Maybe it’s his good looks (always an asset in this life), maybe it’s his kind nature, or is it his air of “ little boy lost”? Whatever it is Billy certainly has gathered a following of devoted fans.
Four and a half years ago he captivated his present owner Karen, at the yard where he had been sent by his owners to be brought back into work following an “ injury”. He had been turned out with some young stock for almost a year, and during that time had been handled and cuddled; he had acquired a reputation for jumping out of his field. Karen’s enquiries about his past did not reveal much apart from the fact that he had been drag hunting (aged 4) with children and had proved too strong for them.
Karen fell in love with him and volunteered to help bring him back into work as the yard owner was short of time. With another girl at the yard, she shared the responsibility of riding and caring for him. She described him as a happy pony.
He was intermittentently unreliable at being caught, loading and standing still for mounting. He was still jumping out of his field occasionally and fighting with other geldings if mares were around, but he was fine hacking out, drag hunting and cross-country and clipping didn’t appear to bother him at all.
With Billy’s owners losing interest in him daily it was Karen’s opportunity to make Billy her own and so over the next few months she paid for him in instalments. At last she felt she had some control over Billy’s welfare and started to voice her feelings about the concerns she had. He was ridden in the tack he came with, a creaky saddle, a 3-ring continental gag and a standing martingale. Friends at the yard told Karen that the saddle was fine, but off came the martingale and the reins were moved to the snaffle ring of the gag, progress was starting to be made!
Karen started lunging and having group riding lessons at the yard with Billy in which she says he started to listen to her and slow down a bit they also enjoyed some sponsored rides. Up till now he had been very much a “point and GO” pony (note the emphasis on the “go”) and Karen would have liked them to stop charging around so much!
Being a thoughtful person, she decided to call out one of the IH Recommended Associates, Sue Brown, to see if they could get to the bottom of Billy’s occasional “I don’t want to be caught” phases. Sue arrived and as she and Karen walked over to Billy’s field he trotted over to see them both and practically put on his own head collar!! So they had a long chat about various “what ifs” and talked through the jumping out of his field problem.
Karen had an accident, (not Billy’s fault) broke her arm and could not ride for several weeks. As she works with dogs and has done some clicker training with them, she decided to try this out with Billy. The “click” sound sent him into a complete panic so she used the word “yes” as a bridge signal. This was fun and she taught Billy to touch a target and shake hands, but he started to get too pushy and was so intent on getting the rewards that he stopped listening to her requests. . . end of clicker training!
She thought maybe a move to a smaller yard might help things a long where he could have more consistency of handling and turnout, it might also be a good idea to have the I.H involved again and start some groundwork. Sue Brown was now at University through the week, so she contacted her other local R.A Sandra Williams. A date was made for some ground work to begin, it would be Sandra’s first meeting with Karen and Billy and turn out to be an unforgettable time………
Chapter 2 Spring 2003 – Autumn 2003
Billy had decided that today would be one of his “I don’t want to be caught” days, so Karen and Sandra’s plan of starting with the groundwork was thrown out of the window. 3 - 4 acres of field and with other horses at foot Billy had his first meeting with Sandra; it turned out to be very emotional.
Join-up is not always needed or often used by R.A’s when making home visits, as facilities are not always suitable, so a lot of the work is done in a Dually or head collar and long rope.
This turned out to be join-up of a rather pure sense for Sandra because they were just out there in this large space with all these other distractions, when he started to circle her and show signs of understanding what Sandra was trying to achieve, she could almost hear him screaming. This lovely little pony appeared so much to want to be part of what was going on and yet he seemingly had another little voice telling him to stay away. After sometime they were nose to shoulder, a mix of emotions, Billy so relieved that someone was able to hear him, Karen realising that there appeared to be a chance of really unlocking this little horse, Sophie (student travelling with Sandra) taking it all in, having only seen work at a Demo or Hartsop Farm and Sandra who was on as much of a high as she was drained.
A few weeks passed and Sandra received another call from Karen to say it really hadn’t suited them at the yard; she had taken him back to the original place (they were within a stone’s throw which meant he could be hacked there).
Winter 2003
By now she had also been able to replace the creaky saddle with a made to measure both, ‘Holistic one’. “Would you come and see us again to try the groundwork?”
This time Sandra was able to achieve some foundation work with both Karen and Billy and leave them with some home work, they also had a chat about the loading, catching and tack which would all start to be linked in to their life. It was decided that a visit from a Physiotherapist or similar would be a good idea and then to address the saddle, catching, mounting and "going everywhere fast" were still issues.
Spring - Autumn 2004
A couple of months passed and a visit was made to see how things were coming along, Sandra was told that the Physio had suggested some x-rays as there was a possibility of kissing spine. This visit they concentrated on loading. As Billy had been working through poles and understanding how to release him self from pressure’s it didn’t take too long to have him loading himself, Karen continued to practice over the next few days. He was now ready for the visit to the veterinary hospital, he loaded and travelled well to the veterinary hospital and the x-rays showed there was soft tissue damage on his back under the saddle, shock wave therapy and 6 months box rest was prescribed. After all the day’s events Billy was none too pleased about loading to come home so after some sedation and 4 BIG men lifting him in he was on his way.
His treatment was continued at home and he seemed to enjoy the therapy even though the shock wave machine was large and very noisy. Box rest seemed to go well, though by the end of it Karen says he looked terrible.
Karen was able to gradually increase Billy’s exercise and began to lunge him for 10 minutes every day and he seemed to relax and improve. She had called out the saddler again as Billy by now had changed shape, she did not want to believe that her new saddle was a problem, but when she and Sandra looked at it carefully they realised that it was not only very asymmetrical, but did not look as though it was made for Billy, a rather round pony with low withers! The saddler was none too pleased with what Karen was telling him and decides to ignore her requests for a visit. She only ever wanted Billy to be comfortable and was not expecting miracles from some of these experts just common courtesy…!!! Chapter 3 Winter 2004 – Spring 2005
Over the next few months Billy had good times and bad, he certainly seemed to be more comfortable in his back and had started long lining for exercise and variety, as there was still no joy with the saddler. He still had tendencies not to be caught and jumping from field to field isn’t ideal, so another move for Billy to a field on his own was made. He seemed to be happy, though it was right next to the M40 and underneath one of, if not THE busiest non-commercial airpark in England, so not much peace.
Karen felt he was more relaxed and with Sandra’s help decided to start Billy all over again and gently re-back him. Together they worked on a programme of groundwork and found a felt saddle pad and eventually a Billy shaped synthetic saddle. Karen practiced leaning over him in the stable and found that he would even stand still by a bale of straw for her to get on! Some cows arrived to keep Billy company and part of the field was fenced off for them, although he still seemed to enjoy jumping the fence to and fro!
Karen started to ride Billy from time to time very quietly in a small fenced area of the field on a very light contact and everything seemed to go well. As she was gathering confidence in him, she tried him out in the larger area, things were ok and they continued over the next few weeks, until something unknown spooked him causing him to take off full pelt, heading straight for the post and rail, which separated his field from the motorway…!!!!!!!!
Karen remembers leaning forward to grab his noseband and turn his head before they reached the fence, then the next thing she remembers is waking up the following morning in her own bed. In the interim she discovered that she phoned a friend for help, (who gave her a lift back home) un-tacked Billy, fed all her animals got herself undressed and into bed…!!!
Sandra received a phone call and was told about the above, her reply was purposeful “enough is enough we need a completely new plan, get yourself to the doctors, I need to think”.
So where does she and Billy go from here??
From that very first meeting 2 years previously Sandra knew there was something about Billy, she knew she was going to have to find a way of making a very special key to unlock this little horse from years of wrongly learnt behaviour/reinforcement. So she decided to offer Karen a scholarship for Billy, 4 weeks at Field View with Sandra and her horses, which would enable her to Asses him 24/7 then a decision would be made about Billy’s future.
The answer was yes, Karen seemed almost relieved at having this opportunity for Billy, a date was set for his arrival and Sandra started to plan. Knowing Billy could easily pop over the average height post and rail, she felt she had no safer alternative for keeping Billy’s movements confined to a round pen; however she was aware that she wanted all of his experiences to be as positive as possible whilst with her. The best she came up with was to invest in half a round pen from Hartsop Farm and with her full size one this gave her a safe area to work Billy, somewhere for him during the day and an outside stable at night. This also meant he had Echo and Wispa around the whole time. Everything was now in place for Billy’s arrival on the 27th May 2005.
Chapter 4 Spring 2005
So here we are another new home for Billy, he had loaded and travelled well. Echo and Wispa gave a quiet welcome and Billy was allowed to chill out in the big pen, its set on grass so he could graze straight away. His tone was so hard you could have bounced a tennis ball off him and his neck muscles were upside down, how he could take a breath I don’t know, but he was here now and all that had a chance to change. That first evening Sandra went in to catch him and move him to the smaller pen for the night and the work began. Catch me, no I don’t think so, ok go to work then, so for the next few minutes for the first time ever Billy’s "running away from everything" didn’t work, the unwanted behaviour was not going to get reinforced. Monty Roberts talks about the learning process being between 0 - 10 and that the most important stage is 0 – 1, Sandra looks back on these early days and feels Billy’s learning was actually in the minus’s. So with a join-up and follow-up in place Billy was moved into the smaller pen, this was to repeat itself the following evening and the next two evenings were less. Sandra had also decided to work in silence, he had come from somewhere so noisy and disrupting that she just wanted this little fellow to find a moments peace. Well it all seemed to be paying off he slept almost solidly for the first 3 days and even allowed his head to very gingerly start to nod down. Everything that moved, every noise, any whistle in the wind and Billy was off, what was that? He looked to Echo and Wispa who were always still eating and you thought you could see him thinking ah, so I don’t have to react erratically to everything then? No you most certainly do not came their reply (sorry to anthropise but that’s how it looked to me a mere human).
Over the next two weeks sitting watching Billy, allowing him to decide whether he wanted to graze near me or not whilst reading books, appearing and disappearing at different times of the day, advance/retreat, ‘L’ shapes and general leading work Billy grew in confidence, he appeared to love his routine which was fixed with flexibility built in, feeding was done without bribery, a way he had some times been caught in the past it now came with no strings attached. Even though Billy had learnt to run away from trouble he actually loves being with humans, he’s one of the cuddliest ponies I have ever known and when you allow yourself a cuddle with him because you don’t want ANYTHING else it’s magical. I was beginning to realise that his 4 weeks would soon be up and letting thisboy return to his home would be like sending him back to prison, whilst I had been sorting out some of Billy’s symptoms of his behaviour I needed to be able to treat the cause. The whole time he had been with us he went up in to Billy mode once, his head was back being high and his tone tight, he was awkward and unsettled. I wanted to know how long this would last, 24 hours and the only two things I can put it down to are the following; his night time pen was moved daily so he had grass every night, this particular night I think we built it next to a new badgers sett! Or it was some kind of self-treating and he flushed himself clean of some emotional baggage! Actually it probably doesn’t matter what the reason was, he never went back there and never has to this day.
Chapter 5 Summer 2005 – Autumn 2006
I put to Karen the idea of Billy staying at mine indefinitely on livery, a part livery where Karen would be involved in helping to look after my horses in return for Billy’s keep.
This would give him the stability of having someone attend to him at least twice a day at similar times; this is something Karen found hard to do on her own. She is a veterinary nurse and so can be called out unexpectedly and although Billy was always tended to, the times were maybe just too random for him, coupled with everything else at his previous home.
Well if Billy was going to stay here on a permanent basis I’d better organise the fields so he could live out in the herd. We know he isn’t the world’s best catcher and he’s good at ‘jumping’, so a trip to the fence merchants was needed. I purchased some of the taller poly posts to enable me to have the fences up to about 4ft and let Echo and Wispa know Billy was going to be joining them on a permanent basis.
I asked my trusted friend Ali to be on site for the day I was going to put him out; it is always nice to have another pair of hands about and another pair of watchful eyes. We had prepared the fields and Billy had a field safe head collar on, we led him out and turned him loose to find his own way. Wow…. What a little poppet he went off around the field calmly excited and my two introduced themselves then carried on eating…! Not much change there then. Billy soon settled down to eat and you would have thought he had lived with them all his life, he showed a huge amount of respect for them both. When things got a little worrying he’d find his way over to Echo who would reassure him. I would bring him in every morning for his breakfast, and not once did I go and catch him, he would be looking out for me, we’d have a lovely cuddle. Karen too was able to do this on her day’s which enabled them to start building their bond back up. Karen and Billy were able to draw from mine, Echo and Wispa’s stability and it worked great.Watching him socialise, groom, play and sleep was enough of a reward for me but did this little pony need a job? Were we going to ever ride him again or take him to shows or are we just going to let him eat, sleep and survive? Chapter 6
He so loved human interaction that we decided to let him join in on our workshops. I set up Natural Horse Sense with colleague Sue Brown back in 2002. These are one day workshops on leading and handling, based on the exercises in Kelly’s book ‘Perfect Manners’. I also offer I.H students personal one – one sessions on leading and long lining skills and so Billy was to try his hoof at this too. Well he went down like candy, everyone who worked with him wanted to know more about him and felt proud that they were having something to do with his rehabilitation. On the mornings of the workshops he’d come over to the gate to try and greet everyone arriving, he seemed to know that these were his days. Being handled by so many different people was good for his learning as well as the participants. With individual I.H students we could start to let him learn about some of the more scary stuff that turns up in life like tarpaulin, plastic bags, road signs etc, etc.
We were keeping riding just in the wings of our minds, kind of it might or might not happen, so Billy started to work with the saddle on as well, doing all the same ground work as before but now the saddle went on as a matter of course, it helped keep away the ‘now their going to ride me thought’! Karen asked me how I thought he might respond to a trip out to a local show. It is half a mile along the road so we can walk in hand, it is a low key event and I’d just let him watch and graze whilst we are there and then we can amble back. I thought this would be something really nice for them both to work towards, Karen had already started taking him for walks out in hand and he was pretty chilled about the going away from the others and viewing his leader as someone to trust. As added preparation for the show Karen had asked the owners of the show ground if they would mind her walking Billy on to their premises and down the drive to where the show would take place, this enabled them to break things down even further with Billy going somewhere that would not be so strange.
Well the 18th June came around, the day of the show; Karen and Billy were looking very smart. She had decided that they may just happen to enter one of the in-hand showing classes and had spoken with the organisers about her and Billy’s continued training, they said this would be fine, always worth asking.
A success, Billy had walked to the show with controlled presence and had a good walk around the ground, he entered his class and although keen still remembering his manners, the judge thought he was great and explained that due to a splint arriving he would be unable to place him in the rosettes but Karen and Billy didn’t need a ribbon to know how well they had done. The walk back was quick with higher adrenalin but he soon came back down to earth and looked pretty pleased with himself.
We started reintroducing the long lines to Billy, playing unwinding games and draping them around. Soon long lining was being done on a regular basis by Karen, students and myself, he was learning to do all the ground work exercises now from a rider on the ground, this too was also building up his muscles to help carry a saddle and then possibly a rider (if I could find someone who was happy to be the first rider after nearly 2 years).
Billy continued through the summer teaching people how to lead and be around horses, he had definately found his vocation in life and it was lovely to see. He would have his breakfast out with the others every morning now instead of coming in and always come over for at least 2 cuddles in a day which I enjoyed as much as he did.
Chapter 7 Autumn 2006 – Winter 2007
Well here we are now in the Autumn of another year and I am looking back over the last 18 months. This for me is my last Chapter with ‘Billy’, although he has many more in his life.
Ok I haven’t forgotten the possibility of him being ridden again but you can’t just pluck willing riders from the sky and I kind of thought my day’s of getting on remedial starters was in the past. As I am sure most of you are aware that I am one of the Instructors on the I.H courses. Through this last summer Kelly had a young man over from France to work, he was training at Flag is Up with Monty and getting experience over here too, he was also preparing to be back up rider on the Demonstrations. We got on well and even though I don’t speak a word of French his English was so good it made up for my short comings. We helped each other out with some horses and owners, where Adrien found it difficult to explain some things to the owners I would be on hand and when I needed some extra support with a ridden horse he was happy to help.
If you are working in a team you need to have trust and almost be able to work as one, if I was going to put someone on Billy I needed to find not only someone willing but someone whom I could trust and who trusted me. You can probably guess what I was thinking. I suggested riding Billy to him and he was happy to come out, look at the situation and if all was ok, yes he would be happy to.
The date in October came around by which time Adrien had seen me ride several different horses (you might be wondering what this has to do with anything, believe me it does). Adrien did a join-up with him and spent some time getting to know him and then long lining and then said ‘Right lets go for it, get your hat, you can do this’. Before I knew it, it was me riding Billy for the first time in nearly two years of not having a rider on his back, there I was. I did actually feel on top of the world even though afterwards I would have easily talked myself out of it if I’d had time to think. Billy had come such a long way and we had taken so many of those first steps together I really was pleased Adrien said ‘you do it’. He had judged the situation and knew I was capable and with him on the ground Billy had the extra support he might need. We then swapped around and I could watch him under saddle too and see where his little worry spots were coming from which would enable me to help him work through. We repeated this again a couple of days later and all remained good. Karen was over the moon even if she decided not to take his riding any further he had done it, moved on from the past and it meant there were more gateways open to explore.
The long winter was setting in now and things were becoming more difficult for Karen to cope with, work was taking her in opposite directions to my haven on the hillside, decisions would have to be made about Billy’s future. Karen was fully aware that it was no longer possible to keep Horses with out their own kind, as set out in the ‘Five Freedoms’, and needed to find a suitable home for them to be able to continue their journey. One of her long standing friends had recently moved his horses to a large equestrian property where everyone had their own fields and you were left to do everything for yourself, this would take her closer to her work so it was making sense that Billy should move.
Now I have to see the big picture for Billy and leave my personal feelings to the side, but it’s hard. Billy was like one of the family, how would Echo & Wispa feel with him gone?
With everything that Karen had learnt over the past two years I knew things would be fine. She knew he needed to live in the herd, have a routine and a purpose or job to do.
I said my goodbyes at breakfast time, with a lump in my throat but I just couldn’t watch him leave. Later that day Karen called to say he walked straight on to the trailer, travelled great and has already made friends with the new group especially one of the ladies.
I do feel really proud and honoured to have been a part of his life, thank you Billy for the incredible teaching you offered us all.
A big ‘Thank You’ goes out to all of you who shared a part in Billy’s learning; you all know who you are
Sandra x
This story has been partially featured in the 'Listening Post' the magazine of the Intelligent Horsemanship Association, to join-up with them and recieve this and more each quarter please visit my links and www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk
