HERE I AM no wonder she loves me

NOT FORGETTING SPICE

The blog is about life with Sheltie but those of you who know me might think I am ignoring the first love of my life.(apart from my girls) Of course I have not forgotten nor have stopped loving every inch of Spice. So today I am going to just tell you all what a lovely old mare I have and how special she is. She is Sheltie's adopted mum in his eyes but in her eyes he is just a white hairy object orbiting her at regular intervals.
Spice is a 14.2 hh Irish cob. She is bright bay with a white blaze and hairy feet and is in her early twenties best we know.
I have owned her for nine years and she has been an absolute dream to keep. She is not the smartest looking pony, nor the fastest or cleverest at schooling BUT she has carried more children and adults about for treat rides than probably any horse outside a riding school. She has had babies sat on and special needs adults . She has stood like a rock while small tots brush what they can reach and she has never put a foot wrong with them, in fact she stands so still you would think her legs were nailed down. She has been a steady hack, willing for a bit of a burn up but ready to drop the pace as soon as asked in her younger days. She walks past revving buses with traffic on the outside of her, the only thing she has ever said she is scared about is hissing hoses on a car wash and even then she will accept guidance at a safer distance, for which I forgive her as her only long standing worry, even though she will let me hose her legs when a necessity.
She is calm and gentle, wise and beautiful. She never gets into scrapes or hurts herself. She is wearing the same tack as when I bought her. She lives out and is a real good doer, in winter she can be in when she wants but it is only this last year that I stabled her regularly to ensure she dried off and filled with hay as the snow lasted ages.
As a family pony she has been a treasure, easy to do, cheap enough to run and so undemanding. Every day I see her I have to kiss her. She stands and gazes back into my eyes and I just hope that in her animal mind she understands that she is loved and appreciated and safe, she is the best thousand pounds I have ever spent. I would rather be in the field or stable with her than anywhere else on the planet.xxx

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!

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