Wow cant believe that it been almost 2 months since i last updated this blog! Rowan is doing really really well he was finally turned out in the field a couple of weeks ago. He took to being led straight away I lead him around the stable a few times over a few days before venturing our into the yard. After a week of wandering about the yard and sand school he was let loose into the sand school for the first time. He wasn't sure what to do at first now he was free he then exploded and had a good gallop round the school for nearly 20 mins before coming back to me. We then started our new routine of going for a walk before letting him loose for a couple of hours each day. Once we were doing this everything suddenly became 100 times easier. Once he had had his daily run around he was so much calmer and his attention span seemed better. After a couple of weeks of being lose in the school I started to turn my mare Oska out in the school with him for a while. Oska has a reputation of being a bit anti social when it comes to other horses but she seems to have taken to Rowan like she has few others. After the snow I made the decision to leave Rowan out in the school overnight with Oska which went well. The two of them stayed in the school for a week until Oska took the decision about when to move them to the field by rubbing herself raw on the fencing (shes usually behind electric fencing to stop her from doing this) and threatening to break through the fence! So we tied plastic bags to the electric fence to make the wire more visible and let them go and they have been out ever since.

We have also started to do some more groundwork with Rowan going over poles between jump wings over plastic pipes that sort of thing. Today we have done lots and lots of practice at going through electric fence gates which had presented themselves as being a slight issue. He is very confident having his front feet picked up and will let me pick them up anywhere anytime. He still needs some work on his back feet though he is getting better. We have the farrier coming on Thursday so we are doing lots of preparation for that by holding his feet at different angles as the farrier will and getting him used to having objects round his feet. Most of the time he just gives me a look as though he has done it a thousand times before! He accepted being tied up pretty quickly too, he is more than happy being tied up in the yard with or without another horse around.

Hopefully in the next few weeks we will continue with improving his groundwork and his manners. He is a little bit over confident at the moment and has started to push boundaries a little bit so we have toughened up a little bit and installing a few manners. Hopefully we will also be teaching him to load over the next few weeks  (since he has been turned out we have discovered that he moves rather well and so are planning on taking him out to some in-hand shows locally). He is also going to meet both the farrier and the vet in the next week or so.

We got there in the end

It may have taken a while but we got the headcollar on in the end.

Rowan really really did not like the headcollar or the scarf or anything else strange for that matter coming into his stable for a while. I took to carrying it around with me every time i went into his stable for about a week and  then with the aid of food eventually got it close enough for it to touch him. Then we did a bit of clicker like training (same kind of principal but i was kind of making it up as we went along and he isnt keen on the clicking) getting him putting his nose through. The break through however came when I sat with him while he ate his feed and got him to put his head through the headcollar (noseband undone but head piece done up) and then got his ears through it He then went off and had a bit of a think about it until he realized that there was still food in his bowl and he came back allowing me to do the noseband up and it was on. Have done it a few more times but for now the headcollar is staying on to get him used to it.

So now hopefully we will finally progress to getting him out in the next few days. That is if the weather allows (our yard was like a skating ring this morning).

Happy New Year

Rowan has continued to amaze me this week. The little scared pony that arrived almost two months ago is almost gone and has been replaced with a confident little pony. He is letting me touch him pretty much all over now though he does take some persuading to be fussed anywhere other than his itchy spot at times. Today when picking something up off the floor I touched just below his shoulder by accident. Rowan did not move so i continued to touch his leg then his other foreleg. we didnt get quite as far as his back feet not because he wouldnt let me but because he was trying to see what i was doing (hes a nosy little bugger) and so kept turning round. 

we are still having a few problems with the headcollar but he is getting much better with me bringing scary things into his stable. 

So from Rowan, Oska and Myself have a Happy New Year and good luck for 2012

Merry Christmas

Well as Christmas presents go having your foal come up to you and press his nose into your hand wanting a rub for the first time is pretty good! He is going from strength to strength at the moment. He has become so confident in the past few days getting more and more curious every day. He has been (literally) poking his nose into everything. He is still a little panicked when i have a headcollar in my hands but today has been much more willing to let me touch him with it. We have had to instill a few more ground rules today as he is beginning to explore things with his teeth but he seems to be learning quickly what is and isn't allowed.

I have been walking around with a grin stuck to my face for the past 24hrs and am still not quite sure that I believe how well he has come on in the past couple of days. We still have a long way to go but he really has made my Christmas this year. 

Hope you all have had as good a Christmas as we have 

Helen, Rowan and Oskubuska

Rowan has been a star this week. I have had to take a bit of time off from the yard having got flu i then also managed to get an eye infection too which had the result of me not being able to drive and with the yard a good 15 miles away my good mate took charge for a few days in my absence. I was a bit worried about how Rowan would be as he has not really had anyone else going in and out of his stable and whilst Jane is more than capable of looking after him he has been a little nervous of her as she can be quite loud. He has however coped really well and is now far more confident with her although he still runs to his 'safe' corner each time she enters his stable. 

He also now has a new stable as his was needed so I could bring Oska in for the night. He followed me (and his feed bucket) from one stable to the other without a problem and quickly settled in his new box. If the weather improves a little we may let him out next week into the paddock behind the stable block probably with the company of Hector as the two of them seem to be getting along very well at the moment. Hopefully will have a headcollar on him really soon too. I took his off the other day without a problem and he almost certainly would have had it back on the next day had I not become ill. 

Not much progress to report atm im afraid. ive gone and gotten flu and haven't been well enough to do much more than check both horses and do the basics. Rowan seems as confident as ever calling me as soon as i get out of the car and is just such a pleasure to be around. He is much more accepting of my mate Jane who keeps her Iceys on the same yard. Up until this week Jane hasn't really done much more than just chat to him over his door occasionally going in and sitting with him for a while when she has had some time. With me being ill however she offered to check on him for me so I didn't have to make so many trips out. Now that the two of them have been around each other a little more Rowan is now much happier when Jane is in his stable and is coming up to her at the door which he wouldn't have done a few days ago.

My little man is doing really really well at the moment. He seems happier and more confident every day. He is happy with me touching him right up as far as his ears now and looks rather put out if I dare go into his stable and don't give him a rub.

 He has met the vet for the first time today and he is very pleased with how Rowan is getting on. He looked at his feet and thought that we were right to be concerned about the rings on his feet but he thinks that they are just as a result of his change in diet but wants us to monitor it over the next few weeks.

He has really taken to his new ball (the type that you put feed in and as they roll around the feet falls out). He wasn't sure at first when it rattled but now that he knows what it does he practically knocks it out of my hands when i take it to him.