Post by Zoe RA on Jun 22, 2010 20:02:30 GMT 1
Flora is one of the Dart moor Hill Pony youngsters who was on death row not so long ago. She is now owned by a lovely lady who has taken two of these 8 month old babies in 
Flora is a very chilled sort of a girl on the whole, but unfortunately I think she had been manhandled rather than unhandily in the past.
After an initial hand sniff she turned her back on me
but after a minute or two she would at least look at me
I wasn't too sure about her back end, so I utilized my trusty bamboo cane to desensitize her to being touched. If she kept moving I kept the cane lightly on her. When she stopped, I moved the cane away. Sure enough, she did double barrel once at the cane, but then decided it was ok
Tracing her out-line with the cane before actually touching her:
Scratching her withers with the cane:
Progressing on to the hand on a cane once she would allow me all over her body with the long cane:
Flora was, at the time I met her, a little lass who had not yet learned that human contact has it's advantages, and it became apparent that she was not going to allow me closer into her space as we were. I took the decision to pop a rope round her neck via the end of my long cane (note the Y on one end of it for this purpose) to enable me to gently move her feet around, and also allow me to get in closer to her to help here realise I don't eat ickl foalies
By the time Kafee had taken this photo, with the aid of my hand on a cane, I had been able to work up to touching her face
It was no time at all before I was able to pop head collar Mark 1 round her neck
but this was a velcro fastening head collar and would not have been suitable to lead her in, so we moved on to Mark 2
Well, no matter how I worked, I could not get her to accept me in to her cheek enough to actually buckle the nose band! She had a boot lace over it, a soft scarf, etc etc but she would NOT allow me to buckle the bloomin' thing
So, after several attempts, and lots of brakes so she didn't get too tired I finally thought b***** it! I buckled the head collar up at the nose and just popped it on her - normal horse stile. And she was fine
Just shows - you can't be too prescriptive in theses matters lol
And here she is in headcollar Mark 3 having her first leading lesson
She is now doing really well and her owner is loving being able to groom her and generally interact with her in a chilled manner ;D
Very many thanks to Kafee for the lovely photos 
Flora is a very chilled sort of a girl on the whole, but unfortunately I think she had been manhandled rather than unhandily in the past.
After an initial hand sniff she turned her back on me
but after a minute or two she would at least look at me
I wasn't too sure about her back end, so I utilized my trusty bamboo cane to desensitize her to being touched. If she kept moving I kept the cane lightly on her. When she stopped, I moved the cane away. Sure enough, she did double barrel once at the cane, but then decided it was ok
Tracing her out-line with the cane before actually touching her:
Scratching her withers with the cane:
Progressing on to the hand on a cane once she would allow me all over her body with the long cane:
Flora was, at the time I met her, a little lass who had not yet learned that human contact has it's advantages, and it became apparent that she was not going to allow me closer into her space as we were. I took the decision to pop a rope round her neck via the end of my long cane (note the Y on one end of it for this purpose) to enable me to gently move her feet around, and also allow me to get in closer to her to help here realise I don't eat ickl foalies
By the time Kafee had taken this photo, with the aid of my hand on a cane, I had been able to work up to touching her face
It was no time at all before I was able to pop head collar Mark 1 round her neck
but this was a velcro fastening head collar and would not have been suitable to lead her in, so we moved on to Mark 2
Well, no matter how I worked, I could not get her to accept me in to her cheek enough to actually buckle the nose band! She had a boot lace over it, a soft scarf, etc etc but she would NOT allow me to buckle the bloomin' thing
So, after several attempts, and lots of brakes so she didn't get too tired I finally thought b***** it! I buckled the head collar up at the nose and just popped it on her - normal horse stile. And she was fine
Just shows - you can't be too prescriptive in theses matters lol
And here she is in headcollar Mark 3 having her first leading lesson
She is now doing really well and her owner is loving being able to groom her and generally interact with her in a chilled manner ;D
Very many thanks to Kafee for the lovely photos
