Sorry everyone for a bit of a delay in posting but it's been such a busy couple of weeks. Here's a progress report for Topsy. We've had some pretty shocking weather some days, and if it's torrential rain and gale force winds, then the girls enjoy the luxury of staying in the stable out of the bad weather. For Topsy though, this spoiled the routine that she's been used to, and this set her back a bit.
When you have ponies at this crucial early stage of working through their trauma, they have what we call "rituals" - where they perceive that as long as
everything is done in the same order, or the same way, then everything will be OK. If you alter anything - could be yourself wearing a coat rather than a jumper, headcollaring another pony first, or doing your stable routine slightly differently - they revert back to their old behaviour, and you have to start working on developing trust in basic areas all over again.
Of course, the idea is that the pony won't always be as ritualistic as this, and you will gradually be able to change things once they are more comfortable...but at the moment, this is where Topsy is at....in the "early days", "ritualistic" phase.
Here's some pictures of the girls enjoying a rare afternoon of lovely, warm sunshine. Topsy actually approached me, came down the lawn, fairly close, pawed the ground, laid down, and rolled. Ponies are vulnerable when they roll, so it's good that she felt OK to put herself in such a vulnerable position next to a human...but in reality, this is because Topsy knows that I won't try to touch her or grab her, and she'll always stay at that crucial distance beyond the "danger" zone of a human...so it's not a sign that she's as trusting of humans, as you might think it would be!
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| Tufty having a snooze |
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| Topsy's approach |
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| Preparing to roll! |
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| "Going Over" |
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| Time to get up |
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| Always have a good shake to finish! |
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