falls and contact!

Wednesday was my long day! My alarm went at 4.30 and I got dressed as quietly as possible so as not to wake Jannick who is sharing my room for two weeks whilst she stays for daily lessons. I released all of the horses into their grazing pastures and was nearly finished when i remembered i needed to collect their haynets! so i had to go around again before i could head home for breakfast.

that day i was on the feeding tour doing haynets. we had a lesson on getting our horses to jump confidently online and Paris showed that his confidence level is pretty good now. Gabbi said he is ready for me to make things more challenging and give him a series of jumps to do. it was really interesting to watch the different phsychological techniques for differnet horsenalities.

we then had a youngster trail ride - i had to feed Paris and sort a couple of things and then i brushed Sirius, the horse i was riding, and byb the time i headed into the outdoor arena the others had already saddled their horses. Sirius was very left brained so i saddled him and by then the others were mounting their horses. i played with a respect and impulsion excercises and then mounted Sirius. i checked out his lateral flexion, direct and indirect reins.

Sirius was a foal Marie-Claire bought when she bought her brood mares from Tunisia. apparantly it had been a very bad year with no rain and there was nothing for the horses to eat in tunisia so Sirius had only the milk of his dam who was very malnurished herself. As a consequence he never had the important development of his muscles and no matter what he eats his back end always looks boney. despite all this Sirius is very left brained and loves to play at a very high level. he gets extremely bored if you play at level 1/2 but becomes more extroverted if you play at level 3/4. I played with him for a few days in january and had ridden him on a trail ride on our last day.

I remembered from before that Sirius would just try to eat grass unless you were really firm and could phase four him for snacking. We headed off on the ride into the forest and around the feilds and i managed to stop Sirius eating. as we were trotting along one of the feilds Sirius got annoyed with me for using the reins to much to stop him eating and went into a bucking fit. he left about and turned as he bucked but I just stayed upright and stuck it out until he realised it wasn't working. then i decided to try being in neutral more and using my carrot stick rather than the reins. it was a good experience for me - this horse knew what level four felt like and he demanded to be treated fairly! As we headed back into the forest there was a nice long canter trail. Sanne was riding Smigus and headed off in a canter and we followed happily. suddenly Sirius slowed down and dropped to a trot. Anna was cantering Quasi behind us and i knew the gap was closing. i asked Sirius to go back into canter which he did but his plan had already worked. Quasi was close behind us now and sirius was bucking out at im as we cantered. his canter had so much movement anyway that i just sat there and cantered on regardless. the forest got a little more dense and delicious fern leaves were just to irresistable for Sirius. he would turn for a leaf i would life, swing and smack a phase four from the carrot stick on his neck or rump and he would just snatch a great big leaf and keep going. i knew this wasn't working - he was still getting the leaves and so his reward and was virtually completely ignoring my phase four.

when we came out of the forrest back onto the fields we all went for a last trot but Sirius decided to canter. i was trying really hard to not get into a fight with him again and was using the carrot stick to steer and slow him down, or trying to. he then dived into the bushes at the forrest edge, beside the feild and i was suddenly surrounded by low branches with no time to duck forward so i leant back to avoid being wiped off. Sirius started bucking again and i managed to stick the first few bucks but my balance slipped to the left and i felt one last buck unsettle me completely and Sirius leapt right and forward as i fell to the ground, still holding the rein. i didn't want to lose him but as he pulle the rein out of my hand i knew i couldn't hold him. everything was so strange. i was completely aware of what had happened but i was completely unable to move. i could see a horse running towards me and hear noices and i realised at least one of the others had fallen from their horses. apparantly when i hit the floor it spooked Quasi who is an extreme RBE inately and he took off bucking and Anna had rolled to the ground. thankfully she says she had a soft landing and was not hurt. Both Sirius and Quasi had cantered ahead of Sanne on Smigus but turned and headed back which scared Smigus who reared and almost fell sideways but managed to get his legs underneath him in time. Anna jumped up and caught the two loose horses but i was still unable to move. suddenly i could feel my body again and i leapt up to makesure everything was ok - but i was extremely dizzy! i sat back down and we waited a few minutes for my head to settle. i could feel that i had hit the ground with my left shoulder blade. we discussed how we should head back and i said i wanted to get back on but just ride at a walk. I mounted Sirius but my left arm hurt and felt weak and i could only try correcting him with the carrotstick in my right hand so he managed to get lots of grass on the way home as i was a pretty useless passenger.

as we rode back toward the arena we saw that Marie-Claire had arrived. She has been away for the whole time i have been here because she is having health problems and lots of tests. she is hear only for a few dys and then she is going away to have surgery and treatment. They quickly spotted the dirt all over Anna and asked if she fell so i quiclky filled them in on what had happened. i dismounted and untacked Sirius and suddenly felt like crying! the others told me not to cry in front of Thomas or Marie-Claire, i said it was probably just shock but i would not cry any more. Sanne and Anna sent me home whilst they finished the jobs off. i found some paracetamol which i hoped would thin my blood a little and ease the pain and then i had a hot shower and stood with the water hitting my left shoulder blade for about 10 minutes. i was completely seizing up by the time the others returned home. Sanne put volturen gel on my back and then i sat for ages using Sanne's phototonic red light on my injury. by the time i went to bed i could move my arm again and whislt it was incomfortable i could actually lay on my left side.

Thursday morning i woke up and was rather stiff again. i took some more paracetamol and cycled up to the saddle horses, moved them from their pasture and then met everyone for breakfast. Thomas had wanted Sanne to go shopping with him but Sanne said i should go instead because i had been hurt and would not be able to do the feeding tour or kaka force. it was really cool and interesting going out to the different shops with Thomas. we went to Lidle, then a horse feed merchant, then a place to get Sanne some wellies and finally to Super U for the majority of our shopping. when we got back i unpacked the shooping and helped Gabbie make a lunch of stuffer courgette, pasta and sauce for everyone. Marie-Claire told us to et our horses and then meet at 2.30 to discuss the day's lesson. i figured i can play with Paris as i know our limits and he wont pull me. i brought him in and groomed him. he has a really nasty bite mark on his back which is bruised so he cannot be ridden at the moment. i picked out his feet - they could do with a little trim or some serious roadwork. we met at the picnick tables and discussed the horse situation.

Paris and Kaluwa are not meant to live in the forest - they were meant to be turned out there inividually until Thomas and Gabbi arrived and then moved to Dino's place but after the disaster of introducing Rox and Kaluwa Paris and Kaluwa have shared the forest for more than a week. I was told they want Paris and Rox to be on the pasture at Dino's place. Sanne's mare was offered the student herd or the saddle horses. And Anna was told (because she is going away for three weeks on sunday night) to either take her horse with her or put some fences up near Dino's place so he can be reintroduced to Paris and Rox with a view to turning them out together and forming a gelding herd.

we then began simulations for the game of contact - OMG it is amazing. it is a strange idea at first because you teach the horse to move against the pressure it feels on the bit. you need good impulsion and for your horse to be left brained but basically it means that when you pick up two reins your horse will become engaged and either maintaingait or go up a gait! i worked with getting Paris to stretch downand forward with me using the bit with my hands from the ground. then i attahced some reins and stood on the mounting block so i could play the game as if i were in a ridden position. the others roade and a few even got a stride of walk into the bit!

when i was warming Paris up i had littlerally just started and was doing some stick to me and i asked Paris to back up and he did his normal "yeah yeah in my own time" so i did my usual wave the carrot stick and string in formt of him harder to say "back up!". suddenly i heard my name being called. Marie-Claire had called me over and seen what i had just done. she said i was stuck at phase 2.5 but couldn't reach phase fopur without risking taking Paris eye out with the savvy string. she told me to grap the string so it was out of the way and phase one - energy back in my body, phase two lift the stick in front of me, phase to move the stick in font of him and phase four SMACK his chest. within a couple of goes i had the snapiest backup stick to me's that i have ever had! i ran backwards and Paris was like "oh we're backing up fast!" and kept up with me!! i was very happy as this has been bothering me a little while and it was funny that it was just such a simple peice of advice but it was the difference that made all the difference. i also did some changes of direction but Gabi said i was running forward when i had two eyes (as i was tought a level 2) but not pointing in the new direction and letting him turn first. she said i was asking him to come to me and then running into him with my energy which was why he was not drawing to me with the CoD.  she said as Paris is so sensitive i only need to walk back into place once he is goign out in the correct direction and then speed him up once he is out on the circle again! it was another WOW moment and suddenly i had a nicer expression on Paris' face and smoother changes of direction.

When i put Paris away he kept marching ahead of me so i used the end of my rope to smack him chest when he did this. soon he was sticking with me beautifully but when i released him in the forest paddock he turned and trotted straight off! i suddenly worried that i had ended the session on a bad note and i had a pocket full of carrot peices i had wanted to give him. so i walked out to his pasture and as soon as he saw me he turned to me and RAN TOWARD ME! i ran back and he came in faster and as soon as he touched my hand with his nose i stopped running and opened my hand and gave him all the carrots! he followed me back to the gat and even nickered after me when i left him! now i was a happy bunny!!

we finished off our evening tasks - the others played with a second horse but i was not up for playing with strong minded left brained horses of the plessis with my weak arm. i cleaned out our stalls and helped Anna poo pick our forest as we need to clear it before the horses are moved. then we came home, ate a lovely salad and watched Bride Wars.

Today is our sleeping day so i am letting myself heal so i should be virtually back to normal tomorrow! i'm going to help Anna clear the pasture now.

hopefully i won't have any more falls - i am determined to learn from this one - i should have warmed up better and been much cleverer when i rode. i need to not let horses drag me into low branches or bushes and be more prepared to get off and fix a respect issue from the ground!

looking forward to giving you a less dramatic report next time!

auditions and lessons!

So Friday was our first day with Gabi and Thomas back.

In the morning it rained and then the mule (electic mini truck) ran out of battery so we didn't do the Kakka force in the paddock paradise. instead we scrubbed the feed buckets and made lunch for everyone.

after lunch Gabbi asked us to film a ten minute audition of us doing something with our horses. i decided to work on my yo-yo as it has been bothering me for some time and had the brain wave of backing him into the hula hoop. Paris went very introverted which i read as RBI. i had had a conversation with Sanna about her horse not asking questions and i realised i had the same issue. i was waiting for Paris to lick and chew but it wasn't really happening and we ended up with 12 minutes of me standing and paris standing and nothing much happening at all!

On Saturday we had to do two days worth of Kakka force and all of the Sunday tasks because we had asked to have a sleeping morning on sunday morning as we were going to a party saturday night. In the afternoon we filmed another audition and this time i chose to show my liberty. Paris went through the motions a bit then buggered off, headed in the wrong direction... it just all felt like a disaster!
Gabi then asked us to get a youngster each and begin playing online. i was feeling a bit rubbish after my session with Paris and doubting myself and second guessing everything i did. i played with Romeo, with a focus on building his coordination and canter leads. he was picking up the correct lead really well and even gave me a flying change but he was oddly lame in trot!!

after playing with the horses we watched the first set of auditions and it was interesting to see how LBI Paris was actually behaving and that he was asking questions but i was not noticing because he did it sooo quick! one it was pointed out it got me thinking about my liberty session and what i should have done differently!

it was clear from the auditions that many of us had difficulties with our draw and Gabi promised to show us an excercise to help.

After watching the auditions we rushed back to the house to get washed and changed ready to go out to a local french countryside party. I didn't really know what to expect so i wore the dress my sister bought me and some high heels.

When we got to the party it was more like a fun fair with fireworks, disco and singers! Everything was very french complete with giant chicken! we had a great time dancing and drinking wine and crawled home at 3 in the morning!

Sunday morning was the glorious long awaited sleeping morning! in the afternoon we had a lesson with Gabi who showed us three exercises, one for improving draw, one for improving front end yeilds and one for getting the horse to go into the bit. the first excercise entailed using belly button focus on a yoyo game along the fence (which i gloriously crashed into as i ran beckwards). Next we worked on driving th forequarter whilst standing in zone four building up to walk pirouettes. finally we played with applying bit pressure from the ground until the horse would push down onto it.

I have been practicing these exercises for the last few days and it is definately improving things. Paris has been rather bored previously and this is now much more interesting for him! today i also worked on my send and having a different cue for when i wanted him to leave in trot or canter. he has also been pushing the ball and building to him being able to bring the ball to me.

Yesterday i went on a trail ride with Anna. She rode Quasi, one of the youngsters and i rode Bogus, the amazing horse of 2* Parelli Professional. it was brilliant to ride a horse that i knew was able to be hacked out in nothing but a neck string!

I have also been riding Paris bareback from the arena to the paddock - and jumping on from a low log!

Tomorrow I'm up at 5 am to let the horses into their pastures!

Paris is in France!!!

Wednesday morning I was put to work on Kakka Force - which basically means clearing up poop from the paddock paradise. i texted the transporters who replied midmorning that they expected to arrive between 2.30 and 3pm

I had a lovely lunch with the other working students and they were planning on going on a trail ride with the youngsters but I couldn't go because i wanted and had to wait for the transporter to arrive. Instead i took Zippy for another walk and then took my car into the village and parked on the roadside waiting to see the transporter and lead them in to the property. It was the longest 20 minutes of my life and then all of a sudden a big lorry turned into the road of du plessis from the wrong direction! I raced after them and flashed them with my lights, they flashed their hazards to let me know they had noticed me and after a short while they pulled over so i could overtake and lead the way.

As they began opening the back of the lorry i grabbed my phone to film Paris' big arrival but they turned to me and said "Do you want to unload him?"

"Yes!" I shouted throwing my phone in my pocket - i just wanted to see him ASAP and see for myself that he was ok.

he just strolled off of the box and looked around, after a couple of minutes moving his feet he noticed some grass growing nearby and started to eat - he had no sweat on him at all! we waved goodbye to the transporter and the two kind men that had delivered Paris safely to his destination.

I put Paris in a stable to have a drink and some hay. i chose one of the main stables so Paris could be next to Salvia, one of the youngsters that is on boxrest. Once the other students returned from their ride we took our horses to the arena.

we all played on line and even had a little group bareback freestyle ride before two horses were taken away and Paris and Kaluwa, who would be going out in the forest pasture together, were introduced.

Kaluwa was quick to arch his neck and squealed and struck out when they sniffed each other and Paris just stood there looking indifferent and decided to stroll off. Well, Kaluwa was having none of it. He was circling Paris, heading him off every way he went. Paris simply accepted to situation and stood still and then he threatened to kick Kaluwa when he continued to block him. Suddenly it was as if they were best friends and they were mutual grooming! They were stood for about 15 minutes grooming eachother and oblivious to the fact that the other two student horses had entered the arena. Eventually Rox walked over to Paris and introduced himself and Kaluwa went to meet Tasha, the only mare in the group. As i was watching (and filming) Paris and Rox there was a loud roar from Kaluwa, who was trying to impress Tasha. it cought Rox's attention and he trotted over to see what was going on but Kaluwa ran at him and reared. Rox span and bucked out and Kaluwa did the same then they ran at each other and reared, shoulders colliding and they fell toward the bunch of human girls sitting around gawping at them ... until that moment at least! It became apparant that Rox and Kaluwa were fighting over Tasha and we had to catch our horses and think of a new plan. Our four horses will not be able to live together without one getting seriously injured. I'm glad Paris, having been castrated very young, was totally not involved in the dispute and showed himself to be a real sweetie.

i turned Paris out in the forest with Kaluwa and they trotted off into their pasture and began grazing together as if they had been freinds for years.

This morning I said hello to them and Paris had a minor graze on his face. he gets marks like that most days so i was not surprised. i continued putting all the other horses out in their pastures and went on the feeding tour with Anna. we then did some weedpicking before lunch.

after lunch we decided to play with our horses. i wanted to work on "push a ball" and lead by the hind leg. Paris pushed the ball but really could not see the point and was not interested in it. he lead by the hind legs beautifully as if we had always done it! so i spent undemanding time with him and then took him to the stable to give him something to eat. As i was getting hay for him one of the french men reminded me that i was supposed to use the student stables so i moved Paris. he was fine until i was out of sight getting him hay and water. he started calling and i sat with him whist he ate as i did not want to end our session together with him being right brained. Paris spotted Kaluwa leaving the arena and got upset and began rushing from side to side (like weaving but really big over a veeeerrrry wide door). i waited a moment but knew that he could be like this for hours and not really go left brained so i picked up the halter and rope, aimed at his hind quarters and threw the rope at them. Paris looked at me with both eyes and both ears and then went straight back to weaving, i did this a couple more times until he looked at me and licked his lips. this was left brained and i took it as a window of oppertunity to halter him and take him outside where i gave him some grass before heading to the forest.

i hope that i taught him to look to me and be left brained to find comfort... time will tell!

i watched some more of a Pete Ramey DVD and then cleaned out the student stables, swept the main stables corridor and put the hay in for the "diet horses" and then Thomas and Gabbi arrived. they have lived and worked at the Plessis for over two years and are responsible for the working student program, hoof care and nutrition. now the work really begins! 

Bon Voyage

this week has been all about preparing to go to France...


On Saturday I managed to contact the transporter who said that they would be picking Paris up mid afternoon/dinnertime on Monday (today). I spoke to my Mum because I was worried if i waited that long there was no way i'd be back before lunch time. She told me not to worry and that she would make sure Paris got on the horsebox ok.

Sunday I helped out some friends who have MS and live in wheelchairs and they gave me an Onyx necklace for "safe travel". I then went to the yard and packed Paris' gear in my car.

i decided not to play with Paris this weekend as I was a bit stressed out and knew he would pick up on it and things would not go well. i went to the field and gave Paris an apple and a stroke and got all upset thinking the next time i see him he'll be in France!

when i got home i had to reorganise everything in the car to fit in a bicycle as well as 6 months worth or clothes, toiletries etc. i was at it until 1am!

This morning I got up and headed straight to the port but i should have got up sooner - i missed my Ferry by a matter of minutes and had to wait around for two hours for the next one. The crossing was really choppy and it took all my concentration not to be sick! then i started worrying about what the conditions will be like for Paris' crossing - will the horses be allowed to travel? will they be ok if they do?

i drove through Calais and was on the motorway by lunch time. i was thinking about how well i was doing for time and that i should miss the rush hour near Paris when i suddenly realised i had not adjusted my clock - france is an hour ahead! then i hit major road works that went on for about 5km! i was starting to panick but i hit the city border at 4pm and managed to get clear of it before the traffic got too bad. at 6pm i came off the motorway and got really excited that i was close to my destination but the Sat Nav had other ideas!

for an hour i toured the French countryside feeling hopeful when i thought something looked familiar but mostly feeling terrified when nothing did! finally i came to the village and saw a sign for Haras Naturel du Plessis.

i drove up and decided to head for the communal building and let the working students know i had arrived. then i unpacked my car, set up my room and connected the internet to my computer.

the working students all seem very nice... there's French speaking Belgian Joke (pronounced Yoka), who's birthday is tomorrow, then there's German Anna and Dutch Sonna! not a french person in sight!

Tomorrow i get a lie in and then i will help Joke with Kakka force!!

Mum and Hayley have told me that Paris selfloaded into the transporter lorry much to the amazement of the drivers and that Paris should reach me sometime on wednesday - but may have been to Spain first! I'm really missing him and anxious that he will be ok. i know he's in good hands but it's the longest journey he's done, at least since i've known him!

time for some sleep i reckon....

Playing with Gemma

I have been playing with Gemma, my yard owner's horse as well as Paris this week.

Gemma fascinates me. She seems to be inately a balanced horse with traits of every horsenality but has learned a few undesireable behaviours. Her opposition reflex is quite strong and when she's confused she will go forward and over you.

And she is very clever!

In just one week we have played with the seven games - she can yo yo from a slight wiggle, porcupine from the gentlest feel, and yeild to a suggestion. she is a lot of fun to play with.

Today I showed her owner how to play the seven games. Jane did a great job and really understood so much of the concepts and theory that the practice was not too difficult.

The biggest highlight for me was Jane's smile and her face when she asked if we could do it again tomorrow!

Paris has had an easy week, with plenty of rest following the fast track. I have played a couple of short sessions with him, mainly to give him some fun. He has hated the hay we had and not eaten any at night and has lost a bit of weight. thankfully we have better hay now and he is eatig like crazy! In the few sessions we had this week Paris has been jumping the upright barrels! this is amazing since he was so terrified of jumping he couldn't do a cross pole!

Only one week left before we start our adventure in France begins!!

The rest of the Fast Track...

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get on my computer again whilst I was on the Fast Track so I will cover the last three weeks....

On the Monday of week two we really got into learning... we had regular sessions on learning how to tie different knots, practicing skills for using our tools. We had workshops in which we had a choice of three or four focus topics that we could choose from or move between. I used the oppertunity to get used to playing with the 45ft line. we had demos on saddling, saddle fitting, introducing and advancing liberty, using patterns, zone five driving, long reining, change of directions and more. On the second friday we had our second coaching session and were given our "midterm" results - the scores we had been initially awarded on the various qualities we would need as professionals. I was pleased with my initial results but wanted to improve them, especially for social skills and team-ma-ship. I needed to give my RBI self a kick up the backside. On the Saturday we had the Parelli Games.

Paris walked out to the play ground looking slightly bored at first but soon sensed that this was not the same as every other day! I took him for a walk to see all the new sights in the playground and help him settle down. He was remaining calm and didn't seem bothered by the Parelli Gazebo at all but tow miniature shetlands went past and Paris froze. He grew another couple of hands, arched his neck and was fixated on the ponies. I stood with him and soon his curiosiy got the better of him and he wanted to meet these horses that looked like they'd shrunk! The Parelli Games included timed tournaments in freestyle riding, online and liberty tasks. I decided to give Paris' back a rest from riding as we don't normally ride that often at home and I was concerned about doing too much and making him sore. The online tasks quickly had massive queues so we headed to the honeycombe for the liberty tournament. We were given three minutes to pick up all four feet from one side, show stick to me all the way around the arena, do a 3 ft squeeze, sideways along a carrot stick and yoyo between some cones. I didn't expect too much because Paris was rather RBI and I had initially planned to do the online tasks first. Paris was so sweet and I we flowed through the tasks gently and before I knew it we had completed all of the tasks! I cheered on a couple of other people and walked over to the online area and waited my turn. we had to back over a pole, stand on a tarp for 7 seconds, do 4 laps of circle whilst standing on the pedastal, squeeze each way over barrels and sideways both ways along a fence. Paris was a trooper and i was enjoying the day and decided to put my self forward fo my first ever spotlight. I chose to try liberty and five minutes later I was in a round pen, music playing, doing extreme friendly, stick to me and lead by the tail. before i knew it our song was over and the heavens opened up. Paris stuck his bum into the wind and refused to turn and the audience headed off toward the precision pen to watch the last soggy spotlights in finesse. it was a sudden end to a fun morning.

That Saturday evening a large group of us went to the cinema and watched Pirates of the Carribean 4. It was a nicefun film and a bizarre encounter with "normality". At the end of the film Captain Jack Sparrow said "it's a pirate's life for me..." turns to the camera and says "Savvy!" - we all burst out laughing! It was sooo appropriate!

Sunday I spent quality time with Paris and went jogging in the evening.

On the third week we continued with a similar set up as during week two - workshops, demos, class room sessions and tool savvy. On the Friday, Saturday and Sunday Paris did not cease to amaze me. He was doing flying changes on line, canter stick to me at liberty and trailer loading from the fender!

On the final week I had  a couple of days where our progress was not so amazing. I was wracking my brains thinking of what was different - was he just tired? had I asked for too much? I spent more undemanding time with him, asked less during our sessions and made a game of proving that i knew where the best grazing spots were. On Wednesday morning we had our final theory test and tool testing in the  afternoon. On Thursday we were tested in all four savvys.

On Friday we played Can You?s before getting our results for the course. I scored 70% overall which was enough to qualify me for the 1* course but I want to do an externship after I have completed my 6 month working student placement. I attained level 3+ in my online, liberty and freestyle so earned my level 3!

The journey home was slow with heavy traffic on the M1. Paris came off of the horsebox a little right brained, looking magnificent with his head held high and ears pricked. he was not sweated up and had travelled well. (We were unable to use our horsebox to pick him up so Brenda, who was also on the Fast Track, stepped in and saved the day by giving us a lift home in her trailer.)

I went to the Parelli demo at Ingatestone saddlery on Saturday whilst Paris enjoyed a day unwinding in his field. I gave Paris another couple of days off so far and spent undemanding time in his field reading a book.

I have been offered the oppertunity to play with another horse for a couple of weeks until I head to France on the 18th July. She is an Irish sports horse mare that belongs to the yard owner. She was apparently unpredictable and dangerous to ride and caused the yard owner to lose confidence and has spent many years as a pasture ornament. Today was my first play session with Gemma...

I thought that I would start with confidence and relationship building - I set up a variety of touch it obstacles a.with the plan of playing friendly game and touch it. I headed to the field and played the catching game.

Immediately Gemma knew I wanted her and began wondering off. I passively persisted in the proper position and it took a while for Gemma to think about coming to me then she suddenly realised i had treats and was instantly with me! hmmm interesting.

We walked to the arena and Gemma did not seem to care that the usually empty arena was full of buckets, barrels and tarpaulin. she walked around and performed touchit with no trouble at all. she walked over the tarpauline calmly and stood still whilst i did the friendly game. she apeared slightly less confident from zone four so i spent time hanging out there, scratching her and rubbing her. She has a strong preference for keeping me in her left eye.

I soon found that it was her natural tendancy to crowd me, she kept bringing her shoulder into my bubble and even shoved me with her nose so I had to be very clear about protecting my personal space. I began to tech her the driving game as I figured it was most important from a safety filter and that I could teach her porcupine once i was able to move he out of my space. As it was when I tried driving her from her right hand side she went quite right brained. she is inately leftbrained but gets fearflu and her first reaction was to try running me over. It was hot today and Gemma had be doing a lot to protect my space. We spent most of the session playing with helping her understand to yeild from rythmic pressure, not into it! I ended the session when she gave me a nice forequarter and hind quarter yeild from driving game in both directions. she has plenty of draw and hung out with me for a little while in the field after i removed her halter, which i view as a good sign. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's session with this smart and interesting little horse!!