Lily was found as a stray wandering the streets of the city of Leeds with a foal at foot. Luckily, Hope Pastures rescue centre was called to help out. They both arrived at the centre very frightened about everything but the foal soon built trust, confidence and joy and was rehomed successfully shortly after weaning. Lily, however, was a different story.
Sophie, yard manager and trainer at Hope Pastures, asked for my help to get through to Lily as no-one had been able to touch her in the two years she’d been at the centre, despite careful, slow work. Lily picked up the concept of the training quickly and started to show enthusiasm and excitement at the start of her training sessions. This was a big change already! Some things Lily learned quickly, others took a very long time as she had to overcome deep fear. And her training isn’t finished yet… There is still progress to be made but Lily is now calm, relaxed and happy around people and can be handled easily for her health and well-being at the centre. A HUGE “well done” to Sophie!
This video shows Sophie’s training to build Lily’s trust:
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I like the idea of rewarding the horse for touching me.
That probably takes time and patience for the horse to realise yes
if I do this I get a treat.
Adeeb will now come up and greet me.
I was putting out my hand touching his nose and walking away. Today I
held out hand and waited for him to touch. And he did. So we have a
greeting ritual.