So where were we...

I've not been having the best of weeks for me personally and I firmly believe that there is no point in working a horse when you aren't in the right frame of mind...so Bally has been cuddled profusely instead ;-)

I've still brought her in each day, but have deliberately taken a few steps back in her training just to consolidate our basics and check we have everything in place and then we can move forwards again...what am I wittering on about......???
Well - leading in - making sure she's with me and at the tempo I'm setting, not dawdling behind or looking at the sky / trees / other horses.... tying up and standing where she's put, not fidgeting, standing still whilst we chat to other liveries..and not fidgeting. Being sprinkled in the wash box and enjoying it - that sort of thing :-)
We've also said hello to the scary horsebox every day which involves us trundling up to it and me going up the ramp and seeing what Little B thinks - well she's now completely voluntarily putting both front feet on the ramp - admittedly one single one on at a time, but this is done with no ask and no pressure from me, it's entirely her decision.

Now I know she's completely comfortable with it at some point next week I'll set her up to ask for a little more from her and I'm using clicker target training to help with this - no surprises that Bally as taken to this like a duck to water! Today she actually came across the field to hit my hand as the target, I'm so chuffed she's enjoying this as it's a very useful tool with a horse like Little B who really seems to need a reason for doing it to want to do some things.

I had to laugh the other night - I was just taking her back down to the field and approaching the corner I could hear someone on a mini moto coming up the path around the corner - I stuck my head and arm round it and waved him down...so he screeched to a halt spraying gravel everywhere which Bally found a teeny bit challenging and gave it her best eyes on stalks snort!
he very kindly turned the engine off and well - Bally took it upon herself to march straight up to the bike and start giving it a sniff all over - wowsers!
Then I couldn't believe it from behind us came the sound of another blummin one. Luckily Tom saw us, stopped and turned his engine off as he saw B was tense...well around she turned to give this one the once over too - unbelievable!!
As part of her traffic training the guys have agreed to help me by slowly but surely introducing the bikes whilst they're running, building up to approaching us on the yard at a distance and hopefully getting to a stage where they can ride past - Pauline I hope to be handing back a thoroughly bomb proof young lady at the end of the day - well actually she's almost there all ready having seen tractors, buses, fork lifts, lorries, cars and vans on the yard already lol!

Let's see what tomorrow brings, I'm really looking forward to it :-)