Many fell-running Fell Ponies in England experience flyovers by military jets. Many get to a point that loud, low-flying aircraft aren’t a big deal. My ponies when we were in Colorado occasionally had military or emergency services helicopters fly over at low altitude, so they became accustomed to them. Here my Fell Pony mare Rose and I experienced a flyover of a different sort, and it was a perfect addition to our ride.
Rose looks at turkeys on the ground under the grain bin.
I had taken Rose out to work on standing still around cattle. We rode to the bull corrals and stopped to watch several older bulls eat. They were pretty focused on their hay, and she did fine with that. We then rode a little farther where a few more bulls including some younger ones were a little more active. After a few times of me resetting Rose’s feet after she moved, she got the idea about standing still. Then we headed towards the calf pasture where Rose’s feet tend to be the busiest.
Almost immediately, though, we had company on the road. First came the tractor and hay processor which Rose is quite familiar with, followed by a familiar Jeep then an unfamiliar pickup. They all passed us by no problem. Rose has been around equipment her entire life, so I thought this parade should be an easy test for her, and she passed with flying colors. We continued on to the calf pasture and stopped to watch a dozen steers drinking from the waterer. I had to reset Rose’s feet a number of times before she stood still enough that I could count a success and let her move on again. We headed back toward the barn.
As we approached the barn, we saw that the tractor, Jeep, and pickup were all parked there, so we were to again have a good test of Rose’s ability to deal with relatively common stimuli but in a new place. I was pretty certain it wouldn’t be an issue, and as we approached I could tell that Rose saw what was going on and didn’t have a problem with it. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I could see we were about to experience something we hadn’t experienced before on our rides, and I had no idea what to expect. A flock of about thirty wild turkeys had been spooked, and they were flying over the bulls at about fifteen feet elevation and approaching the road just ahead of us. Perfect! A flyover!
We had seen turkeys numerous times on our rides, always quite a ways ahead of us and always on the ground, but we’d never had them above us. So I was extremely pleased and a little surprised that Rose kept on walking toward the barn. The turkeys kept on flying just ahead and above us, and Rose acted as if it was perfectly natural that large black heavy birds with long wings and funny heads were crossing our path airborne. I couldn’t have planned a better addition to our lesson ride. The last of the turkeys flew over, and we continued to the barn. We passed the vehicles at the barn, too, so it was easy to call the entire ride a success.
I was talking to a friend, and she mentioned that people sometimes poo-poo trail riding as a lowly use of an equine and the easiest to train for. My friend and I heartily agreed on the contrary. At least where she and I ride, the number of possible unexpected stimuli seems infinite. How do you prepare a pony to remain calm and safe when faced with infinite unexpected stimuli? And then how do you arrange for a flock of turkeys to fly overhead during a training ride to test that preparation?!
© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020
You can find more stories like this one in my book The Partnered Pony, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.