One thing that constantly amazes me about Faith is her boundless curiosity. My other two neds have pretty much seen everything, and frankly if something isn’t at least as interesting as the grass in front of their faces, then it isn’t worth bothering about.
However, Faith has to investigate absolutely everything. We had an amusing incident with the tractor the other week. Michael was moving a pallet of bedding on to the yard using the forks on the back of the tractor. He had to drive through the front paddock to get to the yard, and the horses just happened to be in there.
Tilly and Tommy have long found tractors, and farm machinery in general incredibly boring, and barely spare it a passing glance. Faith however thought that the tractor was the most interesting thing ever, and totally prevented Michael’s progress across the field by standing directly in front of him, blocking his path. Once satisfied about the front of the tractor, she proceeded to explore every bit of it that she could reach, going around the back and up the other side. Only when she was satisfied, did she let Michael continue on his way, and even then followed him across the paddock until I closed the yard gates behind him.
Well today we had a delivery of 16 telegraph poles. They arrived on the back of a vast articulated lorry, which had a massive crane and a grab. I shut the horses in the front paddock next to the road while the driver unloaded the telegraph poles on to the railway line. Well all the time the poles were being unloaded, I could see Faith straining to get her head and neck as far over the fence as she could to inspect the delivery as it was being made. I am hoping that this natural curiosity and fearlessness of machinery will stand us in good stead when we eventually start hacking around the machine infested countryside of the Fens!
Monday, 6 September 2010
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Some thinking time....
This morning I decided to return to Velcro desensitisation, as well as doing a bit more cone work. I am a great believer in latent learning, so I hoped that Faith would have been processing our last few efforts with Velcro, and be feeling more relaxed about things.
As the weather is nice and quiet at the moment, we are taking the opportunity to work mainly on the yard, which is great. So I started ripping the Velcro, and clicking for Faith standing nice and still, which she generally does. I do this on quite a quick repetition, so that Faith can have a really high rate of reinforcement for it. So Faith is fine with it when I stand by her head, by her shoulder or by her tummy. What I really want to be able to do is rest it on her and rip the Velcro. So we worked up to that, I rested the fly mask on her shoulder, ripped the Velcro, and she skipped away. Too much Mum, don’t like that. OK then, I stood by her shoulder, did a few more rips while she stood quietly, and moved on to cone work.
Now I have probably done cone work with Faith maybe five or six times, compared to the twenty or so times I have done Velcro desensitisation with her. This morning her strike rate for picking up the cone and giving it to me was 100%! Brilliant! Now having said that, we still have some refinements to make. The behaviour is not on cue (at least not an intentional cue that I am giving), so the behaviour is not completely under control yet. Also because my cones are really light, I keep my toe on the corner of the base so she doesn’t knock it over, this means her strike rate can be higher, and consequently the rate of reinforcement is higher, which motivates her.
I need to revise my policy on this, as dealing with frustration and developing emotional control is something Faith needs to work on. I am of course bearing in mind that she is only just two years old, so I am not judging her too harshly, still it is a lesson that is best learned sooner rather than later. At the moment she deals with her frustration by giving me her ‘big’ shoulder and getting close to walking into me. She does this quite slowly, and I simply back her up by gesturing at her chest, and when she backs up a couple of steps out of my space, she gets rewarded, and we start again. There is nothing aggressive about it, but she is just clearly telling me that she doesn’t enjoy not getting it right, and finds it frustrating. So yes, I need to allow her to get it wrong a bit more, so that she becomes OK with that. In a sense, I have sacrificed that part of building the behaviour, in order to help get that behaviour established, and now I need to go back and address that.
But I couldn’t help thinking that even factoring all those points in, Faith has learned to pick up a cone faster than she has learned to accept Velcro. Now I wonder why that is. I have noticed that her body language is totally different between doing cone stuff and doing Velcro stuff. If I’m honest with myself when we are doing Velcro stuff, her weight is almost always on her outside fore, and she is looking away slightly. She is prepared to stay (and she is at liberty, so doesn’t have to), but in her heart of hearts, she would rather go. It also might be that cone work is just more fun for her because it is very interactive, (she is doing something, rather than having something done to her), so she is really in more control of the situation. It also might be that I am generally more relaxed about the cone work, because let’s face it, it really doesn’t matter if Faith can’t pick up a small plastic cone, but it kind of does matter if she can’t accept a rug. So maybe I am just giving off unconscious signals of tension when doing the rug stuff.
So what to do about it? Well firstly I am going to stop getting my knickers in a twist about rugs. I am going to buy a cheapy one like Tilly and Tommy’s rainsheets, that has no Velcro, and will more than adequately keep her dry. If I can’t use the ‘posh’ rugs till she is three four or five, then who cares, as long as she is healthy and dry somehow.
I am also going to keep up the work with Velcro, but slow it right down to ensure that she is totally relaxed with it, according to what I pick up from her body language.
So this brings me neatly on to the usefulness of teaching what I call ‘daft things’. Now I am not a fan of trick training, I have always been open about that. By that, I mean I don’t like the idea of teaching horses to do stuff that is essentially a human activity. For example, Alex Kurland (who I very much admire) shows horses who are trained to pick a paper out of a letter box, or put a basket ball through a hoop. I don’t really like that, as it seems to be trying to teach the horse to be a kind of pseudo-human, and I like horses to be horses, because their non-humanness is one reason why I like them so much! I feel the same about teaching dogs tricks as well.
Anyhow, there are some ‘daft things’ (such as picking up a cone) which I think can be ethically taught, because it is fun for the horse, it teaches them how to learn, and also it teaches the trainer how to teach. This is what I have found with Faith’s cone work. In itself it is a useless activity, however, when comparing it to the other stuff that I am teaching (e.g. rug stuff), it has been useful to compare and contrast not only the results, but the processes themselves. For example, the cone work has highlighted the need to help Faith with emotional control, that it is a good time to start teaching her about yielding her shoulders and quarters. It has helped to introduce carrot stretches, it has highlighted that being able to help the horse feel that they are in control of their training, makes them more confident, which in turn speeds up the learning process. It has also made me aware of things like the correct mechanics of treat delivery, and the importance of incorporating failure into the learning process, or rather, allowing it to be part of the process.
This will then inform and develop my training when it comes to the more ’important stuff’, and hopefully make it a more pleasurable and fruitful process for both Faith and I.
As the weather is nice and quiet at the moment, we are taking the opportunity to work mainly on the yard, which is great. So I started ripping the Velcro, and clicking for Faith standing nice and still, which she generally does. I do this on quite a quick repetition, so that Faith can have a really high rate of reinforcement for it. So Faith is fine with it when I stand by her head, by her shoulder or by her tummy. What I really want to be able to do is rest it on her and rip the Velcro. So we worked up to that, I rested the fly mask on her shoulder, ripped the Velcro, and she skipped away. Too much Mum, don’t like that. OK then, I stood by her shoulder, did a few more rips while she stood quietly, and moved on to cone work.
Now I have probably done cone work with Faith maybe five or six times, compared to the twenty or so times I have done Velcro desensitisation with her. This morning her strike rate for picking up the cone and giving it to me was 100%! Brilliant! Now having said that, we still have some refinements to make. The behaviour is not on cue (at least not an intentional cue that I am giving), so the behaviour is not completely under control yet. Also because my cones are really light, I keep my toe on the corner of the base so she doesn’t knock it over, this means her strike rate can be higher, and consequently the rate of reinforcement is higher, which motivates her.
I need to revise my policy on this, as dealing with frustration and developing emotional control is something Faith needs to work on. I am of course bearing in mind that she is only just two years old, so I am not judging her too harshly, still it is a lesson that is best learned sooner rather than later. At the moment she deals with her frustration by giving me her ‘big’ shoulder and getting close to walking into me. She does this quite slowly, and I simply back her up by gesturing at her chest, and when she backs up a couple of steps out of my space, she gets rewarded, and we start again. There is nothing aggressive about it, but she is just clearly telling me that she doesn’t enjoy not getting it right, and finds it frustrating. So yes, I need to allow her to get it wrong a bit more, so that she becomes OK with that. In a sense, I have sacrificed that part of building the behaviour, in order to help get that behaviour established, and now I need to go back and address that.
But I couldn’t help thinking that even factoring all those points in, Faith has learned to pick up a cone faster than she has learned to accept Velcro. Now I wonder why that is. I have noticed that her body language is totally different between doing cone stuff and doing Velcro stuff. If I’m honest with myself when we are doing Velcro stuff, her weight is almost always on her outside fore, and she is looking away slightly. She is prepared to stay (and she is at liberty, so doesn’t have to), but in her heart of hearts, she would rather go. It also might be that cone work is just more fun for her because it is very interactive, (she is doing something, rather than having something done to her), so she is really in more control of the situation. It also might be that I am generally more relaxed about the cone work, because let’s face it, it really doesn’t matter if Faith can’t pick up a small plastic cone, but it kind of does matter if she can’t accept a rug. So maybe I am just giving off unconscious signals of tension when doing the rug stuff.
So what to do about it? Well firstly I am going to stop getting my knickers in a twist about rugs. I am going to buy a cheapy one like Tilly and Tommy’s rainsheets, that has no Velcro, and will more than adequately keep her dry. If I can’t use the ‘posh’ rugs till she is three four or five, then who cares, as long as she is healthy and dry somehow.
I am also going to keep up the work with Velcro, but slow it right down to ensure that she is totally relaxed with it, according to what I pick up from her body language.
So this brings me neatly on to the usefulness of teaching what I call ‘daft things’. Now I am not a fan of trick training, I have always been open about that. By that, I mean I don’t like the idea of teaching horses to do stuff that is essentially a human activity. For example, Alex Kurland (who I very much admire) shows horses who are trained to pick a paper out of a letter box, or put a basket ball through a hoop. I don’t really like that, as it seems to be trying to teach the horse to be a kind of pseudo-human, and I like horses to be horses, because their non-humanness is one reason why I like them so much! I feel the same about teaching dogs tricks as well.
Anyhow, there are some ‘daft things’ (such as picking up a cone) which I think can be ethically taught, because it is fun for the horse, it teaches them how to learn, and also it teaches the trainer how to teach. This is what I have found with Faith’s cone work. In itself it is a useless activity, however, when comparing it to the other stuff that I am teaching (e.g. rug stuff), it has been useful to compare and contrast not only the results, but the processes themselves. For example, the cone work has highlighted the need to help Faith with emotional control, that it is a good time to start teaching her about yielding her shoulders and quarters. It has helped to introduce carrot stretches, it has highlighted that being able to help the horse feel that they are in control of their training, makes them more confident, which in turn speeds up the learning process. It has also made me aware of things like the correct mechanics of treat delivery, and the importance of incorporating failure into the learning process, or rather, allowing it to be part of the process.
This will then inform and develop my training when it comes to the more ’important stuff’, and hopefully make it a more pleasurable and fruitful process for both Faith and I.
Friday, 3 September 2010
Multi-tasking training!
Multi-tasking training!
I have never made any claims of being a domestic goddess, or even an averagely efficient woman, and my beloved husband constantly teases me about having a short concentration span. However, today I hit upon an ingenious plan for multi-tasking training.
The aim of our recent rug desensitising sessions has been to get Faith used to the feeling of the rug on her back when she moves. We have had some limited success with this as it has been either a bit too windy on the yard, therefore limiting us to the stable, or I have been too poorly to do stuff with the rug adequately.
Now today it was a lovely calm evening, and I am slightly less of a snot monster than I have been, so I decided to do some rug stuff on the yard, and...now here’s the ingenious bit...combine it with some ‘picking up the cone’ stuff, to get her moving around a bit more. Tah dah!
Well it worked really well, and she was concentrating so hard on the cone that we really improved on yesterday’s work, with the added bonus that she was also wearing the summer sheet as well. We carried on like this for nearly ten minutes, with Faith backing and coming forward, and stretching down while wearing the rug.
But this is of course the real world, and my chooks happened to come around the corner making a bit of a fuss. This got Faith a little worried and I could see her ears flicking back to the rug, and her mouth became a little tense. So I quickly undid the rug and slid it off before it became an issue. Once the chooks were out the way, I popped the rug back on her for a few minutes and rewarded her for standing quietly, then took it off again, and we returned to ‘naked cone stuff’, and again she did really well.
So I think we shall carry on in this way for a few sessions until the rug becomes completely incidental. I am pleased with today’s progress though. Well done Faith!
I have never made any claims of being a domestic goddess, or even an averagely efficient woman, and my beloved husband constantly teases me about having a short concentration span. However, today I hit upon an ingenious plan for multi-tasking training.
The aim of our recent rug desensitising sessions has been to get Faith used to the feeling of the rug on her back when she moves. We have had some limited success with this as it has been either a bit too windy on the yard, therefore limiting us to the stable, or I have been too poorly to do stuff with the rug adequately.
Now today it was a lovely calm evening, and I am slightly less of a snot monster than I have been, so I decided to do some rug stuff on the yard, and...now here’s the ingenious bit...combine it with some ‘picking up the cone’ stuff, to get her moving around a bit more. Tah dah!
Well it worked really well, and she was concentrating so hard on the cone that we really improved on yesterday’s work, with the added bonus that she was also wearing the summer sheet as well. We carried on like this for nearly ten minutes, with Faith backing and coming forward, and stretching down while wearing the rug.
But this is of course the real world, and my chooks happened to come around the corner making a bit of a fuss. This got Faith a little worried and I could see her ears flicking back to the rug, and her mouth became a little tense. So I quickly undid the rug and slid it off before it became an issue. Once the chooks were out the way, I popped the rug back on her for a few minutes and rewarded her for standing quietly, then took it off again, and we returned to ‘naked cone stuff’, and again she did really well.
So I think we shall carry on in this way for a few sessions until the rug becomes completely incidental. I am pleased with today’s progress though. Well done Faith!
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Lovely Moments!
A couple of very lovely things happened yesterday. Normally I try to do two clicker sessions with Faith every day, one after brekkie and one just before tea. However, yesterday we were spending the day with friends, and I didn’t have time for our post-brekkie session.
So, having brought the horses in for the evening, given them some hay and poo picked the field, I strapped on my bum bag of treats and headed towards Faith’s stable to do some CT. Well blow me down if that little mare didn’t stick her head over the bottom stable door and give me a full on neigh! I nearly dropped!
So I gave her a brush, and we did some more work with the rug, and she was totally brilliant. Then as the wind had dropped a bit, I let her out on to the yard and we did some stuff with a cone. The previous day she had learned to target it, then touch it with her nose when I put it on the floor and pointed to it, and she had just started to grab it with her teeth. So we reviewed all that, and I started working on encouraging her to pick it up with her teeth. As usual she caught on really fast. At one point she held it up long enough to let me take it from her. Unfortunately it just bounced off my finger tips and rolled under her tummy, coming to rest against her back hoof.
Now there was a time when this would have sparked off a little Faith whirlwind, and she would have done something very fast and dramatic to get herself away from the cone. Not anymore. She simply stood there looking a little perplexed, then shifted forward slightly, stumbled over the cone a bit, which shot out behind her, and then stood quite still and relaxed looking pleased with herself. Brilliant! She is turning into a thinking horse instead of a reacting one, and I am just loving being able to watch and take part in the process!
So, having brought the horses in for the evening, given them some hay and poo picked the field, I strapped on my bum bag of treats and headed towards Faith’s stable to do some CT. Well blow me down if that little mare didn’t stick her head over the bottom stable door and give me a full on neigh! I nearly dropped!
So I gave her a brush, and we did some more work with the rug, and she was totally brilliant. Then as the wind had dropped a bit, I let her out on to the yard and we did some stuff with a cone. The previous day she had learned to target it, then touch it with her nose when I put it on the floor and pointed to it, and she had just started to grab it with her teeth. So we reviewed all that, and I started working on encouraging her to pick it up with her teeth. As usual she caught on really fast. At one point she held it up long enough to let me take it from her. Unfortunately it just bounced off my finger tips and rolled under her tummy, coming to rest against her back hoof.
Now there was a time when this would have sparked off a little Faith whirlwind, and she would have done something very fast and dramatic to get herself away from the cone. Not anymore. She simply stood there looking a little perplexed, then shifted forward slightly, stumbled over the cone a bit, which shot out behind her, and then stood quite still and relaxed looking pleased with herself. Brilliant! She is turning into a thinking horse instead of a reacting one, and I am just loving being able to watch and take part in the process!
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Stuck!
More rug work this morning. Unfortunately we are confined to working in the stable at the moment because the weather is so windy, which is not really ideal for working with rugs!
So what I have been aiming for, is to get Faith used to the feeling of the rug on her back as she moves. The last thing I want is for her to have a panic at the feeling that something is ‘on’ her, or ‘chasing’ her.
I had actually intended to do this with the rug folded into thirds and just draped across her withers initially. However, I had it totally over her back, but undone at the front (there are no belly straps on this one, it is just a light cotton sheet), and she just happened to move her quarters over. So I thought that we would just use the moment, and I encouraged her with my body language to take a step forward.
Now normally she is very responsive to this, and would just take a step towards me, which is all I really wanted. However, glancing over my shoulder, I could see she wanted to, by the tiny tiny shift of her weight forward, but something seemed to stop her and she shifted her weight back again. I gestured for her to come forward again, and the same thing happened, and she began to look a bit tight around the mouth.
So I stepped towards her again and stood at her shoulder, stroking her neck and having a think. Then it dawned on me. I have so far been rewarding her for standing absolutely still as the rug goes on. Now I’m suddenly asking her to move, in one big chunk, the total opposite of what I have been asking her before. Cue slapping forehead with hand and rolling of eyes!
So we went back to doing something which she finds really really easy, and offers readily; picking up her front feet. The idea being that the shift in weight and slight movement will allow her to feel the rug moving with her slightly, and we will gradually begin to mobilize her under the rug, and ‘unstick’ her bit by bit.
I was delighted with this moment of daftness on my part, as it has now shown me how to break it down into smaller and smaller bits for Faith, and start the pendulum swinging the other way. I have to say, I had a grin a mile wide all over my face, and just felt so energised and inspired about this method of training. I love it, love it, LOVE IT!
So what I have been aiming for, is to get Faith used to the feeling of the rug on her back as she moves. The last thing I want is for her to have a panic at the feeling that something is ‘on’ her, or ‘chasing’ her.
I had actually intended to do this with the rug folded into thirds and just draped across her withers initially. However, I had it totally over her back, but undone at the front (there are no belly straps on this one, it is just a light cotton sheet), and she just happened to move her quarters over. So I thought that we would just use the moment, and I encouraged her with my body language to take a step forward.
Now normally she is very responsive to this, and would just take a step towards me, which is all I really wanted. However, glancing over my shoulder, I could see she wanted to, by the tiny tiny shift of her weight forward, but something seemed to stop her and she shifted her weight back again. I gestured for her to come forward again, and the same thing happened, and she began to look a bit tight around the mouth.
So I stepped towards her again and stood at her shoulder, stroking her neck and having a think. Then it dawned on me. I have so far been rewarding her for standing absolutely still as the rug goes on. Now I’m suddenly asking her to move, in one big chunk, the total opposite of what I have been asking her before. Cue slapping forehead with hand and rolling of eyes!
So we went back to doing something which she finds really really easy, and offers readily; picking up her front feet. The idea being that the shift in weight and slight movement will allow her to feel the rug moving with her slightly, and we will gradually begin to mobilize her under the rug, and ‘unstick’ her bit by bit.
I was delighted with this moment of daftness on my part, as it has now shown me how to break it down into smaller and smaller bits for Faith, and start the pendulum swinging the other way. I have to say, I had a grin a mile wide all over my face, and just felt so energised and inspired about this method of training. I love it, love it, LOVE IT!
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Beauty
I’m afraid this blog update is going to be a shamelessly self indulgent eulogy in praise of the utter beauty and grace that is LVA Faith.
I have to start off by saying that I think that all horses are beautiful in their own way, particularly my horses. Tilly has an inner beauty and wisdom that shines through her eyes, and often brings me close to tears. Tommy is spectacularly and magnificently handsome, and is the sort of horse that will make me take a step back and say ‘Wow!’ He is the sort of horse that the word ‘gorgeous’ was invented to describe.
But Faith is becoming more and more beautiful by the day. Sometimes it is the exquisitely graceful arch of her neck that takes my breath away. It looks like it has been perfectly carved from marble, and is the combination of living strength and graceful architecture. At other times it is the effortless flow of her movement, where each stride is a mere whisper of a touch against the earth as she floats with silent power over the ground.
But it is her manner that touches me most. She has an innocent, childlike curiosity that is utterly charming. Everything she does is a perfectly honest illustration of her feelings, be it playful, fearful, curious or affectionate. She very much communicates the desire to be close, to understand, and to have a dialogue and relationship. This, together with an innate gentleness, so typical of her breed, makes her a totally captivating person. It is no wonder that I fell in love with Faith more quickly than I have done with any other horse, and the reason that whenever I am with her, she makes me smile from the inside out.
I have to start off by saying that I think that all horses are beautiful in their own way, particularly my horses. Tilly has an inner beauty and wisdom that shines through her eyes, and often brings me close to tears. Tommy is spectacularly and magnificently handsome, and is the sort of horse that will make me take a step back and say ‘Wow!’ He is the sort of horse that the word ‘gorgeous’ was invented to describe.
But Faith is becoming more and more beautiful by the day. Sometimes it is the exquisitely graceful arch of her neck that takes my breath away. It looks like it has been perfectly carved from marble, and is the combination of living strength and graceful architecture. At other times it is the effortless flow of her movement, where each stride is a mere whisper of a touch against the earth as she floats with silent power over the ground.
But it is her manner that touches me most. She has an innocent, childlike curiosity that is utterly charming. Everything she does is a perfectly honest illustration of her feelings, be it playful, fearful, curious or affectionate. She very much communicates the desire to be close, to understand, and to have a dialogue and relationship. This, together with an innate gentleness, so typical of her breed, makes her a totally captivating person. It is no wonder that I fell in love with Faith more quickly than I have done with any other horse, and the reason that whenever I am with her, she makes me smile from the inside out.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Blue Smarties!
Owing to the horribly dry summer, our grass has not been growing well, and has for a few weeks now been nothing but brown and crispy. So I decided that rather than use up our precious hay resources, which are going to be badly needed this winter, I would start giving the neds some sugar beet to bulk up their feeds. I also decided that breakfast and lunch would be added to the daily routine.
In theory this was a good plan as sugar beet is a vastly underestimated source of fibre and calcium, and would stop them feeling hungry without making them fat. However, when I went to purchase the sugar beet, I had not counted on the appearance of pregna-vision. Now pregna-vision, like its sister issue pregna-memory, is a phenomenon that commonly affects ladies who are ‘in the family way’. During my first pregnancy, pregna-memory saw me trying for half an hour to get the school photocopier to accept my bank card PIN number, rather than the photocopier code. This time pregna-vision ensured that I bought entirely the wrong type of sugar beet, which happens to have been liberally dosed with molasses. Consequently, for the past week, the neds have been receiving three very large meals a day, comprising mainly of heavily molassed sugar beet. Essentially the equine equivalent of feeding them a cartload of blue Smarties!
The results could be clearly seen this morning as the neds were doing laps of the PP track at a flat out gallop. Well Faith was going flat out, and Tilly and Tommy were doing there (rather inadequate) best to keep up with her. Disturbingly, when Faith hits top-gear, you can’t actually hear her hoofbeats. The only warning I have of their impending speedy approach is the sound of Tommy huffing and puffing, and his feet clumping along at speed.
Fortunately the sugar beet is now finished and is being replaced by a much more suitable product called ‘fast fibre’. ‘Fast’ referring to the speed at which it swells when soaked, not, I hasten to add, to the effect it has on the horses!
In theory this was a good plan as sugar beet is a vastly underestimated source of fibre and calcium, and would stop them feeling hungry without making them fat. However, when I went to purchase the sugar beet, I had not counted on the appearance of pregna-vision. Now pregna-vision, like its sister issue pregna-memory, is a phenomenon that commonly affects ladies who are ‘in the family way’. During my first pregnancy, pregna-memory saw me trying for half an hour to get the school photocopier to accept my bank card PIN number, rather than the photocopier code. This time pregna-vision ensured that I bought entirely the wrong type of sugar beet, which happens to have been liberally dosed with molasses. Consequently, for the past week, the neds have been receiving three very large meals a day, comprising mainly of heavily molassed sugar beet. Essentially the equine equivalent of feeding them a cartload of blue Smarties!
The results could be clearly seen this morning as the neds were doing laps of the PP track at a flat out gallop. Well Faith was going flat out, and Tilly and Tommy were doing there (rather inadequate) best to keep up with her. Disturbingly, when Faith hits top-gear, you can’t actually hear her hoofbeats. The only warning I have of their impending speedy approach is the sound of Tommy huffing and puffing, and his feet clumping along at speed.
Fortunately the sugar beet is now finished and is being replaced by a much more suitable product called ‘fast fibre’. ‘Fast’ referring to the speed at which it swells when soaked, not, I hasten to add, to the effect it has on the horses!
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