Heads or tails?

Faith was brilliant this evening. Once again I had her loose on the yard giving her a groom, and rewarding her for standing still with groomy scratches and carrots. I managed to pick all four feet up twice with no issue at all.

So I thought we would see how it went with touching her tail. Now madam is still in season, so I do appreciate that she is going to be a little sensitive around that area generally. So I just gave her a lovely scratchy on top of her bum, and then just started stroking down the length of her tail in a long slow sweeping stroke. She was absolutely fine, and got a bit of carrot etc. I just kept doing this from both sides, and she was very good. So I left it there.

However, it would seem that Faith and I share a problem with ‘hormone impaired spacial awareness’. The poor dear clonked herself right between the eyes on the corner of one of the top stable doors, and gave herself a little graze. At that point I thought it best that we return to the relative safety of her stable , for a cuddle.

Before I forget to mention it, something really lovely happened last night. I went to the stables just after 10pm, as I normally do to give everyone their last hay ration. Tilly and Tommy were standing up snoozing, but Faith was lying down. I dished out Tilly and Tommy’s hay, then rummaged around in the barn for Faith’s portion. I was amazed when she let me walk into the stable, shake out her hay, then turn and give her a stroke on the nose, while she was still lying down! I have never done that with any of my horses before, and I was really, really touched that Faith trusted me enough to let me do that.