Connie's definately frightened of pigs!!!

[dalesnfellfan]

The first lot of pigs went out at 6am this morning so I was there to make sure she was OK, I don't think she has seen pigs before, having been an urban pony all her life the largest vehicles and scary machinery doesn't bother her but pigs are a whole different ball game.

The other 2 ponies set a very good example and just stood in the corner of their paddocks totally unconcerned, Silver occasionally pricked his ears but Em didn't even do that, she stood relaxed resting a foot with ears floppy, in fact after a while her head dropped and she dozed off, despite all the noise.

Connie didn't react much she only had a couple of short trots round, but she stood near me and shook, literally from head to toe, even her legs were shaking.  I felt really sorry for her but she wouldn't let me touch her to comfort her, she occasionally reached out her nose to sniff my hand but if I moved to stroke her she backed off, all I could do was just talk to her. 

It took about an hour to load them all and she shook for 45 min, then she gradually started to show some signs of relaxing, licking and chewing, slightly lowering her head, at this point the shaking became less and gradually stopped, she then allowed me to touch her and stroke and scratch her neck.  When the lorry started to pull away she started to yawn and sigh, then moved away from me and had a good roll, then she came back and rubbed her head on me and enjoyed a good scratch on her neck and finally moved off to eat her hay.

Needless to say I didn't ride her today, it is a year to the day since my accident and I don't fancy having a ground hog day!!!

I'm starting to get to know her ways, she doesn't appear to react strongly to things, but just because she may not react in the way you would normally expect, if she's tense she's worried so I need to take that on board when I'm riding her.

The next lot go out in 2 weeks and the last ones 2 weeks later, then there will be a 2 week turn around to clean the buildings before the next lot of babies come in.  Hopefully by then she will have become used to them as we have some free range pigs to pass on one of our bridleways.

I have one country pony who's not bothered by animals and gas guns etc. but doesn't like heavy traffic and  one urban pony who is fine with the heaviest of traffic but doesn't understand farm animals/ noises, at least hopefully they can learn from each other. LOL

[zeldalithgow]

Poor Connie, I hope she will get used to the pigs soon, maybe you need to buy a pet pig for her

It is said that if you do a lot of sighing that helps to calm/relax horses, from my limited experiance it does seem to help so maybe next time you can stand with Connie and sigh a lot

[harveydales]

Poor Connie, I imagine the noise and clatter must have been terrifying for her but she will get used to it. Harvey hates going past pig farms but it is the smell that frightens him. He is fine with pigs themselves, doesn't even mind Tanya's pet ones running between his feet.

I sometimes think the calm, stoical types like Harvey and Connie can hide a very sensitive side and it takes time to get to know and understand them. Sounds like you have already bonded.

[dalesnfellfan]

Mar 27, 2015 12:18:57 GMT -1 harveydales said:

Poor Connie, I imagine the noise and clatter must have been terrifying for her but she will get used to it. Harvey hates going past pig farms but it is the smell that frightens him. He is fine with pigs themselves, doesn't even mind Tanya's pet ones running between his feet.

I sometimes think the calm, stoical types like Harvey and Connie can hide a very sensitive side and it takes time to get to know and understand them. Sounds like you have already bonded.

She is fine with the smell and the normal squealing/grunting coming from the houses, she's not seemed to pay any attention to this, it's the actual pigs and of course the noise when they are being moved is horrendous, pigs squealing, men shouting and pigs clattering and banging up the ramp and in the transporter.

Yes, calm and stoical with a hidden sensitive side describes her very well, on the surface she seems to be settling very well and taking every in her stride but her tension shows that she is still not entirely comfortable with her surroundings. She was totally relaxed in the busy environment she came from but seems to find rural life much more stressful, she'll get used to it though. 

With her sort, rather like a swan, all calm and serene on the surface but paddling like mad underneath, I think you just have to be mindful of the tension and be careful not to push them too hard.

She could not have had a better role model this morning though in Em, if she had got wound up/exited and started cantering around it would have made matters worse, she just dozed and did her "am I bovered" impression.

[Debbie]

Bless her heart, would Bach Herbal Remedy help her? It might be worth the try

I don't blame her about being unhinged by the pigs, pigs have tushes and they rip open a ponies' belly. It's probably an instictive fear more than anything.

I'm sure once she's seen a set or two of the piggies come and go, she'll react the same as your others, with a flick of the ear it's just a matter of seeing them and learning what's normal. *

[yanny]

Mine have never actually seen pigs, we do have to walk past a couple of pig farms but they're all locked away in a building. The only reason I know they're there is because you can hear them squealing (which does worry the boys a little but no extreme reactions)

Mine are a bit like yours; they Each have fears that the other doesn't have; cal is a little worried by big traffic which Cuba is fine with, but Cuba is scared of things like road signs from behind, which cal doesn't mind at all!

[dalesnfellfan]

On our ride around the village this morning she had to cope with 2 new experiences, first the football match on the playing field, she was a bit concerned and walked past very fast with her head in the air in the middle of the road but was much less tense on the way back.

Second she encountered sheep for the first time, she really didn't like them, she grew a hand and piaffed past but didn't do anything nasty, not looking forward to her meeting the cows for the first time, I think I'll wait till I'm with my friend on her horse to give us a lead past before we go that way.

[harveydales]

Gosh, she's really meeting all things rural this week! Good idea to let her hack out with a schoolmaster to show her it's not that scary.

[Debbie]

Oh dear, definitely an urban pony I hope she'll learn these aliens aren't going to harm her.