The Pony Connection

I’ve talked about Tilly, the Fell Pony who came to live with us. You get to hear more, because Tilly and I are doing a CHALLENGE.

OOOOOOOO.

I’m really good at starting things, and pretty much suck at completing them, but this challenge, sponsored by the Fell Pony Society, is something I intend to stick with. If I tell all of you, then I have to do it, right?

First of all, we have to do 25 miles together, either leading, driving, riding or lunging. So far we’ve done two. We have until October to complete, and I’m hoping that by that time she’ll be comfortable enough with me that she’ll come sweetly, instead of digging in her heels and letting me know in no uncertain terms that to take her away from “HER boys” (Tango and Finn, who live in the next pasture) is completely unacceptable.

“My boys. MINE.”

I get it. She lived alone for about a year before she came to us, and before that she had lots of horsey company, so she’s probably concerned about being alone again. Not gonna happen, girl.

And then again, who am I? She spent 12 years with another family, and here I am, some interloper, asking her to do weird stuff (like posing for a photo in the garage - more on that in a bit), and wanting to go for walks with her around her pasture. This is not the life to which she is accustomed.

I’m not sure what her previous life was like, but I do know there were grandchildren involved, so I suspect she may have called the shots more often than not. 

That said, she does have lovely ground manners, taught when she was a wee one at her first home (where she was born), and obviously reinforced at her second family, at least to to some degree.

She’s skeptical - “Are you my leader?” Is her favorite question. And with it comes all kinds of little tricks to see if I’m paying attention. Once she’s convinced that I am, indeed, still the leader, she is willing to go along with the program, even if she thinks walking after me on a lead rope is the worst. Don’t worry, Tilly, there will be other things. How about ground driving? How about riding? (She did come with a saddle.)

Bunking with her “sister” LiLi.

One thing she’s learning is that, unlike grandchildren, I have a LOT of patience. If it takes an hour to convince her I’m the leader, we’ll take an hour. One thing I’ve learned over the years about horses is the more you go with an agenda, the more that agenda goes right out the window. So I arrive at the pasture with only the thought of being with my pony in my head, and we go from there. If we get some steps in, great! If it’s a battle of wills, I’ll stay until we come to some sort of agreement. I want a win for both of us. 

In the Garage. (We also have a G for Gate)

Gate

It’s going to take time. I want her to be a willing partner in this challenge. She did seem to like taking photos (and there are more to come). The photos are of me, Tilly, and something that signifies a letter in the phrase “Regional Groups”, which is a Fell Pony Society thing. The garage photo is for one of the “G”’s. 

I’ll keep you posted.