Friday 7th December

Tonight we went out and played with the trailer again.
We started with playing some games around the trailer today instead of on the grass. We started with playing circling game on the ramp, she was very confident with this even to the right side. We then played yo yo's with me standing on the ramp, she had some problems going backwards to start with as I think she actually wanted in the trailer.. Then we done sideways all the way round the car and trailer both ways - she seemed very confident with this which surprised me! We finished warming up by squeezing over the ramp, she started getting curious about getting in the trailer so I thought I should take what she was offering.

The first time of asking her in the trailer, she went in to her usual comfort spot. Front feet in the trailer and her back feet just on the top of the ramp. So I left her there and then asked her out. Second time going in she went just a little further and the third time she went straight in!!

But then a tractor drove into the yard, with a trailer full of cattle. So that panicked her and made her come out of the trailer at some speed!! So we played some games round the trailer again to gain her confidence again, while they unloaded the cattle.
When we approached the trailer again, she went back into her usual comfort spot. So I played lots of friendly in zone 4 and 5 as she still seems to have some problems in this area when she is in the trailer. We then retreated but she started going backwards and more backwards! I thought this was a unconfident issue to start with, but then she showed it more to be a dominance issue. So I had to then become more firm with her and this really seemed to work! I decided to forget the trailer for a bit as I think I was maybe making it too much about the trailer. So we played lots of yo yo's as this game really seems to work for her and gets her to listen to me more. We then played squeeze game using the side of the trailer, she had some issues doing this to the right so we done quite a bit of work on that until she was confident again.
When we moved back to the trailer and asked her in, she went straight in! So I gave her loads of time to stand there. I then felt she was confident enough to shut the divider over, which she seemed fine with. But when I went to put the back bar over, she seemed to loose her confidence and wanted out.. So I let her come out and then asked her back in, I decided to forget about the back bar for tonight and just work more on friendly game in zone four and five.
By the end of the session I had her backing out a couple of steps then going back in, then out, then in. This really showed me she was confident and that it was a good place to stop.