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!!