SPLASHING!!!

Yesterday we took the ponies down to the stream, which is in a beautiful wooded valley just down the hill from the yard. Joe was his usual mellow and sedate self, but the moment Othello get to the stream he climbs into the water and starts kicking it around for all he's worth.
( Caution, images of gratuitous splashing within )

The Right Honourable Joseph Pony Esq.

It's a week since the Silversand Clinic that I detailed at such length in previous posts and as you may recall, if you were persistent enough to read that far, I finished the description of the clinic talking about the last teaching session where Lou and Joe did liberty work together, walking patterns together in a round pen without any rope between them, so Joe was only staying with Lou because he really wanted to.

At the end of the session, Karen, Joe's owner announced that there was a very special prize for the weekend's achievements. She gave Lou an envelope which, when opened, contained a letter granting ownership of Mr Joseph Pony to Louise. Karen is one of the most outstanding horsepeople I have ever met and she is utterly devoted to her horses - even to have Joe on loan from her was an extraordinary honour. Lou and Karen both burst into tears and hugged one another and Joe responded in the only appropriate way he could. Noticing Lou's attention was on other matters he said te horse equivalent of "bollocks to this girly stuff" and bolted off at top speed down the field, pulling the rope out of Lou's hand and rampaging to the gate. Discovering it was shut, he shifted to a spectacular trot and went half way around the field, rope trailing, and then back to the gate. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life and completely broke the moment. Lou had stopped laughing by this time and started heading over to the gate whereupon Joe, his point made, turned round and cantered up to her. It was a truly priceless moment.

The outcome of the weekend is that Joe now belongs to us for the rest of his days. He has been an absolute star in the time he has been with us so far and we are incalculably lucky to have him. It is a great mark of Lou's skill and the bond between her and Joe that Karen has made a gift of him but I think she knows that he has a home with us for as long as he lives and she has other horses that need her amazing gifts at helping and communicating with them. Joe will continue to be as happy as we can make him, wherever we all are.