This weekend I was going to Shrewsbury to compete so I decided to take Blossom with me, to help her gain confidence at different places and to get her used to being at shows. So hopefully when I start to compete her again it will make things a lot easier on Blossom.
We left on Friday morning, and I loaded the other two ponies first as I know Blossom is more confident if there is another pony in the lorry before her. She loaded well and travelled really well the whole way. When we arrived we built the corralls before unloading the ponies so they had somewhere to go as soon as they came out the lorry. She was quite on her toes when she came out but after that time in the lorry I don’t blame her, she stood well in her corrall and let me take her travel stuff of her and put a waterproof rug on her as it was raining.
I had hoped to take her for a walk round the showground, but by the time I got my tent up and had some dinner it was getting dark and we had to go to the briefing so I just left her for the night.
On Saturday morning I wanted to go and watch one of the teams that was in the arena so decided to use that as an opportunity to take Blossom with me and try and get her used to the atmosphere and noise. Leading her up to the ring she was really RB and was jogging and dancing about all over the place. Because we were heading to the ring on quite a busy bit of the showground it wasn’t possible to try and use approach and retreat as there was too many people, ponies, lorries and cars passing us at the same time. So instead I got her to back up for a few steps, then sideways, then played with the half circle game. By the time we got to the ring, she was a lot calmer but still couldn’t keep her feet still. So I played lots of yo yo game with her as I found that this seems to be a really good game for Blossom and seems to calm her and gets her attention on me. By the time the teams in the arena were on there econd race I was able to ask her to come closer to the fence and watch the other ponies. She really did appear to be watching and stood very relaxed.
In the evening after I had finished for the day I decided to go out and ride her. I saddled her in the corall as I didn’t want to be leaving my saddle lying about while I played with her before mounting.
She was really calm when I took her out of the corall and walked calm to the area I was going to play with her, what a difference from the moring! We warmed up playing with the seven games, all went well so I then done some pre mounting checks then mounted. I walked, trotted and got some really nice canter which was a nice surprise! I was getting some really strange look riding in my hackamore – it was quite funny!! We then went for a ride around the showground and she walked really nice the whole way and even stopped and stood still to let me read the for sale notices that were on the board!
On Sunday I didn’t do very much with Blossom because of the times of my session and final – but I feel that just the experience of being there and just going for a little walk was enough for her! I hope to start taking her to more shows with me as this will be great experience for her and will also really test my savvy to see if I am a good enough leader for her in these new places!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday 24th June
Tonight I decided to go and play with Blossom as I haven’t had the time the last couple of weeks to play with her as much as I would have liked to.
We started our session with playing the seven games with the stable, Kathleen looked after the ponies for me at the weekend and had problems getting Blossom into the stable. So I thought this would be a good thing to start with, we started with friendly in the stable and the on to game 2 and 3. We then played yo yo up to the doorway and then I asked her to go back a couple of steps again. I would have liked to have got her to yo yo through the doorway and back again, but she isn’t confident with this sort of task yet so didn’t think this would help her gain more confidence in the stable. We then played squeeze game through the stable door, she did find this quite difficult to start with but was soon walking in and out really calm. So we moved on to playing squeeze game between the stable and me and then moved on to sideways along the row of stables. She was so calm, so I asked her to squeeze back into the stable and then played lots of friendly with her.
We then went out to play in the field, it was really heavy rain so we didn’t do very much as we were both soaked!
We started with circling game, the circles are getting so much softer now with lots of slack in the rope. So we worked a little on change of direction and transitions, everything went quite well we managed a really nice steady canter at one point that I was really happy about.
We then played squeeze game over a jump – it was only about 2ft high, but Blossom had problems with this. So I put one side down so it would be easier for her to cross – I could really see how much she was trying. She would lift her front leg and think about putting it over the pole and would also sometimes stop and put her foot on the pole. So we done lots of approach and retreat and I worked really hard to make sure I noticed all her trys and reward her for them. By the end she was quite confident walking over the poles in both directions, so I then put it back up to the jump and played circling game over the jump. She was quite good but I could still see she wasn’t very confident so after jumping each direction a few times I brought her back in to me and played lots of friendly with her and then finished for the night.
We started our session with playing the seven games with the stable, Kathleen looked after the ponies for me at the weekend and had problems getting Blossom into the stable. So I thought this would be a good thing to start with, we started with friendly in the stable and the on to game 2 and 3. We then played yo yo up to the doorway and then I asked her to go back a couple of steps again. I would have liked to have got her to yo yo through the doorway and back again, but she isn’t confident with this sort of task yet so didn’t think this would help her gain more confidence in the stable. We then played squeeze game through the stable door, she did find this quite difficult to start with but was soon walking in and out really calm. So we moved on to playing squeeze game between the stable and me and then moved on to sideways along the row of stables. She was so calm, so I asked her to squeeze back into the stable and then played lots of friendly with her.
We then went out to play in the field, it was really heavy rain so we didn’t do very much as we were both soaked!
We started with circling game, the circles are getting so much softer now with lots of slack in the rope. So we worked a little on change of direction and transitions, everything went quite well we managed a really nice steady canter at one point that I was really happy about.
We then played squeeze game over a jump – it was only about 2ft high, but Blossom had problems with this. So I put one side down so it would be easier for her to cross – I could really see how much she was trying. She would lift her front leg and think about putting it over the pole and would also sometimes stop and put her foot on the pole. So we done lots of approach and retreat and I worked really hard to make sure I noticed all her trys and reward her for them. By the end she was quite confident walking over the poles in both directions, so I then put it back up to the jump and played circling game over the jump. She was quite good but I could still see she wasn’t very confident so after jumping each direction a few times I brought her back in to me and played lots of friendly with her and then finished for the night.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Thursday 5th June
Tonight I didn’t have very long to play with Blossom, but wanted to do something with her.
So I just went out and got her to catch me in the field and played lots of friendly. She really relaxed and I started looking for her itchy bits, she really enjoyed me rubbing just inside her ears so I think that’s the new favourite spot!
I then just played the seven games with her trying to pretend that we were at liberty. First three games went really well and we even done some extreme friendly game. Yo yo game was a lot better than I expected, she went back on a phase one and my draw was also really good tonight. Circling game is just getting better and better, she is just so much softer now. There is always slack in the rope now which is great as it was a real problem for a while. Squeeze game also went really well, I just got her to squeeze past me and the fence, which I was able to do with the rope on the ground –I was really happy about this!! Last game we played was sideways, its still not perfect yet but I am now able to get a few sideways steps without her going forward or backwards. So that’s good for us as this has always been a problem game for us, but it’s getting better now!!
We finished with a little bit of liberty just playing stick to me and then played some friendly game getting all her itchy spots again which she really enjoyed!!
So I just went out and got her to catch me in the field and played lots of friendly. She really relaxed and I started looking for her itchy bits, she really enjoyed me rubbing just inside her ears so I think that’s the new favourite spot!
I then just played the seven games with her trying to pretend that we were at liberty. First three games went really well and we even done some extreme friendly game. Yo yo game was a lot better than I expected, she went back on a phase one and my draw was also really good tonight. Circling game is just getting better and better, she is just so much softer now. There is always slack in the rope now which is great as it was a real problem for a while. Squeeze game also went really well, I just got her to squeeze past me and the fence, which I was able to do with the rope on the ground –I was really happy about this!! Last game we played was sideways, its still not perfect yet but I am now able to get a few sideways steps without her going forward or backwards. So that’s good for us as this has always been a problem game for us, but it’s getting better now!!
We finished with a little bit of liberty just playing stick to me and then played some friendly game getting all her itchy spots again which she really enjoyed!!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday 3rd June
Well tonight started with another trailer loading demo at liberty from Blossom. As soon as she seen me playing with Aicha at the trailer she came straight over and walked into the trailer and stood in there quite relaxed. So I thought I should make the most of it and decided to put the front breast bar up as both ramps were down, so she could still get back out if she wanted. She didn’t bother about this and still stood in there quite happily, so I just left her in there until she decided to come out herself, which took a good few minutes.
After finishing playing with Aicha I went and got Blossom to catch me, which she did very well. We then played some friendly game and then moved off towards the obstacles driving from zone 3. I started with playing with circles, to try and get her energy up a little as she was very laid back and didn’t appear to be interested. But after a few circles and disengage I had her attention on me quite well so moved on to playing squeeze game. We started with playing with the trotting poles, the first time in each direction she seemed to have a few problems but after that she walked over very confident. So we moved on to one of the small jumps, but it had fell down. So only one side was raised at about a 1 foot and the ground pole had a spread of about the same, for some reason Blossom really had problems with this and had to really think to work out how she was going to get to the other side. It was really interesting to watch because at no stage did she go right brained and panic, she appeared to be very left brained and really trying. She would put one foot across and then maybe the pole would move a little so she would retreat and the try a new approach and done everything so carefully which really surprised me. We ended up crossing the jump both ways about 3 times and each time she crossed she appeared to be getting more confident.
I didn’t want to play too much with that with her as she had tried so hard for me so we moved on to yo yo game, we started without any obstacles and she done this really well. So we moved on to backing over the pole again. Again I started her on the other side of the pole and once I felt she was happy I would asked her to bring one foot over the back at a time. But I think my plan of starting her there so she seen it as a safe place backfired one me, as very quickly my draw didn’t really work and when she did come forward she only managed her front feet and quickly went back to her safe spot over the other side of the pole. I eventually managed to get her to come across the pole and played lots of friendly and left her standing there for quite a while. Don’t know if its maybe an idea to try and get her more confident standing just in front of the pole as I think this might be more of a issue for her as she doesn’t appear to like things in zone 5.
We then moved on to have a quick play with the trailer again I just left both ramps down as I really want her to be confident before I start shutting the ramps. After a few times loading in and out using the front and back ramps and playing lots if friendly in zone 5, I shut the back bar on her (front one was still open) She was fine for a couple of minutes until there was a noise outside that spooked her so she moved backwards to come out a felt the bar and instead of just pushing through it like she has done before she moved forward again and went out the front ramp. For me that was a huge improvement as before she would always just push on the bar until it opened – I was also glad that the front ramp was still open so she could leave as after all this work I would have hated for her to have got a freight and panicked because she couldn’t get out. So after loading her another few times I finished on that for the night as it was getting late and I really need to start getting home earlier than 10pm every night!
After finishing playing with Aicha I went and got Blossom to catch me, which she did very well. We then played some friendly game and then moved off towards the obstacles driving from zone 3. I started with playing with circles, to try and get her energy up a little as she was very laid back and didn’t appear to be interested. But after a few circles and disengage I had her attention on me quite well so moved on to playing squeeze game. We started with playing with the trotting poles, the first time in each direction she seemed to have a few problems but after that she walked over very confident. So we moved on to one of the small jumps, but it had fell down. So only one side was raised at about a 1 foot and the ground pole had a spread of about the same, for some reason Blossom really had problems with this and had to really think to work out how she was going to get to the other side. It was really interesting to watch because at no stage did she go right brained and panic, she appeared to be very left brained and really trying. She would put one foot across and then maybe the pole would move a little so she would retreat and the try a new approach and done everything so carefully which really surprised me. We ended up crossing the jump both ways about 3 times and each time she crossed she appeared to be getting more confident.
I didn’t want to play too much with that with her as she had tried so hard for me so we moved on to yo yo game, we started without any obstacles and she done this really well. So we moved on to backing over the pole again. Again I started her on the other side of the pole and once I felt she was happy I would asked her to bring one foot over the back at a time. But I think my plan of starting her there so she seen it as a safe place backfired one me, as very quickly my draw didn’t really work and when she did come forward she only managed her front feet and quickly went back to her safe spot over the other side of the pole. I eventually managed to get her to come across the pole and played lots of friendly and left her standing there for quite a while. Don’t know if its maybe an idea to try and get her more confident standing just in front of the pole as I think this might be more of a issue for her as she doesn’t appear to like things in zone 5.
We then moved on to have a quick play with the trailer again I just left both ramps down as I really want her to be confident before I start shutting the ramps. After a few times loading in and out using the front and back ramps and playing lots if friendly in zone 5, I shut the back bar on her (front one was still open) She was fine for a couple of minutes until there was a noise outside that spooked her so she moved backwards to come out a felt the bar and instead of just pushing through it like she has done before she moved forward again and went out the front ramp. For me that was a huge improvement as before she would always just push on the bar until it opened – I was also glad that the front ramp was still open so she could leave as after all this work I would have hated for her to have got a freight and panicked because she couldn’t get out. So after loading her another few times I finished on that for the night as it was getting late and I really need to start getting home earlier than 10pm every night!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Monday 2nd June
Tonight after riding Gee – Whizz I went out and played with Blossom in the field.
We started with playing with circles and tonight she was so soft, I think tonight was the first time there was really slack in the line!! We then moved on to playing yo yo over a pole – Blossom had lots of problems with this tonight. So I got her to stand on the other side of the pole and asked her to bring one foot forward at a time then go backwards again, we played with this for quite a while with lots of rest periods in between to try and help her relax. By the end of playing with that I was able to get her to come all the way over the pole and then go backwards again so I was happy with that so decided to move on and play with something else and hope to try and play with this the next time we are out.
We then moved to play with the trailer, my aim was to play the seven games with the trailer but Blossom thought it was a better idea just to work on the loading part. As soon as we got near the trailer she was heading in, she only managed half way in to start with but was very relaxed and seemed very curious. So we retreated a few times and the she went all the way in – tonight I really felt that she was the most relaxed I have ever seen her in the trailer. The front and back ramp was down so I guess that will have helped her as she could see an escape route in front and behind her. So I then played lots of friendly game with her in zone five while she was standing there to try and get her used to the back bar going up, but still letting her realise she could get out if she wanted too which I felt went really well. So decided to finish on that and brought her out the trailer.
I then got a call from the guy from Ireland who is interested in buying Aicha, I spoke to him on Sunday night and told him about Aicha and did say to him that she didn’t like going in the trailer but travels fine in the lorry. I don’t see the point in lying to someone about a pony as I want the best home possible for them.
The guy was very concerned about Aicha not travelling in a trailer, as the only have a trailer and if they are going to invest the money into buying Aicha they can’t afford to go and but a lorry too so need her to be able to travel in a trailer. So I decided to give it a go trailer loading her using Parelli to help me.. I didn’t feel I really had the savvy to do this considering Eddy Modde only manage to get her to out her front feet on the ramp, but thought it would be worth a go. To start with I couldn’t get her within 50 feet of the trailer, but somehow gained her confidence to get her walking over the ramp and the all four feet on the ramp facing into the trailer!! I’m not going to go into too much more detail about Aicha, as the point in this story is more about Blossom’s behaviour as I found it extremely interesting.
By the time Aicha was standing on the ramp Blossom just couldn’t stay away any longer and had to come over for a look. She seemed to understand what I was trying to do with Aicha as I was doing lots of approach and retreat on the ramp with her. Next thing I knew Blossom was behind Aicha biting her bum and would you believe Aicha took a step forward into the trailer and Blossom backed off. This happened a few more times each with the same result, Aicha walking a little further into the trailer. I then took Aicha away from the trailer and played another few games with her and when I went back to the trailer she walked straight in with me, not squeeze style but she was confident. I was well impressed and was busy giving her lots of praise when Blossom decided she wanted to come in the trailer too. But because I had the dividers to one side so it wasn’t as tight for Aicha she couldn’t get in the other side so just came in the back of Aicha and stood quite happily there. Once I felt Aicha seemed relaxed we walked out the front ramp with Blossom following on behind and again walked into the trailer and Blossom came in behind again – her next plan seemed to be to try and get in the trailer using the front ramp!! I couldn’t believe her, she was just so calm and curious it was brilliant to see. Blossom then got slightly bored I think and went of to eat some grass and play with Shady. So it gave me the opportunity to put the ramps up on Aicha, everything was going really well so I got my Mum to come down and video it for me so we can send it to the guy and let him see yes she does load.
But as soon as my Mum arrived Blossom returned, again she was coming in the trailer behind Aicha. But because I wanted to show the ramps getting closed on Aicha I couldn’t really have Blossom standing on the back. So the next time I took Aicha out the trailer Blossom was still at the back of the trailer and I decided to really test my savvy and load her at liberty.. And yes it worked she loaded straight in and came back out the front ramp – I then managed to do it with her again a few minutes later once she came back, this time she actually stayed in the trailer longer and was sniffing the front window before she came out. I was so happy and we even have it on film!!
Well overall I don’t think I would have been able to gain Aicha’s trust to go in the trailer if it hadn’t been for Blossom helping. It was the most interesting experience I think I have had with horse behaviours. Its so hard to explain what actually happen tonight, but all I do know is somehow Aicha is now happily loading in and out of the trailer with confidence and Blossom also seems to have gained confidence from helping Aicha. What an amazing night with so much to lick and chew over!!
We started with playing with circles and tonight she was so soft, I think tonight was the first time there was really slack in the line!! We then moved on to playing yo yo over a pole – Blossom had lots of problems with this tonight. So I got her to stand on the other side of the pole and asked her to bring one foot forward at a time then go backwards again, we played with this for quite a while with lots of rest periods in between to try and help her relax. By the end of playing with that I was able to get her to come all the way over the pole and then go backwards again so I was happy with that so decided to move on and play with something else and hope to try and play with this the next time we are out.
We then moved to play with the trailer, my aim was to play the seven games with the trailer but Blossom thought it was a better idea just to work on the loading part. As soon as we got near the trailer she was heading in, she only managed half way in to start with but was very relaxed and seemed very curious. So we retreated a few times and the she went all the way in – tonight I really felt that she was the most relaxed I have ever seen her in the trailer. The front and back ramp was down so I guess that will have helped her as she could see an escape route in front and behind her. So I then played lots of friendly game with her in zone five while she was standing there to try and get her used to the back bar going up, but still letting her realise she could get out if she wanted too which I felt went really well. So decided to finish on that and brought her out the trailer.
I then got a call from the guy from Ireland who is interested in buying Aicha, I spoke to him on Sunday night and told him about Aicha and did say to him that she didn’t like going in the trailer but travels fine in the lorry. I don’t see the point in lying to someone about a pony as I want the best home possible for them.
The guy was very concerned about Aicha not travelling in a trailer, as the only have a trailer and if they are going to invest the money into buying Aicha they can’t afford to go and but a lorry too so need her to be able to travel in a trailer. So I decided to give it a go trailer loading her using Parelli to help me.. I didn’t feel I really had the savvy to do this considering Eddy Modde only manage to get her to out her front feet on the ramp, but thought it would be worth a go. To start with I couldn’t get her within 50 feet of the trailer, but somehow gained her confidence to get her walking over the ramp and the all four feet on the ramp facing into the trailer!! I’m not going to go into too much more detail about Aicha, as the point in this story is more about Blossom’s behaviour as I found it extremely interesting.
By the time Aicha was standing on the ramp Blossom just couldn’t stay away any longer and had to come over for a look. She seemed to understand what I was trying to do with Aicha as I was doing lots of approach and retreat on the ramp with her. Next thing I knew Blossom was behind Aicha biting her bum and would you believe Aicha took a step forward into the trailer and Blossom backed off. This happened a few more times each with the same result, Aicha walking a little further into the trailer. I then took Aicha away from the trailer and played another few games with her and when I went back to the trailer she walked straight in with me, not squeeze style but she was confident. I was well impressed and was busy giving her lots of praise when Blossom decided she wanted to come in the trailer too. But because I had the dividers to one side so it wasn’t as tight for Aicha she couldn’t get in the other side so just came in the back of Aicha and stood quite happily there. Once I felt Aicha seemed relaxed we walked out the front ramp with Blossom following on behind and again walked into the trailer and Blossom came in behind again – her next plan seemed to be to try and get in the trailer using the front ramp!! I couldn’t believe her, she was just so calm and curious it was brilliant to see. Blossom then got slightly bored I think and went of to eat some grass and play with Shady. So it gave me the opportunity to put the ramps up on Aicha, everything was going really well so I got my Mum to come down and video it for me so we can send it to the guy and let him see yes she does load.
But as soon as my Mum arrived Blossom returned, again she was coming in the trailer behind Aicha. But because I wanted to show the ramps getting closed on Aicha I couldn’t really have Blossom standing on the back. So the next time I took Aicha out the trailer Blossom was still at the back of the trailer and I decided to really test my savvy and load her at liberty.. And yes it worked she loaded straight in and came back out the front ramp – I then managed to do it with her again a few minutes later once she came back, this time she actually stayed in the trailer longer and was sniffing the front window before she came out. I was so happy and we even have it on film!!
Well overall I don’t think I would have been able to gain Aicha’s trust to go in the trailer if it hadn’t been for Blossom helping. It was the most interesting experience I think I have had with horse behaviours. Its so hard to explain what actually happen tonight, but all I do know is somehow Aicha is now happily loading in and out of the trailer with confidence and Blossom also seems to have gained confidence from helping Aicha. What an amazing night with so much to lick and chew over!!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Sunday 1st June
Today I had plans to go out a really play with Blossom – But the weather didn’t seem to agree with my plans. As soon as I was ready to go out and play the rain started, and got heavier and heavier. So that play sessions is on hold and hopefully the weather will improve again this week and we will get out to play more!
Saturday 31st May
Wow what a lovely day – I made the most of today by building my little playpark. Its not quite finished but at least we now have a few obstacles to play with. I managed to get myself 3 blue barrels and I have my Dad’s mechanics looking for more for me. So I used two off them for a jump, and the other own its own with poles either side which I hope to use for backing Blossom up to try and get her more confident with things in zone 5. I also build a few jumps, tarp, single poles, plank of wood, hula hoop and I also made a squeeze obstacle out of wing stands and plank poles, which I hope to use as a practice for loading into the trailer. And of course the trailer is out there just now as well.
I just loaded all the jumps etc into the trailer to get it all out to the field as it would have taken me hours to get it all out there. Blossom seemed very curious to see the car and trailer coming into her field. So when I had stopped the car and let the ramps on the trailer down Blossom was right over investigating! When I was over building a jump, I look over and Blossom was standing on the ramp of the trailer having a look inside at all the jumps - I was very impressed with her!
I then got Blossom to catch me and we played with some of the new obstacles. We didn’t do very much because it was just so hot, we were both out of breath just walking about. So we just finished with me giving Blossom a good rub in al her itchy bits.
I just loaded all the jumps etc into the trailer to get it all out to the field as it would have taken me hours to get it all out there. Blossom seemed very curious to see the car and trailer coming into her field. So when I had stopped the car and let the ramps on the trailer down Blossom was right over investigating! When I was over building a jump, I look over and Blossom was standing on the ramp of the trailer having a look inside at all the jumps - I was very impressed with her!
I then got Blossom to catch me and we played with some of the new obstacles. We didn’t do very much because it was just so hot, we were both out of breath just walking about. So we just finished with me giving Blossom a good rub in al her itchy bits.
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