Meet the Gang. My rabble of badly behaved pets!

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 happy to treat you as an equine, complete with nipping and kicking if you have annoyed her. Not the most desirable traits.  Don't get me wrong most of the  time she is the biggest cuddle monster around, but on a bad day she does cause you to  question your sanity. Her bulshy and  pushy attitude is not entirely her fault. she was hand reared as a foal and used to be carried around, so was never taught the manners that she should have been and she sees humans as her play mates. We have done some clicker training in the past and I have used it to teach her various tricks, such as waving, rearing, lying down, bowing and some liberty work. Now that I know a lot more about it I intend to fine tune her current skills and tricks as well as teaching her new ones and new boundaries. Hopefully throughout this she will be able to relax and learn a few new boundaries, giving both of us more time to enjoy together and less time arguing about who is going where and doing what!

Number 2 - Stella

Stella is more of  a tricky on for me, I have only owned her since April 2017. She is a 14 year old welsh section D that has clearly been well loved. However what is also apparent is her nerves. I know very little about her past but it is obvious to me that she worries constantly about what you are going to do to her. She is nervous and jumpy if you move to quickly and when ridden she is over sensitive. She is sweet in the sense that she loves cuddles, and will  never buck or rear, kick or bite. Her default reaction is to run away. We are currently working on building our relationship together, spending time bonding and only doing things that she is comfortable with for the time being. gradually as she comes to trust me I intend to use a mixture of clicker training and other holistic and alternative treatments to help her settle and to let her get back her own confidence in life.

Number Three - Willow

So the first non-equine participant in this blog is Willow, she is a 2.5 year old border collie cross with a huge personality. From the day I got her she has always been a little madam, causing trouble, making noise and generally hating all other dogs. We don't know where her socialization issues have come from , she has always been exposed to other dogs, done all of her puppy training classes but still does not appreciate any  dogs that she doesn't know. Once she knows a dog however, she loves them, its just teaching her to act for the first few meetings which is my challenge. Having said that she is the most amusing and intelligent dog that I have ever owned. Everyone that knows her would be lost without her over the top personality and her slightly mad nature. the main method with Willow will be clicker training and positive enforcement. And also finding activities that will engage her brain and keep her focused. her behavior is certainly worse when she has nothing to do.