A change of plan

All my previous plans for work I was going to do with Harry have been temporarily chucked, as a friend has got me into clicker training! I have ordered the books, got treats and a clicker and started practising on the dogs - it's really easy and fun!

SO when I have finished the books I will be starting clicker training with Harry. At the moment it's life-threatening trying to go see him as he is in a village with an incredibly icy road. I managed to see him christmas Eve, we spent some time having cuddles and scratches he was dozing in the rare sunshine and so sweet. I love how I can pick up all his feet loose in the field still, I hadnt seen him for over a week and yet it might have only been a day it never makes a difference to him. I really do have to drag myself away from him. I have owned Harry for over a year now, how time flies! I still love my pony more than ever, he really is such a gentleman. Anyway, latest photo of the hairy beast!

Well vet thought Harry probably had only bruised his foot, and today (blacksmith day) he wasnt lame at all, so that's a relief. I love my pony, took some more pics of him, can't believe how much he has changed since last year :)

Winter Blues

Haven't actually done much at all with Harry, rubbish winter evenings too short for anything, so he's just out in a field playing with his friend :) And today he was lame, most likely caused by a huge stone in his foot? Still he timed it well as vet is out tomorrow for jabs and blacksmith out tues for trims so if he's still lame one of them will know whats wrong! Bless him. Nothing more to report just an update, probably won't do any more updates till spring now when we shall start long reining. (my instincts said I was getting ahead of myself thinking about sitting on him so soon)

Short reining!

I was walking Harry the other day and on the way back wanted to see what he'd be like with me behind him, but only had two lead ropes instead of two long lines, so attached them to harrys headcollar, my friend walked by his head just incase she was needed (she wasn't) and he was great! got the hang of it straight away! so winter project is to long line him lots, and maaaaaaaaybe sit on him? I wouldn't have thought of it so soon but he's grown so well, looks like a fully grown hoss already! And saw some pics of my other cob I share when she was broken in at the same age, and she looks nowhere near ready for riding but has turned out fine, whereas Harry looks ready for work! So, I'll see what my instincts say :)

Vets love Harry!

Yesterday Harry looked like he had grown a ball back, so got the vet out - it wasn't hot and he didn't mind me feeling it so I wasn't too worried, just wanted to be sure. And vet thought as it didn't seem like an infection it might be intestine! She said she would bring a scanner back tomorrow (today) to see what was going on in there. She also thought he was amazing cos he didn't mind her feeling around between his legs.

So today she was back with another vet and they both thought he was lovely as he didn't mind them fiddling around down there (I'm not one to brag, but my pony really is a gentleman :) hehe) Anyway it's not intestine just fluid so he's on antibiotics to clear it up, but he's definitely got the approval of 3 vets now. So nice after my last pony who wasn't terrible, but wasn't exactly good for vets/blacksmith/anything much. Makes me appreciate all the little things Harrys so good for :)

Orf with his balls!

Harry got cut today - gelded, whatever you want to call it. He is a colt no more! The vet said he was very well behaved. He was done out in the field standing up, sedated. I held his head in my arms and it was quite sweet having my baby sleeping on me aww! It was all done very quickly, his balls were rather large! And within a couple of hours he was back to normal. I was imagining blood running down his legs but there was no blood just a few drips and that's it. He will be spending his winter out with a 3 month foal to play with and do some more growing now he's got no balls to worry about haha :)

He's just so smart :)

Today was an awful day it rained and rained and rained but provided me with a good excuse to see how well Harrys umbrella lessons sank in.

Now I'm not the sort of person that does something with a horse over and over again until he "gets it". I do the normal everyday sort of stuff, um, everyday so I pick up all his feet and run my hands all over him even his privates!

And he gets fairly regular walks although not everyday and not much recently as he seems to be growing A LOT and I don't want to ruin young joints. He's fine on walks and fine even when he's been left for a month or two so there's not much to improve on there you know?

So anyway the same with new stuff, I prefer to introduce him to it and see how he reacts, if he's scared do a bit more with him and hopefully finish on a good note - the good note being that he's realised it's not scared. And then just leave it so the next time he sees it he'll think ah, that wasn't scary last time! That's my theory anyway.

So last time we did any umbrellas he was getting nuts every time he touched the brolly, so hopefully he learnt that brollys = nice voice from mummy and nuts and head rub.

Today I went out with my less scary blue brolly. The wind decided to turn up at this point and kept trying to blow it inside out! Ah wind! Grr.

Nick being away when I did the whole brolly stuff previously ran off when he saw me which set the other two off, but then I started talking to them so they all realised it was me and then Harry after having some grass for a few minutes came straight over and stood there while I stroked him then went round his side and started scratching his neck - still with my brolly all high and scary above my head! The last time I was with him and my brolly he was happy letting me stroke his face but didn't want me going round the side. Today he wasn't bothered! I guess my theory works. On Harry anyway :D

Other smart stuff he does, I realised I had taught him to stay and come completely by accident just I'd been doing it the same way so he'd worked it out all himself, smart boy.

He also hasn't forgotten the bow and is always putting his head down when I pick up his feet to see if we're going to do it.

And then I was watching a frenchman doing some tricks with his pony, one of them was the horse would nudge his bottom when he turned around, so I thought as Harry already knows "come" which is I open and close my hand in front of me, I wonder if he would do it with my back to him?

So the other day I was telling him to "stay" then walking away, put my hands behind my back and bend forward a bit and open and close my hand, and Harry walked straight up and put his nose in my hand, at which point I turned round said Good Boy! and gave him a stroke. Did this several times and he kept doing it, ah so smart didn't even need any treats :) Love my pony :)

So Harry has a returned fieldmate Nick. Harry and Rocky were getting quite chummy but now Nick has returned and ofcourse being tiny he is the boss of the field, Nick is his and Harry is alone again. Nick didn't even want Harry to see me I had to tell him to stay so I could give Harry a cuddle.

Anywho last week I introduced Harry to the rainbow umbrella properly. I started off with it rolled up and I had some yummy nuts, at first Harry was thinking he had to come to me for the nuts, so I gave them to him in the hand I was holding the (large!) umbrella, the idea was he associated the umbrella with nice things so every time he touched it with his nose I said "Good boy!" and stroked him and gave him nuts by the umbrella/with the umbrella you get the picture.

Then started opening it up in stages and everytime harry touched it he got nuts, he got the idea really quickly cos he is a wonderful amazing smart handsome best pony in the world. So it seemed within no time I had the umbrella open completely and Harry standing under it with it quite low and having lovely nuts and strokes, he even followed me when I walked away. He didnt really want me moving to the side though, but that's next on the to-do list. He's the sort that learns by doing a bit, leaving a bit then doing a bit more and he is 10 times better just from having a few days to think it over.

Umbrellas!

As the weather has decided it's autumn time, I thought it was about time Harry met an umbrella.

Actually I'm going to pause the story here to say I have accidentally managed to spoil Harry, not through treats or excess rugging and stabling, but from attention. It all started as I've been doing some work with his fieldmate Rocky, who's 3 so I've started backing him and just handling him a bit. Now Harry hasn't really cared about me taking Rocky out and leaving him alone, but the other day I brought a girl over that I know (she is a tiny pixie and Rocky is a tiny pony so thought she'd be better off actually riding Rocky, I've sat on him but I have very long legs so feel ridiculous on him!) so we got Harry and Rocky in from field, tied them up in the "yard" and I helped the girl groom Rocky and tack him up, which meant Harry was tied up and left alone and wow he didn't like it! He started stamping and pawing the ground and spinning around and tossing his head and just staring at me with a look of outrage! I'd never thought about it before but now I do I realise that whenever somethings been happening e.g. moving the ponies I've always been the one handling him, so I think he was jealous!

Anyway back to the story, so I took my umbrella out which isn't very big and is blue so fairly dull, went across the field calling Harry and Rocky who both came towards me happily, then both suddenly realised I had something over my head! So they ran away a bit and stopped to look all wild eyed, I carried on talking and they came a bit closer, then I put the brolly down and they realised it was me so came up and had a scratch, then I put the brolly over my head and they were a bit unsure but didn't run away, Rocky was more worried then Harry. I kept putting the brolly over me then down again and just wondering about like everything was normal and they quite quickly decided it wasn't going to eat them.

But now I have a big rainbow coloured umbrella borrowed off a friend! So going to see what they think of that! I will take some treats with me this time. My aim is in the not so distant future to be able to take Harry for a walk with an umbrella aswell :)

more Harry fun

I spent about an hour with Harry the other day trying to get him to realise that fly spray is not going to kill him!

First I thought I would try food association, so had some nuts and was feeding him them and spraying him at the same time, unfortunately he's not THAT greedy so he just decided the nuts weren't worth it.

Then I started just brushing it on, and realised it must be the noise he doesn't like (this is a really quiet spray!!) because whilst I sprayed it on the brush away from him then brushed it on he didnt mind, but if I stood next to him and sprayed it he had a flid.

So I thought he does like getting scratched and started scratching him with the bottle so he realised the bottle wasn't an evil monster.

Once he got used to that I just kept spraying him and scratching him and every time he moved away I stopped scratching but carried on spraying.

He eventually realised if he stood still the spray stopped and the scratching continued. By this time I'd used up nearly a whole bottle of spray, but there were no flies on Harry!

And then yesterday I took him over a trotting pole, which Harry could not see the point of at all, he walked upto it then stopped and looked at me as if to say "there's a pole in the way!" However with a handful of mollichaff in front of his nose he could see the point of stepping over a pole, but he wasn't so keen on trotting. I tried running in front with chaff and Harry would jog a bit then go "no actually I don't want to" I managed to get him trotting by standing just behind his shoulder and waving my hand at his bum. Once Harry realised that "oh you wanted me to TROT! This is fun!" and we had quite a bit of trotting round the field and even managed to trot over the pole once :)

I have also taught him to bow, he's such a smart boy!

So today he travelled with one of the other ponies, again something new he's always gone on his own before. nothing remarkable about it just another new experience, and in a different field yet again. It's so nice having an easy loader, traveller and unloader :)

Harry is being a very happy dopey boy, haven't done much with him just hanging out giving him grooms etc which he loves! Doesn't need tying up or anything he will stand for ages while I brush out his mane and tail which is getting thicker by the day, he has definitely taken after his dad and is becoming more like a gypsy cob every day (I was hoping for him to take after his dam, her mane grows a normal length and then stop, her tail is a normal thickness for a native and she has a little bit of feather on her heels) But no Harry is definitely a daddys boy! His tail is nearly full grown already I always thought it took 2 years? Hmm.

Anyway the other day I was playing around with one of the other ponies attempting to lunge (pony said NO) and as Harry was standing there in the way I decided to tack him up, then stood him next to the handy bench that's there and stood on it so he gets used to having people above him, leaned over him and was giving him a good scratch and kept leaning over then standing back up and patting the saddle for a while, he wasn't bothered so I leaned right over and took my feet off the bench! Just for a second he took my whole weight, then quickly stood back on the bench and carried on scratching, he is such a dream pony he's not bothered by anything. It's very hard to leave the field as he just comes and stands there begging you to love him!

He still hates fly spray, I think it's more the smell than the spray, it is rather stinky. I've been spraying it on a brush and brushing it on him, it certainly works! The flies hate it, wish Harry would make the connection

Skinny monster

Harry and friends have moved back to Rimpton as their field was suffering from lack of grass, and while the other two being small ponies actually look in fantastic shape, Harry I feel is still looking ribby, and although two separate farriers have both said he's fine and just growing, I feel much happier now he has grass to eat again.

He still hasn't put on any weight though, he's just growing! Not up so much, but just getting all muscly, looks like he's on steroids, all his veins are sticking out! I suppose it's his testosterone finally kicking in, fortunately he still hasn't realised he's male and remains the nicest colt I've ever had to the pleasure of meeting, no nipping, no rearing, nothing really.

So new plans for Harry! We are going to attempt to walk over tarpaulin. I put some out in his field and while his mates snorted at it very suspiciously at first, the minute I stood in the middle with some nuts they decided it was safe.

But poor Harry being the bottom of the pecking order (even though he's now the biggest) was getting chased away from the tarpaulin, so I then thought I would try leading him across the tarpaulin, but he didn't want too and we got closer and closer slowly and then he finally put one foot on the tarpaulin and decided that was enough, I wanted to do more but he wanted to go to sleep. Which is what he did.

I suppose the lesson here is to not be too greedy and stop once the smallest progress has been made. So I shall go back today and my aim is for him to get one foot on the tarpaulin and that's it!

So Harry has decided that coming in from the field and leaving his friends and having a good ol' groom and some pampering is not very traumatic and he doesn't need to neigh continuously. However fly spray is terrifying and is going to kill him!!! Aaaaaah!! Run away, run awaaaaaaaay! So think I need the magical carrots back hehe.

Apart from that he's fine, nothing scary out on our walks and he has better control of his legs walking downhill so he is nolonger crashing into me or dragging me down steep hills :). He is starting to think about biting a little so balls are definitely off in september! And in the meantime it's just more walkies and think of something else to de-sensitise him too, maybe an umbrella? Hmm...

Vet visit

Vet came out today to give Harry his second flu/tet jab, he was very good jumped a bit when she put it in but it was over so fast he didn't really mind. She gave me some wormer aswell as there's so many now I wasn't sure which to use and he was due (wormed him in March) have also been concerned about his weight, he's not thin he's got loads of muscle and topline, but I can see his ribs, however vet said he should be fine after worming so that's a relief, I do get more worried over him than other horses, probably cos I see him as my baby! Also asked about gelding and she said september would be a good time, so make the most of them Harry!

He is still being stubborn about coming in from the field, I can walk up and catch him no problem, and he'll follow me for about 2 strides and then stop, so I've been walking to the side and getting him to move one step, then going to the other side and move another step, and in this way we make our slow descent until eventually he gets bored and starts walking. It was quite funny the other day when I was doing it though, as I think the headcollar must have been on one of the pressure points that release endorphins? Because everytime I pulled he was falling asleep! Hehe. He's such a loving pony though I can spend an hour with him in the field just scratching and stroking him and he went move :) He seems to understand when I'm sad aswell and will be extra loving, nuzzling me etc. He really is my dream horse, I still can't believe he's mine sometimes. Erm the end for now :)

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Harry's first birthday! To celebrate I made a "cake" by mixing up some chaff, grated 4 carrots and 4 apples, added a bit of water to mix it round and 2 spoonfuls of syrup, and then I didnt know if I should put it in the oven to set it or leave it the fridge. Well I put it in the fridge but it didnt really do anything, I had brought Harry home with his 2 field mates to graze the patch we have behind our house, so at lunch time I took the tray of "cake" out and they all shared it! teehee. On a sad note, they've all got lice! :( But luckily we seem to have caught it very early on, theres just a few eggs in their forelocks bleugh. Can't believe Harrys a year already!

Well simply splendid weather! Or not, looks like we have our normal summer weather back. Took Harry down to the village yesterday. Was tempted to take him in the pub but thought we might get chucked out hehe. Did meet some friendly villagers who thought he was lovely, which he is looking rather good now, after being a bit of a weed so far he has suddenly got muscle all over the place!

So on our walk I met my brother on his bike, which was a part of Harrys education I had completely forgotten about, silly me! Bikes are scary things that creep up behind horses then POUNCE!! So I made my brother cycle back with us going ahead then coming back and up behind just continuous circles around us, after Harry had a look he realised there was no danger so thats another piece of his education sorted! What would I do without my little brother, he does come in useful sometimes! Just been looking up horsey birthday cake recipes as it's Harrys first birthday thursday and I will make him a cake! Hope the weather improves..

Dummy!

I made a dummy although it wasn't a very good one! Put it on Harry on friday, but it kept falling apart... lol! Still Harry wasn't bothered about me throwing it around and sitting it on him, it was very floppy aswell so couldn't actually make it sit.. going to reinforce it with wood and tape this week and try again!

Have discovered Harrys stubborn side! Well not discovered just he's being so good I'd forgotten he had one lol, went to bring him in from the field and he wouldn't move, took me ages going from side to side take one step this way, now one step this way... took a while but we got there! Good old pony.

New plan, tomorrow, if he comes in from the field, going to put saddle on him (put it on him friday to remind him what it was like, he wasn't bothered even when i let the girth hang down around his legs, improvement from before as last time he had it on he was worried about the girth, having a month to think about things clearly is a good idea) and walk him all through the village, this will involve a lot more to look at than he's seen before as when he was at home we were at the far end of the village so would just walk around the bridleways, now he's in a field halfway down so we can walk all the way to the pub! hehe!

And going to attempt this with the saddle on aswell, or maybe do it without first, dunno find with Harry can't plan much just have to see what I'm feeling on the day :P

Relatives

This isn't really an update on Harry as what can I say? He has of course continued to be perfect! My next plan is to make a dummy and tie it onto his saddle, I know he's only a year old but hey ho, might aswell start him off young! It's more so he'll get used to having something above him... anyway that hasn't happened as it's been so hot recently I just cant find the energy to make it. Did take Harry out for a walk yesterday, and yep you guessed it he was good as gold! He did neigh the whole way round but his field mates were calling aswell so not his fault, he stopped when he couldnt hear them.

Anyway, I thought I would just put up some pictures of his family, as I find it interesting :P

Here is mum, She is a welsh section D about 14h, 12 years old, stable name Rosie registered name Nantymoch Eleri (Yeah I can't pronounce it either!)

Here is Dad, Piebald Homozygous Traditional Gypsy Cob, Jumping Jack Flash!

Here is grandad, Welsh section D Ionos Troy

Here is a great great grandad Parc Commando

Another great great grandad Derwen Replica, and well I'm bored now might do some more another day

Show Time!

So after being left out all night I got up early expecting to see a very dirty pony but by some miracle he was clean! just dirty feathers, so washed them again, put his new travel boots on which he wasnt sure he could walk in, and off to the show!

Now as this was the first time he'd been anywhere - the most he's done is being walked round the village and there's not that much to see, and he hadnt even done that for 2 months - I was expecting the worst, but the worst was he neighed a bit at the start and circled around, had 1 rear which i told him off for, and then he decided the grass was much more interesting and started to graze (still neighing quite a bit though)

Our first class was coloured - any type. So in we went, he walked around wonderfully, there was a miniature spotted stallion in front of us and Harry liked the look of him! I was feeling very proud of my lovely pony striding out around the ring, I kept talking to him saying "You're being such a good boy!" then we all had to stop whilst each horse was trotted from the front of the line to the back - Harry stood like a pro! But then, when it was his turn to trot, he didn't want to! He thought he was leaving the others and didnt want to it was very funny, the steward was chasing and he still wouldnt stubborn little pony I couldnt stop laughing! once we were back with the others he was fine, but again for his individual show, he stood patiently in the line up, stood for the judge, walked away from the judge, turned around trotted about 3 strides and that was it! hehe. We didnt get placed, no surprise.

So mountain and moorland class was next with about 4 hours in between, and I think Harry was a bit tired, he did the first trot around really well, but in the line up he started dozing off, for the individual bit he trotted a little longer but he wasnt being as nappy as before just very tired, it was a long day for a baby! We didnt get placed again but I was so pleased with him, he had been very well behaved and once he knew waht I wanted he tried his best. We took him straight back to his field with his boys and the minute I let him go he rolled, he's now a muddy pony again! Never meant to be a show horse anyway.

We won't be doing much showing unless it's very local because I got really bored! I prefer a bit more action myself, in hand shows have never particularly excited me. But it was for Harrys education and I am so pleased with my little man, he really is the best!

First wash first rug and first jump!

Well, Harry of course was perfect for the vet, with carrots stuck under his nose he didnt even realise anything had happened until it was all over.
So we loaded Harry up and brought him home for the weekend as theres no running water at his field. Once again he loaded well, this time following carrots into the trailer. I had a scare as we were loading on the very very quiet country lane which normally has no traffic whatsoever but today a motorbike came flying up the lane just as he was on the ramp, I thought that was it, he'd get scared, panic then associate trailers with panicking, but nope, the motorbike stopped, he hadnt even noticed and finished off loading, he got a little worried as it roared past but the carrots were still there (carrots are lifesavers!)
And so to home again, he remembered his routing we got him back late afternoon and by the evening he was waiting in the stable for dinner. Everything was going very well!
The next day, saturday, the day of his first ever wash!
First of all blacksmith came out to give him a manicure, he stood there yawning his head off (who would believe he had ever been bad to pick up his feet??) then bathtime! My stepdad (who can do anything and everything, one of those) had managed to put a tap on the end of mums showere in her portacabin (she does dog grooming)
So we had running hot water, very posh and professional! I gave Harry a good groom and trimmed off the worst of his fluff, then it was the dreaded moment, wet sponge time! I very carefully talking and stroking all the while placed the spong on his shoulder and squeezed, Harry looked, carried on eating his hay. What an anti-climax. He was fine the whole time, tucked his bum up a bit when I was washing his bum but that was all, lifted his feet up while I was doing his feathers but just because he thought I wanted to pick up his feet, and got a little upset when I was doing his ears but I think that was more because mum was there reading a magazine and moved so making him jump at the same time as I was doing the ears. Parents! My brother was also mowing the lawn whilst this was happening.
Then I got the hair dryer out to dry off his feathers, had it on the lowest setting, he was a bit concerned but mum was there with the wonderful carrots so he soon settled again. Put his first ever rug on - not a problem. Put him back in the stable and the whole thing had only taken 2 hours. Went inside to have a drink then my brother came in and said
"I thought you werent going to let Harry out?" "I didn't!" I cried, and ran up the garden thinking he must have kicked the door open, but the door was closed, I realised he must have got over it and immediately feared the worst - cuts and blood everywhere! I walked up to him happily grazing, there was a little scrape on his front knee and a little scrape on his back knee, that was it! He'd managed to get over a 4ft stable door! He's not even 13h high yet! Looks like I have a showjumper on my hands, Olympia here we come!
Later on I thought he'd be alright, it was night time so I thought I'd give him his feed and shut him in like I used to, same old routing etc. First of all he must have rolled and got his leg stuck as he had torn a huge hole in his rug! I stayed there while he ate then left, then got worried and went back up just as he was charging at the stable door! I went in and talked to him and stroked him and he calmed down and started dozing off, so I went out again and shut the top door then waited to see if he'd settle, he started going up to the windows, then pawing up his bedding and banging himself against the walls, then backed into the farthest corner and ran up to one of the windows! I decided that was it I'd rather he be out and muddy than leave him in and have him kill himself trying to get through the window! So he went back out and I resigned myself to getting up early the next day to wash him all over again.

Well, I didnt go into hospital in March, it got cancelled and cancelled again, now the hospital is May and over the past month Harry has:
Moved to another field, which involved loading into a trailer on his own (he just followed a bucket of feed in) He travelled splendidly and when we got to the new field he came off the trailer quietly, trotted once round the new field, cantered once round the new field, whinnied a couple of times, then settled to grazing while we waited for his field mates to arrive.
Then whilst at this new field I have put a saddle on him which he wasn't bothered about, he wasnt sure he could walk with it on but once he got moving he was fine. He has also had a bridle on over his headcollar and he doesnt seem bothered about a bit at all, he is sooo good! I also have done a bit of stepping up and down next to him on steps as if I were going to mount him, he was a little concerned at first but when he realized that all I was doing was scratching his back he calmed down.
So he now has the vet coming out on monday to do his vaccinations as he is going to a show next weekend! We're doing the in hand mountain and moorland part bred class, and after that I am going to hospital (???) Maybe.

Moving fields!

Or rather, moving from a tiny paddock and stable to a huge, wet, muddy field, atleast 4 acre in size, starting at the bottom of a hill and spreading all across said hill, with lots of trees and bushes included.

As I am going into hospital tomorrow, Harry has moved to this lovely horse paradise to be looked after by my friend. The field currently had my friends 2 dartmoor crosses already living there (being around 3/4 in age) So Harry now has space, grass, ponies and MUD!!

The day of the move dawned grey and drizzly. Me and Harry walked to the field without incident (it's a 10 minute walk through the village) Although we did see a very scary parked car! Then we got to the field, I let Harry off and called Nick and Rocky down while Harry happily sniffed the piles of poo by the gateway. When Nick and Rocky appeared at full gallop down the hill, his first reaction was to run away, then realising it was ponies run forward, while they ran away, then ran forward, then all 3 ran around for a bit, then stopped and started sniffing each other (Harry spent the whole time running with his tail in the air like an arab, show off!)

The sniffing was very civilised with no squealing or striking, they seemed to accept each other fairly quickly and we gave them some hay, and then Harry rolled! I have never seen a pony more muddy, he went from a gorgeous fluffy black and white foal to something that you would find in a rescue case! He got it on his eyelashes! I was not amused. But he seemed happy enough, and I'd rather have a happy muddy pony than a clean miserable one.

When I checked on him the next day he was being very cool, let me come up and say hello then wandered off because it's not cool to be seen talking to your mum in front of your friends. I think he'll be very happy out there, and he's been perfect for catching now, been perfect for worming, perfect to have his feet trimmed so hopefully he'll stay perfect whilst I'm in hospital and recovering, and not get any breaking out of field ideas!

Well fabulous month! Within a day or two of Harry allowing me to pick out his feet whilst tied up, he decided that it wasn't scary at all and I can now pick out all his feet while he's loose in the stable, door wide open, and he just stands there good as gold!

Had the blacksmith out today and he was fabulous for him aswell, he's just going so well!

I had some not so good news will be going into hospital on the 23rd to have an operation to straighten my back (I have scoliosis) So will be unable to look after Harry, which means he's going to stay with my friends ponies, she has 2 dartmoor geldings so that should be fun for him!

So this month has been full of achievements, Harry is now splendid with a headcollar, I can take it off and leave it off for a few days then put it back on without any trouble at all. He will stand happily to be groomed all over, mane and tail brushed out fully. Which is a good thing as he has also discovered the joys of rolling! he frequently comes in to the stable for dinner covered in mud!He has been for several more walks all without incident, and the biggest thing has been his feet.

To start with he was funny with his front and awful with his back, couldn't even run my hand down his leg without him spinning around in circles (Tied up aswell!) Eventually with a lot of patience managed to have him happily standing to have his front feet picked up and picked out, but back end was still a problem, couldn't get a hand on his feet, so got a friend to hold him and give him a carrot or two while I did his back feet, he was a bit better and managed to hold them up for a bit then let them down again, did this a few times with friend holding him, in the meantime he was being splendid with his front feet, I could now pick them up and hold them up for a few seconds while he was loose, he didn't move at all!

So today I tried tying him up and seeing if he was manageable with his back end, as this was how we started off with the front feet. Well he did move around a bit but nowhere near as bad as he had been, and then he stopped and I managed to pick his back feet up and hold them! All on my lonesome! What a wonderful pony I have :) Possibly by next month he may have had a blacksmith visit aswell.

Happy New Year

This is turning out to be a monthly thing.. So, christmas Harry got to meet some of the family and was getting much more confident about leaving his stable. I simply left the stable door open all day and eventually he came out, once he did he realised it wasn't so bad. He now is very happy to come out of the stable.

We have progressed to putting headcollar on before he comes out (to start with he was walking round the stable in circles with me trying to stay with him before he stopped and let me put it on him, but we have managed to get it down to a step back and then acceptance) and then has his headcollar off at night when he comes into the stable (same drama for taking off as putting on) He has had his first experience of snow.

The first day I led him out, he came walking out all normal like then suddenly went Woah!!! What's all this white stuff! we walked around exploring and ventured into the terrifying garden where lurks vicious horse eating dogs and dragons hiding under dead plants. But he was surprisingly good so at the weekend I decided the time was right for a walk around the village. This was a much bigger adventure than the garden as mum came with the dogs, and we had to walk past houses (!) A field with 3 big cobs (not so much ! more ooh other horses for me? - No, Harry, this way! - Oh, ok.. *sigh*) then went up a hill that was also a large field with my brother throwing sticks for the dogs behind us, our ascent was rather fast for that reason, then back down hill through a lovely bridleway, I was expecting Harry to maybe come too close behind me but he walked to heel better than my dogs do! Then we met another couple with a different dog and the women had a plastic bag (!!) Harrys eyes popped but he bravely sniffed them and decided they were safe, so on the last stretch home back on the lane we met about 4 or 5 cars, each time we had to get into a driveway that was filled with rubbish bags, some bright green, but Harry was fine, seeming to say "if you're not scared mum, then I'm not scared". What a good baby!

Haven't been for another walk as combination of work and terrible weather has meant I... haven't. But I will! Just you wait and see!

On a side note, I have discovered Harry is not a posh horse and does not want me to spend money on him, I splashed out the other day and got him a nice posh mineral lick, lots of treats and a treat ball, oh and a salt lick cos it was cheap. He hasn't even sniffed the mineral lick, won't touch the treat ball and when I try giving him the treats by hand he spits them out. but the cheap salt lick he loves! I guess it's good quality cheap stuff for him then. Better not buy any expensive rugs...

So see you (who? who's reading this anyway? - well I don't know but I like to read through it when I update it, and, anyway, someone might eventually start reading it and want to see my previous posts? - yeah, ok, keep dreaming) in February!