New Friend Fireworks?

Well that was the best, most uneventful horse introduction I have ever experienced!  I drove an hour each way to borrow a friend's pony, so my Titch feels like he is a horse and not a horse/human following me around all the time.

The idea is that Patch will teach Titch (I know, bit of a tongue twister when later I have to go and 'catch Patch and Titch'!) any manners he is lacking as he matures a bit, but to be honest, as long as there is grass I don't think there will be any problems.  All we had today on their first meeting was a brief sniff, one obligatory girlie scream and both blokes got on with the important business of noshing. Completely unlike my girls when we first got them together.  For days with them there was an awful lot of handbag throwing and flouncing off with a great deal of shrieking and striking out going on.  So this time I was prepared.  I had even got my camera AND camcorder ready to record for posterity how Titch might move when he shows off, but nothing could have been more sedate and well... boring!

Tonight they have become inseperable with Titch shadowing Patch's every move - how sweet!

Hairy Ponies and the British weather

I like this kind of horse keeping!  No rushing out with rugs every time the sky looks a bit full of rain.  Being the clever native that he is, Titch just worked out which way the wind was blowing and snuggled in to the best wind-blocking hedge.

I did nothing with Titch today, after yesterday's overload.  I was still impressed with what we did get today though.  He watched calmly as I poo-picked the field, no showing of hooves; He is starting to associate end of day in field with coming to gate, so that he can come in for his tea (I tried to kid myself that it was because he had learned that when I call him he comes, but in fact only the sight of his feed bucket elicited the right response).  I slipped my long rope through a tie up ring without tying it up, so that he can start to get the hang of being tied up without the risk of him pulling back and breaking his neck. He was great standing there while I moved the wheelbarrow then went back to him, and picked his feet out.  Good boy! I am still having to pinch his tendons to get him to lift his foot, but he is starting to get the hang of it occasionally.

The long rope passed through a tying up ring, so that if he decides he wants out he can step back and then I can reel him back in to position.  If he were properly tied up and panicked he would pull back so hard he may damage his head/neck

I got some great reaction from friends who had seen my photos of Titch in the kitchen with a couple of mums saying to their little ones 'DON'T even THINK about it!'.  But the funniest story was when another friend, as a child, took her pony called Popcorn in to her mums living room and it disgraced itself right in front of the fire!! So I am not the only crazy person then... And no, Maggie, I will NOT be taking him up the stairs to bed - he'd never fit round the bend in the stairs....!

Walking a Foal up the Lane (and in the Kitchen!)

Making use of my lovely daughter being home from uni today we decided to take Titch out for a walk, so that Ellie could take some photos. Today was our longest walk yet. Here is our photo story of today.

I is gawgus!

We went for a walk today

I like ash leaves

Yum!

Going up a very steep slope

Walking in a very big field

In the woods

Mum thinks she taught me how to walk in puddles but in the woods where I come from this is what we drink 

Autumn walk

That tree is lying down.  It must be a tired tree!

I will follow you anywhere but that sleepy tree is too big to get over.

We found a tyre in the woods...

...and I don't know why they thought I would be scared of a for sale sign.

Mum says I have a very red bottom

This might become our Christmas card photo

Wokefield Common pony

I is nice and SLOW!

 Mum mentioned something called a cup of tea...so we went in the kitchen

And I stood by the Aga

Mum was very pleased with herself!

Erm, Mum, are you supposed to have dogs in the kitchen?

Then it was time to leave

I thought it best to wipe my feet on the way out

I became a patio pony again

I hope you enjoyed our photo story!

Titch Needs a Horsey Friend

I have been trying for several days to get Titch an equine companion, since my daughter forbade me to buy Titch's sister as well! My mare, is definitely not suitable. she would reprimand him alright, but she may not know where to stop and might have to be reported to 'foal-line'.  My friend, the owner of the most suitable companion pony, Patch, has been away on holiday, but on Sunday we should be able to organise for these 2 boys to meet finally.  Patch is a quiet gelding about the same size as Titch who is happy to be caught in the field and is a real sweetie.  I'm hoping this side of Titch continues to develop.

Today was a quiet day for Titch, aside from the usual morning routine of mucking out around him, brushing him, rubbing the electric toothbrush all over him (he is a hairy one, so will need to get used to the sound of clippers!), picking his feet out and moving out of the way when asked. He finds being in a stable incredibly warm with his thick hill coat on, so was quite relieved to spend the day out in the field in the wind and mizzle.  I poo-picked the field, pulling the wheelbarrow along behind, which Titch thought was fascinating, following me all around the field and sniffing.  At one point I think he got me muddled up with one of his old herd playmates and was trying to goad me into playing with him by getting another wiggle on, coming up to me and bucking so I could see whether his back hooves needed picking out again.  For this he got a 'Grrr!' and some very loud body language! Patch, I hope you are up for a bit of rough foalie play...

Patch the playmate?

Patchy!

I am also wondering about how far little Titch should be walked.  He must have walked miles as a feral foal in his herd and some of it would have been on roads, but all our walking here starts on lanes.  Will this wear his hooves down too quickly? I'd love to take him the mile and a half to the village so he could hear and see more sights and sounds. He walks so slowly it would probably take all day mind you.

Now try to catch your pony...

So having thought Titch was fairly used to having the headcollar on and off in the stable, I decided about 5 days ago to let him have relative freedom out in the field again, just for a short while, as by now he had been in on hay either in Somerset or here for about 1 month.  I tentatively walked him around the field boundary and showed him where the water was, but he was paying much more attention to the grass, of course!  However when his half hour of grazing was up he did not wish to be caught!  He acted as if he had never seen a headcollar before!  He seemed relatively at ease enough to not just pee off galloping round the field to get away from me but was doing something like a turn about the haunches away from me so I just couldn't quite get near enough to make contact. I knew the last thing I should do was lunge at him so I had to toddle off back indoors to have a quick read of Sarah Weston's book.  Ha! So let's try laying the headcollar on his back first.  Nope, that wouldn't be allowed either, so I played the same game in the field as I had in the stable, shadow him if he moved away, until he stopped then walk myself away.  It mostly worked but early on he did get away from me.  In fact he got a bit of a wiggle on and his tail shot up in the air as he pranced away. If he had two fingers...well you know what gesture he would have been making at me! Anyway, my persistence paid off and what was supposed to be a 2 minute operation to recapture the ginger foal, turned into a 30 minute dance. I'm sure any neighbours watching would have been chortling throughout this 'game'.

A quick email to Sarah Weston for advice and I was armed with a different strategy, which over the next 3 days worked.  Of course. Thank you Sarah!

Headcollar and Leading

Titch came with a headcollar on but I bought another and started practising putting it on and off over the top of the original.  That took a few days, where at first he would walk backwards away from the headcollar, until I read about Sarah Weston's tip, which made it very much easier.

Wearing a riding hat and gloves, I began to lead him around in the stable. At first, obviously he did not understand what I was asking, so I stood a way in front of him with eyes still lowered so as not to further halt his forward motion. I held the rope gently and ran each of my hands in turn along the rope from him towards me, so I was not pulling him but creating a bit of a vibration as the rope drew through my hands.  I encouraged him with the words 'come on then, Titch, come on then' and really invited him with my heart to come and get a face scratch.  The split second he looked in my direction I slackened the rope and softened my stance as his release/reward.  I went again and this time kept going till he took a step forward. Again immediate slack in the rope and soft stance from me as his reward.  Slowly, slowly catchy monkey! Step by step we went, over several sessions and several days, so that by day 8 I felt confident enough to lead him around our yard and back to his stable.

The next day we extended that by taking him a bit further, so that now he has walked out on about 6 days going further each time and starting to see a bit of the world.  Yesterday we had to pull over on our very narrow lane to let the bin waggon come past.  Thankfully they switched off their flashing orange lights, but Titch was so not bothered and just kept munching his favourite thing - autumn ash leaves fallen from the trees and hazel leaves.  Today we walked up to a new house-build, where he touched an empty wooden cable reel, a stack of bricks, some plastic, walked over the plastic, which I then dragged behind me all the way home.  We stop every now and again to visit the larder that is our lane's hedgerow and move off again when I chose, using the now familiar phrase 'come on then Titch, come on'!  He is already putting my other horse to shame who spooks at logs and pigeons flying away and anything else really!

Touching Titch for the first time

So Quantock Titch had arrived. He had eaten and slept during his first night. What now?

On entering the stable he got up from lying down and came over to me, but definitely did not want to be touched...yet. He sniffed my daughter and I and half flinched and looked away as I gently stretched out a hand to his shoulder.

Despite frequenting the carparks with his herd, I suspected the only time Titch had been touched by a human was by the hill farmers, who brought them all down from the hills to be weaned, very much considered livestock.  I learned that he had been brought down from the hills with his mum and the herd 3 weeks earlier, when he had been weaned with all the other weanlings in his barn.  That would have made him just 3 1/2 months old. Life is tough as a hill pony.  If you are born late, you are weaned early to tie in with the pony sale.

So being touched was not high on Titch's priorities, so we just stood hanging over his stable door till he was ready to approach us. Gently, slowly I managed to touch him on the shoulder.  What a feeling!  I understand about rewarding horses by releasing them.  By that I mean that a horse feels rewarded if you leave it alone, and so I used this to extend the area he felt safe to be touched in. Touch his shoulder, walk away.  If he did not want to accept, I shadowed him, my gaze lowered, until he stopped moving away, then I immediately walked away, in order to reward his stopping.  In this way I got closer and closer, touching his shoulder, neck, cheek, face (nice face rub!), along his withers, back, hind quarters, back to the withers, shoulder, leg, and so by day 2 or 3 he was fairly comfortable with the format of the 15-20 minute sessions several times a day, where a human wanted to touch him all over and rewarded him for not moving away. By day 4 he was so much more comfortable,I could stroke his tummy, waggle his tail, even touch his nether regions with no negative reaction.  What a star! I was even able to tap his hooves on the outside, though picking them up is still something we need more practice with.

I had to get a book! When on a steep learning curve, I always get a book to help! I checked out the internet and it seemed that Sarah Weston was the British expert on handling feral foals, so I got her book 'No Fear, No Force', which has helped immensely.  I have done some horsemanship with my adult horses but was not sure how much to do with a foal.  Sarah's book certainly expanded my expectations.

Rash decision or carefully calculated plan?

Ginger Spice being a show hunter.

This mad idea all started early in the summer of 2012 when I allowed myself to dream that my daughter's beautiful Quantock Hill pony, Ginger Spice, could provide me with a newer, bigger version of herself. Should I breed a foal from our beloved Spicey? Should I risk her health just to get a foal?

Unfortunately that seedling idea came to a crashing end on July 4th, when I turned up at her field early in the morning to find that somehow our darling girl had broken her leg in the field.  The vet was very sympathetic, but quite sure there was nothing more we could do for her but to put her out of her misery. This was quite simply the worst day of my and my daughter's life.

I became very aware over the following days of there being no legacy.  My gut instinct was telling me to buy another Quantock Hill pony, as Spice had been so sure-footed and sensible and I felt like she really cared whether we were safe or not.  She even rescued herself from a burning stable in which she lost her buddy.  She could turn her hoof to most things, hunting, showing, dressage, hacking, cross country and generally being a much-loved and trusted superstar.  Surely all hill ponies have that streak of sure-footedness and an instinct for survival...

But the usual doubts entered my mind, and I talked myself out of it all again.  How could I ever replace Spice?

Ginger Spice being shiny!

One day while trawling the internet for images of Quantock Hill ponies because I was missing Spice (again), I came across some pictures of the Quantock Hill Pony sale and my gut instinct re-emerged.  Where and when was it held? I checked my diary and was free that day.  Well, even if just for the experience, I was going, by hook or by crook.  I sent off for the catalogue.  But on the day I took no cash and no trailer so I would not be tempted...(in denial again?)

Two and half hours' driving later I found the sale, in a farmyard.  Very west country!  And larger than I expected.  I spent the next 1 1/2 hours just watching the 30 weanlings in one of the barns.  It was so interesting seeing how the weanlings interacted and how all had different characters.  I watched the domineering but beautiful liver chestnut colt, who kicked out at any of the other youngsters who tried to eat any hay.  That was HIS.  I looked at the differences in body shape, bone (stockiness of the legs), eyes.  I saw how the stockier legged ones sort of huddled together quietly (perhaps they were from the same stllion/herd), how the palominos stuck together and how the 2 most beautiful ones had, ahem, livelier personalities!  It is notoriously difficult to predict how a foal will end up looking unless you know both parents.  We were seeing no parents, not even the mums, so suffice it to say it is a big gamble buying from a sale.  Someone once told me that the key conformation points are still important though, like angle of the shoulder, hoof/pastern angle and angle of hip.  Armed with this information I picked out the ones I liked the look of and then took into account their character and narrowed it down to about 4 or 5.  I sneaked off to get a buyers number (so who was I still trying to kid that one of these darlings was not coming home with me?!)

When time came for the auction itself I thought I would just watch first and see what sort of price they would fetch and then decide if it was something I wanted to take a risk on.  Unfortunately, one of the ones I had my eye on was the first into the ring and I had a rush to the head.  Not wanting to loose this one all of a sudden, I felt myself bidding.  And almost as suddenly the bidding stopped... with me!  He was mine!  Oh god, what had I just done?  I couldn't turn back time now.  I decided to just tell my daughter, no-one else, not even my husband.  I also wanted to buy his sister too, but my daughter's sense prevailed and I stopped myself (still wish I had bought her though!).  AND the auctioneers accepted debit cards. Phew!

Quantock Titch (4 1/2 months old) - Day 1

How on earth would I get this little ginger pony foal home?  Luckily the farmer's son was going my way and finally, just before midnight that same day, Quantock Titch found himself in his new home - a very roomy stable for the night.  We decided rather wisely to keep the top door shut, but when we went back to wonder at him again half an hour later all we could hear from the other side of the door was  hay being munched.  And he hasn't stopped eating since!