Mousey

At long last Mousey can be taken for a walk, on the lead. This can be accomplished because she now has a headcollar on. She is able to graze; not all traumatised ponies will do this so close to a predator the like of which has hurt them in the past, but Mousey has been with us for months now and has become used to Paul standing close by her.

Pre-headcollaring, he had stroked her neck and body, though only on her right hand side. This had been achieved with hours of patient work and a good deal of calm confident energy; Mousey has learnt that a kick will deter potential handlers and she will swing her rump with lightning speed and back up; she does this to Paul but he is now able to call her bluff and stands there with her backed up against him. However all the technique in the world was never going to allow a hand to get to her head, face or muzzle to put a headcollar on and there is precious little one can do to help her without that so we were at a standstill with her progress.

Mousey has two serious wounds; the top has been cut off her right ear, and a plastic tag punched through her left ear. As well as being forcibly held by men she may well have had her muzzle gripped when she was so physically abused. She may be in her late teens now and this experience has left her so frightened of humans that she cannot have her teeth checked, her feet attended to or be given any routine care. She has always been owned; luckily now by a charity who want her to overcome her fears, which is why she has come to us.

The headcollaring was achieved 2 days ago and we 'crushed' Mousey to do it. We used the mesh panels of the pen that she is used to - there is a good deal of 'give' in them so it was a secure hold. It took about half an hour for Paul firstly to desensitise her head as much as possible with his hands and then with much fiddling to work the headcollar throught the mesh and into place.

I held the panels closed at the rear end. Mousey moved backwards and forwards, several times, but she didn't panic, didn't try to go up or thrash with her feet. Before she was released Paul clipped on a long rope so that he could pick up the end once she was out of the crush. He then began to help her learn to yield to pressure and to begin leading lessons.

We have a long way to go with Mousey but we hope for steady progress as we daily repeat the message to her that humans will not hurt her again.

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