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We just left home, he's nice and fresh, Mel's just
got the camera
working.
If I put the reins down there he'll trot along lovely,
doesn't get any faster or slower.
Just going to apply the brake a little bit here
going down this hill, so it doesn't push him down and knock him over.
Got no steering on him at all, no reins on him
whatsoever and he's going down here.
Just going along lovely. Got a sign coming up here look
no reins on him whatsoever, go straight over that.
This pony came to us and had already been driving but the girl had some issues with her family
the owner, and he never got driven for a long time so he's come back
just to have a recharge and maybe pushing him further than he's been before
so i.e.
right in the middle of heavy traffic, you know all the scary stuff
and a little bit of cross-country or cone driving if you like and obstacles.
She might do a little bit of that with him
you know, just at a club level.
So he'll just go along like that, sweet as anything.
Motor coming past, if I pull him over to it, right there behind it
no trouble at all. The reason I've just done that is
it replicates someone cutting under your head
under the horse's head because they've overtaken you and there's a car coming the other way
and they've had to cut in quickly, well he doesn't mind if
they come near his nose is what I'm trying to say,
near his head.
He'll keep going and do as he's told.
He has got, in my opinion, everyone's got their own opinion of what
a horse should be and how it should behave - he'll nip you.
Well I wouldn't have that. I don't think for me personally
that is acceptable. The lady says he does it in play
well to me again that wouldn't be acceptable
because you've only got to be doing up the girth and
he comes round and catches you on the arm and really, severely hurt.
From that point of view
it wouldn't be what I would call behaved,
but if the lady is happy with that and accepts it with the pony well fair enough
but if they can do that they will also take liberties in other ways.
If they get away with that, then the next move they'll take another liberty.
First time he was here with us, first coupe of days he pushed the boundaries.
If you were leading him he'd pull the lead rope,
want to go over there and like that so we had to
exert our authority on him and say "No, this is what you'll do" - that's nothing to do with hitting or
smacking
ponies, that's just stupid that doesn't do anything at all,
all it does is make them head shy or frightened of you.
You don't want them frightened of you, you want them to respect you and do as they're told.
But they've got to respect you to do that otherwise they're not going to do
it and that's all there is too it. He pushed the boundaries with me, then he tried it with Mel,
pushing the boundaries, being a bit barge a bit pushy; nothing desperate
but what I wouldn't find acceptable, other people do.
So you get this conflicting... you know, with different people, its like how people bring up their children
they all do it different
someone else thinks that
something is acceptable that someone else wouldn't think was acceptable and its
exactly the same with horses. Its no different.
Everybody's standards are different. Our standards here are that the horses have got to be
what I've said for years now, 50 years,
safe, confident and happy in any sphere of harness work.
Whatever they're doing.
If I can drive this horse right through the middle of town in heavy traffic in a rubber bit
surely that's got to be better
than a metal bit.
Because he must be listening to me, because a horse that runs away,
you can't stop him in a metal bit, well you certainly haven't got any chance of stopping him
in a rubber bit have you? A big, soft rubber bit.
And that's why the horse's are contented and happy and I can drive
cross-country, you know, wherever, I can drive a team
with all rubber bits in because I want them to listen to me and go on the voice
and trust me enough that when I say to them, like this pony now
when I say to him "Whoa" he'll stop like that.
Shuddering... you know we just left a mark on the road
I'll just pull forwards and show you, see the skid marks on the road
as we've just hit the brakes and stopped but is he upset? Is he worried?
You heard the cart make a noise; is he jumping about? Is he "Oh my god!" is he
"Oh dear what have you done?" He's perfectly happy, because he trusts me,
he knows what I say, that's how it is
and if he does it the world's a wonderful place. That's what we're trying to do.
But everybody's standards are different and its alright saying "He can be a little bit naughty"
but in my opinion when they're at work that's no time for them to be naughty in any way.
So what I'm saying is this lady accepts the horse
nipping, you know, biting. Says he never really does it and hurts.
The problem is with that, that's a little bit of
attitude, now you don't want attitude in
a driving pony or a riding pony or any horse come to that.
They've got to do as they're told. People say natural horsemanship
its a partnership between the horse - let me tell you,
if there's horsemanship there's got to be someone in charge.
Got to be someone in charge.
You can't have a horse deciding out on this road well we'll go home now
that's no good. Got a car coming the other way or just overtaking and he
smashes straight in the side of it. that is why you've got to have
in anything you do with a horse, there's got to be a leader, and you've got to be that person.
Before I even start work on them I spend quite a bit of time
just being around them, see what sort of attitude they've got towards life, how they are, you know.
Then we try and take that and mould it the best way we possibly can to produce a good horse.
I can drive this pony, my
Melanie can drive him anywhere, Fletcher if he was home form the Navy
he'd drive it anywhere and even the girls we've got that like to
come over and give us a hand, they can drive him anywhere. And I'm telling you, drive him anywhere.
Anywhere you want to put him, they'd drive him.
But what you've got to look at...
Cchainsaw working down there look and the old horse is
as happy as a lark. As I'm trying to say when people
get them back, I can tell them how to treat them how to handle them,
how to do it. Some people listen, well I think 90% do really,
a big percentage do anyway. But some people don't.
And they'll phone me up and say, a month later,
"Oh, he's not standing still" well you've got to carry on the same way.
Its like someone trains a dog to sit at the kerb
well if you're going to take that dog and
not sit at the kerb, he won't sit at the kerb will he?
And its as simple as that.
So we've come out on the main road now
well its a bit of a rat run, you can get artics, big trucks,
coming down here, its like a short cut from the A30 to the 303.
A lot of people use it. goes through the Test Valley.
Some days you'll see nothing at all
other days you'll see quite a few. Got a van coming now, got no
reins on him at all, no way of controlling him, going straight up there
no trouble at all. So here we are, big truck coming by,
got no reins on him at all, big lorry
see look?
No reins on him whatsoever
lorry's gone past and he's safe. You might say to me
"You're mad, doing that! What if he..." Because I know the horse.
and I know he won't otherwise I wouldn't be doing it.
That's why we break horses the way we do. Like this particular pony here,
how the lady sees the pony, is not how I see the pony.
Good boy.
Just down in the High Street in Stockbridge, see Baz, no foot on the brakes
see how slack the reins are.
Big vehicle there.
Nobody standing at his head to hold him still.
All the cars going past, noise of the people around him.
Only being driven in a soft rubber bit.