The Trials of Traumatised Ponies

Tufty is progressing at a very fast rate now - she is starting to have a variety of people handle her, and she can now do all the basics required of a pony, including having her feet picked up.  Although we might have to do some things with her in a set way at the moment, she will gradually progress to being headcollared in different ways, and become accustomed to the different ways that people do things.  As you can see from this photo, she is improving in bodily condition too.

Topsy is potentially the most traumatised pony we've had for rehabilitation, which, after having had Mousey is really saying something!  Ponies can express fear in different ways - either outwardly (e.g where they might run in panic etc) or inwardly (where they might freeze or mentally shut down).  Usually, headcollaring is a major step forward with a pony and their progress, but with Topsy, one of the problems we have discovered is that she has an extreme fear of ropes.  She doesn't run off when she has the rope attached, but expresses her trauma inwardly.  Even though we know a lead rope isn't going to hurt her, or cause her pain, Topsy cannot see this.  Her trauma which she associates with ropes is so strong it completely overrides any attempt for "logical" reasoning - her memory of something that happened, or perceived to happen, is so strong she can't see through it.  Of course, we don't know what the original event was with ropes that caused Topsy to react like this, and we need to try to find a way to help her.  We have had other ponies before that have been scared of ropes, but not to the extreme degree of Topsy's trauma.

Seeing ponies with trauma is very frustrating to watch and to have to deal with.  We know through experience that the trauma that Topsy (...and other ponies that have been ruined), experience and have to live with is totally unnecessary.  As wild youngsters,  with the right handling techniques, they could have learnt all their basic skills without trauma in just a weekend...

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