Barney went home last night and walked straight into my trailer, even though he was travelling on his own for the first time in two years. I really miss him but received a lovely update from his owner earlier today. Barney had to move fields this morning and his owner had to lead him past a new stack of haylage bales wrapped in shiny black plastic. He didn’t even give them a second look. He also had to walk under a low bough from an apple tree and walked calmly underneath it even though the branch touched his back.

When he first came to Tilley Farm we couldn’t stroke him on his back with the wand and it just goes to show how valuable all the little steps are when we are rehabilitating or starting problem and/or young horses. His owner led him to his new field (which she usually dreads) without any fuss at all and when he started to out walk her she just asked him to slow down and wait while she caught up with him, which he did without any panic or anxiety. Of course, we hope that we have a high enough skill level to work with pretty well any horse, but when we see the results of our work continuing when the horse is back with his owner in his usual environment, we know we have achieved what we set out to do.