Hi Everyone - More Pony Pics

First of all , SORRY I haven't been on Dogsey for quite a while . I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year .
Missy and I are fine , I've just not really had a lot of time to come on here.
Florrie is coming on really well. Apart from regular daily handling , she's "adopted" a foal . A girl at the stables bought a 6 month old foal and tried to put it straight in the field with the other horses.She had only just been taken away from her mum the day before !!! The foal got scared when the big horses came running towards her and ran through the electric fencing ! When I got to the stables that afternoon , the foal's owner told me what happened and asked me for help. We spent the next few weeks pairing the foal up with Florrie , then progressing on to puting them out with the other horses. Florrie took to the foal as if it was her own , even keeping herself between the foal and any other horse that got too close. We started off by puting them in a barn together , then the outdoor school , then a small paddock , then out with the other horses. It took a few weeks but the foal is now independant and confident in the field , even when Florrie is not there .
Florrie has now had her first saddle on . One morning I was just about to put her out but stopped to talk to someone. One of the other girls walked past with her horse's saddle and bridle , and nosey Florrie wanted to know what it was . We let her have a look then the girl said " What would she do if I put the saddle on her ?". I said she would probably be fine so I took her rug off and we put the saddle on her back. She was great . We didn't have a girth to fit her and the saddle was a little too big for her , but she didn't object in any way to having it on her back . I phoned my sister later that day to tell her , and to ask if she still had her old pony's saddle. She did so we arranged for her to bring it over on New Years Day. It fits Florrie so I have bought it from her . We tried it on and walked her round the school a few times. She was as good as gold and didn't put a foot wrong . Here are some pictures of Florrie , her "adopted baby " Dani , and Florrie wearing her first ever saddle.
First , a Before and After - so you can all see the difference since I bought her.
Florrie on 9th April 2008

Florrie in December 2008.

In the barn with the foal.





In the outdoor school.


Out in a small paddock.





The foal is out there somewhere in the distance !

Trying on a saddle for the first time - too big and no girth !

New Years Day - Florrie's first "own" saddle.




She was very good so to reward her , I took the saddle off ,

to let her have a good roll.

Posing for the camera wearing her "posh" in hand show bridle.

Showing off her leather headcollar she got for christmas.
.

She is beautiful and has come a long way. Well done to you, your doing a fab job with her, she looks so happy and chilled.
What a good girly she is looking after the foal like that too. Just be careful they don't pairbond too much or you could end up with seperation issues later,. although I am sure you already have that in hand.

Lovely to hear from you again.

What a stunner she looks now. I can see that she is very good with that foal too, how sweet of her to take care if it like that.

You have done a wonderful job with her, she really is a credit to you now xxxxxxxxxx well done

Thanks madmare and youngstevie .
To begin with , the foal stuck so close to Florrie that trying to separate them would have been an issue. As we worked over several weeks gradually introducing the foal to the other horses , she became more confident and willing to wander further away from Florrie. To begin with , she would race to Florrie's side if another horse just looked at her. As Flo is so laid back and didn't make a big deal out of this , the foal soon learned to copy her and just keep her head down grazing if another horse wandered over. The foal now grazes and interacts with all of the horses in that field. We even did things like bring Flo in early but leave the foal for half an hour longer , keeping an eye on her. We built up the time they weren't together in the field slowly so that the foal got used to Florrie not being there. Some days , we put the foal out but left Florrie in her stable. The foal did look for her at first but soon got fed up waiting and wandered off to find the other horses. Now she can go out whether Florrie is in the field or not. She stays with the other horses if Florrie comes in early.
Last weekend , I had to put Florrie in another field. My back had been very sore the week before and I wasn't able to muck out Florrie's stable. I decided that it would be better to leave Florrie out all the time rather than struggle trying to look after a stabled pony with bad backache. The foal didn't even notice Florrie was in another field