Back to work....

Not Faith, obviously, nor me (God forbid!), but poor old Tilly. After having the best part of a year off work due to my pregnancy, the poor old girl is facing being conscripted once again into the world of honest labour, hauling my fat butt around the place.

Now obviously this will mean that Faith will have to face being in either the field or the stable on her own, now that Tommy is no longer with us. Now I’m quite sure that Faith would be absolutely fine in the field on her own if I was working with Tilly in the school, because the school adjoins both paddocks, so there would only be a fence between us.

However, if I wanted to take Tilly out on a hack, or if I wanted to keep Faith in the stable while Tilly and I were in the school, then obviously we would be out of sight, and I need to know that Faith would be OK with that. I could of course keep her out in the field on her own while Tilly and I were out and about. This would mean that she would still be able to see my neighbours horses who are two fields away. In theory this should help lessen her anxiety, but having said that, it didn’t seem very soothing to Tommy who injured himself badly in that same situation. So badly in fact that he was never sound again. Now it should go without saying that if Faith injured herself tomorrow and could never be ridden, she would still have a home with me for life, and be loved every bit as much as ever. But still, I’d rather she didn’t hurt herself. Also I think it is important that she should be able to stay in the stable by herself and not worry about it, as who knows what scenarios may arise in the future.

So with all this in mind, as well as the fact that Tilly is not in any physical condition to begin proper ‘work’ right now, I thought I would combine Tilly’s gradual re-introduction to ridden exercise, with helping Faith overcome her seperation anxiety.

So this evening I tacked Tilly up, mounted and just stood next to Faith’s stable for a minute or so. I then rode Tilly through the barn and into the back field, keeping within Faith’s line of sight at all times. Before Faith could get too worried, we turned and came back in and stood next to her stable. We repeated this about six or seven times over the next fifteen minutes or so, staying withing Faith’s line of sight the whole time, but not going back into the yard until she was standing calmly in her stable. After the seventh time, we left it at that.

So the plan is to progress like this in tiny increments, always staying within Faith’s line of sight. When she is happy with us being out in the field for a reasonable amount of time within her sight, then we will start disappearing from her view a second at a time. Obviously if anyone has any other suggestions as to how we should progress, all ideas are gratefully received!