The past couple of weeks I haven't really done very much with Blossom as the weather hasn't been great and I didn't want to risk injuring her out playing in a wet, muddy field in the dark. So instead I have been playing with her in the stable, she does have alot of issues in the stable. Im still not sure if this is a domminance or trust issue. She tends to be very grumpy and comes with her ears flat back and bites when I am grooming her and changing her rugs..
So I have been working on getting her to greet me when I enter the stable with a happy face!! It really seems to be working.. What I have been doing is going in the stable then going out until I get her curious about what it is I am doing, but if she isn't interested I then put some pressure behind zone 5 until she looks at me and repeat this until she comes to me or she gives me permission to come to her.
I have then been playing friendly games with her rug to try and stop her biting when I do up the front straps. I have been using lots of body blocks to try and prevent her from biting, but if she does try and bite I have been using the yo yo and driving game to move her away from me to teach her she isn't allowed to bite. It really seems to be working as she now seems to be more relaxed with me in the stable and enjoys me being there.
If we have a good session in the stable I have been working on asking her to lower her head and keep it there for a few seconds. She is getting better at this and now only needs phase 1 or 2 until she lowers her head but doesn't keep in down for very long.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Wednesday 2nd January
Well today I went to my first Parelli Play Day!!
Blossom Loaded really well, but I still asked her in and out a few times until I was happy that she was really confident and would be happy when the ramp was put up. She travelled really well, she neighed a bit to start with but settled pretty quick.
We started the day with playing with obstacles in the small field, to start with Blossom was more interested in the grass than me. But I soon got her interested and we had lots of fun playing with the obstacles. There was barrels, hula hoops, poles, tyres and even a pedestal. She wasn't very sure about the pedestal, but I managed to get her confident enough to smell it, but she didn't want to put her feet on it. We then got the Parelli challenges book and I played with ideas from them, it was good as it made me do things I wouldn't have thought of. I think the best one we done was playing friendly game with a pair of gloves in zone 1 and then putting the gloves on their ears - Blossom looked like a reindeer!!
After lunch we played the property game in the sand school - I had never heard of this or done anything with Blossom at liberty before! I started with just playing with the seven games on line, then moved on to playing with the halter round her neck. What I really noticed was I used friendly game more than I normally would if I had the halter on.. It was really good to play with her like this as it showed me where we still had problems. What I mainly found was my draw in the yo yo game wasn't good, she will happily come in using phase 1 or 2 on line but wouldn't come in at liberty. I also found that she was really unconfident with me on her right side, when the halter was just round her neck.. It was really interesting just to find where our problems where and what we have to work on.
Overall I had a great day and really did learn alot, I learnt what I need to work on with Blossom and what thresholds we have! I also found I learnt alot from watching others, it really gave me more ideas of things I could play with and things I could use when I have problems!!
Blossom Loaded really well, but I still asked her in and out a few times until I was happy that she was really confident and would be happy when the ramp was put up. She travelled really well, she neighed a bit to start with but settled pretty quick.
We started the day with playing with obstacles in the small field, to start with Blossom was more interested in the grass than me. But I soon got her interested and we had lots of fun playing with the obstacles. There was barrels, hula hoops, poles, tyres and even a pedestal. She wasn't very sure about the pedestal, but I managed to get her confident enough to smell it, but she didn't want to put her feet on it. We then got the Parelli challenges book and I played with ideas from them, it was good as it made me do things I wouldn't have thought of. I think the best one we done was playing friendly game with a pair of gloves in zone 1 and then putting the gloves on their ears - Blossom looked like a reindeer!!
After lunch we played the property game in the sand school - I had never heard of this or done anything with Blossom at liberty before! I started with just playing with the seven games on line, then moved on to playing with the halter round her neck. What I really noticed was I used friendly game more than I normally would if I had the halter on.. It was really good to play with her like this as it showed me where we still had problems. What I mainly found was my draw in the yo yo game wasn't good, she will happily come in using phase 1 or 2 on line but wouldn't come in at liberty. I also found that she was really unconfident with me on her right side, when the halter was just round her neck.. It was really interesting just to find where our problems where and what we have to work on.
Overall I had a great day and really did learn alot, I learnt what I need to work on with Blossom and what thresholds we have! I also found I learnt alot from watching others, it really gave me more ideas of things I could play with and things I could use when I have problems!!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Tuesday 1st January 2008
Well today it didn't stop raining, what a great start to the new year!
I decided the rain was going to stop me as I was desperate to load Blossom again to find out if last night was just a one off or not.. So I went and got her from the field and she was actually looked happy to see me, I didn't think she would have wanted to come in and play as she had only been out for a couple of hours.
Even though I was desperate to see if she would load again, I thought I should really try and set myself up for success and play for a bit first instead of making it all about the lorry.. So we went out to the field in the pouring rain and started playing the seven games with obstacles (I watched that dvd last night) We started with a tyre, then a gazebo side (tarp) and finished with a pole. Today she was really listening to me and really trying so hard, usually it takes a good 10mins to get her more left brained and thinking but today she was left brained from the start.. Something must be working!!
I then approached the lorry driving her from zone 3, when we got to the bottom of the ramp I just pointed up the ramp and up she went! It felt brilliant, so I went and played lots of friendly game with her. She seemed really confident so I asked her out and back in several times, so by the end she was getting out turning round and going back in by herself. So I felt she was ready to have the divider closed on her, I only brought it in so it was just in the lorry but so it wasn't tight on her! She got a little unconfident with this so I opened it again, then closed it and when she seemed confident again I closed it over a bit again. I done this several times until she was confident with the divider. One of the ladys at the farm came over to talk to me, so it was great because I took all my focus of Blossom and she seemed to really relax!! Kris then came round so I wanted to show her Blossom loading, so I opened the divider and asked her out and then just pointed for her to go in and in she went and stood happily again! Me and Kris then had a chat, but it was so interesting watching Blossom. Her head really dropped and her eyes where blinking loads, at one point it looked like she was going to go to sleep! She then had a few yawns, then stood and ate her hay while we finished our chat. Once Kris left I done more work with the divider, every time she lost her confidence a bit I would open the divider up again. Until she was standing confident with the divider closed, I then just sat and spent some time with her. I then unloaded her and asked her in again - she was so confident standing in there I felt it would be a good placed to stop for the day.
Tomorrow will be the big test, but I think she is confident enough to travel.
I decided the rain was going to stop me as I was desperate to load Blossom again to find out if last night was just a one off or not.. So I went and got her from the field and she was actually looked happy to see me, I didn't think she would have wanted to come in and play as she had only been out for a couple of hours.
Even though I was desperate to see if she would load again, I thought I should really try and set myself up for success and play for a bit first instead of making it all about the lorry.. So we went out to the field in the pouring rain and started playing the seven games with obstacles (I watched that dvd last night) We started with a tyre, then a gazebo side (tarp) and finished with a pole. Today she was really listening to me and really trying so hard, usually it takes a good 10mins to get her more left brained and thinking but today she was left brained from the start.. Something must be working!!
I then approached the lorry driving her from zone 3, when we got to the bottom of the ramp I just pointed up the ramp and up she went! It felt brilliant, so I went and played lots of friendly game with her. She seemed really confident so I asked her out and back in several times, so by the end she was getting out turning round and going back in by herself. So I felt she was ready to have the divider closed on her, I only brought it in so it was just in the lorry but so it wasn't tight on her! She got a little unconfident with this so I opened it again, then closed it and when she seemed confident again I closed it over a bit again. I done this several times until she was confident with the divider. One of the ladys at the farm came over to talk to me, so it was great because I took all my focus of Blossom and she seemed to really relax!! Kris then came round so I wanted to show her Blossom loading, so I opened the divider and asked her out and then just pointed for her to go in and in she went and stood happily again! Me and Kris then had a chat, but it was so interesting watching Blossom. Her head really dropped and her eyes where blinking loads, at one point it looked like she was going to go to sleep! She then had a few yawns, then stood and ate her hay while we finished our chat. Once Kris left I done more work with the divider, every time she lost her confidence a bit I would open the divider up again. Until she was standing confident with the divider closed, I then just sat and spent some time with her. I then unloaded her and asked her in again - she was so confident standing in there I felt it would be a good placed to stop for the day.
Tomorrow will be the big test, but I think she is confident enough to travel.
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