Tazzle's story

Horse Trails & Horse Tails

by Laura

Why do we do it ?

Why do we fall in love with horses logic tells us to walk away from ?

Why do we keep working with said horse when it quite literally causes the shedding of blood, sweat and tears ?

I don't know ..... but I am heck of a glad I am an illogical human and not a Vulcan ! I am glad this little welsh cob mare enticed me with her deep eyes into a relationship that challenged me to learn far more about horses and their interactions with humans than I thought possible.

I always liked horses ..... right from when aged five. I was plopped onto a huge farm horse standing in a barn when we were on holiday. I was in heaven till the cows came in for milking and I yelled because I thought they were bulls !

My family could not afford lessons and were not in any way horse minded but when I was old enough to ask, and get there on my own, I found the local riding school and helped out there every time I could in return for the odd ride on a pone. I was not taught much, had to kinda just pick it up, but then it closed. Cue a long break till I was 18 and working and could afford to pay for trekking holidays via the youth hostel association at Capel y Ffin and in the Scottish borders. Oh the glories of cantering across the Welsh hills and finding out about balance by traversing the valleys and rugged hills. Over the next 30 years I intermittently had lessons, loaned / shared and looked after other peoples horses.

Finally at 39 I managed to share my life with my very own dales mare called Beauty. Sadly less than a year later she was found dead in the field with no apparent cause of death. I took her stuff to the local small rescue centre and there was encouraged by the manager to get involved. A while later as a treat he let me ride his own horse, a lovely older mare. On only my second ride as I was cantering slowly round the field all of a sudden her front end went and we both sumersaulted. She had had a stroke and died. I almost gave up all contact with horses at that point but it was with the managers encouragement I continued to help at the centre and here it was I met ....

"The Tank"

Her history as well as her behaviour was confusing ...... at times appearing so quiet (almost asleep) she could also react to being approached by barging over people (she had knocked some to the ground). Sometimes staff could get tack on her, sometimes not as she'd shake and try to take chunks out of people.

I don't know how but I ended up taking her home ....... and that's when the bigger picture began to come into focus... it was like she "woke up". Once turned out in the field she was very difficult to approach ....... even if we got close one tiny sudden movement would send her off. She appeared scared of almost anything but literally shook if anyone had a stick or whip in their hand. It became clear I had taken on more than anyone had anticipated. I was used to young / green horses but this was something else.

My instinct at the time was to let her be for a bit ..... I had a feeling she was a lovely natured horse with a lot of curiosity in her underneath all of that scared / tough Tank. To the utter amazement of other liveries I took to going in the field to sit and read..... or fix the trailer...... or clean tack I wasn't actually using. I let Taz come to me ! Most of the advice I could find at the time, even at the rescue centre, seemed more "dominating" than I liked .... and although I was making progress with the softly, softly approach in gaining her trust I needed to find out more. None of the traditional training I had learned was working. Using positive reinforcement, a technique I used with my own children and in my work with people with learning difficulties was a principle I held dear I, so I looked at various "methods" of horse training that used the same techniques. It seemed that using clicker and pressure / release together with the NH / IH principles of observing and using body language would suit me.

So ..... I took it VERY slowly and thought carefully through each session. Not only did I want to build a relationship with Taz where she was not afraid, we still had to deal with "unwanted behaviour" like biting and barging. I wanted her to realise it was ok to be scared, but not to injure humans. Sending away if she did "undesirable" behaviours while working loose seemed to be the kindest but clearest way of helping us both deal with these issues. I used "Join up" and it worked .......... it was like communication was beginning to take place, I was watching her reactions with more care and she was beginning to realise I was "listening" to her. Soon I could touch her all over, move her around and move around her without her stressing out ! We introduced clicker work especially with touching then, asking Taz to pick up her legs ... previously she would go down or rear rather than let me hold them. Soon if I just tapped then she would pick each up and hold it up ... no leaning !

Gradually we introduced TACK. She HATED the sight of a saddle ..... when approached with one if she felt trapped, like in a stable, she reverted to barging (actually over a person if need be). If I put it on the floor she would BITE it! Initially I sent her away for adverse reactions ..... but then moved onto clicking for staying calm then for accepting it nearer, then touching. Later I noticed that even once she generally accepted saddling the biting at saddle / person remained when she was in season. I wondered if this was initially why the fear of whip / people came about ... did she react because the saddle hurt her and was hit with whip as retaliation?? ( As everyone knows welshies are the worlds worst horse to try to "fight" with ..... they bear grudges lol). Herbs and essentail oils helped a bit with this problem ..... as did just leaving her in the field on "due" days. Taz also had problems with a bit that disappeared when I tried bitless so she has remained that way ever since.

We had to introduce her to traffic.... she was terrified ! I wondered if she had ever been educated at all !!!! Taking her out and about we found out she was scared of.......... drains, windows, bus shelters, white stones ( like outside country cottages !) and ...... well just about everything . Occasionally there were small rears or spins but, apart from prancing, her "favourite" reaction was to reverse at speed !

However gradually leading, then riding calmly in the field became leading then riding calmly in town and country. It was most definately not plain sailing ...... loads of frustration (on both sides) and tears along the way. Time and again I thought I could not keep going........ times I thought I did not have the skills/ knowledge to help her properly and all I would do was damage her more! Three steps forward, two back! But with the support of a friend and her horse, who had supported our "different" methods and did not think I had "gone soft", I realised I did not really want to give up. I occasionally had to take time out, sometimes for weeks, so that long term we could continue to progress. Over the months and into years her confidence grew and we were able to take her to shows etc, to pootle around and explore the wide variety of life.

Taz adored children and was always far more "considerate" around them .... My daughter did jumping with her and my grandchildren could be around her and I did not worry at all. The clicker work continued and eventually the basics extended to "tricks" like bursting balloons at a fund raising event (see below). Taz became the calm horse others looked to !

Just as we were feeling as if all was well, worse was to come... It turned out Taz had been stolen. The breeder had done loads to find her including advetrising in the national horse magazines. He said she was well bred and wanted her back as brood mare. I was devastated.

I could see his point of view of course and knew that legally Taz (Maenerw Princess Di) was his property ...... but its not like returning a stolen car and then going out to get a new one. There was a two way relationship going on here and Taz's presence had helped me through a very, very hard time of my life personally. It was only the help of the rescue centre manager, who convinced the breeder I was not the thief and the story of what had happened, that persuaded him to sell Taz to me. It was a relief when we could then concentrate on enjoying ourselves and becoming involved in events.

We went on to doing pleasure rides / training endurance rides which we both loved ..... we had always loved being "happy hackers" and this was a way to share that with others and see beautiful parts of the countryside we normally wouldn't get to access to. Being bitless was ok in that discipline so no problems there ..... although being barefoot initially caused some issues with the farriers as it was not so prevalent then !

We had been transferring the long lining skills we had used for the groundwork to starting driving. We both liked that and we could involve the grandchildren much more as their numbers were growing ..... plus other children loved to join us! We enjoyed it so much we wanted to join in with other drivers but initially this was difficult as bitlessness was unheard of in driving. Another "issue" many people had to us partaking in driving events was that Taz did not have blinkers on.... a vital necessity to stop horses taking fright at vehicles apparently? My opinion is that it's better to prepare, get ahorse used to potential events / scary things where the "****" might hit the fan and serious injuries occur. I was told by drivers of incidents when blinkers had come off the horse's head and the sight of the wheels of the carriage chasing them had made them bolt. The logic of that to me is you must accustom the horse to the wheels, not hide them ....... so that is what we did. Gradually we began to find people that were not as blinkered (pun intended !) and were prepared to come and see us working rather then just say NO. We took part in driving trec and did hors concurs driving trials at club level ( this convinced people you can steer bitless as there are only a few inches either side the wheels in the cones course).

Our highlight was to take part in a demo competition of driving trec at three counties show a few years ago. Over the three days we got three second places .... and even led at one point. We got a 9 for our back up and given the course was designed for the little ponies not a long striding Welsh cob I felt quite chuffed. As a consequence the BDS officially accepted that we could partake in events.

Sadly soon after Taz began to display some worrying behaviour problems, becoming quite agitated and unpredictable - intermittently, but increasingly frequently. Sometimes she became dangerous when I was riding her. One day she was even rearing and throwing herself at the field gate. Eventually she was scanned to see if there was a physical cause and huge lump on her ovary was found. It was thought to be a tumour when it did not respond to hormones. However after a few months it began to shrink .........only to recur later.

A diagnosis of peristant anovulatory follicles was made by specialist and it was decided to try putting a marble into her uterus to see if that would stop her ovulating. Although it did seem to work in 2008 she has been coming into season in 2009 ..... we just have to wait and see now.
I have now gone back to riding her rather than driving, initially as a safety concern till we were sure her behaviour was back to normal, but we are both enjoying riding again. We went back to basics in a way in order to build in a "softness" we desired from attending silversand clinics and me having enlightened equitation lessons. We are developing softer communication with each other and regaining the confidence we once had.

We have enjoyed it so much we decided that we would like to return to the aspiration of being an equine rambler. We are building up the miles and distance.......we are limited a little in we have no transport but we are extending our "home" territory. Given that we are right on the three rivers ride we have a fair way to travel before we run out of suitable riding!


At the time of writing we have just completed 40 miles over two days doing a sponsored ride to raise funds for horse charities... and while training compiled reports on the bridleways for the local BHS. We would like to ride the three rivers into the Brecon Beacons... as to when , well we will see.

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