Woody is a beautiful TB Gelding who came to our yard off the back of a Monty Roberts demonstration. He was taken to the demo as a ‘last resort’ and was booked in to Potters the following week due to his dangerous behaviour. This was literally his last chance.
Woody was sold to a lady fresh from the field – apparently he was in there due to a lack of time. He was underweight but passed a 5 stage vetting. The lady spent time feeding him correctly and looking after his needs. She saw in him a real eventer in the making…
As soon as he started to put on weight he began to show a tendency to buck. The lady ended up on the deck of the school many times, as did professional riders who also tried. At this point pain related checks were made with nothing significant being found.
The owner heard about the Monty demo at Okehampton in October 2009 and put him forward as a demo horse. Having had professionals out to check him previously and an assessment of IHRA Sue Palmer that there was nothing that would significantly cause pain, he was accepted and Monty went to work.
Myself, Tracy, Katharine and Erica saw something in Woody and when the announcement was made that he was for sale I knew I had to help him. He could have all the time he wanted at Goldhill and with various body workers and professionals I know we can get him back on his hooves…
April 2010
Woody and I have started to work on the ground. I am being very careful not to put too much pressure on him to do things as I don’t want him to revert to the closed off bad boy who came to the yard last year. We’re taking everything at his pace and that’s important to me. So far Woody has been wearing saddle pads, surcingles, stirrups, ‘human’ legs (trousers stuffed with hay) and a few other things to get him used to things moving in his peripheral vision. I’m always amazed by the genuine willingness of the chap to please as he is taking everything in his stride at the moment. Only when he is totally happy and totally pain free will we move on to the next stage and start considering having someone jockey him.
Woody arrives! The big lad has come to Goldhill. First on the cards is some chill out time… My main aim with Woody at the moment is to let him relax, get some weight on him and allow him to be a horse. Then we'll see where he takes us!
