one more step along the road I go

This week Sheltie has excelled himself again. I have not been off the land lately as he was so nappy and I have been quite insistent with lunge work at different paces on the land. I also used the small birch trees as bending poles and have done a lot of stop start etc.
This week I made the decision to hit the road seriously. We left the gate and set off. Sheltie skittered once in the first few minutes as a car came from behind us and then seemed to settle. He never napped at all ! we took a circular route which is 7/10 of a mile..I know cos I drove it later..sad I know but it is a measurable achievement. He had a steady stream of traffic up his bottom plus we walked on the road towards oncoming traffic part of the way. On a quiet bit a few little girls came to see him and they stayed on their garden wall at his head height to pet him. I explained that if they did not offer titbits he would not learn to eat their fingers. I carried the lunge whip and tipped it out towards the road, as a bit of a signal to cars not to come too close. The walk went so smoothly, he had his ears pricked and had a nice steady pace, I felt as if I was leading a really sensible pony. A few nights later I repeated the walk. No issues at all. I actually tied a bit of rag to the end of my whip so that cars would really think "what the heck is that up ahead" well the drivers, not the cars.. it also served as a brake if I tipped it in front of Sheltie when he wanted to walk faster than I asked. He was not bothered by our flag swishing about over my shoulder. I probably look absolutely barmy walking along with a white flag above me and 8hands of apparently docile sweetie pony behind me, but I know the dangers of traffic and the potential for sweet looking ponies to be naughty. Having said that however, I feel Sheltie has made another leap of faith with me and accepts my leadership and trusts me in the new situations he is meeting. If he coped with the traffic each time he is not suddenly going to revert to being scared. I just need to keep up with the bigger walks now.
He also gave two small children a few laps on each rein in the barn this morning without any fuss, even standing and then changing direction when I commanded from the centre, he was on the long line but has done the same off line with a five year old last week!!
If he was my child I would be embarrassed to gush on about him but cos he is God's own creature I feel nothing but pride in his development. Creation is wonderfulxx
by the way, my daughter Laura was 21 on the 21st July and my second daughter Hannah married Kieran on Saturday 24th so they were pretty good days too. SORRY GIRLS, you know I love you really xxxx

If you read back to the March blog you will see that I began lunge work in the barn and hoped to progress to outdoor work when the land dried out. All going as planned there. This week Sheltie has taken his skills to a new level. He worked on line in the barn and then with the rope wrapped round his neck. He walked and trotted on request, plus changed direction without the line on. He also did the same with all his tack off. This was pretty good I thought and all the more so as the barn door was wide open and he was free to leave at any time. However, I then took him outdoors and repeated his lunge work. On line both directions, then with rope around neck and finally totally free, no tack at all. We were on land open to the main field with gates open and the other two horses grazing nearby. Sheltie was amazing. He stretched his circle out which meant he had to go around a couple of trees to complete the circuit, but he did continue until I said stand. He changed direction though he threw in a rear for good measure on setting off, and he trotted his new lap, again weaving about the trees to make the larger circle, As soon as I called stand he stopped and faced into me. When I pulled an imaginary line through my hands he came up for his reward. Is this not amazing when you think he could not lunge at all at Christmas, and now he understands and obeys in open acres of land! with no ropes on him at all...wow!