Recent content by Nancykitt

I've just seen a video on FB of a very small child (young toddler), strapped into a basket saddle, being led by a rider on another pony. The child is not wearing a hat, apparently because if a hat is put on his head he screams and throws it off. OP states that it's all fine because the child's...

This is absolutely tragic. I can't imagine the pain being suffered by the poor family. Awful.

Absolutely! Young horses need boundaries. I got AJ as a 4 year old and it was obvious from day 1 that he'd been brought up 'firm and fair'. Always had excellent manners, he understands that humans are not to be treated like other horses. (Quite honestly, the way he 'plays' with the others at...

I've given this a lot of thought over the past few days! I've scoured the net and found out some bits and pieces on Ozzy's past. He was an 'unexpected arrival.' A cute, 'pink pony foal' that may well have been spoilt and was not sufficiently aware of boundaries. He stayed in the same home from...

Some very good points here. It's difficult to understand the set up we have without actually seeing it, so people are giving advice, in good faith, based on partial knowledge. We've tried to work with Ozzy without using physical punishment and overall it's been OK. We don't like whipping...

It's a private road, there's no access to members of the public. Since Monday night, he has gone back to how he was before the incident. He will stroll up to me calmly when we're poo shifting around the haybell. I wouldn't say I'm thrilled about this at the moment but he is showing zero signs...

@PurBee -apologies, I didn’t explain things very well in my initial post and have clarified this. I have lost confidence but it can be rebuilt (hopefully!). We are extra cautious, but not prepared to give up on Ozzy just yet.

My view is that, in a worse case scenario (ie, a horse is persistently aggressive and dangerous to humans), PTS is better than selling on. There may be exceptions- eg, in Lancs I personally knew people who were skilled in working with problem horses and I would have been happy for them to work...

OH and I have had a long chat about everything this morning. A few interesting points have come up, especially with regard to changes in herd dynamics. In the 23 years we’ve had Snoopy he’s moved from lower order to alpha and then back a little once AJ became more assertive. The situation with...

When we first got Ozzy it was clear that he had developed a serious issue around hay/haynets. He was also underweight. Interestingly he was more protective of a haynet than bucket feed. At that time it was summer so still lots of grass, but as time went on, if we put haynets out he would quickly...

I think Ozzy may have been spoilt in his first home. I’ve tracked down some photos on the net and it looks like he was a bit of a yard pet - the ‘pink pony’ -who might have got away with stuff because of his cuteness. His second owner rode him and the videos seem to show a nice well-mannered...

I have two dark red bruises, one on top of the shoulder and one below. The skin isn’t broken but the arm was quite sore last night, plus the pins & needles. It’s not too bad today - I’m still scared though! My worst injury was when we’d been out on AJ and Snoopy back in Lancs. Snoopy was tied up...

One good thing about where we live is that we can just look out of the window and watch them for as long as we like. It’s a big haybell (4ft -5ft diameter bale) with four feeding ‘windows’ between the three horses. They just choose a window and eat. They go for a drink, they go for a play in the...

it's bad, but he did exactly the same thing with AJ in the early days. Poor AJ didn't have the benefit of a coat and a gilet. It's really not good that he saw me as another horse and did this. After feeling a bit more positive today I'm back to feeling that this probably isn't going to end...

There's honestly no sign of them being aggressive towards each other when they are waiting for their feeds. We had a bit of fuss in the early days but it's been very settled for months now. They don't put their ears back at all. They stand close together, side by side, with no aggression and...