Working with children

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.

In fact I still don't know now but being a teacher is one of the things I should have looked at more seriously. I have thought about it since the day I left school. It was a way to use my upcoming degree in fine arts, unfortunately I left the city before finishing my degree, or even completing my diploma. When we returned to our variation of civilization (being 20kms out of a small town) I thought about it again but this time as a teachers assistant. Then the year before my son was due to start school we moved again, back to the station lifestyle. I home school now (through School of the Air) as we live too far from town, which while it is very rewarding, doesn't pay nearly as well.

There is something very special about watching a child learn, seeing their minds turning, the point of understanding, the joy when they surprise you with their newfound knowledge.

I find working with our young horses just as magical.

I am in no way an expert horse trainer. Until our own stallion's progeny came along I think I would have been able to count the number of foals I'd worked with using the fingers on one hand. I had dealt with foals, youngsters and problem ponies before though and realistically this was meant to be my husband's idea and project so I could always ask him for help. I'm sure he lost count of the number of foals he had handled and horses he had broken many, many years before I met him :)

I like to leave our foals a bit, to grow in the herd, and be a horse for a while. I am always around, grooming, feeding, trimming feet and handling the mares and stallion but I never push myself onto them. If they want to come up for a sniff then that's fine with me.

At weaning time, or around six months if they are not due to be weaned for a while, I start with the halter breaking. A few sessions later and I can usually catch them out of the paddock. The process is usually quite quick once they come to realise that people=food or a good scratch. It is so rewarding to walk out into a 50 acre paddock and be immediately surrounded by youngsters who all come in for a cuddle.

When it came to float breaking the first yearling we sold I was amazed. I couldn't believe that this baby would just step up and follow me on. It wasn't instant, I had to ask her to put her legs up into the gooseneck and then work her on one leg at a time but within 20 minutes she was on and standing there quite happily beside me. Another two days of loading and then I took her for a short run, she never put a foot wrong. We travelled a three hour trip, and through the city, two days later. I could see her blink a bit, in the camera set up, as cars and trucks passed us on the road otherwise she stood there, on her own, watching the scenery fly by. When we got where we were going I unloaded her and was asked to put her in a stable. We don't have stables at home (as much as I'd like them-Ben) and she looked at me as if to say "You want me to go in there?....OK then". She was amazingly trusting, if I led- she would follow. I was told by a friend, be careful with the ones that float train and things easily, don't get complacent, they will surprise you one day.

I'm still waiting for that day.

Every foal has been a pleasure to work with. There have been small battles as you will find with every breed of foal.  They have to learn to follow the lead, yeild to pressure and tie up, a foal would not normally jump onto a float for the fun of it. We had to truck our horses North recently. We had three foals, two yearlings and two two year olds, none of which had travelled before. We'd been up North for a year and they hadn't recieved much work apart from getting their feet done by a friend. I went down three days before hand and halterbroke the foals, got five of them branded and gave them whatever training I could in the short time I had before the truck got there. There were a few struggles on loading day, the ramp was too low and we had to dig it out with the bobcat, the ramp was too narrow and we had to improvise with planks of wood and conveyor rubber to extend it into the truck, instead of being able to use the drop down ramp... we even had one of the taller mares refuse to go through the beginning of the race as it had a bar overhead that she couldn't possibly duck her head to get underneath. And as much as my husband swore and carried on that we should have already been loaded by now he did say afterward that all the horses behaved really well and he was proud of me.

I, however, am proud of my horses. There is no panic there, just a calm sensibility about them. They will look at what you want them to do or where you want them to go, look to you for guidance and then get on with it. Not a single youngster rushed backwards down the ramp that day loading, not one step back. Granted there was a lot of stopping and having a look but we never went backwards.

I am in no way an expert horse trainer... but these youngsters sure make me look like one :)