THERE ARE FAIRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN

Look what I found today!!! Sheltie is turning into Pegasus. Apparently he is an orange belt in flying lessons and will get bigger wings as he improves...
The snow is gorgeous but means he can't stay out all day. He has a wander about while I am there and then goes back into his deluxe stable when I leave at dinner time. He gave two little girls rides last week and was good on lunge but I could not risk him off lead, the girls were beginners. Now weather is bad he is having a bit of holiday just a little ground work each day. Last week though he long reined all the way from here around Hartshead Pike which was a good hour's walk and he went really well except for a couple of power struggles when passing his old gate and when two ponies ran to fence and spoilt his concentration. I was even able to hold both reins in one hand on way back and he is responding to a squeeze on them for directions...pretty good eh!

SHELTIE PUT A SMILE UPON MY FACE!!!

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 .

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