3 days old. Puddle crossing, trailer loading, Jumping tyres and playing with bouncy balls

Today I went out and again andwas just there to stroke Eclipse. However, when he got up today he was alot more lively than even yesterday and was playing buckaroo to himself. Yesterday I thought I may have a future eventer, now I'm trying to convince him being a bronc is not a good idea in England as we don't have Rodeos.

Whilst I was rubbing Eclipse I noticed he seemed to kick out if I stroked his back legs. I didn't do anything about it at this stage but I just made a mental note of it.

Later when I came out I hopped on Mel who was an absolute star to come over and let me ride her BB with no fuss after more than 3 months with out being ridden. Whilst riding Mel (only at walk) Clips followed us around his field. I had laid out some obstacles a plank of wood & some tyres laid flat in a row. When Mel came to the plank of wood she walked straight over it and Clips stopped for a couple of seconds before walking calmly over it following his Mam.

I then asked Mel to go sideways a couple of steps in Eclipse's direction and what do you know she porcupined (gently "pushed") him so he was going sideways too!! Sorry but to me that is too cool for words.

We rode to the tyres and Mel walked through them, Eclipse looked at them for a few seconds and then jumped them and galloped to catch back up with us. We did this again and the second time he never hesitated and did a more energy conserving pop over the tyres to stay with us. What a clever boy ;-) I then used my carrot stick to rub Clips on the rump and whilst he did try to kick out and run around to the other side of his mum from riding Mel I could just pass the stick from one hand to the other and hang in there until he accepted it, which he did in less than 5 min. I then left them for a much needed sleep, me and them!

When I came out that afternoon I brought them back out into our front garden again and I introduced Eclipse to an excersise ball. Mel will happily pass the ball backwards and forwards to you for treats (she knocks it with her head) So me and my dad and Mel played pass the ball and then she passed it to Eclipse, it bounced off of his front legs back to Mel so she passed it to him again 3 times, now what better introduction to bouncy balls could you wish for than for your own mam to play ball with you? Clips then went for a drink and I rolled the ball over his body and Mel's whilst he was nursing, again everything seemed to go very naturally.

I left them to graze and then was going to take Mel some feed when I had a thought of how to make feeding into a more educational experience. So I put Mels feed into the horsebox thinking Eclipse would follow her in; However, Jazz our coloured pony who lives in the field with them but so far Mel has not let actually touch Clips was at the gate. Clips found Jazz much more interesting than his mam so didn't go into the horsebox and kept running to the gate, which ment poor Mel had to keep running back getting him and then trying to eat her food. In the end she gave up on the food and just looked after Eclipse.

So I tried a different tacttic. This time I put the lead on Eclipse as I had yesterday and but I didn't lead him into the box, I let Mel go into the horsebox to eat and I just loosely held Eclipse's line, When he went wondering off to the gate he put pressure on himself as I didn't move and he soon realised that he couldn't wonder away far and being a very curious animal when he realised he couldn't go exploring on his own he decided to explore the ramp which he did for about 10 minutes, licking it standing on it hopping off it etc, before deciding to walk on up there and see what the inside was like, as soon as he started walking in I let go of his line to allow this. I am so proud of him so bravely going into "the cave on wheels".

Later in the evening whilst topping up their water buckets I got distracted by Clips frolicking and forgot to turn the hose pipe off so I used this moment to introduce Clips to the hose, which he wasn't to keen on so I just used approach and retreat and figured it could be something we work on gradually after all he is only 3 days old and we have plenty of time before we need to wash.
I then figured as we now had a muddy puddly area we could try our first puddle crossing so I lead Mel at liberty through it and sweet as you like Clips followed along. Now what a day we've had today!

* Below is a Video of a ball playing session that Dad took after Mel had passed the ball to Eclipse, sorry for the poor quality but to be fair to my Dad it is difficult to play ball and film things on a phone. Hope you enjoy it though.

2 days old and Eclipse goes outside his field for the first time

Eclipse is now 2 days old. Today i spent almost all day just hanging out with him. He likes having his ears stroked, it kind of makes him sleepy. I then came in and very carefully watched some more Smart Seven footage from the Parelli Savvy Club Vault. and then went out to try and help Eclipse learn the appropriate response to pressure and to follow me and my suggestions.

I have an old halter that the dogs chewed so I undid this and it now resembles an 11ft horsemans string, that I draped over Eclipse’s body as if it were a saddle/ girth and then forwards through the middle of his front legs. Then I slowly moved around to one side so I was off centre and by doing as close as I could to what Pat said on the Smart Seven DVD by releasing when his nose went over the line with in no time at all Eclipse was licking chewing and following me!! I never realised it could be so easy to teach a foal to lead and all with out a halter. Eclipsed also showed me he knew how to respond to my suggestion to move forwards, backwards and his front end around, when I gently “pushed” him around like his mother would. This Natural horsemanship really does seem to be what the horses already naturally know as he just learns everything so fast.

After the fun of that we had more sleep and this afternoon when I came out I let Eclipse and Mel out of there field in to our “garden” / living area. It’s not really much of a garden but that’s only because I let the horses out into it so much but it does have cars parked here and washing lines and rubbish bins, all sorts of places to cause mischief and Eclipse bravely explored every inch of it.

* This is the link to the parelli Savvy club footage i watched prior to todays play session. http://www.parellisavvyclub.com/watchMedia.faces?id=39

1 day old

I wasn't here to witness Eclipses second day of life but from all accounts he was having great fun galloping around the field and bucking.

Eclipses first day.

Mel foaled at 5.30am on the 26th June when I was away at Glastonbury Festival but thankfully my mother, father, Sister and our neighbour who owns a stud were all on hand to assist where needed and to photograph the event.

Upon waking up at Glastonbury I left the festival and rushed back to see the new addition to my herd. Initially he was still in the stable with Mel (his Mum) but once I opened the stable door he decided to go exploring, it was so funny his mum kept trying to round him back up and get him back in the field shelter but as soon as she turned around in there he ran out to explore again. I think it took her 6 attempts before she finally got him to go in and stay with her. I have laid a blue tarpaulin near the front of the field shelter so that he is getting lots of practice walking over them, he never seemed to even notice it was there. At one point whilst running about he found a bale of straw was in his way so pop he jumped over the bale. I'm so excited by this I think I might have a future eventer here ;-)

Whislt I was with him I rubbed him all over with a plastic bag but he didn't seem to take any notice of it at all and Mel just stood relaxed and made gentle throaty whickering noises at him.

The vet came out to check them all over and he had his first injection (tetnus) all is fine with both Mare and Foal so I returned to enjoy the rest of the festival.