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Showing posts from May, 2017

Driving, Leading and Babies. Summer must be here!

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Stressful day at work ..... Pony therapy needed.  Hot Summers evening, perfect then for taking the little madam that is thimble out in her trap. Employing the use of her Aunty Gabbi so that I can still walk with her and up my own fitness.... Ideal. Safe to say that my little pony is a little on the tubby side. This is because she has the skill of becoming fat on fresh air. Even on a virtually bare paddock she still has the ability to pile on the pounds in a way that makes me look slim! Needless to say, even the idea of a sedate walk out in her trap did not appeal to my little darling and she was not amused at being hitched up. However despite her grumpy face as soon as we set off she seemed to remember how much she likes being out. And being the awesomely nice mum that I am, I jumped out once we got going so that she had an easier job, and I walked with her. Well I'm starting to enjoy this getting fit lark, when you have an awesome dog, boyfriend or pony to walk with it

In the saddle! I got Brave!

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Stella earned her superstar status today! Her Aunty Gabbi is back for a week so we decided to take her for a ride, that meaning I let Gabbi ride because I am a wuss at the moment. That is changing however.  Anyways after a nice ride down to the fields I watched as she strutted her stuff in some of the grass meadows (This pony has a trot to die for). Her Canter work needs some attention.... in that when Gabbi asked her for a canter that meant flat out gallop to Stella!!  However once she had gotten over this entail queue to go fast and had settled its safe to say that despite her being a bit of a tank, she is simply lovely. She is much more relaxed out by herself than she is with other horses, therefore a lot of my work whilst building her confidence will probably be done with someone on foot as oppose to with another horse to start with. Having decided that she would chill out completely after her little wizz session I put my brave pants on and swapped so that I could ride

Trick training and more basic steps for Stella...

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Yesterday saw Stella really starting to understand what the clicker meant. We only did a short 5-10 minute session but within that she has already started checking herself and turning back to come close to me if her lead rein goes tight. To me this is a good start, I hoped she would understand but I didn't think it would be that fast.  I plan to continue these short sessions every day, and we wont move onto the next step until she has come to trust me in allsorts of places. She improves so quickly once she realises that there are positive results from what she does, its incredibly rewarding to work with her.  Thimble on the other hand revisited some older ground. She had about a fifteen minute session at liberty with her old trick training. Safe to say the little madam remembers it all. I was a very happy mummy yesterday and their reward was staying out for a nice relaxing time in the paddock today. I plan to give them a few days off every now and then. Just to give their br

More walking, and an introduction to positive reinforcement!!

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I'm a day behind on my posting, good news is that means I have been busy! Thimble was tacked up in harness again yesterday and went for a little walk. This time we went with my sister on her large ginger ninja as thimble has never been out with another horse whilst in harness before.  Safe to say she impressed me. Poor old Sid had little to no idea what the strange small creature in the blue harness was (He's only five himself!). But he decided that he liked his new pet and was quite happy for her to accompany him for some schooling out in one of the fields.  Thimble decided that exercise was much to much hard work in the sun so behaved almost impeccably.  Almost. She had one small tantrum when we first got into the field and Sid trotted away to do some work, understandable and after some bucks (A little unnerving when stood behind the little madam) And a lot of noise she resettled and walked across the field.  With Thimble and her driving the biggest thing for me

Summer, Stallions and A lack of sleep!

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'I love horses... I really do love horses....' That is the phrase that is running through my head whilst I am listening to thundering hoofbeats, squealing and the rather impressive bellow of the stallion as he harasses his new mare friend in the paddock behind my bedroom. The issue is, now that summers here he is quite happy to stand around looking longingly at her all day. Whilst it is too hot to chase her around and convince her that she loves him. So instead he decides to do all of his pursuing at night. Late. Like 3 AM late.  I guess you could call it early.  However, I don't really appreciate it! So thanks to Sir Rags the stallion I am in a slightly overtired, hot and bothered grumpy mood. One that I am hoping will be fixed when I get home from the day job (yawn) and get to working with my two girlies again.  They both had a day off yesterday as Stella was sweating just stood in her field so I thought it would be a little unfair to ask her to work in the h

Back to basics for Stella

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Thimble got a day off today after her superstar performance yesterday, she will be going out for another walk tomorrow and the aim is to just gradually bring her back into work. I don't want her to overdo it as she is one that is prone to tweaking herself due to getting a little over excitable.So whilst little one chilled out in the paddock with the sheep for an hour or so I decided that I was going to do a little back to basics with Stella.  Currently she is incredibly strong to lead, is only comfortable when she is up infront and pulling. If there is a space to fit through that is smaller than she would like she leaps through it and her reaction to anything scary is just to run, with you in tow. I found today that she also likes the typical pony trick of dragging you to grass. Yet she still loves cuddles. To me this suggests a lack of security and confidence.  Also a lack of manners and boundaries. Its like no one has every showed her how to behave and even less so how t

Exercise for Thimble.... and it seems that I am just as unfit!

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Well got back from work with the intention of getting both ponies out, only achieved the one but still, as my health and fitness improves I should have more energy, anyways both girls still achieved something today. To me this is success all round, Plus I will get time this evening to start my first assignment. Winner.  So got back and put both girls back out in their various paddocks for a little while whilst I got their stables ready. Stella tends to have a longer time out with a little less work than Thimble as Thimble stays out all night. (She turns into a rodeo , devil , killer pony if she is stabled for more than a couple of days.) So I decided tonight that the first thing I would do having set the stables up for the night would be to put Thimble in harness, with the help of my other half (The star that he is, always helping despite not really being horsey.).  To be fair her little winter holiday seems to have done her good. coupled with her being fat and unfit she decided t

Monday...... Lets see what we can actually get done today.

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Well after a weekend of catching up on work that I had to take home, it happened that I didn't actually get too much done with they ponies.... typical. They have however started their new routine of being in and out according to how tubby they are... neither are particularly amused but they are both much too lovely to be poorly with laminitis!! Also, there is some repair work being done on the school so lunging didn't happen either. However with the weekend out of the way and work up to date, fingers crossed that once again I can get something done with these girls every evening. Both of them were pleased to see me when I went to get thimble in and muck Stella out this morning. To see Stella stood happily waiting without stressing is a breakthrough. Less 'Mum that bird has a machine gun!' and more 'Hi mum how are you this morning!' She has also decided that Selfies are her new thing and if my phone goes off, she is the first to be nosy and to see what it is!

The Course has arrived! Time to get learning! Pony Politics!

Finally! It's taken three times as long as it was meant too to arrive, but finally, my first assignment in my equine energy healing course has arrived. Which means that I can finally start getting a good understanding of equine energy healing... in turn meaning that I can finally start connecting with my horses on a totally different level. This is awesome, it has totally given me the large kick up the backside that I needed. I can now focus on my full-time job properly as it has given me a reason to come. This current job will help me to save the money to set up my own business. And although this course doesn't qualify me completely, it will give me a solid understanding of what I am doing, therefore helping when I move on to do the practitioners courses that I have planned in a few months time. I'm also using all of this as a bit of a new start. Organizing myself in better ways and keeping track of my money. Everything is finally coming together and I can't wait f

Frustration & Getting back on Track- Willow

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Willow is my partner in crime, a three year old collie cross that is as loveable as she is mad. And trust me, she is mad! She has always been a handful and has always had a strange issue with meeting other dogs. Becoming incredibly snappy and aggressive. However once she has gotten to know a dog she becomes their best friend. It is a frustrating cycle that never seems to end, and out in public she comes across as just being unruly… why? Because there is nowhere near enough time for her to get past that initial meeting of another dog when out and about. So she just creates a nightmare until the offending dog is out of her way and has left the area. I have taken her to several trainers and behaviourists that have all come back with the same answer. She isn’t scared. She is simply rude, and she has made the link that most people steer clear when she starts making a fuss, in turn their dogs also leave and she has full control of the situation. I have similar issues when I have her wit

Baby Steps and small improvements - Stella

Stella's first signs of progress. Well I have to say, although the steps are small they are most certainly there. I have taken to going to see Stella before and after work, and also I have begun bringing her in just to have some fuss and then to go back out. I don't want her to associate me with work, I want her to see me as her friend and someone that will look after and protect her. She now has a token feed with some herbal calmer in it which seems to be helping her to just take a few more seconds to consider things. In the last week she has made small improvements such as not rushing as soon as I am on board. She will now walk out of the yard and up the road without too much pulling and prancing. She seems much more settled and happy to have a look at things instead of just running away. Bingo! This was the first breakthrough that I was hoping for, and this is pre me learning any healing or communication techniques. Currently she is living out in a small paddock so sh

Meet the Gang. My rabble of badly behaved pets!

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So there are three main critters that I will be working with throughout this. Two ponies and one dog. Any others that come my way will be popping up but I thought I would start with a good  overview of the three main monsters. Number 1 - Thimble Thimble is a thirteen year old welsh pony (section A type) that I have owned since she was three years old. She taught me to ride, and fall! As I outgrew her over the years I took to trick training her with a clicker, and last year I broke her to drive. I don't doubt that  I have made many mistakes along the way especially with the clicker training. So my plan is to re-teach some important lessons and as I progress with the healing training, to balance her a little more mentally. A bit of a catch up on her personality, Affectionately known as the devil pony as well as many other names. Shes a naughty little bay pony with a look in her eyes that lets you know that shes trouble. She has a total disregard for personal space and is quite ha

Changing Attitudes, The beggining.....

What is this new venture? What attitudes am I setting out to change? Well as it happens, quite a few. I have recently decided to train as an Energy Healer for horses and inn time I am hoping to extend this to learn to help other animals as well. Along side this I aim to use clicker training as a positive reinforcement method of training. This is hopefully going to show my two challenging ponies that there is much more to do than be difficult. The energy healing should help to relax them whilst the clicker training should give them new, positive ways to deal with any issues that they have. So the long and short of it is I want to give my horses a happier and more fulfilling life, but also myself. I have my own issues that I am hoping can be helped by learning these skills and using a positive training technique. As far as the clicker training goes there will also be other animals popping up as I incorporate other pets that I have into my system. This will be a document of their individu