Post by Zoe RA on Oct 31, 2009 21:34:20 GMT 1
This afternoon I worked with a lovely lady with a really sweet 14.3hh pony.
This little horse has got a reputation for being very bargy - so much so that he is lead every were in a chiffney.
One of the problems I noticed strait away is that this pony is loved so much that his owner and he are constantly in the same space. All jolly fine if the pony knows who is in charge. Well, actually, the pony DOES know who is in charge, and it is him!
He is, however, akin to most horses, a reluctant leader. This is a bit inconvenient all the time it is just a bit of grass he wants to drag his owner too, but when it comes to something that he is scared about, things get a bit hairy, and escalate dangerously quite quickly.
I was able to show his owner where to walk to keep herself safe, and to keep him respectful, and how to fool him in to thinking that she was feeling as cool as a cucumber inside and everything was fine. I pointed out to her that if she manages to keep up the pretense of feeling calm, eventually she would realise that it is no longer a pretense
He was very put out that the boundaries had changed, but after about an hour he was visibly relived to not have to look after the pair of them.
On the way back to the field, he nipped his owner, which surprised me until she gave him a polo - something she always does when they get back to the field. I have suggested that if she really MUST give him a polo that she thrown it on the ground for him. She hadn't realised until I pointed it out that actually, the hand fed polo is for her benefit to make her feel like a loving owner, where as he really doesn't care where it comes from, and wouldn't actualy miss it if it wasn't there at all!
I am looking forward to seeing their progress when I go back in a few weeks time
MTA that this pony is perfectly easy to lead in his Dually headcollar, so his Chiffney has been confind to the back of the tack cupboard!