Jade and Olly

Olly Goes Back To School

Last week, whilst we were away in Cyprus for a friend’s wedding, Olly went back to school.

Our friend’s Sue Brennan and Jade Clark from Brennan Equestrian took Olly in on a schooling livery for two weeks.

Since I started re-schooling Olly before I went away I didn’t then want to leave him in the field for 12 days doing nothing.

Sending him to Brennan Equestrian means that they will keep him ticking along nicely whilst I am away.

They can also assess what he is like as they will eventually be giving us lessons in the future.

Trouble Loading

When Sue and Jade arrived to pick Olly up, we thought he would load into the lorry ok.

In the past, Olly loaded fine but it seemed now he was very upset and did not want to load at all.

We used everything from lunge reins to a bridle to coax him up the ramp and eventually into the lorry.

At The Yard

Once loaded, Olly travelled well. However, as soon as we got to the yard he started to bash about in the box a bit. He then came bouncing out of it a lot quicker than what he had gone in.

He was dripping in sweat and had obviously got himself into a bit of a state. Once out in the open he stood like a statue looking around at his new surroundings.

Sue and I put him into the stable that was his home for the next 12 days and I sat with him for a bit to make sure he was ok.

It was then I thought about his behaviour.

Behaving Badly

As far as I can remember, Olly never used to behave like that before when I used to own him.

It is obviously a behaviour trait that he has picked up during the four years he’s been away.

I’m not in any way going to blame anyone for his behaviour because I think he has just evolved this way since being fostered and instead of working with his anxieties, foster homes have moved him on.

I so get it why they would too, if he is not the horse they want and need then they don’t want to invest a load of time into a horse that is not suitable.

However, what I now have to do is work with what I know and find a solution.

I was told that during the four years with Blue Cross, Olly has been moved to four different homes and was unsettled in most of those homes except last one.

Apparently, he’s never been a problem to ride in all the homes he was at and even spent a short time at an equestrian centre but for some reason or another, he did not settle on a busy yard setting.

Anxiety

I presume that Olly’s anxieties involve being stabled on a busy yard and being loaded on and off a trailer.

These fears probably relate to the uncertainty of where he’s going to end up next.

For as long as I have breath in my body, Olly is going to stay with us.”

I’m determined we will get well together in both mind and body. Hopefully, we will travel the British Isles and have some fun along the way too.

Whilst I was away

Whilst I was away, Olly was both good and bad for Sue and Jade.

At the start of his first week, lunging him had been a test of respect for him to learn as he tried his luck on more than one occasion with Jade but he soon got on with his job.

Eventually, Jade did get on him and he started to work ok.

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