miskettie
Well-Known Member
Most of you probably know about Enys now and are thoroughly bored of it, but those of you who don't know - I bought Enys on 15.1.11 and went to go pick him up. On way back in our lorry he jumped over the front partition and ended up having to be cut out. Very traumatic.
Since then (we don't know whether it is result of it), he has been quite difficult to handle, biting and kicking. He is a real Jekyl and Hyde character.
Anyway we decided after only having him a week that we would get someone to help us to get him back into a box after his ordeal. So we contacted a local horsemanship lady, who rides for Monty Roberts. Due to the tour, she wasn't able to come out before now. My confidence has really been knocked with handling him and even yesterday he bit me, making my arm bruise.
Anyway she came out today. She started by showing us how to handle Enys, to keep him out of our personal space. He does tend to walk on top of you, which is a bit dangerous if he spooks. It was very much a case of pull and release and then if he tried to bite then we had to make him go backwards.
Then after this for a bit, we then were reversing him through an L shape (poles on the ground). Which he did fine.
Then out came the horsebox! We put the horsebox in one of our paddocks and she began working with Enys around it. We took the partition out of the horsebox, so it was bigger.
We haven't attempted loading him before this, as we wanted expert help, but we've been doing mats on the ground and walking through things etc.
Anyway while she was just working him next to the ramp he suddenly decided to walk up it!!! She didn't even ask him to
, I think she was as shocked as us. So we did lots of loading and unloading. Then doing horsebox up and then driving around the paddock. He sweated while in the box, but didn't do anything stupid (we've had it modified, so he can't do the same as before).
After that we put him in his box for a bit to digest everything. Then brought out Ella, my mum's horse who loads sparadically. Because Enys is bigger when we eventually travel them together, she will have to be in the near partition, which is more difficult to load into and as she isn't the best loader we thought we'd get Rosie to work with her too.
Needless to say after a little bit Ella was loading like a pro and almost skipping into the box...even with the partition across.
So then back to Enys. Did some work with his feet and then back to loading.
Then we decided to go for a little drive (cue nervous nelly owner 
). We travelled him without the partition and Rosie said to do this until he finds his a balance in the box. I was a little worried, because I had wondered whether he went silly before because he was alone. My mum was driving, so I didn't have to worry about that. He was fine - he moved around a bit but nothing drastic. Afterwards he had sweated up, so he had been nervous (understandably!). Unloaded without rushing off and loaded straight away. It was all a huge relief. Rosie showed us what to do though if he started refusing to load.
We've got to practise everything, particularly loading and travelling. He's to travel by himself for a few more times and then we can introduce a partition with a companion.
I'm still nervous but I feel alot more confident about handling him. Of course he was an angel today and barely tried to bite - but now we've been shown how to deal with it, hopefully it will be fine.
Rosie was amazing and I would definetly recommend her to anyone. She spent half a day with us and worked through lots. Really really pleased.
So now it's just seeing what the future brings. Fingers crossed we'll be out competing soon!
Fish and chips for anyone who has got this far
Since then (we don't know whether it is result of it), he has been quite difficult to handle, biting and kicking. He is a real Jekyl and Hyde character.
Anyway we decided after only having him a week that we would get someone to help us to get him back into a box after his ordeal. So we contacted a local horsemanship lady, who rides for Monty Roberts. Due to the tour, she wasn't able to come out before now. My confidence has really been knocked with handling him and even yesterday he bit me, making my arm bruise.
Anyway she came out today. She started by showing us how to handle Enys, to keep him out of our personal space. He does tend to walk on top of you, which is a bit dangerous if he spooks. It was very much a case of pull and release and then if he tried to bite then we had to make him go backwards.
Then after this for a bit, we then were reversing him through an L shape (poles on the ground). Which he did fine.
Then out came the horsebox! We put the horsebox in one of our paddocks and she began working with Enys around it. We took the partition out of the horsebox, so it was bigger.
We haven't attempted loading him before this, as we wanted expert help, but we've been doing mats on the ground and walking through things etc.
Anyway while she was just working him next to the ramp he suddenly decided to walk up it!!! She didn't even ask him to
, I think she was as shocked as us. So we did lots of loading and unloading. Then doing horsebox up and then driving around the paddock. He sweated while in the box, but didn't do anything stupid (we've had it modified, so he can't do the same as before).
After that we put him in his box for a bit to digest everything. Then brought out Ella, my mum's horse who loads sparadically. Because Enys is bigger when we eventually travel them together, she will have to be in the near partition, which is more difficult to load into and as she isn't the best loader we thought we'd get Rosie to work with her too.
Needless to say after a little bit Ella was loading like a pro and almost skipping into the box...even with the partition across.
So then back to Enys. Did some work with his feet and then back to loading.
Then we decided to go for a little drive
(cue nervous nelly owner ). We travelled him without the partition and Rosie said to do this until he finds his a balance in the box. I was a little worried, because I had wondered whether he went silly before because he was alone. My mum was driving, so I didn't have to worry about that. He was fine - he moved around a bit but nothing drastic. Afterwards he had sweated up, so he had been nervous (understandably!). Unloaded without rushing off and loaded straight away. It was all a huge relief. Rosie showed us what to do though if he started refusing to load.We've got to practise everything, particularly loading and travelling. He's to travel by himself for a few more times and then we can introduce a partition with a companion.
I'm still nervous but I feel alot more confident about handling him. Of course he was an angel today and barely tried to bite - but now we've been shown how to deal with it, hopefully it will be fine.
Rosie was amazing and I would definetly recommend her to anyone. She spent half a day with us and worked through lots. Really really pleased.
So now it's just seeing what the future brings. Fingers crossed we'll be out competing soon!
Fish and chips for anyone who has got this far
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