Monday 31st December

Today I had the vet coming out to give Blossom her vaccination, so this morning I done a little work on needle prep with her to make it a better experience for her. She is always well behaved and stands really well for the vet, but I had recently seen on one of the horse and country tv programmes Pat showing you how do do the needle prep so I thought it was worth doing it. She was doing it really well, but typical the vet gave her the jag in the chest instead of her neck! She was still fine and stood perfect.

Kris wanted to try loading Iona in the lorry to make sure she would be confident travelling when we go on Wednesday! So while she done that I played with Blossom in the field, she had just had her vaccination so I didn't want to do too much with her just in case she had a reaction to it. So we played with sideways to start with, I'm getting a few steps now without a fence! We played with the yo yo over the pole again she was better today than she was yesterday. But watching Kris loading Iona made me want to work on Blossom's loading so I went and hooked the trailer up to play with. We started with just playing with the seven games round the trailer, then she offered to go in so I took that. She went half way in to start with, then right in the second time. I then asked her out and played with the back bar while she was standing on the ramp, she seems to be more confident with this now but still not sure.. So I took it off and played friendly game with it rubbing her all over with it, she seems to loss her confidence when I am in zone 5 with it so we done some more work on that. I then asked her back in the trailer and stopped her halfway and played friendly game in zone 5, I thought this would be a good idea as she wouldn't feel so trapped and because she is more confident only halfway in. I then asked her right in and she stood quite happily.

Kris had finished playing in the lorry so I thought I would try her in the lorry as I'm going to take the lorry on Wednesday as I don't want to take the trailer as she still isn't confident enough to travel in it!
I wasn't sure how she would load into the lorry as she hasn't been in it since the level one course in November, and I hadn't ever squeezed her into the lorry or a trailer before now. So when I first asked her in she didn't want to go and was trying to get away by going round the side of the lorry, so I stopped her at the bottom of the ramp and played friendly game with her. I then asked her in again and she manage all four feet on the ramp but quickly backed off again, she done this a few times then went right in. But turned round and came out again, so I asked her in again. Each time she would stay in a little longer, until she was standing in the lorry eating her hay while I was sitting on the ramp. So I would ask her out and ask her in again - Every time she was going in more confident. It was just amazing to see her so confident about going in the lorry in so little time! I didn't try and shut the divider on her as it was getting dark and I knew if she lost her confidence I didn't have the time in daylight to help her get her confidence back. So we finished on a good note, I just hope tonight wasn't just a one off..