Energy is as Energy Does

Apologies for being so absent! The wedding of my lifelong best friend took over life for a week or so.  I have also spent a little while getting my head around a few things and getting organised.  So starting in September things will be running much more smoothly. I intend to start trying to get a guest post every month or so, if anyone is interested in taking part in that then feel free to contact me. The new aim is to get at least a post a week up for you guys. Both girls will have actual Training Schedules and as winter draws closer and the nights get shorter, there will be a much bigger focus on groundwork. I have found a new way to get organised in the form of bullet journaling! I would recommend everyone having a look at it! I am currently in the process of setting up my journals, one for me, one for the horses and quite possibly one for my mini flock of sheep. I will be featuring various ideas that I try out with this system and if anyone wants to try them out ...

Sunday! Sunday saw Gabbi and I brave a drive across Wales to go to the Aberaeron welsh pony and cob festival.   Safe to say it is a simply brilliant day out. It's a long day, for us it took four hours to get there. We did stop for breakfast which slowed us down as the journey home only took us about three hours. needless to say, it was well worth the travel. All shapes and sizes of Welsh ponies, cobs and part breeds were present. And it's safe to say that the Section D stallions were literally one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I am totally and utterly besotted. They are really truly a very impressive animal! Anyways here are some pics from Sunday. If you get the chance to go next year I would highly recommend it!! Monday! Monday saw Stella excel herself by going under the motorway with Gabbi. This is a huge step forwards for her as it unlocks many more hacking routes for us but also, she is nervous in traffic, so for her to behave whilst lorries pa...

I  walked into the barn to be greeted by tubby hunt horses that have clearly had a blast on their summer holidays. In what can be politely described as 'show condition'  They were stood in stables looking thoroughly miffed at being taken out for a walk, their fitting programme having started.  Once I returned for my office slog day job, I was in dire need of some equine therapy. Unluckily for them, this meant that it was time to lose the long manes and to become respectable and smart looking hunters.  Here was what I started with. This chap is double crested.... and we all dread tidying him up and attempting to tame that large amount of unruly hair. Challenge accepted. A short while later ( I really was impressed that this only took me about half an hour. I'm really getting the bug for this mane lark.) I had turned his Royal Highness into this.  Horse Number two of the evening was this gorgeous girl.  She ...

The short answer would be that no one truly knows right?  We communicate in different ways to our animals.  How on earth would we know what they are feeling, and can we really call it emotion? In my own personal opinion... Yes. We recently lost one of the family dogs, a beautiful black lab. He wasn't very old and it was a tragic accident that took his life. Since then all of our other dogs have been out of sorts. They don't know what happened to him but they do know that he is missing. To put a human emotion on it, they are sad. They are out of sorts and less active, at night they all look a little lost when they go to bed without him. In my opinion, they miss him, they are grieving for their missing friend. Whether they feel sadness, and grief in the same way as us is unclear, but they certainly feel something. Let turn it to horses, and tie it in with some behaviour. Separation Anxiety, for example, a horse like Robbie that doesn't like working alone....

Well, I think I have taken the first few layers of skin from my left hand, and my fingers have classic mane burn! However, that's two more horses off the mane pull list and the gang are all starting to look rather smart!! Last night was the turn of my mum's little Irish horse Louis and then my sisters oversized ginger dog! Louis was great, he has the worlds thinnest mane to start with so in all of five minutes, I was done! He is also one that I can do alone as he is quite happy to stand there and let me pull, it makes a nice change from horses that try to give you their emotions in a less helpful way.   I have however always been one for feeling guilty about mane pulling, I mean, it can't really be all that pleasant. In response to my own musings, I have come up with my own little method that combines thinning, minimal pulling and then trimming. See what you think of the results, here are Louis shots :D Yes, I was standing on a sheep lick to reach ...

Well this Sunday, whilst looking for ways to entertain myself  I just happened to look up at the girls in their paddock and realised that what with recent events and a lack of time they are both looking a little feral. Queue the grooming!!  I decided to tackle Thimble first as being the smaller of the two she wasn't going to take me so long. Here is the before picture, of Madam, looking like she has been running wild for a while instead of being the well groomed driving pony that she should be!  As you can see, the mane is mental and is not in a fit state to be arranged into neat little rosebuds when I decide to plait her up and go out looking pretty. Well after a lot of thinning, minimal pulling and some trimming, my little lady had been transformed! Currently, her mane is lying on the wrong side so next step will be to train it over onto the correct side. I am rather pleased with the outcomes, and I have a feeling clipping will be next as she alre...

Today I introduced Robbie to a clicker and the basic idea of targeting. Tonight was him Targeting my hand, something that he has picked up incredibly quickly. Next time we will move onto using a stick. He was a very good boy being very polite and not getting pushy about the treats.  In a twenty minute session he worked out that the clicker meant the reward and he also worked out that the only way he would get a click was by touching my hand when it was outstretched.  I am very careful when introducing targeting as I dont want them to turn to biting my hand. I am very clear that the rewards comes when they touch and for no other reason.  Anyways here are some photos of The good lad getting the hang of things.  As you can see he found the whole things rather amusing to start with. Love his expression!  We then established that one could earn rewards by figuring out the right answers to the questions. Working his way along my arm as...