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Horses have the power to heal

Sunday 27th October 2019

A lovely lady called Pennie came to visit Little Warden. Today was a difficult day for Pennie, she lost her beloved Little Mo (Mo) a year ago. To mark the day in a positive way, Pennie decided to spend time with the ponies, Silver and Pumba.

Here’s an extract from her account of the day

“It was such a relaxing morning. I just don’t know where the time went. Standing in the field with the ponies gave me such a feeling of warmth and sense of peace that I knew that this had been the best thing I could have done with my day and that Mo would be watching me. I came away feeling very calm and I hope that my beautiful Mo could see how worthwhile a donation will be in her memory to this wonderful charity.”

Little did I know that Pennie’s visit would have a profound affect on me. I felt privileged to have spent the morning listening to Pennie talking about the amazing times she had with Mo. I’m overwhelmed that the ponies and I were able to make Pennies’ day a positive experience. The real credit of course goes to the Pukka Ponies, they were brilliant! Silver and Pumba surpassed themselves, they were cheeky, calm and loving. They snoozed while we laughed, chatted and while Pennie groomed them.

To make a difference in someones life if only for a few moments has been my dream since we set up Little Warden. Today the dream became a reality. I hope the ponies and I will be a part of many more precious moments.

If you want to read more about Pennie’s experience at Little Warden click here https://beautifulmo.simdif.com/anniversaries.html

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Reaching a milestone – the ponies and I

Since I’ve been fostering the rescue ponies, I’ve alway led them individually between paddocks because I work alone and I don’t know the background and temperment of the ponies. However, today I managed to lead Silver and Pumba together from their night paddock to their day paddock. I’m feeling estatic and elated right now.

Why is this such an achievement, you may ask? I’ve never done this before; it has been one of my goals which I’d sidelined for next year because deep down I lacked the confidence to give it a go. Also these are rescue ponies, both with very different issues. Silver can be skittish, highly strung and become anxious when faced with new challenges. Pumba on the other hand is semi feral so nearly all his experiences at Little Warden are new.

Since they arrived, I’ve tirelessly worked with them each day, if only for a few minutes. Teaching them separately to wait nicely, back up, follow and walk behind me when I’m leading them (this is a natural horsemanship approach). Today all that work paid off. Silver and Pumba were calm and followed my lead. However, I can’t take all the credit. Thank you to Lydia Pink for always answering my questions. Most importantly a big thank you goes to Rosanna Hollands, my fabulous mentor. She has coached me and in a long telephone conversation, Rosanna shared her knowledge, experience and expertise. We discussed possible strategies if things went wrong and she has given me the confidence to give it a go, this support is priceless. It’s truly amazing what you can do if you have self belief.

  • Lydia
  • Rosanna

Achieving this milestone, helps reaffirm my belief that I can do this, it reminds me of what has been achived over the last four years and strenghens the trust and bond between the ponies and I.

I leave you with this inspiring quote from Buzz Lightyear, “To infinity and beyond!” Toy Story, 1995.

Watch this space. Silver and Pumba’s antics and progress, coming soon!

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Farewell Peachy Baby

In October 2018, Peaches, the last of the original foster ponies from Pukka Ponies set off to her new home. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel sad. Watching the others going on to lead exciting lives somehow turned my feelings of loss into hope and happiness.

Peaches

I was lucky enough to meet Peaches’ adopted family. They were lovely, I liked them from the moment they greeted Peaches. I remember asking them if they wanted more time to walk around with Peaches. They didn’t, they just stood by Peaches, stroking her. I could see how calm Peaches was around them, there was a connection. I knew Peaches would be loved and feel safe in their care.

The week before she was due to leave we gave her the Little Warden send off. Extra cuddles, lots of grooming time and of course lots of treats (of the healthy kind) too!

Peaches’ story and many progress updates will be coming soon! She has certainly landed on her hooves. You won’t believe the transformation!

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Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to work Oreo….

Last summer we said goodbye to Oreo. He went back to Pukka Ponies, giving ponies rides to help raise much needed funds for the charity.

Oreo’s time at Little Warden was tough. He worked soooo hard frollicking in the paddock, playing with his pals and always winning the 100 metre sprint for treats.

All this hard work took it’s toll on Oreo, recovery meant he needed a lot of time out snoozing.


Stay tuned, an update on Oreo will be coming soon! You’ll never guess what he’s up to now.

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Zoom!

It’s the evening, it’s been raining all day, it’s horrible outside. Smriti says she needs to go check on the horses to make sure they have some hay if they want it. No chance of me going outside in this, and I feel I should help her avoid it to!

Luckily we have a security camera on the house with a pan / tilt / zoom function. I bought this one specifically with a long zoom so we could check the field from the luxury of a dry sofa on a raining evening.

We have the cameras linked up to the TV’s and Amazon Alexa so we can turn on the TV to see what’s going on and ask Alexa to move the camera if needed, awesome.

Geek details: Camera is a Dahua SD49225T-HN which has a 25x zoom and low light capability so we can see at night. All connected to a Blue Iris security server to record and control the cameras.

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Beautiful Silver

I promised myself I wouldn’t get attached. I kept telling myself, “I’m only fostering the ponies, they’re not mine.” I thought I had convinced myself but the weeks leading up to Troy’s departure were miserable. Thankfully I didn’t have time to pine after Troy as his replacement arrived just as he left.

Silver, beautiful Silver (or Silvie as I had affectionately named her) was the spitting image of Troy.

Silver was shy, skittish and hard to catch, however, once caught she had impeccable manners. I’d describe her as the been there, done it and got the T-shirt kind of girl. I didn’t know much about Silver’s past, only that she had been a broodmare (used for breading) and she hadn’t been treated well at all. But despite her difficult past Silver’s gentle nature shone through. I think out of all the Pukka Ponies I’ve fostered she is by far the kindest most gentlest soul. I really love Silvie.

Bringing Silver into the herd was a new experience for me. The Oracles had advised me to put her in a neighbouring paddock for a week. That way she could see and touch the herd but still feel safe and I could get to know her. Over the next few days I went into her paddock to poo pick and just ignored her (well I pretended to).  I then began to strategically move towards her, gently stroking her as I walked past. By the end of the week Silver would come to greet me, she was comfortable with me standing near her, I was able stroke her all over and lead her around the paddock. I can’t tell you how happy it made me feel seeing this transformation.

During this time a friendship had developed between Silver and Oreo. Often in the evenings I would see them grooming each other across the taped fence and they had many nose to nose moments. Since all the ponies appeared calm it was time to integrate newbie Silver into the heard. I felt apprehensive about the outcome but luckily Lydia offered to come over and support me. She advised me to move Silver into the larger paddock, that way the ponies would have plenty of space to move around or get away if they needed to. If there were signs of aggression I was to intervene and remove the pony that was causing the problem.

Lydia’s advice sounded straightforward but truth be told I was petrified at the thought of intervening. I had only just mastered leading the ponies and basic horse care. “Be brave, be brave!” is what I kept thinking as I moved Silver into the paddock. Then we just watched. To my relief the ponies greeted one another and started grazing. A happy herd. “Phew! What a relief.”

 

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Myth: Too many Oracles spoil the broth

My approach to fostering ponies is similar to that of life. Adopt a flexible approach, be open to different ways of thinking but most importantly surround yourself with people who are willing to share their experiences and mistakes, so you can learn from them. So I’m super excited to introduce two more Oracles: Lydia and Rosanna.

Lydia Pink
I met Lydia at my son’s nursery. Little did I know this chance meeting would be instrumental in pushing forward my understanding of handling horses. Lydia’s love of animals and her knowledge of training horses was music to my ears. I had high hopes that we would become friends and I looked forward to her visiting me. 

Profile
Started riding: At 11 years old, when she went to pony camp.
Owned horse/ponies: Lydia bought her first pony a week after pony camp. She has owned horses and ponies throughout her life.
Training:  As an adult Lydia went to Texas twice and worked at a cowboy ranch breaking in wild mustang horses. She has also trained for a few summers in Wales with Ken Faulkner – Natural horsemanship. 

Rosanna Hollands
Rosanna was my riding instructor at Saddles. I liked Rosanna right from the start. Being greeted by her dog Loki was an added bonus. 
The riding lessons gave me an opportunity to ask lots and I mean lots of horsey questions. I often referred to Rosanna as my walking encyclopedia (no need to ask Google, just ask Rosanna). What stood out for me was Rosanna’s willingness to share her knowledge and help me find solutions to the issues I was facing with the ponies. 

Profile
Started riding : At 4 yrs old.
Owned a pony/ horse: She shared a pony with her mum for 23 years. 
Competitions: Rosanna has taken part in a few minor jumping competitions and a dressage competition while working in Portugal. 
Training : She has done some training with ponies at the riding school, is working with a foal on the yard and has been taught some Parelli. 
Experience: Rosanna studied at Hadlow college and has a lot of voluntary experience. When she was younger she helped out at riding schools and has volunteered at the Horse World charity. She has worked at show jumping competitions and as part of a jump crew at the Kent county show. While living in Portugal she worked on a dressage yard for an international dressage and Portuguese working equitation champion. Rosanna now works as Senior trainer and yard manager at Saddles.

I’ve finally got to grips with basic horse care and field management, it’s now time to turn my attention to the ponies. I’m hoping the new Oracles will help me to better understand horse behaviour so I can tailor my training to meet the needs of each pony. I’m excited by the new challenges ahead, I can’t wait to step outside my comfort zone. 
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Bittersweet day

It’s a bittersweet day. Troy one of our foster rescue ponies has been adopted. He came to us with a head collar on permanently because he wasn’t keen on being caught. He was head shy, skittish and wouldn’t allow us to get near him.

I was drawn to him because of his standoffish manner. I made it my mission to get him to trust me, so putting on a head collar would not be any issue and he would enjoy our company.

Nearly one year on and the head collar is off.  Troy has learnt to trust people and is always the first one to come and say hello. He has taught me so much. He has taught me to be patient, to slow things down and live in the moment. I think his leaving will always be the most painful as he was the one with the biggest trust issue and he has been the first to go. 

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My Dream Team

My dream has turned into our family’s dream. Well the reality is that it’s still really my dream but my lovely husband and kids support me and are happy to join in around 80% of the time, so I can’t complain. Let me introduce you to my dream team:

PHIL (Husband) aka The Operative

 
Skills – He’s good at chopping and cutting things down. He can fix and repair anything electric. Phil is great at turning stuff we have lying around into something useful. He’s my sounding board and continues to support me even if he thinks I’m nuts.
 

Interests – Loves rugby, using power tools and  F1 (sometimes I think more than me). He loves doing anything apart from listening to me talk about horses in the field.

Horse experience – None but he has managed in the past to coax escapee ponies back into the field, don’t ask me how he did it.

NATHAN (Eldest son) aka Powerhouse

Skills – Great at lifting and pulling anything heavy particularly branches using his truck. He’s good at  making up the horses feed, cleaning the trough, sweeping mummy’s office and digging. Nathan is also great at organising and tiding up (not sure how long this will last).

Interests – Nathan loves riding his bike really fast and always wants to learn new skills and did I mention he loves doing jobs, jobs, jobs!

What he brings to the team – His enthusiasm for life and doing jobs is infectious. He is kind, thoughtful and meticulous.

DYLAN aka The Entertainer

 

Skills – Smiling, singing and helping out when he feels like it.

Interests – Riding his bike, singing, playing with his digger.

What he brings to the team – Keeps morale up by singing and reworking old school tunes. Also spontaneously telling me how much he love me.

ROCKY aka The Rocket

Role – Supervisor, watch dog and helps aid our desensitising program.

Interests – Doing everything at twice the speed, biting his ball, barking at anyone who comes down the lane.

What he brings to the team – He’s a happy magnet, always ready to give cuddles and kisses even when we don’t want them.

 

What’s great is that we’re all so different. I couldn’t have done this without them. Their support is priceless. I’ll sign off with a clip of Dylan singing one of his favourite song, Buffalo Soldier. An old time classic which he has reworked to make it his own. Enjoy!

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Crisis of confidence

Phil (husband): “This post isn’t particularly up beat, is it?”

Me: “No it isn’t but I wanted to write an honest account, warts and all.”

I’ve been solely responsible for the ponies for over three months now. Initially high on adrenaline I felt fearless and confident. I had worked out a routine that fitted around my home life and all seemed to be ticking along nicely.  There were a few teething problems, for example, a bit of nudging, barging, and encroaching on my personal space but I put these issues down to my inexperience and the ponies and I getting to know one another.

These minor niggles, however, started to occur more frequently and I began to get anxious each time I went to the field.  I knew I’d be faced with the ponies either jostling for my attention or their breakfast, or getting ready to try and escape as I entered the paddock. I tried various strategies, for example, waving my hands to move them on, using a commanding voice (not sure the ponies were convinced), tapping the gate handle towards them and I even tried shouting (something I’m not keen on) but nothing really worked.

“Make yourself appear big and confident” that’s what all the literature says and that’s the advice given by my horsey friends. In my head it made sense but self doubt had set in. Looking after the ponies and the kids on my own was challenging and at times impossible. When things didn’t go according to plan I just couldn’t see any solution to the problems objectively, I started to believe I just couldn’t do it.

Simple tasks like leading and bringing the ponies in for grooming became problematic. Sometimes the ponies would stop dead in their tracks and just refuse to move or they would try and go at their own pace down the lane which was scary when you’re holding onto the lead rope.

My physical health started to suffer, I wasn’t sleeping well and I would worry all day about how to handle the ponies. This went on for about a month until one weekend I’d reached breaking point. Flood of tears were unleashed on Kim but in true Kim style she wasn’t phased and calmed me down. We talked through the issues and broke down each tasks into small doable nuggets. Kim reminded me of the importance of enjoying the ponies company something I had forgotten amidst my obsession with getting things just right and my overwhelming sense of failure.

Now when it comes to handling the ponies my aim is to end each interaction on a positive, this helps me stay grounded and reminds me why I started fostering rescue ponies in the first place.

Quote of the month

“The problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude to the problem.” Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean.