Five days ago, Shirley and I were invited to learn how to take care of a little pony named Diva. She’d be boarding with Kiva for 4 to 6 weeks until her owner’s broken leg healed enough for her to take care of her own pony. Sounded like a lot of fun, so we said “yes” and Diane (Kiva’s horse and people trainer) got us started right away.
She showed us how to desensitize Diva from the training stick by rubbing it on her back, legs, belly, and neck, and also gently flipping the string around and on her. Diane also showed us how to give Diva a little exercise by having her move in circles around us. And then Diane shooed us off to brush/groom the pony by saying, “you used to be dog groomers, you can figure it out!” We didn’t feel the same confidence, so we prowled around YouTube a bit to get a better idea.
The poor little pony hadn’t been getting much attention (her owner injured herself mid December). Plus, the little stinker likes to rub on her back a lot… getting very dirty and muddy. So, she was a mess.
Playing with a curry comb and dandy brush, we got her almost looking good. Her mane glowed and most of the dust had been removed from her coat. All that was left was to finalize her tail (it was really, really tangled). And then we got 3 days of rain. Remember that Diva likes to roll on the ground? Well, she’s back to being a total mess! The stinker.
We’ll have our work cut out for us when the mud dries up.
This is all new for us, but lots of fun. Diva already recognizes us and runs up to us to get a piece of carrot or an apple-oat treat.