Making breakthroughs with the naughtiest pony there ever was. :-)

[Manchesterhistorygirl]

Ds1's pony and I have not been getting along, despite me being the main carer alongside ds who is 7 yo. For him she's pretty much a superstar, but for me she's been a little horror.

Anyway last Thursday me and pony had a one to one discipline and lunging lesson and bugger me if she isn't a new girl! She's an old lady and has some appalling habits such as biting and kicking out, not to mention spinning to get her own way. We were making progress on this, but she was still liable to be a bugger when she wanted.

Anyway since Thursday we have tacked up, lunged and today I rode her! All with no silly behaviour and lots of standing patiently and not being a sod. We've also made huge progress on her hosepipe fear. (We suspect she was beaten by one. That little lesson cost me two lead ropes.) I managed to fill her bucket with the hose with her in her stable at the same time.

Ds is progressing beautifully on her and I'm really feeling full of hope and pride that together we are becoming a happy horse unit.

That is lovely to hear.I know what it is like,because when we first got dpony,she would bite,threaten to kick,was horrid to lead and would plant and rear if you encouraged her with a lunge whip.However,ridden,she always was and is,the safest thing.

She had been ill treated in the past and I found that she had a bad reputation for being caught,leading and loading,so much so,that her 2nd owners couldn't handle her themselves and had to get the YO to do it.

After one dreadful day when it took me 40 minutes to lead her across a field,with her planting,rearing and generally being an arse,I decided to get it sorted out,but was convinced that she'd never be safe enough on the ground for the DDs to handle.I had a handling lesson with a professional and have never looked back.She is a totally different pony and now the DDs catch,lead and load her, do everything with her,she'll follow me around the field and even let me pull her ears [she has been ear twitched in the past and it has taken a long while for her to allow this.]

Keep up the good work,our pony was 20 when we got her,so knew every trick in the book,but has finally learnt some manners and is a lot happier for it.Can you keep us updated? I'd love to hear how things go.

Will do.

Thought you'd like to hear how we're getting on. She's still a sod and dislikes being rugged up, but she shouts now when we arrive at the yard and it looks like she's grinning to see us. she's very definitely a settled girl now. We're still working on her water issues, which given she's a mud magnet is a must. We managed an almost full bath the other day. (Tuns out before us she'd had one bath with her previous owner!)

Ds1 and her are just in love and it's great to see. He's starting at pony club this weekend after attending a recent open rally.

That is wonderful to hear! She must be so happy now she is with you.

I get the rug thing,dpony will look craven and slink off if she sees me coming with a rug,the only way to rug her is to do it while she is tied up or eating.Come to think of it,every pony we have had has hated being rugged.Our newest one is the same and both mine are greys.

well done, sounds like you have come a long way, hope it continues