Sarah Fisher's Blog

The little mare is certainly a sensitive soul. She can now walk over the arrowheads poles and the labyrinth is not a problem at all but even the thought of walking over a plastic pole is too much for her to bear. In my opinion this is a learned behaviour and not just a youngster experiencing something new. Her heart rate and respiration elevates as she walks towards the poles. Flexing around them isn’t an issue but she is in a genuine state of fear when we stop her in front of a pole. I suspect that she has had an accident with a pole and whoever was with her at the time did not know how to resolve the issue.

I have filmed my last segment for Over the Rainbow and our chosen dog will be announced at the final live performance on Saturday. Tony and Emily will be coming to the show with me. It has been such fun working on this show and I will miss everyone but with more horses booked to come into Tilley Farm for re-training and starting, I am looking forward to having more time at the farm now that all my film commitments are over.

I am also continuing with my clearing quest and am unearthing some fascinating things in our attic. Tony and I put a recipe book together, many years ago, to raise funds for a local charity and asked friends from the acting world to contribute their favourite recipes. We had an amazing response and I have found all the original artwork and the pictures, autographs and letters too, including a lovely handwritten recipe on personalised note paper for One Fresh Brown Trout by the wonderful actor, Michael Horden. I think I will have this framed and hang it in our kitchen.

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The weekend workshop was full and great fun. The dogs all did really well and I so enjoy teaching with my colleague and co-author Marie Miller. We have plans to start some classes for trainers so I must put my mind to that over the summer.

The young mare arrived on Sunday evening and we took her into the arena for the first time today. She is a real poppet. She was concerned about the labyrinth at first but after making the exercise simpler by reorganising the poles she was able to negotiate her way through the maze by the end of the session. She is very nervous about walking over poles so I made an arrow head with a wide opening which we will gradually narrow until she is able to step over the poles without panicking. It’s a nice way to break the exercise down so that the horse learns confidence rather than being forced to walk over the poles.

I love starting young horses and MUST remember to video some of the sessions. We always say we will but get so carried away working with them that by the time I remember to get the camera out there are already significant changes and I have already missed the steps to building a horse’s confidence.

It’s dentist day so I am up early to do the animals and work with the little mare before the vet and dental technician arrive as she will be having her teeth done later in the morning. I will then do some more training with Cookie Dough Dynamo (who mastered the art of skittle playing in about two seconds flat!), start painting the walls and get ready for my last day’s filming on Over the Rainbow on Wednesday.

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I have now started painting the stable doors at home and am on a mission to paint the farm as well. I’ve had a lovely few days with my family, riding and walking dogs. I also need to re-fence the back field as whilst I have been looking for Toto for Over the Rainbow, Tina has been spending time looking for the equine Toto! He is a wonderful escape artist and has liberated himself from his field on several occasions leaving his companion Otto on the other side of the fence. It’s so nice having time at home after such a busy schedule. The live show of Over the Rainbow was really exciting and I will be going back to the studio to watch the final when our Toto will also be revealed. Who will it be?!

I am now gearing up for a weekend dog workshop here at the farm and I have been out buying new toys to teach Cookie Dough Dynamo more tricks. I have bought her a set of skittles and will start training again with her next week as we have some shows coming up in the summer. She is such a clever dog that it can be hard to keep ahead of her as she works things out so darned quickly. We have a new horse coming in on Monday for starting, and I have a backlog of clients to see, so after the final day of filming for Over the Rainbow next week, my focus will be back on horses for the coming months.

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I am home now after two more days of filming for Over the Rainbow. I have so enjoyed working on this show. The production team are just outstanding and the Dorothy’s were so fantastic with our potential Toto’s, when they performed with them in front of an audience at Richmond Theatre on Thursday. My fellow judges have been a joy to work with, as has everyone, and I am sad that the show is coming to a close.

I was very impressed with the way the dogs handled the final task on Friday. Our shortlisted dogs have been a delight and there have been some very funny moments. I just adore working with dogs. Tony, Daisy, Emily, Mags and I are going up to London tomorrow to see the live show of Over the Rainbow as the five Toto’s will be appearing with the five remaining Dorothy’s. I can’t wait.

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