Life for four-year-old Doniatia should have been pulling a hay cart in Romania instead, she is a much-loved family pony in rural Fife, boasting a clutch of rosettes.
Doniatia was brought to the UK in September 2009 and she is one of a number of horses and ponies who have been tamed and trained by the region’s answer to the Horse Whisperer.
Otherwise known as Betty, she was brought to Joanna Heaton by her owner Louisa Cocris, of Carnbee, who took her home from the Romanian farm owned by her husband’s family.
Joanna, who owns Balanced Horsemanship, based at Incharvie Equestrian Centre, Colinsburgh, practises the Monty Roberts Natural Horsemanship technique which uses modern equine psychology.
After several months of work, Joanna has made Betty into a pony to be proud of and who competes regularly in competitions, including dressage and shows.
In her first cross-country race almost a year to the day since she arrived, Betty came fifth.
Joanna told The Courier this week, “Louisa and her husband fell in love with this special foal and decided they wanted to take her home when they moved back here.
“They waited until she was old enough to travel and it took two weeks to get her back to the UK.
“When she got here she was wild. She hadn’t been handled and spending two weeks in a lorry wasn’t a great introduction to people.”
The first day Joanna went to visit Betty, Louisa and her family were alarmed when she went into the stable with the pony.
Joanna said, “Betty was very sceptical of human contact but there wasn’t any nastiness in her.”
Her first tasks were to encourage Betty to come to her then remove her fear of being touched, which she did by tentatively using a long pole with a stuffed glove on the end. She then slowly and steadily worked with Betty’s natural instincts at the pony’s own pace, building up trust and confidence.
Despite her wild start, Betty was surprisingly quick to harness, said Joanna.
“She is so easy now, she doesn’t get spooked. She has a really nice attitude to life and will give everything a go. I think she knows she has had a lucky break.”
Joanna launched her business at Inch Farm, near Pittenweem, and moved to Incharvie last February.
Since learning the Monty Roberts techniques, developed by Roberts by studying wild horses in Nevada, over two years ago, Joanna has worked in Spain and Ireland.