I spent a lot of time with Diva so she would get to know me and I could gain her trust. It was no hardship to groom her, pick out her feet and cuddle her (I mean check her over!) on a daily basis. She had also come with a warning that she could occasionally be tricky to catch.
The stud had produced her to have beautiful manners both in and out of the stable, and despite her not knowing me at all, she never put a foot wrong when I led her out for her to have a pick of grass the day after her arrival.
I have introduced many horses and ponies to new arrivals over the years but had never faced the challenge of introducing ones with such a difference in height. I became super cautious, as a kick from one of my girls could be at Diva’s head height.
Luckily, my yard has a round pen—the sort which is normally used for convalescing horses—that I could use for Diva, so on day two I turned her out in there. She had a little trot round and inspected the water bucket before settling down to eat the grass. When I went to get her in later, she backed away from me initially, but with a gentle word and a carrot (more probably the carrot) she let me catch her and take her in for the night.
I continued to do this for several days, and soon she would come straight up for me to catch her. The pen was next to Talisman’s field. He’s a lovely gentle twenty-eight-year-old chestnut Quarter Horse gelding. I would often see him standing close to the pen, and this gave me an idea about the next stage of Diva’s introduction to the yard.
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Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.