birthday boy soon

Sheltie is four years old on the 27th or 28th of this month. Today I put his bridle and bit on and did all his work with him tacked. He clattered the bit about a lot at first, but never rubbed his head or stressed. I led him around and it seemed to me that he followed more willingly, I was not using the bit for steering but I think he was so baffled by it that he felt he ought to stick close! I was able to lead him in lots of figures on the field, towards and way from the other two quietly grazing. Sheltie didn't try to force the direction at all and when I wanted him to turn away from me I used the inside rein and just gently tweaked it so that he could feel something. I kept the walk up for a lot longer than usual, trying to set him up a bit to tell me he had had enough, but he never. He was extremely biddable and when I finally stopped I had quite a bit of unbuckling and stuff to do. He never moved a foot whilst waiting for me to remove all his equipment. I think he is a little treasure. xx He shakes front legs well. Now I can pick up hind legs and do same, I just pull one out and say "and shake" as I wriggle him about! He is very trusting,the point of all my messing is to make him trustworthy for handling not just party tricks for the sake of.

A view over Mossley and me giving the wee man a pep talk.

happy in his work?

Sheltie is so lovable. Today, because I was quite short of time I planned just to say hello and put suncream and fly spray on the ponies. I had a really long ride yesterday so Spice was in no rush to do anything anyway. The ponies were grazing so I took my bits and pieces to them and gave them a mane brush in the sunshine. Sheltie is accepting a serious groom now without backing up but today I just brushed his mane and tail. He stood really nicely and even let me put sun cream on his nose without a fuss. Spice had the same beauty treatment and then I kissed them goodbye and took the kit back to the barn. I walked back down the path intending to climb over the street gate and leave them to graze, but Sheltie suddenly came over to the fence and followed me to the open gate that comes onto the path.
It was as if he thought I should not be going as I had not actually made him do anything (for a change). He came out of the field to me and then stopped in front,hinting that I might have nice things in my pocket but not being pushy at all. I reckon he was confused because he had not done any of his usual tricks so there on the path I asked him to shake hands, lift his feet, back up, come forward, and shake his back feet which is my latest game for him. (When I pick up his back feet he always drops his sheath..boys bits..and I presume this is a sign that he is relaxed about the business) He went through his party pieces and accepted the one solitary pony nut in the bottom of my pocket and then he was happy for me to go. What a sweetie! He would be wasted as a "lawn mower", he is really sociable and funny and I love him xx

OUT 24/7 AGAIN!

Well, another month has whizzed by. The weather is picking up and the ponies are now out around the clock. The new land is not lush, quite hilly and well drained with a short turf in most places so although I keep an eye on the size of the ponies I am not too anxious about the dreaded fat pony disease Laminitis. As soon as the ground was dry I took the lunge work out of the barn and now Sheltie is coping with a full length rope and working at a walk and trot. When I say working I actually mean going round in a circle at the speed and be able to stand and come in as I request. When I bring him into the centre I make him shake hands and do all the touching all over stuff. He is so good at that he forgets he was broncing around a moment earlier and settles straight away..good stuff eh? I never thought the day would come! I have tried to encourage him into a canter, but this seems to make him a bit giddy at the moment so I am backpedalling a little, he is like the nursery rhyme character with the curl..when he is good he is very very good and when he is bad he is horrid... but I don't mean that really, I have to remember that he has a mind of his own and may not quite understand what I want, or, more than likely he is just being a stubborn little shetland monster and choosing to be awkward.
The farrier came on Tuesday, a trim for the both of them, £34 total. I can see how Sheltie has improved in his behaviour and Neil said that if Sheltie stands and behaves as well next time as he did this time then I can say he is "good for farrier" as in good to catch, clip etc!!! how is that for progress!! Little things do please me. Also this week I have walked Sheltie out into the street off the land. I have tried this a couple of times previously since moving here, but it is quite a busy road and Sheltie was quite jumpy and unsettled away from the other horses. I put that on hold for a while, but now he is so much more biddable generally I thought I would make a bigger effort. He has been out three times in three days and not disgraced himself at all. He stops to have a look at stuff but is leading really well and seems to be trusting me to look out for him, when a wagon did make him jump today he jumped and turned to me rather than starting off in a blind panic. I think it took him by surprise as he was investigating a litter bin we were passing and his mind was probably on his belly when the lorry bombed past us. Poor pony did jump. I had to laugh though after reassuring him and telling him he was brave,as I am having to sing hymns to calm my nerves as we walk along! It is the thought of him going beserk and having an accident that would worry me, but he has been pretty good so far and I do a bit at a time,trying to build his confidence.It is a lot like having a baby, once you start you have to finish and as I have opened the gate so I have to go forward etc. I do wonder sometimes how old is too old to be playing with ponies and will I realise when I get to that age?

Sheltie has a human friend now

It has been a while since last message, purely because life is so busy and so good with the ponies each morning that I only fly into the house to get clean for work and then off out again in the afternoon. I have had a young friend working the ponies for the last few weeks too. He is eleven and not in school at the moment so he has become my little helper. He has bonded with the Shetland so well that he can pick up feet and lead the pony around. Sheltie seems to recognise a kindred scallywag as he responds well to Conner's control. When I think back to how wild Sheltie was it is heartwarming to see a young boy leading him about confidently, this is the first time I have been able to trust Sheltie with a child entering his stable to feed and collar him, it shows how much the pony is developing.
I bought a cavesson head collar for the wee man so that when I attempt proper lunge work and long reins I will be organised. I am able to walk behind Sheltie quite confidently now, he shows no inclination to pick up the heels and when he does turn his back end towards you it is for a rub on his bottom rather than a life threatening gesture!
I also had a new stable door fitted as Sheltie had booted the bottom panel out of the old one in retaliation for Sophia the Arab mare chewing on the outside of the door while he was inside. I had a galvanised metal grid gate made so it is unchewable, small enough to not get nose or feet in, non rusting and he can see through it and not feel left out. I don't know if I am the first person to go metal, draughts are not an issue in the barn, but PREDOMINANT ENGINEERING MOSSLEY made it for me and although it cost around the £100 mark it will never (!) need replacing or painting so it could be a good thing.

Learning new skills..me and him

This winter saw me move Spice and Sheltie to a new barn closer to home and much more private. The benefit was immediate as the snow at the end of 2009 made it impossible to drive my car at times, but I was able to walk up to the barn twice a day. It took half an hour going, uphill, and 15 minutes on the return journey down hill which tells you something of the gradient!
Another bonus is the fact that there is room in the barn to swing a shetland pony..never mind a cat. Sheltie had not been able or willing to work on a lunge line up to December, and by work I simply mean go around in a circle calmly. Brief efforts to teach him with Laura (daughter) assisting simply led to him looking cute and confused or stroppy and unwilling. The techniques for starting this new skill are much written about and I promise I did my home work, but the tricks to get him walking away from me were not working.
When Mum came to visit and help at Christmas I worked out a way to help her keep Sheltie back if she felt he was getting a bit too close for comfort. This involved swishing a picnic blanket much in the way that Spice would swish her tail to warn Sheltie off. My attempts to bombproof him during our earlier time had worked a bit too well you see, a long whip waved at him was totally ignored and a carrier bag tied to the end of a shorter stick, to "keep the pony out" on the circle, was promptly attacked in case it held food. I had to go bigger and so the nearest thing to hand was a blanket with a waterproofed backing. It worked immediately.We looked a bit stupid I guess carrying a green rug around but Sheltie respects that rug! He will stomp on it if I leave it on the ground but as soon as I quietly pick it up he watches me carefully.
So now we can walk on, trot and then come back to walk or stand on a line, just by the magic rug being held up down or wriggled a bit.The enclosed space in the barn gave me a perfect working area all through the bad weather. Now things are improving we are doing the same stuff outside when possible. I will try to reduce the amount of fabric required as time goes by so that I do not look like a bullfighter gone wrong. I do not worry about time scale here, it took Sheltie eighteen months before he would pick his feet up. Eighteen months of daily lifting, praising, dodging the kicks and persevering was what it took and then one fantastic morning as I ran my hand down his foreleg he snapped that little foot up as smart as you like and gave me his foot WOW! no one knows how good that felt, and from then on he picks all four up as good as gold but has to have a treat afterward. He will then give a foot for shaking if I tap his knee, and then swap legs! That skill is for when he is saddled and needs to have a leg stretched to sort the girth, but for now it is Sheltie learning to shake hands xx

Here is Sheltie, at three years old, standing like a really sensible pony. This was taken at the farm on Hartshead Pike. Do you like his wonky love heart patch?!

My first post was really long because I wanted to give the background, I will just do bits as I have time now. Sheltie was unwanted because he was unplanned, the previous owners had a paddock and decided a couple of goats would be useful to keep the grass down. They asked a local horse dealer to fetch a pair back from the horse sales for them. When the dealer returned he had a pair of Shetland ponies in tow.. As the size was pretty similar to a goat(?) the ponies were taken on a trial basis and then kept and called John and Jewel. A year later a foal was born ,though initially the owner thought one of the ponies had had a leg drop off when she saw a white thing lying in the grass. One of the ponies was a stallion but I guess with his fluffy coat and his underparts being below the line of vision it had not been noticed. John was castrated pretty quickly, but not quick enough as a year later our Sheltie arrived. The first foal was found dead one morning, presumably a tragic case of colic, about eighteen months later. The owners decided to part with the remaining colt, it is one thing to have two quiet mature ponies grazing but the youngster would need work etc. and the decision was made to ask around for a new home, which is how I got my hands on him.