Today was a traumatic day, I am unsure if I will ever fully recover. Hay giver / feed provider / girl thought it would be a good idea to drag me from the calm happiness of my field to go up the long dark place they call the farm driveway.  I cannot put in to words how traumatised I feel after the ensuing ordeal. 

She talked a considerable amount to me whilst she debated removing the caked mud from my face whilst moaning it was MY fault that I was so muddy.  She clearly did not know that the mud threw itself at me as I rolled casually.  I chose not to comment.  She has no right to remove the mud, I protested with my head held high.  I will not be subject to such degrading treatment in front of my fellow horse.

She continued her talks with me about the dark coming in and that we should hurry up, when quite frankly, I am not of the inclination to be rushed so I fidgeted, skipped and leapt occasionally to express my displeasure.

We move off up the darkening farm track. I see wolves eyes glistening at me in the bush, I leap from left to right and bounce accordingly, before realising they are pheasants, I do not feel it right to let the girl know, that I know they are pheasants, she would not realise the danger that pheasants also present to a young horse.  Unfortunately, she remains seated.  We continue up the drive.

She yatters on about one thing and another but I pay little attention to her, my worry is only for the wild horses to my left.  I spot them in the distance and stop.  They are galloping towards me, I snort, are they coming to say hello?  What danger follows?  I snort louder to alert my fellow horses, I whinny loudly but to no avail. 

She continues to press me up the track, she has not seen the wild horses galloping over.  Fortunately, I am happy to rescue us from this situation by spinning and by galloping off at the fastest pace I can in the opposite direction.  She tries to hold me back, but I have to RUN……….THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH.

At this stage I have little care for her, I shall go it alone.  I reach my head down as quickly as I can and throw in the most ferocious air leap I can muster, she stays, she sits, silently. Why?  WHY ? Why would she do this to me?  Does she not know the wild horses are galloping over and every second lost brings me nearer to death ?!

After much to’ing and fro’ing, I look up to see the wild horses have arrived.  They stand looking at me in the paddock adjoining the farm track and mock my lost battle.  I realise it was all a game, the wild horses are the holidaying polo ponies from next door, god damn them and the 100 acre field they roam and gallop about in.  God damn the girl seated on my back.  We walk off, back down the farm track, she does not know I have already spotted another pheasant.

Its a tricky area that's for sure, I have learnt that horses that are broken take a very very long time to come back together again.  Most of the horses in my little herd have one issue or another.  Whether its rearing, bucking, loading or pissing off, I think I can pretty much cover it all.  Each horse has come to me with its issues and I have taken them on in full hopes of managing to get them back to a normal riding state.

So, how long will it take to rehabilitate a horse? It will take FOREVER and even with forever, each horse has the potential to return to its prior behaviour if it is not very carefully monitored and managed.  Two of the horses I took on in February 2016 are well on the mend. My naughty rearer has turned in to my favourite hunter and I can't actually think of the last time he reared, he is an easy going gent.  SUCCESS.

As for the other one, it has turned out his behaviour was down to lameness, he will still try to buck and piss off now occasionally but way way less than he has done before.  He is still very slightly lame, but this is improving every day but is taking huge amounts of time and patience, he will always be sharp I don't doubt that, its just his nature that he likes to keep you on your toes.  What I do know is that he is not innately a mean horse, he was simply telling his rider he was in pain and there is only so much s**t this horse will take.  So, should he have been put down? No, I don't think so, he just needed someone as stupid as me to put up with his weird quirks, take my time and enjoy a fun ride with reduced athletic expectation for now.  Maybe one day he will reach the hunting field, fingers crossed but maybe he will be a happy hacker for the rest of his days, we shall see !

The final pony, he is tricky.  It pisses off on the ground and occasionally decides not to load randomly.  He has only been in the herd for a few months but already he is improving.  I took him hunting on my own the other day and he loaded perfectly, but then other times he just doesn't fancy it - completely random.  He needs more experience of going out regularly and a slightly regimented approach to how he is handled on the ground.  BUT he is only 5, plenty of time yet  - he is always getting better and that is all I need to see, small improvements.  At the point this pony loads on command I shall be loading a video up as that's my aim, at the moment he looks at me like I am insane..........I'm in it for the long haul clearly !

With all my rehab ponies there is no quick fix, it just won't happen with any horse.  Even if you get a quick fix, chances are it will return to its prior behaviour just as fast and as soon as its given the opportunity to do so.  Rider education is also very important and time spent teaching owners would be key.  To all the professional rehab trainers out there, I have to salute you, it can be a tough and a frustrating job but so good to think of the results you can get.