Post by SarahW on Dec 2, 2009 10:40:06 GMT 1
A lion, a horse and her wardrobe.
This is how it all started:
“It’s about time you had another horse,” declared my Mum. Hmmm. In due course Petra Perkins, named after the rock and not the dog, arrived. Home bred, black and gorgeous and totally untouchable. Every horse I’d ever owned before had been humanised. Over the following year I persuaded her to be caught (sometimes), to be groomed (sometimes) and to pick her feet up (sometimes) but she still rolled her eyes in a very old-fashioned way as if she thought I was doing something slightly rude to her.
When the floods arrived and the rain hadn’t stopped for a week I decided that even a Welsh Cob cross should have a rug on. I said to my husband, David, just hold on to her and whatever you do, don’t let go”. What I didn’t mean was you-must-not-let-go-even-if-she- pulls-you-over-backwards, drags-you-across-the-field, falls-over-on top-of-you-and-then-stands-up-using-you-as-a-springboard. Which she did. Convinced that he was dead I was rather relieved when like some creature from the deep he emerged spitting mud and curses in equal quantities. I could discern the words “damn horse shot” and knew that it was time for a cup of tea and a hot bath.
Though she improved a little you can imagine my trepidation when I thought of how it would be when I rode her for the first time. She thought that anything on her back was a lion.
I recalled reading Monty Roberts’ biography “The Man Who Listens to Horses” and I recollected that he did a thing called Join-Up. With only a vague memory of the techniques he used I did an incredibly bad impression of how to do a Join-up and within thirty minutes I had a towel over Petra’s back, a rug over her back and then me on her back and she simply didn’t mind. David and I went home in absolute disbelief. The next day it took only 10 minutes and two days later he led me through the woods bareback on Petra.
I had to find out more! I searched for Monty Roberts on the Internet and found the Kelly Marks' website. I booked to go and see her at a demonstration; Petra was started at Ian’s yard and I took the Stage I foundation course and steadily worked my way through the other modules. After over 30 years with horses I was learning more about horses than I have ever done at the same time as having some of my own ideas confirmed. Stage II loomed…..
My project, “The Psychological Implications of the Management of the New Forest Ponies” (nifty title that), created an opportunity to go deeper into history of commoning and showed me that the people of the New Forest are as hardy and tenacious as the ponies they breed.
The video work proved to be more complicated and nerve wracking than being filmed by Meridian TV and being featured on their New Forest Programme. Our digital video camera was written off, the new one wouldn’t talk to the computer, the computer wouldn’t talk to David and David wouldn’t talk to anyone.
When exam week arrived I have never felt such a prolonged adrenalin rush. How could I go into a round-pen and persuade a horse to join-up and have trust and confidence in me when I was so “high”? I introduced my self to Grosse (17hh), mentally apologised to him and then away we went. The horse was a star and soon there he was, at my shoulder ready to go anywhere with me. The exams were electric, 10 women in one room scribbling away, dashing down their pens and then out into the fresh air to relax.
I passed and I got a distinction for my Join-Up.
All because of a lion, a horse and her wardrobe.