We have had such a huge response to our Finding
Felix series that we decided to run just one...or two..
more that Katie has written about the next step in the
family's life with our friend Felix.
One week before the Oxford A & P show we - and
by we, I mean Mum, who is generally more onto it
than me - realised that we hadn't gotten around to
float training Felix. And those of you who caught the
first instalment of `Finding Felix' will recall Felix's
first experience with a float.
We had a slight advantage in that we'd managed to
upgrade on the float scale since then. We still possessed
our old, slightly tired float, but we had made a friend.
This friend has just moved out from England and has
brought with them a beautiful side-loading horse float.
Currently renting in the city, they need somewhere to
store it. So grateful were they for a patch of grass by
our barn that they gave us free-rein to use it. This float
is not only bigger, airier, lighter and cleaner than ours,
but self-braking with hydraulic ramp.
"Seven days to float train Felix should
be plenty....shouldn't it."
And there is more.....Felix at his First Show
Now, seven days to make a horse completely
comfortable with a float is, let's face it, just a tad
on the optimistic side. Nonetheless, for six days we
shamelessly bribed that pony. A tasty bucket of Fibre-
pro, chaff, barley and gum-nuts to wet it sufficed to
get two, then four, feet onto the ramp. That took an
hour. Mum was content to stop there, but I was feeling
daring. His eyes were calm and his ears were forward,
he was more worried in about the distance of his
bucket from his nose than the float. So, I pulled that
bucket further. And blow me down if he didn't just
walk right on in there, frighten himself and backtrack
like buggery. He stepped in the gap between ramp and
floor you see. Apparently the shock of his toes not
pointing where he thought they would was entirely
too much.