Sunday 8th February

Today was the second day of the level 3 course, this morning we went over everything we done yesterday and then moved on to talking about bits. We discussed what other Parelli instructors have been taught by dressage trainer Phillippe Karl, so this was very interesting as we also discussed which bit is better for the exercises we were going to use - the snaffle or the cradle??

The exercise we played with the bits were tio help the horses become more confident and relaxed with the bit. Blossom really seemed to like these exercises and done them really well, she is now really happy with a bit in her mouth. I have really noticed a difference with her attitude towards the bit over the last couple of weeks. The first time Eddy put the cradle bridle on her for me, she wouldn’t open her mouth for him. But now she is opening her mouth looking for the bit so it is really good to see such a positive change in her.

I then got Eddy to show me how to teach Blossom to come sideways towards me, so we played around with this and we were starting to get a couple of steps towards me (still using the wall) but I have so happy with this.

This afternoon I played with all the new stuff I have learnt over the last two days and then saddled her, but today she wasn’t as calm and relaxed as she has been lately. But the good thing was she was nothing compared to how she was when I first arrived here. So I spoke to Eddy about this and we worked out the only thing I had done different today than I have been doing with her over the last couple of weeks (well except the new stuff we have learnt) is I didn’t ride her bareback and brideless first… So was this the reason she was more impulsive? So Eddy suggested I try riding bareback and see if she was as impulsive with me bareback as she was with the saddle. But again this just didn’t feel as good as it normally does and I just didn’t feel that I was in harmony with her or being very fluid. So I told Eddy this and we thought maybe this was the reason then that the ride wasn’t going as well as it has done. So because of this I decided to finish riding, before everything really went bad, so I let her loose in the arena for a roll. After her roll she got up and started bucking and galloping around the arena for about 10 minutes, so maybe my riding wasn’t just the problem today I think Blossom also had a lot of extra energy she had to get out and that was why she was more impulsive to ride than normal.