...as I have just bought another exmoor! Yeah, glutton for punishment, that's me!
She is exceptionally nervous. I did expect her to revert a bit when she moved, so I have quite a challenge on my hands. Her and Henry make such a pretty pair. Downside is that she had sweetitch. I had hoped that she would be ok overnight without her fly rug, as the flies were few and far between at my place, but yesterday evening I found horseflies all over her and she'd rubbed her tail raw. I stupidly tried to do flyspray, but the mere sight of the bottle (bright pink, possibly didn't help!) sent her into panic mode. Back on with the rug, albeit with her still in panic, as after the flyspray attempt she thought I was out to kill her. Oh dear! We did end on a good note, as I asked her over in return for a herbie treat (or three). Did that a couple of times, before leaving her be.
Sooooo, I painstakingly chopped up a few carrots last night into CT sized cubes. Over the next couple of days I will do some association and maybe target if she catches on quicker than expected. Bless, even in her panic, she thought I wanted to lift a hoof at one point and obligingly picked it up for me. Perhaps a good start for CT, particularly as she has one hoof she's more reluctant to pick up (but is fine once she does, so confident it isn't a pain issue).
I'll keep you posted on her progress. Handling has been quite minimal before now, so hopefully she'll come round with more handling (HOPEFULLY!!!).
(I've found pre-soaked flannel or tea cloths to be useful for applying fly repellant when they don't like the sound of spray - or the sight of the bottle. The downside is it can be a bit wasteful and messy.)
Some great tips on CT with a frightened pony via a link in my thread "Positive Rehabilitation - Leo's Diary". You'll need to set up an account to view it, but well worth the effort imo.
Diane - I tend to lurk on here but also have an Exmoor (Tilley). Do you use the EPS forum? Luckily my Exmoor doesn't have sweet-itch but my big chap does.
I've had some real success in the last couple of weeks with his scratching by using essential oils for the first time. I choose Yarrow and mixed it in with a variety of carrier oils (calendula and wheatgerm was one) and it's had good effect in reducing the inflammation of any lumps and bumps as it has an anti-histamine effect. I'm also feeding Brewer's yeast and montmorillonite green clay so it could also be the combination of those that's helped as well but he's in the best state ever sweet-itch wise in the eight years since it started. What's really fascinating that he's also gone sound for the first time in a year. He struggles to weight bear evenly on his fronts as he's pigeoned-toed and 16.2 high and wide and there's inflammation in his off-fore fetlock (I had him thermal-imaged). Amazingly he's now standing square and even. Once I'd gone back to check out the Yarrow it also has strong anti-inflammatory qualities as well and I hoping it's helping where 4 Bute a day failed. Obviously for sweet-itch it doesn't act as an actual fly repellent but for Rusty it seems to have calmed his over-active immune response to any bites.
This message has been edited by Rustedge on Jun 24, 2009 8:04 PM
Awww, looking forward to hearing more about her as time passes. Don't try too hard, she'll take a good few weeks to settle and by then you'll know what behaviours need to be worked on and which just fall into place of their own accord.
Welcome out of lurkdom, Helen - it's always great to hear from new people.
Normally I'd take longer to work on handling, but obviously when a condition needs attention, needs must! We started CT work last Tuesday, just association of treat with click. She caught on quickly enough that I did a little leading work, too. 15 mins max, I reckon, but I didn't time it.
Wednesday was more leading work. She's fine being led away from the stable, but being led towards it is more hesitant. Probably due to dumbo here trying to kill her with flyspray last Monday, which was outside the stable. I spent a couple of mins just walking around and picking her feet up and stroking her, then spent some time with her in the field and caught her randomly, i.e. not actually doing anything else, just catching her, giving a CT treat (tiny carrot cube!) and releasing. We went back up (Chris and I) later and she tore down the field to see me and she's also fine with Chris, too, but he's annoyingly good with animals! I was told she was scared of men, but so far no evidence of that at all, so previous carer did a good job.
Thursday, not much leading work. She's not perfect with it, yet, but good enough that I feel we can work on more pressing issues. Her feet are ok, just long and so far a farrier hasn't been able to trim all four. So, after leading work again, I concentrated on feet, with CT. Some more grooming (this time with a brush - steady, now...) and found that she's no trouble having fly gel applied, nor having sudocreme on the top of her tail. Piriton arrived, so she started on a low dose of this (1 tablet per 60Kg), just once a day, given to take effect at the worst time i.e. dusk.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we've just consolidated what we've already done. A little more grooming, picking up of feet and leading. I've started holding her feet for a little longer (2-3 seconds) and will just extend that over this week.
She is already a different pony, within a week. fly repellent wise, we're cheating and using DEET gel, but given the temperature during the day, I'm only using it in the evening, as I'm worried about burning!! I've also used sudocreme on the bits she'd already rubbed and udder cream is doing the job on her boobies. Yep, she's good enough to handle to apply all these lotions, now! I don't even make it to the field gate before she's galloping down the steep hill and across to the stable, so I suppose she likes me (or the food...). She also had to tolerate some fencing work on Saturday, which included two men and a chainsaw. When I got there I was told that she'd been over to say hello and even chilled out in the stable, while they worked less than 20 feet away. Not what I planned in her first week, but the fencing was critical - Henry had a foot stuck last week and I shudder to think what would happen if she got one stuck. He's a good boy and stood there for who knows how long, waiting for his Mum to come and rescue him!
Sorry for the waffle, but I have been instructed to keep a diary and at least if I've got this here, I've KIND OF made a start.
Tonight I really need to exercise Henry, as he hasn't been out for over a week (and he's really wanting attention - he watched me leave from the gate, yesterday!). Now, I have a quandry. Do I try and take him alone, or do I lead her with me??? She's a completely unknown entity outside a field and I worry it's too soon for either, but I really need to work him to keep the fat off!! Hope I don't need a third pony...
ETA (30/06/09) It was far too hot still to do anything, so I just chilled with them, instead. Chloe (her new name) was being very sweet, so I just decided to go with the flow (and headed home for the PIMMS...)
This message has been edited by scientificbod on Jun 30, 2009 11:20 AM
It was 2 weeks last Sunday, since I collected her. Since the last update, I'd done more CT with the feet and have now worked up to gently rasping her hooves. No problem with holding them up, except that she anticipates the treat as soon as she lifts her feet up and sometimes ties herself in knots, trying to reach my hand with her mouth, lol! I've always let her foot go as I click, then stood upright before treating, but these clever hosses are impatient.
Leading isn't a problem, now. She still sometimes stops when I lead her, but not for long and walks on when I ask her to. As far as handling goes, I can do most things without bothering to catch her (fly rug, grooming, picking feet out), but catching is no problem. We did a couple of sessions just working with the headcollar and I can now catch her just minutes after her feed - something which apparently couldn't be done before. On the 1st July I started leaving the headcollar off. Very happy about this, as I HATE headcollars being on 24/7 or in the field.
On Friday, Henry was started to burst with frustration at not going out, so I took a deep breath and tacked him up and went for a short ride around the village. Can't have been more than 20 mins. Both he and Chloe were very good. She trotted around a bit, but the route I took meant that I could hear if she called and she only called when he was nearly back.
On Saturday 4th, she took an interest at going, too. As it was early in the morning, I thought, 'What the heck!' and took her for what I think was her first ever hack. I couldn't have asked for better behaviour from her! Aside from wanting to be head-to-head with Henry (resulting in a Lorenzo the Flying Frenchman type formation), she was fine with everything. On setting out, the local polo yard decided to pull out with their mahoosive lorry - no reaction, then a little further on a loose dog came bounding over - no reaction, then some walkers with rucksacks and big sticks - no reaction, some mountain bikers - no reaction and just to round it off, three trials bikes!! I swear we were out for no longer than 35 mins! She was so good I thought about going further, but decided that we should end on a good note. However, I'm quite happy that I can take her out anytime. Not quite sure what was going on that day, as it's normally dead on Saturday mornings!
On Sunday I took Henry out for longer, probably about 1hr. Again, she called when he was nearly home, when she heard his hooves on tarmac. Haven't done a lot, since, just more feet work and more gentle rasping. I'm now working on odd positions, such as bringing her feet forward and holding them a little further away from her body. Farrier due to Henry on Friday, so I think I'll ask him to trim her up. If he has to stop, then that's ok, but I think she'll be ok, if a little restless.
So, things are moving a little faster than I expected. I certainly didn't expect to take her out so soon! It just felt right, though and I think she throughly enjoyed herself. We even had the odd trot, so it's all good.
Only negative is that whilst having a bonding session yesterday in the stable (with me scratching her back and neck), some a***hole let off a gun nearby in the woods. She shot out of the stable, knocking me flying. Thankfully I was to one side of her. If I'd been in front, I'd be typing this from a hospital bed. I was absolutely fuming, but it was one shot and I never did find where it came from. Hopefully a one off, but if I find them, I'll ram their poxy gun where the sun doesn't shine. She did come back to me, after her initial gallop, so I'm confident she doesn't see me as the bad guy. I'll try to find out who/where it came from and have a word, but could have been anywhere - my field has woods on three sides. Ho Hum!
I stupidly tried to do flyspray, but the mere sight of the bottle (bright pink, possibly didn't help!) sent her into panic mode. Back on with the rug, albeit with her still in panic, as after the flyspray attempt she thought I was out to kill her. Oh dear! We did end on a good note, as I asked her over in return for a herbie treat (or three). Did that a couple of times, before leaving her be.
