Sunday, November 20, 2005
Rake's Progress (or Small White Useless One is improving! A bit!)
Small White Useless One can now do quite a number of remarkably useful & clever things! (OK, mostly neither useful OR clever but progress is progress!) She can now:
1. Pick all her feet up, in the correct order as you move from one foot to the other, without wobbling violently, threatening to fall over or making you feel you are shortly about to be experiencing what a severe concussion REALLY feels like!
2. Walk & trot placidly round the school attached via a leadrope to littlest daughter! Should point out pony COULD actually walk & trot in-hand quite well before we had her, as she had done a few local showing classes but generally NOT whilst wearing various items of littlest daughter's discarded clothing, which she sees no reason to carry around herself when there is a perfectly good pony available to do so! Fleeces, gloves etc are all piled onto or somehow attached to pony & they continue trundling happily on their way!
Today, they were 'wombling' in the school, looking for bits of rubbish or small items or toys discarded by some of the younger kids & to all intents & purposes, SWUO was joining in, as they stopped every so often to inspect something, collect it & remove it! She looked happy & relaxed as they wombled up & down the school & for them, nobody else existed! I could hear littlest daughter deep in conversation with her & when I called out to ask if everything was ok, they stopped & looked up at me in unison, as if to say "Oh, yes, sorry, did you want something?"!
3. She will also now allow her face & ears to be touched & again, this is more than partly due to littlest daughter, who feels the need to check her ears 'to see if she's warm enough' every 30 seconds! She also now understands the importance (& pleasure!) of kisses on the nose, bear hugs & the need to pay attention when littlest daughter is telling her a story!
This may not sound like much but this same pony, just a few short weeks ago, was incredibly headshy, to the point of pulling back & threatening to rear if you went anywhere NEAR her face, particularly on her blind side & was incredibly jumpy & twitchy if you moved suddenly or startled her in any way!
We are really proud of her & still hope that one day, she may even be able to be ridden again!
Fingers crossed. you never know!
1. Pick all her feet up, in the correct order as you move from one foot to the other, without wobbling violently, threatening to fall over or making you feel you are shortly about to be experiencing what a severe concussion REALLY feels like!
2. Walk & trot placidly round the school attached via a leadrope to littlest daughter! Should point out pony COULD actually walk & trot in-hand quite well before we had her, as she had done a few local showing classes but generally NOT whilst wearing various items of littlest daughter's discarded clothing, which she sees no reason to carry around herself when there is a perfectly good pony available to do so! Fleeces, gloves etc are all piled onto or somehow attached to pony & they continue trundling happily on their way!
Today, they were 'wombling' in the school, looking for bits of rubbish or small items or toys discarded by some of the younger kids & to all intents & purposes, SWUO was joining in, as they stopped every so often to inspect something, collect it & remove it! She looked happy & relaxed as they wombled up & down the school & for them, nobody else existed! I could hear littlest daughter deep in conversation with her & when I called out to ask if everything was ok, they stopped & looked up at me in unison, as if to say "Oh, yes, sorry, did you want something?"!
3. She will also now allow her face & ears to be touched & again, this is more than partly due to littlest daughter, who feels the need to check her ears 'to see if she's warm enough' every 30 seconds! She also now understands the importance (& pleasure!) of kisses on the nose, bear hugs & the need to pay attention when littlest daughter is telling her a story!
This may not sound like much but this same pony, just a few short weeks ago, was incredibly headshy, to the point of pulling back & threatening to rear if you went anywhere NEAR her face, particularly on her blind side & was incredibly jumpy & twitchy if you moved suddenly or startled her in any way!
We are really proud of her & still hope that one day, she may even be able to be ridden again!
Fingers crossed. you never know!
# posted by JAK : 20.11.05
