(Loudspeaker): We are at the county show in Wiltshire
first time in harness...
Walk on
(Loudspeaker): Here we have 2 Palominos
(Siren)
(Loudspeaker): Well here we are at the Wiltshire County show
with our two beautiful palominos
taking them over the bridge. (Siren).
Kathy's going to go round them now with the siren
you can see both of his feet up on the dash,
and there's noone at their heads, we've got horses down in the far field, the reindeer
in this field which they've never seen before
Baz is going to hold the reins up slack so you can see they're just standing there
I'm going to start the
inflatable up and Kathy's going to start up the siren.
So Kathy and I are now going to take these 2 Morgans out of harness
and put them to again
on grass in an open space.
The driver of them
had asked us to do this because she was concerned that
although we could put them to in the yard, where they were tied on the wall
she wanted to be able to put them to when she was at a show ground.
So they've just had all the noise and excitement
of the loudspeaker, the sirens, going over the bridge, going round the arena
so they haven't been far today they haven't actually done a lot of distance, they're still
what we would call quite fresh.
as well as having all the noise which would naturally put the horse on edge a bit.
So you can see Kathy's holding on to them and i'm just going around undoing
all the traces.
We've got
a single female holding on to them because there's going to be
lots of women around handling them getting them put to
so there wouldn't be much point in having Barry there holding their heads
because that wouldn't prove anything; what we want to show is that
2 females are capable of putting them to.
The other thing to bear in mind is that the road runs just the other side of the
hedge
so you get the noise of cars coming past
brushing the hedge and making a noise which isn't something we can predict
either.
So its not like they're in a quiet place - there's unpredictable noises
going on as well.
You can see we're just taking them off,
taking the reins
off of the driver
it may not be the conventional way of doing it but what we're showing here is that
we've got the confidence in the horses
we know that they'll stand still when they're asked to, we know that they're going to be
happy being
taken out of harness and then being put back to the vehicle
just with us at their heads walking them round.
You can see there's just the two of us who are going to be doing this - we haven't got
a person
holding on to each horse and another person to do either side of the traces.
We're going to have
one person holding on to the horses and the other person
putting them to, so we have to do lots of
swapping around from side to side.
And what we're going to do now is take the horses away from the pole
and we're going to walk them round behind the vehicle
and bring them back up to the vehicle
We are each taking a horse
away
They're seeing each other round behind the vehicle again and then they're being brought
straight back to which is also
an unusual thing for them to do. Normally when they're taken out of harness that's them
finished for the day
they don't normally get put back to the vehicle as soon as they've been taken out.
Again it's a different routine something that could potentially
unsettle them and this is why we're trying to do it like this
to try and prove that the horses
are happy being taken off and put to again
in an open space just with two female grooms
doing everything
on the ground.
I'm asking this horse to move over,
shoving him over; he's not retaliating at all
perfectly fine standing there
This is also the more nervous of the two horses that I'm putting to first,
so you can see he can't rely on his
mate, i.e. the nearside horse, to stand still and hold the carriage.
He's being put to first so if he was going to dance about and act silly
he hasn't got anything anchoring the carriage.
So this just shows that he will stand still
if you look at the horses they've got their legs at rest, they're not bothered.
And I'll say again; it may not be the conventional way of doing things
but what we're doing here is showing the horses are happy being put to.
Now normally we don't believe in having a groom standing in front of their heads
for the simple reason that if anything did happen and the horses jumped forwards
they're going to flatten the groom in front of them
and they've got nothing to stop them.
Its not something we believe is a sensible thing to do - we normally like
putting them to
on the wall as you can see
where they're chained up so they can't get loose. They're held securely without needing
a groom to distract them or to feed them titbits.
But because these people show and therefore
they've got to follow the British Driving Society's show rules and regulations
then we need to put them to
in the traditional manner.
See Kathy's holding on to them, I'm just putting this horse to,
giving the reins back to Barry
and obviously it takes longer as well having just one person do everything so
that means the horses have got to stand still for a longer period of time.
You can see they haven't fidgeted, they haven't moved
they're just standing nice and quietly, nice and relaxed
Barry's holding them on a nice loose rein. I'm just doing the coupling reins up.
So they don't need somebody hanging on to them
they'll come over when they're asked, you can put the traces on,
make noise behind them, ask them to move over, come backwards when they're
told
and they'll stand still quite happily to be put to
which considering that was one of the major problems the owners had before they
sent them to us
this is what we've managed to achieve - that they can be put to happily in an open
space by 2 female grooms.
Now what Barry's going to do is something to unsettle them.
They've moved forwards a little bit
they think they're going off somewhere, this is the type of thing that could happen
at a show ground,
something unexpected startles them, you can see
being thrown right down onto the pole head between the two horses
they have a startle as it comes past their heads then they're back standing there
Bearing in mind there's nothing in front of them, if they wanted to
run away they could have done so
there'd be no stopping them
They're in Liverpools wrapped in latex
but if you look at the reins, Barry isn't hanging on to them
and they're quite happy to stand still calmly.
We can't do any more
than what we've done with these horses
in the time we've had them.
Bearing in mind what they've been through,
I don't think they're doing bad. We've come over there, you can see the pole being smashed between them as we come over the rough ground.
And the fact
the pole has come up and hit one of them near the mouth, on the bit
and they're standing here as quiet as lambs.
So, I can't do any more
in the time I've had them. Its down to whether you can drive them
So they don't want any nonsense
they've got to gain your respect.
They've got my respect, and I respect them.
The secret to these horses, or to any horses come to that
is they've got to have respect for you.
Now if you start letting them step out of line they will lose their confidence.
Its as simple as that, and all the money's been wasted.
But I can't do a better job
than I've done in
the 8 weeks they've been here
considering what we had to work with. What I'm saying is, you can see we can do it,
but whether Barry Hook can do it or whether you can
that's what we've got to see. I've made them as best as I can, you see my Kathy
who's been helping us today, she drives them,
but its not whether we can drive them, you can see anybody drive them, that's neither here nor there, what it is is whether you can drive them.
That's where we've got to go.
If you look at their bits
they've got a Liverpool in but
but, pull the bit out there,
they're wrapped in latex.
And the worst thing is to make horses
after doing all this
to walk past where they're going home.
Its the hardest thing to do, control them.
So right in mid-flight I shall swap places
And Melanie's now on the reins
tiny little hands,
and she's driving them no trouble at all. Mel's only got them on smooth cheek,
and Mel's no weight, and she's driving them.
Ok here now, turn them
Right round here now
right on hard, tell them to come round
keep them on the road.
Now the other thing we've done now
we've got Mel on the reins as I say, to show you who can do what.
But we can't keep swapping them about, when you get on the reins,
you know, whenever it is you're coming,
when you get on the reins it wants to be you and noone else
till they get settled to you hands, know what I mean? Everytime we change them
its good for their training but also they've got to get settled to that person. Now they know they're going home
because this is one of the routes we go
when we come back,
and that's in sight, but they're not getting excited, they're not pulling on
his pad has slipped round a bit
and as you can see they're just going sweet.
Mel just driving them one-handed
Now if you just put one rein in each hand and let the reins go slack
just telling them to walk,
and the horses are walking, not speeding up to go home.
Now that, to my way of thinking, is good training.