Horse Play in Nimbin, New South Wales | Sport & recreation

Horse Play

Locality: Nimbin, New South Wales

Address: mountains surrounding 2480 Nimbin, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.penelopeprana.com

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16.01.2022 14 February 2016 I posted the following on my personal Facebook page; "This year I will find a horse that needs me, and it will never be clear if it is me that needs the horse more or the horse that needs me....but we will have fun together :) The horse will teach me & I'll teach the horse, but I have a feeling that the things I'll learn will be of far more value than anything I could teach any animal. The horse just happens to be an animal I know a lot about, but I believe a...Continue reading

15.01.2022 Turns out Blaze is destined for a life of luxury, raising babies. I turned up one day and old mate farmer asked if I’d mind terribly if Blaze went to a friend of his to be put to stud. I’m totally flattered that he asked, he really didn’t have to as she’s his horse, but he’s a lovely guy so of course he did. Long story short, Blaze will not be started under saddle (I’m sure she’s totally cool with that). I expect she’ll throw lovely offspring and I hope her time spent wit...h me helps her cope a little better with all the attention that comes with her revised path in life. So for now I play with little Mikey. Mikey’s my daughters welsh mountain pony. He’s 11.2hh & totally adorable. I guess he’s in retirement seeing as my daughter is now 13. He’s a complete sweetie who loves to lick He’ll lick you from head to toe if you let him First time he did this to me I rushed out to buy him a mineral block as I thought he must be deficient in something. It didn’t make a jot of difference, he’s apparently just very tactile. Being a herd of 1, he does get a little lonely, luckily Muddy the kelpie is always there to keep him company. Mikey nickers to us each morning & will sound his high pitched winnie if his evening feed hasn’t happened before dark. He’s also not afraid to get in close with us. If it’s raining, he’ll happily come stand in the kitchen.

11.01.2022 Such a beautiful story, made possible by kind hearted people

10.01.2022 I’ve worked with Blaze a few times since my last post. Progress remained relatively neutral until she showed signs of pushiness when entering the yard. I took the opportunity to drive her away and she responded very well (ie, wasn’t scared but did move away). I spent the next 20 mins moving her around the yard. My primary rule is to disallow any turning away from me (where her hindquarters face me) as this puts me in a physically vulnerable situation. It’s great to create ...good habits from the beginning. The way I do this is to make things uncomfortable for her when she turns away. Generally I’ll quickly position myself to where she’s headed, raise my hands & make some noise so she turns back the way she came. It's also very important that I don't cause her to be fearful however, so it's a delicate balance knowing how 'scary' to act. To slow her down I position myself in front of her shoulder & to turn her I move closer to the front, acting like a traffic cop to encourage her to move away from me. Again, I insist she turns to the centre of the yard (outside arm blocks & inside arm opens in a non-threatening manner so she knows it’s safe to travel that way). The distance I stand away from the horse differs on each occasion & with each horse but with Blaze it’s generally about 3-5 metres. We continue in this manner, learning to communicate with each other by slowing turning, speeding up & eventually coming to a halt. I am waiting for her to voluntarily face me, in other words, to focus her attention on me. Once she faced me voluntarily I let her rest. Ideally I want her attention on me. I want her to turn to me if I move (unless of course, I ask her to stay). It’s all about identifying myself as a leader. Horses yearn for leadership and controlling their hooves is a good way to demonstrate that you are the leader they’ve been looking for. The magic happened when Blaze relaxed & approached me. I had some treats & offered them only from my hand (ie, wouldn’t allow her to eat from the bucket). I gradually challenged her & eventually wouldn’t provide the food reward unless I was touching her jaw. The session ended with her allowing me to rub the side of her face, backing up with a gentle wave of a finger, and moving away without fear. Happy days :)

04.01.2022 Kelpies seem to need a job. One of Muddys self allocated jobs is to escort the pony