The adventures of Black Beauty, part three

So Beauty has been in my life for two weeks now and I am learning more from this little mare than I could have ever imagined. Had I blogged four days ago I would be telling you that I am the worst horse trainer in the world and that I am making her worse. Because that's horses for you! You see one day she's great and I really think I am making progress and then the next day a little thing can upset her and off she runs at the end of the rope thinking I am just a bully who's really trying to kill her.

My Beauty training to date has involved nothing more than me teaching her to pick up her feet, touch her all over and start to introduce the concept of wearing a rug. You know how simple it is to put a rug on your own horse, right? Well for me and Beauty that was a whole new learning curve altogether. You see for Beauty a rug isn't something that will keep her warm and help her dreadful rainscald to clear up in all this damp weather. A rug has claws and teeth! In a moment of stupidity, I went to put the rug over her back and off she ran with the killer rug lying over her vulnerable areas. The rug was on top of her and so she needed to run as fast as she could to get it off. Of course the rug soon fell to the ground, which set Beauty off again - even faster this time. I found myself anthropomorphising - look it up if you don't know what it means, as it's a great word that I intend to use a lot more. I said things out loud (just to make me feel less stupid) like 'Stop being so silly, it's just a rug' and 'If you would just let me put it on you you'll be so much more comfortable'. I may as well have said 'This rug is going to kill you Beauty' or 'If you don't wear it I'll kill you myself' because Beauty by this stage wouldn't let me anywhere near her, let alone the rug.

But that was four days ago and while I came home that evening feeling totally stupid and lacking in any horse sense whatsoever, I sought advice from a few friends (thanks Cheryl Bray, Clare Hoddinott, Jo Handman, Tracey Jordan and anyone else who offered me advice). They all agreed that I had taken things a step too far and should first introduce the concept of a tea towel. Folded at first and then gradually let out so a little bit flapped and so on...This, of course, has worked wonders and I can now rub her whole body with a little blanket folded a hundred times. No exaggeration. To others, this may seem small progress and in reality it is, but I want all our progress to be done this way. Beauty is so fearful of humans and the only way I am ever going to get her on side is slowly but surely - oh and with a little added dose of common sense and a little less anthropomorphism.

Today I took her Royal Hairyness into the school, armed with all my usual equipment - brushes, hoof pick, small rug, feather duster (great for touching back legs, and please Lord don't let me get chucked off my yard for being a weirdo) and my wonderful long rope, which was a Christmas present from Michael Peace. I was feeling very positive and so was Beauty (I am anthropomorphising again), so we began our training. To my advantage, Beauty isn't very fit and while she tries to run away from me, she soon gets tired and I am starting to believe that she is thinking being with me and letting me do weird things, like touch her with a feather duster, is preferable to running round in circles. She soon decided to plant all four feet, so I left her 'ground tied' in the school with the long rope (sorry BHS types, stop reading now), which is no longer a snake in Beauty's eyes apparently and went off to fetch the small blanket with claws and teeth. Beauty thought about running away and then remembered the hard work involved, so decided to let me rub her with it, place it on her back and run it along her sides. All the time I scratched her neck, trying to find those lovely ticklish spots, which leads me onto a different issue.

My old mare Lucy loved to mutual groom with her muzzle and I found it all a very pleasant experience for both of us. I remember one occasion where I had several small children queuing up to mutual groom with Lucy, which she - and they - loved. Beauty on the other hand also loves to mutual groom, but with her incisors! After being nipped a few times I decided that this mutual grooming had to be a one way thing, so she is no longer allowed to groom me back. It's a shame really, as it's kind of sweet that she wants to, but I do bruise easily and am thinking I am going to need full use of both arms to progress our training. 

So, to date I can pick up all four legs, groom and touch her all over with hands and almost all over with the blanket with claws and teeth, and send her away in a circle on both reins without any temper tantrums (me that is, not Beauty). I have to remind myself it has only been two weeks and progress will be slow, but it doesn't hurt to look at some of the local riding clubs' info and OK maybe I do, already, have a quadrille theme lined up and a groom for the National Dressage Champs, but I'm not getting ahead of myself I don't think!

There's more to follow...