12/08/2025
Whilst I definitely wasn’t actually horse shopping this time - my very much hypothetical brief - was nice person, decent enough mover but not overly mobile, talented enough over a fence. Brave enough to do some cross country.
Sensible enough to take a small child out hacking down the line and possibly transition her to a horse in 10yrs time 🫢
But also be good fun and not at all boring.
I didn’t want much did I 🤣
Anyway. I figured if I had a nice enough person, with breeding that suggested enough capability, I could set about making the rest.
My horses have a varied life, they do a lot of hacking. And I firmly believe that it’s very important for them to spend a lot of time outside four walls.
He already had nice basic handling when he arrived. He just needed a bit more awareness of how to move his body and how to understand human.
And so the first few days were just spent with me helping him move around obstacles on the yard. Him learning about my body language and my voice. How to move his body. How to stop. And helping him to trust that I was a safe leader who could be trusted to make good decisions.
And then we went out exploring. Me as his foot soldier. Learning to move around gates. Starting. Stopping. Seeing new sights. Sniffing new sniffs.
And whilst I want him to be the kind of horse that you can take out solo hacking and have a lot of fun - I believe the other horses are some of my best aides. Being solid citizens and demonstrating how to behave and how to react.
And so once I was happy he was solid in his understanding of me and comfortable with the others we headed out.
Some might call it ponying - I call it riding and leading. I do it a lot as both a time saving exercise (there definitely are not enough hours in the day!) and because I think it’s really nice for them to get out and about without always carrying a rider.
I’m very lucky to have a safe exercise track to get this early work solid.
And here he can learn so many life lessons from Mickey. How to be chilled. How to stand around quietly doing nothing. How to “whoa”. How to react when a pheasant flies up. Getting used to seeing a human above you. How to react when a pony runs after you up the fence line. What “walk on” means. How to do gates and a whole host of other things.
And the best thing is he doesn’t even really know he’s learning it. It’s all learnt by osmosis. From his new best mate, Mickey, who instils confidence in everyone he meets.
And once I’m happy this is solid. And his confidence bank account is nicely filled up with good transactions, we'll head out into the real world. Again, initially with a solid friend.
Where he'll learn about uneven terrain, loose dogs, walk through water, pop little logs and cross motorway bridges. All whilst gaining strength and confidence.
He does have a lovely attitude and is so far proving himself to be the loveliest person - so we’re off to an excellent start 🙌
