Today I have to say, Sheltie excelled himself. He makes me smile anyway but today he made me BEAM! Little things mean a lot to some folks don't you know?
I have long reined him a few times in the winter paddocks now. I want him to be able to give the small kids a ride on soft going in the future, and so need him to realise that everything he does outside the field can be done inside.
After the first time when there was a little power struggle for direction he has taken to it really well. I can do all the turns with gentle rein aids and he went up and down hill too. Today I had to stand him and wrap all his reins round as the shepherd had called the sheep and they were all at a gate on our side unable to move on. They usually go under the rails but we had to close the gate so Sheltie did not go away over the furthest field too. I left him and let the woolly ones out and by the time I had turned round of course Sheltie had bobbed under the tape on the other side of the paddock to rejoin his friend. They graze like this...the two ponies go onto one side of a field and Sheltie being little is able to graze under the tape into the next paddock too. When I work him in there I go on the side away from the old pony so we do not disturb her and so she does not come over when I give Sheltie a treat when he has done well. The sheep graze here too and they are able to get under an even smaller section of rail at the bottom onto rougher land again. Sheltie has not bothered about them at all which is nice and from a distance it wold be hard to tell if it was a sheep bottom or his you were looking at.
Anyway, back to the story.. I stood with my hands as if I had the lunge line attached to him (from the distance of about twenty feet on the other side of the tape fence still) and moved my hands as if drawing the line in. Sheltie came straight up! He ducked the tape and then right up..what a good boy. I took his bridle off and let him loose but then asked him to walk on as if on the lunge, holding my arms and the schooling whip in a shape. He went around me, very wide and back into the next field...but then, ducked back under the fence and did left and right rein circles completely free with a "stand" and "come in" in the middle before I gave him final treat and said we were finished. Is that not one cute, clever, special pony???
The photo is an old one, we are not at that farm any longer , I just liked hs face .
