Rudey
Well-Known Member
*Proud mum post alert!* 
I was very fortunate to have the 'last minute' opportunity of taking my cow pony Rox to a Monty Roberts demonstration at Bishop Burton in October. My friend had volunteered to help at the demostration, and she learned that the starter horse had dropped out and they needed another. This was on the Wednesday, the demo being on the Friday!
So she texted me about my cow pony. He was 3.5 years old and not backed. The only issue was that they preferred a blank canvas to be the starter horse - that includes never had a saddle on before, and not girthed.... my boy had experienced both. I didn't think I had a chance really, but I rang anyway and was honest with his experience. They said they had found another starter already, but, to bring him a long anyway as they liked to have reserves in the event a horse wouldn't load, or became ill, or failed the vet assessment.
The lady on the phone repeatedly warned me that I should only bring him a long, with the knowledge he may not be used for the demo. I said I understood. I thought either way, whether he was used or not, how lucky was I to get such an opportuntiy, and have Monty Roberts look over my cow pony! EEEEEK! I kept pinching myself, trying not to get ahead of myself, reminding myself he might not be used....
Friday came round quickly, and I went along with my cow pony, and met the lovely Monty Roberts and Kelly Marks, and their amazing army of a team! It was so surreal, I couldn't believe how lucky I was!
We had our introductions, and one by one, our horses were assessed by the vet, and Monty observed from a distance to make sure they were suitable for the demo. After all of the horses were assessed, we were told which horses were to be used for the night time demo. At no time at all were the horses worked on, nor were they ever touched by Monty.
My little cow pony didn't make the night time demo. The other starter horse was the blank canvas they wanted, and for the audiance sake, was the better starter horse. Admittedly I was a little disappointed, I tried to suck it up thinking how fortunate I was, and surprised myself how much I really wanted him to make it.
HOWEVER, they very kindly offered for Kelly Marks students to work on him in the afternoon before the demo! They said if and when they have the time, they always like to try to do something with horses that were not to be used in the demo, as they really appreciate owners attending with their horses in the first place. It was my choice, whether I wanted them to or not, and naturally, I said that I would love them to!
CAMERA TIME.... well that was rather, errrrmmmm.... technical! I had put my camera on charge the night before, and made sure that my memory card was empty. In the morning I checked it, and my flaming screen had broken on the camera!! So, I selected a continuous shoot mode, and pointed and shot hoping I managed to capture something....
Initially, we popped him in the pen, and he wore a dually, and they started him off with some join up with Monty assiting Bridget. The whole time, Monty sat with me and my friend talking us all the way through the process - what they were doing why, etc....
Bridget then put a treeless saddle pad on him, girthed him and worked him which was the first time in his life that he had 'worked' with tack on....
She then long lined him with tack on - again - another first! He took to it like a duck to water....
Then, Alex came into play. Very quietly, Bridget legged Alex up onto his back. He stayed lent over for a matter of seconds, and gently dismounted...
They repeated the process, and then lead him for a short walk, in a circle either way so that Rox was able to 'see' Alex on his back from both ways....
The next time, Monty said Rox was ready, and Alex sat up on him!
They went for a short walk with Bridget not too far away...
I was very fortunate to have the 'last minute' opportunity of taking my cow pony Rox to a Monty Roberts demonstration at Bishop Burton in October. My friend had volunteered to help at the demostration, and she learned that the starter horse had dropped out and they needed another. This was on the Wednesday, the demo being on the Friday!
So she texted me about my cow pony. He was 3.5 years old and not backed. The only issue was that they preferred a blank canvas to be the starter horse - that includes never had a saddle on before, and not girthed.... my boy had experienced both. I didn't think I had a chance really, but I rang anyway and was honest with his experience. They said they had found another starter already, but, to bring him a long anyway as they liked to have reserves in the event a horse wouldn't load, or became ill, or failed the vet assessment.
The lady on the phone repeatedly warned me that I should only bring him a long, with the knowledge he may not be used for the demo. I said I understood. I thought either way, whether he was used or not, how lucky was I to get such an opportuntiy, and have Monty Roberts look over my cow pony! EEEEEK! I kept pinching myself, trying not to get ahead of myself, reminding myself he might not be used....
Friday came round quickly, and I went along with my cow pony, and met the lovely Monty Roberts and Kelly Marks, and their amazing army of a team! It was so surreal, I couldn't believe how lucky I was!
We had our introductions, and one by one, our horses were assessed by the vet, and Monty observed from a distance to make sure they were suitable for the demo. After all of the horses were assessed, we were told which horses were to be used for the night time demo. At no time at all were the horses worked on, nor were they ever touched by Monty.
My little cow pony didn't make the night time demo. The other starter horse was the blank canvas they wanted, and for the audiance sake, was the better starter horse. Admittedly I was a little disappointed, I tried to suck it up thinking how fortunate I was, and surprised myself how much I really wanted him to make it.
HOWEVER, they very kindly offered for Kelly Marks students to work on him in the afternoon before the demo! They said if and when they have the time, they always like to try to do something with horses that were not to be used in the demo, as they really appreciate owners attending with their horses in the first place. It was my choice, whether I wanted them to or not, and naturally, I said that I would love them to!
CAMERA TIME.... well that was rather, errrrmmmm.... technical! I had put my camera on charge the night before, and made sure that my memory card was empty. In the morning I checked it, and my flaming screen had broken on the camera!!
So, I selected a continuous shoot mode, and pointed and shot hoping I managed to capture something....Initially, we popped him in the pen, and he wore a dually, and they started him off with some join up with Monty assiting Bridget. The whole time, Monty sat with me and my friend talking us all the way through the process - what they were doing why, etc....
Bridget then put a treeless saddle pad on him, girthed him and worked him which was the first time in his life that he had 'worked' with tack on....
She then long lined him with tack on - again - another first! He took to it like a duck to water....
Then, Alex came into play. Very quietly, Bridget legged Alex up onto his back. He stayed lent over for a matter of seconds, and gently dismounted...
They repeated the process, and then lead him for a short walk, in a circle either way so that Rox was able to 'see' Alex on his back from both ways....
The next time, Monty said Rox was ready, and Alex sat up on him!
They went for a short walk with Bridget not too far away...
