You're coming with me!

Today was one of those days where everything I’ve been taught at Pippsway came together and a situation that in the past I wouldn’t have been able to resolve, ended well.

I went up to the field to bring Bronson in and as I walked towards him he decided he had other plans for himself. He went over to Zeus and decided to hide behind him. Bronson has always been perfect to catch so this was something new. I continued to walk towards the horses and to cut a long story short a beautiful display of horses galloping, rearing and playing ensued! All great fun to watch but not really in line with my aim. Each time I approached, the horses hared off over the field at full pelt. Being a 12 acre field there was plenty of room to run!

Thankfully all the skills I’ve learned freeschooling, married with observing others at clinics and watching Imogen catch Marmite one day, meant that instead of giving in to the fact that my horse is in a 12 acre field and there’s no way I can catch him, I put all my knowledge into practise and made sure Bronson came with me! I asked the herd to stay where they were as Bronson and I made our way over to the gate. Just as we got to the gate Zeus came running across the field towards us at full steam and the entire herd decided that looked like fun and they were going to come too!

Before I came to Pippsway not only would I never have managed to catch a horse in that situation, I would have found being in a field with the herd behaving this way frightening (even though ultimately they were just playing). But it wasn’t intimidating at all because I’ve been taught exactly how to communicate with horses and was confident to send them all away. Bronson thought he might like to join them but again the confidence I’ve gained at Pippsway meant I was able to nip that in the bud and we left the field and came down to the yard no problem.

This is one of the many things I love about Pippsway. The way Pip teaches means that you are armed to deal with situations, even ones you’ve never experienced before, calmly and confidently.