Need help :(

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baileyxboo

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We are In love with Bentley, he's so lovely.

Thing is he has one eye, as he lost one :(. Doesn't affect him, apart from if he spooks, he shoots off a few feet, what do I do when he does this? We're lead reining, my daughter loved it because he went "super fast" lol.


Anyway, y daughter loves him, but she's abit scared of stroking his face :( I've explained that he's sad that she doesn't hug him lots, because he has no mummy, and he told me he loves Taylor so much.

What else can I do to not let her get scared of his eye. X
 
Hi is the pony fairly new to you? My guess is that if nothing much is said about the loss of his eye, your daughter will just get used to the way he looks. Personally, I'd minimise the issue as much as you can and ignore anything she says and let her come round in her own time. There are lots of horses and ponies out there with one eye, some are competing at quite high levels, so they do get used to it. I've ridden one in the past and she wasn't spooky at all. If it's a fairly recent injury, he's probably still adapting and if it's not, the spooking may not be anything to do with the eye but either way I'd treat him normally and let him know firmly that spooking isn't on. good luck
 
could you perhaps make her an eye patch ? and show her how pony feels to only have one eye and perhaps try and make her see it is natural ?

Its human nature to pick up on something different, but if you try and make it normality she might not be as frightened by it ? :)

Could even make some fun games out of it ? x
 
Thanks everyone, yes pony is new to us.

She had a pony called sparky we loaned, but he was awful, trying to kick me ect, so end of contract we ended it and found Bentley. He's so calm. And totally different to sparky, he's calm and loving, although still nippy, but he's only a baby lol
 
tessybear said:
How old is she ?

If older than say 4 ? I would at the age of been told to be grateful for what i have and its bentley or nothing :)
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Yeah she's 5, yep she got told how spoilt she is, and if she carried on crying I would be ringing bentleys mummy and telling her another little girl could have him, and then she will have no pony!
 
taylorsxmummy said:
Yeah she's 5, yep she got told how spoilt she is, and if she carried on crying I would be ringing bentleys mummy and telling her another little girl could have him, and then she will have no pony!
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stick to your guns ;)

Im sure she will come round eventually :)
 
She'll get used to the look of his eye. It's perfectly natural for a young child to have a negative reaction to a physical defect - unfortunately. She'll learn from the way you react to him, and once she realises that you value this pony as much as the last one she will get over it.
 
DabDab said:
She'll get used to the look of his eye. It's perfectly natural for a young child to have a negative reaction to a physical defect - unfortunately. She'll learn from the way you react to him, and once she realises that you value this pony as much as the last one she will get over it.
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Yeah, I was quiet shocked at her reaction. :(

We're going to go down and just bond and cuddle, I toke my friend yesterday and she kind of toke over, so Taylor and me never got a look in!
 
What do I do about the spooking? When he did it, I high fived Taylor and praised her for staying on lol. But what do I do with Bentley?
 
What was it he spooked at? Maybe try always leading him on his blind side but make sure you're constantly talking to him - just some reassurance that you're there and looking after him?

As for your daughters reaction.. What's he like about having the socket touched? At my old yard there was a mare that had to have an eye removed, and once she had adapted and didn't panic with people on that side, she used to pretty much fall asleep if someone was stroking the socket :p if Bentley doesn't mind it being touched, maybe you could show her that its okay? If that makes any sense..

Hope everything works out! I'm sure she'll come around :)
 
Jinx94 said:
What was it he spooked at? Maybe try always leading him on his blind side but make sure you're constantly talking to him - just some reassurance that you're there and looking after him?

As for your daughters reaction.. What's he like about having the socket touched? At my old yard there was a mare that had to have an eye removed, and once she had adapted and didn't panic with people on that side, she used to pretty much fall asleep if someone was stroking the socket :p if Bentley doesn't mind it being touched, maybe you could show her that its okay? If that makes any sense..

Hope everything works out! I'm sure she'll come around :)
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We're not sure what he spooked at, as owner was the one walking him, we always lead him from his good eye, but ever since he lost it, he's been approached from his non eye, he can be abit jumpy if you don't warn him your that side, like talking to him ect.

We're going over today to ride and the owner is going out on a hack, I'm abit nervous necking on our own with him lol but that's just me.

X
 
Which eye has he lost OP ? It's just I had an blind in one eye gelding who lost his sight while I had him he preferred me to lead him from the off (blind) side if he was anywhere strange.
 
Goldenstar said:
Which eye has he lost OP ? It's just I had an blind in one eye gelding who lost his sight while I had him he preferred me to lead him from the off (blind) side if he was anywhere strange.
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That would seem a sensible solution - then the pony can see out of his good eye without having his view blocked by people.
 
taylorsxmummy said:
So last night I had her crying for sparky, saying she didn't want Bentley and wants sparky :(
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tessybear said:
How old is she ?

If older than say 4 ? I would at the age of been told to be grateful for what i have and its bentley or nothing :)
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taylorsxmummy said:
Yeah she's 5, yep she got told how spoilt she is, and if she carried on crying I would be ringing bentleys mummy and telling her another little girl could have him, and then she will have no pony!
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Missing a pony she was presumably encouraged to love is "spoilt"?? Not in my book, I think that's a dreadful thing to say, she is only 5 yrs old! Personally I would have said I understand you miss him, I do too, but he was too (insert whatever the issue was) and we couldn't manage him. I miss him too but we will come to love Bentley just as much. Or words to that effect.

My Daughter's lead rein pony died suddenly at Christmas time and while she now has another one (who is incidentally far better than the old one) she still talks about the one that died and how she misses him, that's natural and shows her caring nature, not at all spoilt.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Missing a pony she was presumably encouraged to love is "spoilt"?? Not in my book, I think that's a dreadful thing to say, she is only 5 yrs old! Personally I would have said I understand you miss him, I do too, but he was too (insert whatever the issue was) and we couldn't manage him. I miss him too but we will come to love Bentley just as much. Or words to that effect.

My Daughter's lead rein pony died suddenly at Christmas time and while she now has another one (who is incidentally far better than the old one) she still talks about the one that died and how she misses him, that's natural and shows her caring nature, not at all spoilt.
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I agree with this Aswell it honestly broke my heart listening to her say she was missing him, but I honestly think iv done the right thing by not keeping the loan with him :( going to buy her something to give to Bentley as a "pressie" lol
 
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it takes time to bond with a new pony, it doesn't happen overnight. Of course she still loves the old one and why not, I'm sure she has loads of fond memories of him but in time I'm sure she will feel the same about Bentley. Give her time, shes obviously missing Sparky and that's only natural.
 
My late one eyed horse always preferred to be able to see his leader, it made him far more confident so I would personally stick with that side. Re the approaching him on his blind side. Make sure you say the same thing as you approach every time in a calm voice. Eg. 'Bentley I'm here'. But personally I always went from his good side to his blind side and tried to avoid just approaching him completely blind.

Not sure about the spooking as mine don't really spook in hand. I certainly wouldn't have treated him any differently if it did.
 
I think you're going to struggle to "stop" him spooking at things he deems scary as horses are flight animals and it's a natural instinct for them to get away from anything that could cause them harm. That said, as Bentley gets to know you both better he will begin to feel more confident with you. For now I would be firm with him, talk reassuringly and encourage him when you start to notice him tense up. My mare can be super spooky when hacking out, particularly around pony-eating tractors or those dreaded deadly daffodils so I just keep my leg on firmly and talk soothingly to her when I see something that might spook her and then give her lots of praise and a pat when she walks past it ok.
 
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