Tuesday 20th November

Tonight I went out and played with Aicha first, as I really want to try and get her more confident with the friendly game. (check out Aicha's Blog if you want to know more)

So by the time I got round to playing with Blossom it had started to rain quite heavy - so instead of going out and getting soaked I played with her in the stable. I had intended doing so work on leading her. This is where I do tend to have most of the problems with her, she is fine leading from the field etc. But as soon as I start doing things faster she starts to loss her confidence and tends to turn her hindquaters so she is facing my side. This was a rel problem when I was doing games with her, so I would like to do more work with this so when we start doing games this shouldn't be a problem for us.

But instead we played more friendly game with her rug and grooming brushes. She was really grumpy when I entered the stable, so played approach and retreat until she was curious about what I was doing - this seemed to work well for her. Once I had permission to touch her, I still had to back her up a few times and move her sideways as she was stomping her feet at me and nipping a bit. She relaxed quite quickely and seemed to enjoy being groomed, she had itchy bits in the inside of her front legs. Strange place I thought!! By the time it came to rugging her she stood perfect for me and even moved over instead of me so I could check the other side. This is the best result we have had so far.. I just hope it continues.