Who's a clever boy then?

Well, it has been seven weeks now since saying goodbye to Spice. A friend said that grief was like standing on a beach with your back to the sea, having a lovely time when suddenly a big wave crashes over you. Other times smaller waves lap at your ankles. That is a good picture, I am getting along ok than suddenly a wave of loss comes over me. If I sound chirpy in the blog it is because I can be, but it is not always so; for the sake of any readers' sanity I will not mention Spice again in these adventures of Sheltie. Sheltie has settled so well into his new home and has already come on in leaps and bounds in his work. He loves his stable and walks in from the paddock without an escort! He is a friend to Fudge, Goldie and Whisper. He would make a fantastic companion pony as he is so sociable with others, but that is not to be his destiny yet. He has finally understood what I want when long reining him. He responds to the signals to turn left and right with just a tweak on the reins, and an open rein to allow him to turn. He is able to do a figure of eight and circles now, without stopping or booting me. He has stopped mouthing the bit so much and carries it quietly . I even trotted him on long reins this week to prove we have control at speed. I am very proud of the way he has changed in the last year, if you read back to January I was as thrilled when he finally understood lunging. You might think that we are making slow progress but I want him to be rock steady in the things he can do, not just say that he has done it once...If you read between the lines of some horse sale adverts you get the impression that "has had tack on" means literally that and just once! I have also sat on him a few times...short of a mount now aren't I. He has carried on grazing or walked a few steps. He has not batted an eye as I have hitched my welly over his rump or shifted about to get comfy. I am only on for a minute and he is not concerned, so when a small child wriggles he is not even going to feel it. Also, to get off I put my hand on his neck and lean a little, again he ignores my movements. This is really to make him a safe mount. I am long reining so that he will understand rein aids from a rider though a child would never be left alone on him anyway.Got a crazy teacher friend who is tiny though and I expect to see her off the lead one day!! I have taken him a few walks back around his old farm on Hartshead Pike, and he is really doing well leading now. Remember back in Spring he was very nappy and I had to go back to some change of direction work. It has all paid off. Five days a week I do a short training session with him after he has had a couple of hours grazing while I do stable jobs. He comes away from the others nicely, does his little tasks and then has a big roll when released as if to say thank goodness that is over. He is a lot of fun and a source of exercise and through him I met my new friend with the lovely stables and land, so most everything in the garden is lovely ...just don't mention the S word xx

AND THEN THERE WAS SHELTIE

When you take on a pet you are responsible for all its needs. The final need is the hardest to face but has to be faced. Life does go on and in this case Sheltie has needed to be sorted and cared for no matter what had happened to Spice and no matter how awful I felt. There was a day last week when I did not even like him. I was so sad to lose Spice and he was running around the hill in the dark with the mad arab mare for company refusing to come down from the ten acres and the mare threatening to drive me away except for my big stick. I found myself thinking what was the point of him. Why stress out in the wind and the rain for a little beast who would squash you rather than go around you and obviously felt no bond. He was not in my good books and for three nights after losing Spice I left him to run. The Arab was too dangerous to deal with on a dark wet hill so I saw him in the mornings and did not attempt to go up after work. I knew that he would soon go wild and woolly again in these circumstances. Without the wise old girl to set the lead he was taking his cue from one a lot less biddable. I took the offer from a friend of a stable on her land. There are post and rail paddocks with controlled grazing and no ragwort. Sheltie has a stable as big as my kitchen with the units taken out. It is at the end of the trail around Hartshead Pike so we can go for long walks without going on the road, and he is tucked up in bed each night learning to be a pet pony and not a feral monster. It is the Hilton for horses and Sheltie has settled instantly to a new routine. He loves his new stable, there is room to lunge him inside it!
He walked up the two miles last Saturday night as good as gold on the road past Hannah's through Thornley Lane and up Lane Head. Only ten months ago I had to pay for a box to move him the same distance as he was so difficult. He did excel himself and looked so cute and winsome Ha.
He has made tentative friends with the other two ponies here but can graze alone if necessary. He is learning some manners from my friend, she is an excellent horsewoman and will not let him be rude to her. She is an angel in disguise offering a home here, lights and flat paths for me in the bad weather and all covered paths etc. She wants no rent from me either. It is all a yard should be , safe and orderly. The routine settles the ponies and I know things are going to be cleaner and easier than I have ever had them in 9 years. Perhaps God is looking out for me in my old age now!
I restarted serious long reining yesterday which was stopped almost as soon as it started when Spice took ill. He has had his bit and long reins on and fed through his stirrup leathers. I have been teaching him to walk a circuit, whoa and gee up with voice and rein pressure. I am close up behind him, probably too close for comfort but he knows me. Just as well when I had to bump start him with a knee under his tail DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS .He got the hang of it today and actually halted and the set off again on command. I had quite a tender moment with him inside the stable I sat on my stool eyeball to eyeball with him and he stood and enjoyed a chest rub for ages without doing anything rough. When you sit down he looks a nice size, but when you stand up he is really only diddy, all 8 hands of him. Thanks to my friend there has been a silver lining to my big black cloud. Thanks to Sheltie my life still has the rhythms and routines of horse keeping. Imagine if I did not have the little one, what would I do now? Two other friends have offered to let me ride their cobs but I don't feel a need for that at the moment. Spice was such a steady ride I haven't been on another horse for nine years and I just loved being around her as much as the riding. Horses are very calming because you have to be calm for them and it comes reflecting back deeper and deeper. When you hug them they seem to give you strength and peace. Sheltie is just the wrong size to turn to for comfort...he is more a distraction and a plaything than a romantic hero.
Without Spice to save him Sheltie is really going to be getting some work done, if he thought he was busy before he is going to be in for a big surprise: this is the start of thenext chapter in my life and his.....

THE SADDEST DAY

I did not know that when I told you about my beautiful mare that she would be gone a month later.I had to have her put to sleep today, with some progressive mental degeneration. She looked sweet and well till you saw her stumble and act in an aimless manner. She had begun to lose weight and had a bout of colic after which it was just a downward path with no return. She did not suffer, the end was painless and stress free she still was beautiful but the time had come.I do not know how the hole she leaves will ever be filled nor the pain and loss I feel will ever fade. I loved Spice every minute of the nine years I had her. Sheltie has got a hard act to follow, I don't think he will ever have the same charisma, she was gentle through and through, never knew the meaning of temper. I am glad to have been able to give her a peaceful and dignified end but I wish it was not so soon. Goodbye my darling, and she was a darling.

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!