning, it makes me feel really mean and makes me worry.

It has been very cold and wet here, I don’t think her poor body knows what to do as Sunday was boiling hot and sunny. Last winter she was out in -10 degrees un-rugged and was perfectly fine, so I am hoping it is just where the weather has suddenly changed and her body wasn’t ready for it. She had two times last winter when she shivered, hence I bought her a rug just in case, but I really don’t want to have to use it. I like to keep her as natural as possible and especially don’t want to be rugging her now or else her winter coat won’t grow as it should.

She came down last night when we arrived. It was still raining. She had her head collar on good as gold and ate her tea. I didn’t notice her shivering then so led her out. The ground was too slippery to lunge her so I just led her up to go over the poles on the ground. She got a little tense as we approached the poles as it is where she knocked the jump yesterday, but she was walking quite nicely and went over it with no issues. I then went to take her head collar off and she had her head held high and tense, that was when I noticed her near hind shivering. I wasn’t sure if it was just nerves being in that section of the field so I led her back to her shelter.

She was still shivering in there, I went to get her some more food so we could keep her in out of the rain for a bit. She ate her food and then started to nod off to sleep. I am not sure if it is me worrying and seeing things but her tummy looked more pronounced too.

We stayed up there with her nodding off to sleep until we were sure she was okay and the shivering had stopped. When we left she watched us leave but stayed in her shelter nodding off to sleep. It is quite unusual for her, normally she only goes in the shelter to eat or in the summer occasionally to get out of the heat, so she must have known for once it was a good idea to dry off.

I think it has rained nearly all night and was still raining when we got up there this morning. BG came trotting down for her breakfast and, by the time I had her food ready, I saw her bottom vanish into her shelter as she took herself in.

She was shivering again, but in the twenty minutes we were there it stopped quite quickly and, when given the option, she went straight back out into the rain.

I think I just need to keep an eye on her, it is not something I remember ever seeing her do in her previous home. I wish I had stables and paddocks in my back garden so I could keep an eye on her. I would have made her up a hay net last night so she would stay in out of the wet, but where she is now P1 and P2 would probably have come down and they would all have fought over the net. I could have made up three, but they don’t really need the extra food, both P2 and BG are on the tubby side.

I have read a bit on it today and the common consensus seems to be to feed hay when this happens as this then warms them from the inside out and dries them out. I might look into an alternative to hay, some sort of mash or something that’ll have the same effect, so we can feed it whilst we are up there and it won’t affect the others. I want to keep the rugs off as long as I can (in fact, I had hoped not to use it at all this winter) so I will just monitor her and see how she goes.

I wish the wind would die down

I like the cooler weather and I don’t mind the rain, but I wish it was a little less windy. I quite like the wind too, most of the time, but when trying to work with BG it doesn’t help at all. I spend most my day at work meaning I don’t get much choice about when I can work with her, so to get up there in the evening to strong winds and BG being silly makes me a little upset. I just want to spend some quality time with my pony and work towards achieving something.

Last night with the wind I couldn’t lunge her. The wind catches at the lunge line and tugs it in front of her making her scared. I didn’t want to do nothing with her since I need to keep her weight under control and there was the hint of heat in her hooves which there hasn’t been for a while. So I stuck to just walking her in hand. I have been thinking about introducing some bends in her straight work, but last night it was all I could do to stop her running round and round me in the wind. I did lead her alongside the mounting block and over the little jump but called it a day after that since she was very on her toes and just getting herself more wound up. Unfortunately she knocked the jump over since she tried to jump it from a stand-still. I think I will lower it and build her confidence up more before asking her to jump that height again, I read her trotting up to it, stopping and then jumping as a lack of confidence with the task.

Monday night she had lunged reasonably nicely and I managed to get the knot out of her tail.

Then this morning I was very pleased with her. After letting us catch her in the field weeks ago, to reverting to not coming in at all and needing my husband to herd her down, she made her own way down this morning with no coaxing.

Weekend update

Having said how BG generally takes good care of herself I got up there this morning to see a long line across her bottom where she has obviously been rubbing and has a line missing coat and looking very raw in some places. I also have no idea what she has done to her tail! It is one big matted mess and looks like she’s tucked half of it up in the middle of the rest and tied several big knots in it. Her tail is tough to brush but never with knots like this. I didn’t have time to sort it all out this morning, I think it is going to be a big job for tonight.

At least she was easy to catch this morning. She said hello to my husband in the field when he went to tell her breakfast was here, then walked straight down, into her shelter and head collar straight on. Last night she was not so good. She took a lot of herding to get away from the others and down to her shelter. When she eventually walked in she then refused to have her head collar on. To be fair to her it was windy and there are lots of noises from tractors working near by, but she can’t get away with it. We resorted to the hoof holding and lead rope round the neck trick again. I think she would have let the head collar go on just with one of us holding her hoof, but we did the lead rope round her neck too as I think it is safer for her to pull away from that than with someone holding her hoof. Head collar went straight on once I had a lead rope round her neck. From that to being perfect this morning….she is a funny girl.

Saturday I unfortunately didn’t actually get to spend much time with BG, and the wind was up again meaning there would have only been a little I could do with her anyway. I did some in-hand work on the Friday night with her in the wind but she was a little on her toes.

Sunday morning it was still so it really cheered me up to think I could spend a good chunk of time doing stuff with her.

She had a very thorough groom and was glowing afterwards. She really is beautiful even if I do say so myself. Unfortunately there were so many flies up the field the fly spray didn’t seem to be having much effect.

I lunged her, she was good but not as perfect as she was earlier in the week. The sun was beating down and her sides seemed to be heaving a lot, so we only did a bit of it in trot. Then I tried some positive association with the mounting block. BG eyed it with distrust and snorted as I led her round it. She got closer to it than last time and I led her up to it and halted her alongside. We ended as before with me stood on it giving her a treat, and she was quicker to overcome her fear and take the polo than last time.

The daft thing is I could probably just use another object as a mounting block and she wouldn’t have the fear association, though she would still be nervous of someone at a higher height than her.

Perfect pony

I was thinking about BG the other day and how she is the perfect pony to own (besides being a pain to catch and un-rideable)!

She has been scratching her head so I was putting Sudocream on it. She didn’t like it much and tried to pull away, but it is the first time I have put any on her face for rub marks. P1 and P2 have both been rubbing themselves raw, whereas BG is just missing a bit of her coat where she has rubbed it.

So I was thinking how lucky I was to own her since she didn’t rub as much as others. Then I was thinking about when I put her in on box-rest. Some horses get upset being in and, although she lives out 24-7, she is perfectly calm when she is put in a stall. She adapts to her surroundings (except humans) very calmly. She doesn’t get too upset if other horses are there or not. She doesn’t need to be rugged or shod. If you put up an electric fence, regardless of whether it has a shock in it or not, she tends to steer clear whereas P1 and P2 will go through, under or over it – whichever one they fancy. If I am doing something quickly I can just put the lead rope over her shelter entrance and trust her not to try pushing on it.

She is a tough, independent little girl and so the perfect pony to own from a care point of view. From my point of view she is the perfect pony to own in all ways anyway.

Reasonably positive start to the week

Luckily BG has been easier to catch this week before work. She isn’t coming straight down but she seems to have got over her fear of her shelter, there is only occasionally the slightest hesitation before entering, and a slight hesitation as her head collar goes on her nose. She has been lunging beautifully too. She used to collapse in on the circle but now she is carrying herself right out on the edge of the circle (I think she is trying to pull my arms off) and has become very responsive to my voice aids.

I tried to introduce trot to halt and halt to trot transitions a little while ago, and it was taking quite a few strides to do the transitions. Last night she was perfect, and did them straight away when asked. I use ‘steady’ to warn her that I am about to ask for a downward transition and ‘come on then’ to warn her I am about to ask for an upwards transition. These are like my vocal half halts, to tell her I am about to expect something of her and to listen.

She is better on her ‘bad’ rein at the moment, she has a tendency now to turn in on the halt command on her ‘good’ rein, but even that was better yesterday.

Unfortunately, just as I was coming to the end of lunging her on her ‘bad’ rein P2 was brought back into the field and BG turned round to see what was going on and after that refused to lunge on her ‘bad’ rein. It has been a long time since she refused to do that.

Earlier in the week I jumped her too. It isn’t a big jump but big enough that she has to make an effort. I have popped her over it a couple of times, but this time I am not sure if she was trying to tell me something and that she didn’t want to do it for a reason. She tries to run out the side of the jump, and after the first attempt she was on her toes and trotting round me in circles. Quite often I interpret this as enjoying it, as her eyes prick up and she trots towards the jump. For a brief moment this week though she turned her back on me and stood there, so I am not sure if this was supposed to be a message. In case it was I did only a couple of jumps (it is all quite new to her anyway so I don’t want to over do it).

Then this morning BG saw the car pull in and was reasonably near the gate so actually came over to meet us, the first time she has done that for a while. Then she followed me round and peered at me as I prepared her breakfast. I’m happy she was happy to see us.

Daily routine

I put a little yesterday about my morning routine. It will vary in the winter months but our current routine is something like this:

Weekdays: Morning visit around 8am for half an hour. BG has her head collar on and her breakfast. Then she has hooves picked out, watered, quick groom, fly repellent all done when needed. Some mornings (like this morning) she has none of these done. I check the waters, tidy up the bits I used and then muck out the field.

Evening visit is normally around 7pm and an hour at least. One day of the week she has nothing expected of her so the visit is shorter and mimics the morning routine. Otherwise BG is head collared and fed. Hooves will be picked out and fly spray applied as and when necessary. She might get a thorough groom but I try not to over-groom her so her coat keeps it’s natural oils. Then she will have some ‘work’ done with her; it might be in-hand leading, the saddle popped on, a walk out on the lanes or, as is the case most of the time, a lunge. Then the waters are checked and the full mucking out of the field is done if the other owner hasn’t beaten me to it.

Saturday the routine is similar but breakfast is at 9am. Then Sunday I might work her in the morning instead.

Of course farrier visits, vets etc. are all outside of this normal routine. I have done extra trips up for other things before as well. Then there are all the additional things you find yourself doing when up there, as well as saying hello to P1 and P2 and making a fuss of them and quickly checking them over.

In winter there are hay nets to do too, and mucking out by torch light. We will have to wait and see how the winter routine develops this year.

A better morning

It has been very windy here. As people know this often upsets horses even more so adds to my worries about catching BG. Then in the morning we allow half an hour to see her on our way to work. This involves giving her breakfast and a quick check over. She will have fly repellent, hooves picked out, water put on hooves etc. as needed. The water buckets are checked and I will do some mucking out of the field, although this depends on how well everything else goes.

Yesterday morning it was over half an hour to catch her though, so you can see why my hopes weren’t up.

My husband went over to see her whilst I prepared her breakfast. (It is only Happy Hoof but I water it down well to prevent incidents of choke). BG immediately started to walk away when she saw my husband, then saw me with her food bowl and trotted over to see me. I do like it when she trots towards me, makes me feel like she is actually pleased to see us. She went straight in her shelter with only a brief stop and the head collar went straight on despite the wind howling outside.

So that was a huge positive (and I got to clear the whole field of muck too). Now I need the wind to die down so I can exercise her tonight. Although I can see her reverting and being a pain to get in her shelter again. We will have to wait and see.

Slow process

For some reason BG has decided not to like her field shelter any more. I don't know why but I can go to collect her from the field, she sees the head collar and moves away so I herd her down to the shelter. She will get as far as the entrance and then just stand there, coaxing does not seem to persuade her to go in. P1 and 2's owner tried with extra strong mints this morning with no luck, and I have tried with apple cruchies. The only way I can manage it is to leave her food bowl in her sight (having got her to the entrance) and then walk away so it is just her and the food bowl. Then she will tentatively make her way in and eat, and lick every last bit in the bowl.

I don't like doing this as it means she gets her food before having her head collar on. Luckily I have then put another handful of food in her bowl and she has had her head collar on perfectly. I wish I knew what had suddenly made her dislike her little 'safe shelter'. She is fine once she is in there, it is all just a little odd.

I was going to lunge BG this morning, as a return to normality after last night's antics. I took her out to lunge her but the wind caught the lead rope and pulled on it which worried BG. She turned round on the spot and looked at me for confidence that nothing was going to hurt her. I didn't want her getting upset again so I got a brief trot out of her before calling it a day. It is a pity as I really wanted to spend time with her working her and she did trot beautifully when asked. Tonight there were some jumps set up in the field too and I would have loved to take her over them as they were only low, but I didn't want to risk it (still very blustery).

After last night I am wondering if she will ever be rideable. I would like her catchable for a start. It is a slow process to get her in and head collar her at the moment. She might well be missing her breakfasts this weeks as I won't have the time before work for her to take things slow.

She can run!

Thursday night off seems to have helped BG's mood. She also had Friday night off too. It was tipping it down and she was sliding in the mud when I just led her out of her shelter, so any attempt at work would have been a waste.

So she has had a couple of days off and seems to be happier, so I guess she was just having a bad day on the Wednesday. She is still being a pain to catch though, she does not seem tempted by food so trying to get her in her shelter to eat is hard work. I guess the nice grass is far more tempting. This morning she just stood by her shelter door looking in and did not seem at all inclined to enter and eat her tea.

I have actually increased her meals a little, they weren't even covering the bottom of her bowl so she wasn't really getting any sort of reason to come in. Shes still enjoying her Happy Hoof though when she does come in as she licks the bowl clean every time and then tries to chew on the handle and throw it across the shelter.

She is getting better about the head collar again too, and has had it on in the shelter a few times at the first attempt recently. I am expecting her to pull back as I put it on her nose each night but that is now just me being silly and not her as she has been perfectly, time for me to get over it too now.

I lunged her tonight. She went beautifully, really striding out. She is now better on her 'bad' rein at standing when asked than on her 'good' rein, on her good rein she takes longer to respond.

We then put the saddle on her. BG wasn't happy to see it but had it put on with no issues, even with me adjusting it and playing with the stirrups and saddle flaps. She planted herself when we asked her to lead out so I just walked into the shelter with the lunge whip and she went straight out.

She did not want to walk anywhere, just swing her hind quarters round when asked to move. If I tried to move behind with the whip to encourage her forward she would swing round more so she could see me. Once my husband had led her away from the shelter she did walk along slightly better.

I thought I would try lunging her with the saddle on as I have managed it before and thought BG might respond better to it. No. She planted herself and would not move at all despite the whip behind her and voice commands, even with my husband walking near her head she wouldn't have it. She just planted herself and would not move.

Then she suddenly started moving! Unfortunately something had set her off and she charged forward. The lunge rope gave me rope burn, I thought she would stop before she got to the end of the lunge rope length but she kept going so I had to let go.

Off she went! She can run! She did a lap and a bit of the field and then stood there heaving. She didn't actually seem too upset by the saddle, which had stayed in place and she hadn't tried to buck at all, but she was eyeing the lunge line on the ground.

Luckily, once she stands still she does let me approach her and sort her out. So I unclipped the lunge rope, removed the saddle and then she got lead around until she calmed down.

I won't be trying to lunge her with the saddle on for a while. Just leading her with it I guess, although my husband believes it was something else that upset her.

Just a gentle lunge for her tomorrow morning I think. Luckily she doesn't seem to be holding this against us as she was perfectly keen to be fussed over afterwards.

Something not quite right....

Something is not quite right with BG at the moment, as if there is a little niggle annoying her.

She was okay on Tuesday night. I went to catch her in the field but, since she had the head collar incident a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t let me. Unfortunately she doesn’t seem to mind me approaching her with the head collar all the time and sometimes will just stay grazing – but how do I then get her head in whilst her nose is stuck to the ground. BG has always been good at putting her own nose in the head collar to have it on, and when she was being superb the other week and letting me catch her in the field she would raise her head and walk towards me to have it on.

So I couldn’t get her in the field but herded her down to her shelter and caught her in there. Then we just did some in-hand work which involved backing her up through poles without touching her which she did very well at, and leading her past as I got on and off the mounting block. She wasn’t so keen on that, she tensed and her ears went back whenever I stood on it, but we ended with me stood on it and her approaching me till she was close enough to have a treat.

Last night something was wrong though, I wish I could ask what it was. I again had to herd her down and then she wouldn’t have her head collar on at the first few times of asking. The head collar went on eventually and she ate her tea. I gave her a groom after and she stood there like a stone statue, ears pinned back. She didn’t move away, she didn’t stick her head out the shelter door to see what was going on outside like usual, she just stood there.

I lunged her for fifteen minutes and she did everything as asked, but she just didn’t seem to have any spark in her. I need to find something she really enjoys so I can do that with her, but I can’t think what off the top of my head. Tonight she is going to have a night off; just have her head collar on and her tea. Then hopefully she will be better on Friday and it was just that she was having a bad day.

Happy to be back

Last Monday and the farrier visit seems a long time ago now. I am very pleased to say that BG did not go lame after the visit, and the cut on her leg from where P1 caught her is healing up nicely and staying clean.

I was away for the weekend so P1 and P2’s owner took care of her. She apparently behaved herself and they groomed her and picked out her hooves with no issues. I forgot to ask if she was nervous of the grooming or okay, as last time the owner went to stroke her in her shelter BG moved stubbornly to the back and hid.

I do worry when I go away as no one else currently catches BG, incase anything was to happen. Luckily care wise she is quite a hardy little girl so it is not like she needs lots of food, constant checking, rugs changing etc. You could probably turn her out on the moors and she would survive perfectly well (you would never be able to catch her again though!).

I am glad to be back, and see her again (she didn’t look overly excited by the fact I was back). I fed her, gave her a brief groom and a lunge. She was very good on the lunge, very responsive to the voice commands and didn’t try to collapse in on the circle at all. Afterwards I mucked out the field and then just sat in the field for a bit, and was very happy that she gradually made her way over to me grazing on the way.

I am feeling quite positive this week about achieving things with her. Lets hope I can keep the positivity up.

A couple of firsts and a worry

So on Sunday it was wormer time again. If anyone ever reads my previous posts you will see that last time the wormer was an issue. We put it in BG’s food and would she eat it – no. No matter how much food we added to dilute it, it took several meals to go down which I doubt is a very efficient way to give wormer, and then she still spat lots of it out. So I decided I would have to master the normal, syringe in the mouth, approach.

I have never done this before. I have seen it done a few years back, on a 17hh grumpy horse who threw his head around and attempted to spit loads out so the owner was trying to keep his head held up. I went on YouTube for some tutorials just to ensure I was remembering the method correctly.

I thought about trying a syringe with something tasty in so she would learn to like it, but never got as far as trying it. Sometimes it is better to plunge in the deep end.

So BG had her tea and then I gave her a while to get most the food out of her mouth. Then I moved her into a corner of her shelter so she would have less options to run away or spin around, and got my husband to hold her.

The syringe went straight in! But she pulled away before I had a chance to push on the plunger. BG was by now throwing her head up or turning away and at one point pulled around so we had to reposition her. Despite that it was all much easier than I thought it would be with her. The syringe eventually went back in, (how can you tell if it is over their tongue when you can’t see?) and I pushed the plunger as quickly as possible before BG could pull away.

She didn’t spit any out, although I held her nose up for a bit just in case. She obviously didn’t like the taste and it took a while for her to get over it, pursed lips being pushed up in the air as she made the funny snorting noise horses make when they do that. All in all an achievement I think, lets hope next time goes just as well.

This morning’s first was that I took BG for a walk out of the field on my own. I have only ever gone with other people and my husband tends to lead her most of the time, but today I just felt was a good time to try. We could have done with P2 getting upset and running around on the other side of the hedge. BG got a little on her toes from this, of course just as a car came past. Luckily the grass verges are quite wide there and BG stood nicely behind me as it went past.

I did head back then as I thought this might not be a good idea with P2 upsetting BG, but he seemed a little calmer so I tried again. I didn’t go too far but we did it – our first trip out on our own.

BG had the farrier this morning. We had her hooves trimmed in the field rather than the shelter and she stood perfectly. Hopefully she won’t be too sore tonight, the farrier didn’t trim them as short as last time since I mentioned she had been sore. Unfortunately the farrier doesn’t reckon the crack on her near-fore will grow out any time soon. P2 didn’t stand so nicely for the farrier, he is a little kid that is still learning a lot of things. With his head in a food bowl he was better than the previous times I have seen though.

And the worry, there is a rumour the farmer we rent the field off is going to sell it, and there isn’t much other grazing around.

A bit of a scuffle

BG has needed to be encouraged down for her feeds but she has been good to catch once in her field shelter again for which I am grateful. Even one day when there was a bike leading against the shelter, the other owners around moving things and topping up water buckets next to us she was very good and had her head collar on. So I am relieved, although still not going to feel totally relaxed until Monday’s farrier meeting is over.

The farrier is due late morning, so a time I normally don’t catch BG. I am wondering whether to shut her in her field shelter for the morning so at least I know I will be able to get her. I haven’t ever done this before a farrier visit so I am umm-ing and arrr-ing over it. Oh for a pony that is a dream to catch. I will be working on catching her in the field again once Monday is over.

BG and P1 had a fight last night. I haven’t seen them do that for a while, they’ve been quite content with each other but last night they decided to kick off, showing each other their back legs in the air. Horses do fight, it is natural, and so long as they don’t do it in anger or viciously I don’t think there is a lot you can do about it. We do tell them off but that only has so much effect. P1 looked like he came away without a scratch but BG has had the skin broken in three places on her off-hind. It bled a bit but she luckily didn’t seem to be feeling it, and didn’t look stiff at all last night or this morning. It looked like it stayed quite clean over night too so hopefully it will clear up quickly.

Tentatively breathing a sigh of relief

Tuesday morning – head collar on first time
Tuesday evening – head collar on first time
Wednesday morning – nose into head collar, BG pulled back so I quickly put the lead rope across the entrance so she couldn’t escape and tried again – perfect.

I’m not sure how long to leave it before I attempt to get her in the field again, but with the farrier due soon I don’t want to do anything to jeopardise the small improvement we have made so far. BG needs to get her confidence up a little more.

I’m also relieved we have had a decent amount of rain that has softened the ground just a little. With this heat it is sure to dry out quickly though.

Lastly, a thank you to P1. A sheep from the next field had got through in the with ponies and was a little upset not being able to get back to its Mum. P1 looked intrigued as we tried herding him (the sheep) along the fence line to where we had opened the gate, and was actually a help getting the little sheep back home. P1 did duck under the lead rope on the field shelter entrance to check BG had finished her breakfast afterwards though. He seems to like being in the shelter, I think for the shade and a bit of peace from the flies. The other day he and P2 were in there together resting which was quite sweet. BG took a look but decided there wasn’t enough room for her too.

Slowly slowly

I don't write on here every day but want to do more regular updates now BG and I have a problem to overcome, so in future when she reverts again I can look back and see how quickly (or slowly) she overcame it. Also, any heart ache we had to go through, so I know there is hope no matter how hard it may seem at the time.

BG came in quite happily this morning, put her nose all the way in the head collar before pulling back and then turning away. We didn't have much time since we were on our way to work, so we quite quickly moved to the 'hold hoof, lead rope round neck, head collar on' method. She knew as soon as I touched her with the leap rope what was coming, and allowed us to do it all with hardly any protest. She certainly didn't get upset by us using that method for which I am very grateful. If she did get upset I would have to come up with something else and I think I am all out of ideas.

P1 didn't help matters this morning. He charged in to eat BG's breakfast, rubbed his neck on her shelter entrance which upsets BG when she is inside, and then went to snap at her when I lead her out. Again, I dropped the head collar on and off her nose before letting her go.

This evening BG came in happily, but saw the head collar and didn't even attempt to put her nose into it before turning away. I asked my husband to give me a hand and lifted her hoof up. He said I should try again but I said she wouldn't let me try again so soon after. Sometimes my husband is right though, second time lucky she was as good as gold and didn't even flinch when the head collar went on her nose.

I did a little bit in hand with her tonight, and led her over some poles too. I even lead her over a small jump. She saw it and you could see her brain processing it and thinking of the stride she needed to be on and she put in a beautiful effort.

Lets hope tomorrow the head collar goes on even more easily and we can be back on track (not catching in the field again, just the head collar on every time in her shelter again would be a start) by the end of the week.

No real improvement

So this morning I went up hoping BG would have forgotten about everything and have her head collar on in her shelter with no issues. Another part of me was thinking expect a fight.

So BG came down to her shelter as good as gold, but would she have the head collar on - no! One look at it and her hind quarters swung round. It is really weird, she will let you make more of a fuss up around her head than usual, but turns away at the slightest sight of the head collar.

I tried the patience approach, I tried the ignoring her and leaving her to it for a bit approach. Eventually, as she was letting me stoke her without an issue I used a lead rein to rub her over her shoulder and up round her neck. She hadn't seen me pick it up but I was expecting a protest as I looped it over her neck, she was as good as gold though. Then my husband held the rope whilst I put her head collar on. Perfect. She didn't pull back when she saw it, her ears didn't go back when the nose part went on. It makes you wonder what all the fuss was about originally.

Since the head collar was on we finally got to give her her breakfast, then let her eat it in peace whilst I topped up the water buckets. Next thing we know P1 was in there eating it instead of BG!

Tonight we used BG's food bowl to tempt her down to her shelter. In she went good as gold. Headed over the her food bowl, putting her nose straight in her head collar....then a car door slammed and she spun round and out the shelter. We got her back in but would she let us anywhere near her whilst we had her head collar on us - no.

In the early days with her last owner she had once had to the have the farrier hold her hoof whilst her owner put her head collar on. I always thought I would never do this as I could imagine her getting very upset and trying to pull away, I also thought it could be quite dangerous. Tonight though the head collar wasn't working, she wouldn't let me get near her with the leap rope. So I showed my husband how to hold her hoof and I put the lead rope round her neck. We took it slowly, and she never tried to pull away or get upset so I don't think it was such a bad method.

My husband then tried holding her by the lead rope whilst I went to get the head collar. This time she did get upset and spun round so that my husband couldn't hold her. We got her back, calmed her down and the I held her whilst he approached her with the head collar. She wasn't as good as this morning, she was still very wary of it, but we got it on without any real upset, even with something banging the side of the shelter just as the nose part went on.

I lunged her once she'd had her tea, then took her back to her shelter before letting her go, to slip the head collar on and off her nose to try and show her it wasn't scary.

Tomorrow morning could be interesting, she might well be going without her breakfast as I can't spend hours up there, I'll need to get to work.

And it all goes wrong

Not last night. Last night BG was perfect. I caught her, she had her tea and usual checks etc. and then I lunged her. She moved nicely on her bad rein, she is up to twenty minutes of lunging now, I was just doing ten or fifteen minutes when I was first getting her back into it. The line on her side, must be the bottom of her rib cage, is now visible in trot again so she must be dropping a bit of weight.

We put out a pole which BG wasn't too keen on the look of originally, since she had seen it being carried out. Once I got her going over it happily we put a tyre under the outside end to lift it up, she moved beautifully. She really picked her trot up over it. I could see where the saying poetry in motion comes from. I had such a big smile on my face last night. She'd also let me take her head collar off and put the new one on with no issues.

Then came this morning. BG saw us arrive and started to make her way down for her breakfast. I went to meet her half way carrying both the head collar and lead rope, which I had done the other night with no issues. Her nose went in the head collar just as the lead rope catch chinked against my boot. BG flew backwards, taking the head collar part of the way with her before it feel off, and she trotted back up the field to join P1 and P2.

I feel so guilty, she was coming down as good as gold and I spoilt it by letting the lead rope catch chink. Still, I didn't think it would cause as much of an issue as it did. We couldn't catch her, and had an appointment to make, so she went without her breakfast and we went back up after our appointment.

She still didn't like the look of the head collar in the field, but in trying to catch her I herded her into her field shelter. Even when in there it took half an hour to get the head collar on her.

Tonight was similar. Couldn't get it on her in the field, she did poke her nose towards it a couple of times, then turn and walk away. Eventually I got her herded down to the field shelter, but in there she wasn't having any of it. Whenever she caught sight of it she would swing her hind legs round to face me. A couple of times she edged her nose towards it, then her ears pinned back and she'd swing round.

So what do you do in this situation? Turn her away without her tea, but then she won't see the benefit of coming to us and into her shelter. Give her her tea and then she will learn she can have it without having had her head collar on.

The strange thing was she let me put fly repellent on her, even up round her ears which she doesn't normally like, with no problems, it was just the head collar she had a problem with.

My husband said he is sure she is just being stubborn because she is in season (we took her for a walk along the lanes in the morning and she was squirting on the way home). I always knew she would revert at some point rather than keep being a dream to catch, but I am very annoyed that I created the issue by letting the lead rope chink.

Still, a fortnight of being able to catch her isn't bad, and I have a video of catching her one night so I know it wasn't a dream and I have something to work towards again. Typical she is being a pain now I have the farrier booked in though.

Rain!

I was so glad to see some rain yesterday. It cooled the air, kept some of the flies away, softened the ground, got some moisture on BG’s hooves and will hopefully help the grass to grow.

Our field has not really recovered from winter. The farrier described it as a desert. The vet, after sedating BG, said she shouldn’t eat for half an hour, then took one look at our grazing and said that I’d probably be fine to turn her out in our field though. The ponies are all doing quite well on it though, I need to get some weight off BG and P2’s owner said he needs to loose some too. The only one doing okay is P1 who is exercised the most but never seems to have to worry about his weight.

I would love to fence off a section of the field to let it recover. We have tried this in the past but it doesn’t work. P1 has a fantastic jump on him, and he will always get into the section of the field that is fenced off. Normally he jumps cleanly, but sometimes he will bring some of the fence down, and then they all get through and the fencing needs sorting out. P2 also walks under the fence and it doesn’t seem to make any difference if it is electrocuted or not. I am very lucky, BG behaves herself and stays where she should be, but that doesn’t help much when she is in with the other two.

BG was stood by the gate as we arrived last night, with P1 and his owners. I thought I would catch BG straight away but she took one look at me as if to say ‘you haven’t had time to make my tea yet why would I want to be caught’, and then turned her back and trotted up the field to scare P2 away. I followed thinking ‘oh no, this will be a forty minute job to catch her tonight’, but she stood there, stepping back a little bit a couple of times, and let me catch her.

She had an easy night of it. Once I had sorted her out and picked out her hooves (first time I have had to do that for a while, the ground is so dry they have been clean for weeks) I just did a little bit of in-hand with her, leading her over some poles.

A little down

I have been lunging BG most nights recently (although she does have at least one day off a week) but felt I needed to do something else with her so she didn’t get bored. It was a long time since I put the saddle on her so I thought I would take that up.

BG was in a very amenable mood. I put the head collar on in the field, once P1 had stopped shunting her round with his head and given us a bit of space, and she walked down to her shelter as good as gold beside me without me leading her. She ate her tea, I checked her over, gave her a quick brush and a little bit of fly repellent in the main places. Then I put on her new head collar (she still won’t have it on first, I have to put the old one on then the new one over the top and remove the old one) and coiled up her lunge line. She goes through phases of seeing me doing this (the lunge line) and hiding in the back of her shelter, or not being fussed at all by it.

I tied her up to saddle her and she wasn’t overly happy to see the saddle but let me put it on without too many issues. I went to lead her out and was very impressed as she moved all the way to the door before planting herself. So my husband led her and I went and stood in the shelter with the lunge whip. I don’t have to use it, just stand there with it and she moves out the door as quick as she can.

We walked her round with her saddle on. She walked wonky, still looking over her right-shoulder to where one slipped over in the past and swinging her hind quarters round to turn towards home.

I watched her walking along, it makes me wonder if it is hurting her, if the girth is too tight and pinching, but then I have had her relaxing with the saddle on, and even bending to lunge with it on in the past, so I don’t think it is the saddle. I checked the girth and I don’t think it was that either. I guess she is still scared of it potentially slipping off, and we just need to persevere. She got a fly on her belly that she was trying to shudder off, and that scared her when she did that and felt the saddle on her so we used that point to call it a day, with just a couple of final leading her in, and straight out, of her field shelter.

I thought she might run off once we let her go to escape us and the scary saddle. She stood with her head resting on the gate where P1 and P2 had left to go on a hack, and let me make a fuss of her, so she can’t hold it against me too much. Plus, she was perfect to catch this morning too, so hopefully it hasn’t damaged her trust in me. We’ll see what she is like tonight. It does make me feel sad that she still hasn’t got used to the saddle though.

I will have the saddle fitter out again to check the fit, but I need to get BG at least a bit happier under the saddle first or there will be nothing for the fitter to see and BG might attempt the run them down like last time if she gets upset.

Mounting block fear

I was a little surprised last night by how tense the mounting block (just a plastic stool) made BG. I know she doesn’t like it but when I first stood on it her ears went straight back, her head went right up in the air to pull back and her body tensed. I just stood on it, got on and off it, and my husband led her round me in all different directions trying to get her to see it was nothing to be scared off.

The last time I used it to get on her was the time I fell off, so I need to get her used to it again. I want her to be happy with it (and me stood on it) in the open field. I could try putting her in a corner and getting on her that way so she has no where to run, but I have a feeling that would cause more harm than good. It would be a case of the hedge behind her, field shelter on one side, husband stood in front and me on the other side. I know she wouldn’t intentionally hurt either of us but if she took a fright at it I could see her running right through one of us to get away, and that wouldn’t do any of us any good.

Still, I was a little surprised by just how shocked her reaction was. I have stood on it in the field shelter with her since the falling off incident; one time she was perfect, the other time not so good. She must have an inferiority complex and not like anyone to be stood higher than her.

P1 and P2’s owner just passed the mounting block into the field shelter whilst I was grooming BG and her eyes widened with fear and she moved to the back of the shelter. I don’t quite get why she is this fearful of it.

I forgot to ask P1 and P2’s owner if BG was being friendly to them in the field. She wouldn’t let them approach her in her field shelter though after the mounting block appearing, so maybe she isn’t becoming overly friendly with everyone.

BG was a super-star being caught again and I was very proud of her since I thought she might play up with other people around and things going on. She was brilliant, it’s a pity the others didn’t notice, I could have had a proud owner moment.

Still can't quite believe it

Every night since my last post, and some mornings too, I have been approaching BG in the field, carrying her head collar, and catching her. I haven’t been taking the food bowl with me. The longest it has taken is one night when I had to follow her for seven minutes when she kept turning her back on me. This morning she even lifted her head and walked towards me and stuck her nose forward into her head collar! I think I am in shock.

A couple of nights P1 has been grazing close beside her (he is still head butting her to push her round the field and ensure he has her attention) so she has put her nose in the head collar, then pulled back a little unsure before letting me do it on the second attempt. It has been quite windy too and she has still been a super-star.

It seems so unreal that she lets me catch her. I almost want someone else to try to see if I need to fear strangers being able to catch her, but then I don’t want to break the good run we are on at the moment. Maybe I will ask P1 and P2’s owner if she is letting them approach her in the field now.

This morning was the first time I haven’t given her a treat once I caught her. I am hoping catching becomes part of every day life rather than a rare occasion, in which case I don’t want to always be giving treats. I am still waiting for her to revert, but in the mean time I am enjoying it and part of me is wondering if this is a dream, or whether someone has secretly sedated her. She now needs to keep it up a couple of weeks longer, until after the next farrier’s visit.

Still smiling

So I am still smiling as BG has again been a dream to catch. She seems very placid at the moment. I am sure it won’t last and I will be tearing my hair out again struggling to get her head collar on even in her shelter, or even getting her to come near me. I need to keep a level head and not become complacent whilst she is being such a perfect little pony.

Last night I went up to her in the field with her bowl of food and head collar. She didn’t really start to approach me so it was more on my terms than hers compared to some times. When I got close unfortunately P1 decided to join in. He has been herding BG round the field by head butting her side, poor girl isn’t getting any peace at the moment. So to get away from P1 I picked up the bowl and moved forward, poor BG gave me such a confused look as if to say ‘I thought you wanted to catch me, I am stood here so perfectly and then you moved away from me’. Luckily she did then follow me and P1 kept his distance long enough for me to head collar BG (nose in first time) and lead her in for food.

She then had a lunge and a bit of leading in-hand going over the poles laid out in the field.

This morning BG was standing guard whilst P1 and P2 had a sleep, which is quite unusual as BG normally seems to make one of them take the look out post. She saw us but made no move to come in until I had sorted myself out (hung up lead ropes, got her breakfast and watered it down), and then she begun to amble down. Some days you just get a feeling about the sort of mood BG will be in, this morning that feeling told me she would be okay to approach with the head collar and no food. So I did. She looked at me at first as if to say what are you doing, then let me put the head collar over her nose. First time she pulled back, second time it went on with no hesitation, then I had to quickly do it up as she was getting irritated by a fly on her side.

I don’t need the head collar on to lead her in at the moment, once it is on I let go and she walks down beside me. It is just to get her used to being caught in different areas as one day I will need to catch her to lead her. I just can’t believe how well she has taken it recently. It is as if she is telling me it has never been an issue; but I know it has, hours of struggling to teach her it won’t hurt to have it on and months (even years) of her not letting you even approach her in the field, head collar or not, tell me that.

Oh, and another good note – it has rained! Still need some more rain though.

Happy

I am very happy with BG at the moment. She has been allowing me to put her head collar on in the field again, and not just a few metres from the field shelter, but right up in the top section. This morning we woke the three ponies up as they lay along the top hedge. BG saw us and stood up but didn’t venture down towards us. I went up with her food bowl, a treat (Apple Crunchies – you can smell them a mile off) and her head collar.

I put the bowl down, she wasn’t interested, looked at it but started munching the grass. I moved closer and showed her the head collar, she started to edge away. Then she thought, hmmmm, it’s breakfast time, I better start heading down the field to my shelter. I cut her off part way down and again held the head collar out. She put her nose in and let me do it up with no fuss at all. Then I gave her the treat and led her down to eat in her shelter (so I could apply the fly spray etc.). By led her down I started to, then let go and just let her walk beside me.

Many people I am sure will tell me I did this all wrong. I should have forced her to have the head collar on at the first time of asking, so that I am the dominant one she will obey, and not her being in charge. My theory is I don’t want to force her to do anything and upset her (okay, I will make sure she has the head collar on, but it might be in her shelter where she is happier rather than me forcing it on in the field). I would rather she accepts it in her own time, thus learning it is nothing to be feared, and build up her confidence so in future she won’t try to evade it because she will know there is nothing to fear. I know I am not the dominant one, but I don’t feel she is either, I think it is more equal on both sides at the moment. Maybe that is wrong, but that is the way that is slowly working for us now, and I am not after a quick fix. I am aiming to make her happy and confident and trusting.

Last night the first three times she put her nose in the head collar she pulled back in shock. Then she seemed to say I have my tea in my field shelter and started to head down. I just moved a little way then stood again and made her come to me to have her head collar on, which she did that time perfectly.

She seems to have a very clear sense of what is ‘proper’ these last few days. That is, ‘I am always fed in my shelter, that is where I shall be fed this time too’. The other morning P1 was in the shade in the shelter (they use it in summer to shade, but never in winter to get out of the elements) and BG just stood there at the entrance, ignoring the bowl of food I put down, until I evicted P1 and took BG in to eat.

I lunged BG yesterday morning before it got too hot and she went really nicely. I put the saddle on her on Saturday night and she did her stubborn refusing to move. I had to get my long-suffering husband to lead her whilst I just held the lunge whip beside her to encourage her. I think it will take the two of us to get her past this hurdle, if I try on my own I think it could be a long, frustrating process that might almost do more harm than good. With the encouragement (me just holding it!) of the lunge whip she went straight out. Do that a few more times just to teach her it isn’t scary and hopefully we will be another step forward.