Saturday 20th December

Today with Blossom we started again with working on her confidence in zone 5, playing with the normal objects and then moved on to playing with loading into the trailer backwards. This took around 20minutes as she took very small steps and needed lots of rest spots. But she managed to go all the way in today!!




We then moved on to playing with sideways which was good and we even managed some trot sideways so I was happy with this.

We then played with circles and again today I worked on walking backwards while Blossom was circling to get her focus on me - this worked really well and she started to come to me every time I walked backwards. So we moved on to change of direction and we got some really nice changes but she seemed to just have loads of energy today and just wanted to canter all the time. So I decided to finish and turn her and Smarty loose in the school and let them get rid of any extra energy they have and then I would continue playing.

So I turned them both loose and they galloped about a little, but then Blossom came back to me and wanted to play - so we played stick to me in walk and trot and even jumped a jump and then I asked her to stand on the pedestal. Which she done first time!! I then tried to get her to go sideways, but I applied too much pressure I think and she left.. So I left the arena and went upstairs to watch them, and I am glad I left them as it was really good to watch them. They had another really good gallop about and then Blossom loaded herself into the trailer and stood in there I for a few minutes, so this was really nice to see!! I then headed back down and Blossom caught me really well and we had another play at liberty and then stopped and I gave her a really good groom in the arena as she had rolled. While I was grooming Blossom would you believe, Smarty loaded himself into the trailer - I was really impressed!!

I then took Blossom back to her stable and went back to catch Smarty - I could have caught him the first time but he had a really snotty look on his face so I backed him away from me and he decided to go for another gallop. I approached and retreated from him a few times, but every time I got quite close he still had a snotty look so I would chase him away again. This carried on for about 15 minutes, then next time I approached I got his attention on me and walked backwards and he came walking to me. So I played friendly game at with the CS with him and then walked to were I had left his halter with him sticking to me at liberty, I was really happy with this as even when I stopped he stopped too!! I was so tempted to try a little bit of liberty work with him but didn’t think it was worth it today.

I then gave Smarty a groom and then saddled him and got Blossom out again - the plan today was to ride Smarty and play with Blossom at the same time..

So I warmed them both up again together playing with circles and yo yo game, they both went quite well considering it was my first time playing with two ponies at the same time and the fact Smarty is so new to playing the games.





I then mounted and we started with just walking round and I was playing friendly game with the CS with both of them while we were walking round, Smarty was still a little unsure of this but was ok with the whole idea. So we then moved up to trot and both ponies were really good and stayed together, I really expected Blossom to get impulsive but she stayed quite calm.

Seen as that was all going so well I decided to have a play with some of the games - starting with yo yo game with Blossom, this went really well and she went backwards to the end of the 12ft line and back no problem. And Smarty just stood there the whole time with a totally loose rein, so I was very impressed as he wasn’t worried and seemed to know I was communicating to Blossom and not him. I then tried to play circling game with Blossom circling around me and Smarty, but this didn’t really work as Smarty got worried about the rope being near his bum and back legs and would start running off when this happened, so I will need to work with this more on the ground to help him to become confident.

We then played squeeze game over a jump, well Blossom had to jump while me and Smarty stood there - this also went really well.

We then moved on and I asked Blossom to trailer load and me and Smarty just stood outside and then we moved on to the pedestal and I asked Blossom to stand up on it and then asked her to try and get a back foot on and today she managed all 4 feet. She only managed it for about 3 seconds, but she still done it!!!

We finished by walking round working on getting both ponies connected to my energy and stop and back up together. Blossom was really tuned into me and was stopped and backing sometimes before Smarty had even stopped!! So I had to be a little firmer with Smarty and then we got some really nice back up from him too and most of the time both ponies were backing at the same time.

Today’s session was really fun and I think I will try and do more of this with them as they seemed to really enjoy it too and it was great for Smarty confidence with the friendly games as there was always ropes hanging down or the carrot stick in the air or something and by the end of the session he wasn’t really bothered by it all. What really impressed me today with them was they seemed to know when I was communicating to each of them and both didn’t respond when I was correcting the other - it would have been so easy for Smarty to have responded every time I gave a signal to Blossom when we were playing some of the games but somehow he knew and just stood there! I was really happy with both of them today!!