Let's tame those ponies!
The pony farm that I got my start at had Welsh ponies. They were the A size Welsh ponies so were pretty small but that was a perfect size for young girls to start with.
All summer long the mares lived in the field with their foals and didn't have much contact with humans. Then in fall the herd would be brought into the barns and the mares seperated from their foals.
What a noisy time that was! After a few days they settled down and we could get to work. They were quite scared of us so the first thing we had to do was tame them. We spent a lot of time sitting quietly in their stall letting them get accustomed to us. After awhile they would get curious and come to take a sniff and see if they could figure out what we were doing. Slowly we would get them used to us touching them.
Next we had to get halters on them. We would let them sniff the halters to see that they weren't going to hurt them and then slowly ease the halters up over their nose and fasten the strap around their head. There was some head shaking and tossing for awhile as they got used to the weight. After a couple of days we hooked a rope lead to the halter and just left it hang to the ground.
This was the beginning of the lessons they would learn that winter. The next spring out to the field they would go again but for now they needed to have a little training.
Would you like to know more about a Welsh pony. Go here to find some information at this site I found.
If you only have a couple mares and they foal indoors you can tame them pretty fast. When we had this opportunity we would go in the stall and groom the mares so the foal would get used to us. They usually would come over after awhile to check us out. When they got a little used to us we could rub their necks and backs. They always liked to get scratched on the shoulders too. Within the first week we wanted to be able to put our arms around their chest and buttocks. They weren't so strong yet that we couldn't hold them. They would mostly struggle but we held on and when they stopped we would let them go. This gave them the idea that we were the boss without them getting hurt and scared.
Those were some of our early lessons and we will get to some more later on. If you have a young pony or foal you are working with remember to keep the lessons simple and short at first and keep repeating everyday. That is how they learn the best.
Martha
All summer long the mares lived in the field with their foals and didn't have much contact with humans. Then in fall the herd would be brought into the barns and the mares seperated from their foals.
What a noisy time that was! After a few days they settled down and we could get to work. They were quite scared of us so the first thing we had to do was tame them. We spent a lot of time sitting quietly in their stall letting them get accustomed to us. After awhile they would get curious and come to take a sniff and see if they could figure out what we were doing. Slowly we would get them used to us touching them.
Next we had to get halters on them. We would let them sniff the halters to see that they weren't going to hurt them and then slowly ease the halters up over their nose and fasten the strap around their head. There was some head shaking and tossing for awhile as they got used to the weight. After a couple of days we hooked a rope lead to the halter and just left it hang to the ground.
This was the beginning of the lessons they would learn that winter. The next spring out to the field they would go again but for now they needed to have a little training.
Would you like to know more about a Welsh pony. Go here to find some information at this site I found.
If you only have a couple mares and they foal indoors you can tame them pretty fast. When we had this opportunity we would go in the stall and groom the mares so the foal would get used to us. They usually would come over after awhile to check us out. When they got a little used to us we could rub their necks and backs. They always liked to get scratched on the shoulders too. Within the first week we wanted to be able to put our arms around their chest and buttocks. They weren't so strong yet that we couldn't hold them. They would mostly struggle but we held on and when they stopped we would let them go. This gave them the idea that we were the boss without them getting hurt and scared.
Those were some of our early lessons and we will get to some more later on. If you have a young pony or foal you are working with remember to keep the lessons simple and short at first and keep repeating everyday. That is how they learn the best.
Martha
posted by Martha Bloom | 7:24 PM
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