Prepare to Mobilise

Running with the motto 'failing to plan is planning to fail' I drew up a plan to get Titch on the trailer eventually, because in Spring he might like to go to a pony party!  I know he walks across plastic sheet fine already, so today I fed him from a makeshift 'bridge' - a very sturdy pallet with the slats very close together so his little trotters can't go through the gaps. He sniffed it, then ate a handful of breakfast placed on it, then tentatively followed his bucket of food over it a few times, finally earning lots of 'good boy!'s from me when he was happy to stand with his front feet still on the pallet, for which he got the bonus of being able to finish his breakfast right there and then, without having to perform any more.  I will do this for the next few days until he is reliably at ease walking over it both width ways and long ways and then see if it will translate to the trailer ramp, touching with his nose, being fed from it, touching it with his feet, standing front feet still on it, standing all 4 feet still on it and then progressing inside, where he will find all sorts of food.

I hope the ground will harden off a bit after all the rain we have had in the last week, or at least enough for me to park the trailer in the field as a kind of field shelter, cum food station, and only when he is happy using it off his own bat can I then lead him on, hitch up the trailer to the car and start mini journeys around the garage and back.

This could take a few weeks...Although this evening he managed to eat his tea with his boots on (more than I was allowed to do as a child!).

After tea mum put some boots on me and they made my back legs not pick-up-able from the ground. But after a few tries I made all four of my legs work again.

In my head I have a lovely memory of Spice and Elly and I at a show in the pouring rain.  We were giggling to ourselves because we had set up our chairs in the trailer to have our picnic with a calm as normal Spice, out of the rain and rather smug that we hadn't had to fork out on a proper lorry in order to get somewhere dry to sit down! Spice the wonder horse loved having us in her makeshift stable with her, especially as she could scrounge some of my trademark healthy picnic carrot sticks off us!