Ina's Blog

[Claire]

What did I do the weekend of 5 and 6 Feb? Ah yes. On Saturday Reg and I went for a bit of a ramble.. I decided to keep to the lane - for two reasons ... 1) it was very windy and I wasn't at all sure how he would react to this so thought it prudent to keep off the road ....and 2) it had been raining a lot the previous day so I knew there would be lots and lots of BIG puddles to introduce Reg to, (as the only other time we had met a puddle of water there was NO WAY he was going through it and as we were on the road I didn't persue it.) Anyway just as with everything else we have done, the wind didn't seem to bother him at all - yes, he was alert, ears pricked and moving around to locate any sounds etc but he walked well - no prancing or skitting around - and was even happy to trot. As for the puddles he loved them! Stood in them, splashed in them, blew bubbles in them and even drunk them! - and then pulled one of those funny, head in air, lip curled back faces. The only thing he took exception to was a cyclist, who snook up on us as we didn't hear him because of the wind, so we both jumped, and Reg spun round to have a look at him, but that was all.
On Sunday, we played in the school. Bit of friendly, porcupine, yo-yo and disengaging. Still not got the hang of driving - prob my lack of experience as much as his. Finished up just going round a few obstacles - through poles, over poles, over tarp, in and out of traffic cones and our new ones this weekend - through a narrow corridor of traffic cones and walking over and then backing over a pole, just front feet first and then back and front feet. I think we did very well - all in all. Oh and yes, on the spur of the moment I decided to see if I could slip up and over his back - so I did - four times in total, twice from each side and he never batted and eyelid. I don't want you thinking this came totally out of the blue on my part - I have been working up to this for some time by leaning over him and patting his sides, standing at the side of him on steps so that I am above his eyeline etc. It was just a matter of me deciding whether or not I had the nerve to actually get on!!

Did not do a great deal of anything the weekend just gone, just reinforced some of previous weekend's work. Tried some circling - he's not great at this , it takes a while to get him started and he thinks he can only trot and stop at the moment, but he will go in both directions, which is something I suppose. Would be grateful for any pointers on this! Finished off on Sunday by going up and over him another six times - three from each side and on the last time I just paused for a few seconds on top. Oh yes, also tried him with a bit - only for a minute or two, he just did lots of chomping on it and playing with it. Will be interesting to see if he's happy to take it so readily next weekend! Here's hoping!

Speak soon,
Ina

[Claire]

Last Saturday I did a few groundwork skills with Reg. We started off with the friendly game, which he is becoming more relaxed with now and will stand still for longer. He does not seem to mind where I put the carrot stick - over his neck and back, down his legs, under his belly, through his legs, between his ears, under his tail etc. He just sometimes gets a little impatient of standing still, but even this is improving. We moved on to the porcupine game and again he is getting the hang of this and I am having to use less and less pressure to ask him to move. The two areas he was a little touchy about were pressure on his nose to get him to move back and pressure on his poll for him to lower his head, but little-by-little his responses in these areas too are becoming better and he is not 'fighting' against them so much. Though as I am only a novice at parelli, it may well be as much my fault in that I may not be giving him the best of signals. After the porcupine game we moved on to a bit of yo-yo - this is a bit hit and miss. He will move back quite readily when I tap the carrot stick on the ground in front of him but to get him to yo-yo back by wiggling my finger, and then moving on through the rope is not so easy, but perhaps I am just being a little impatient. He will however come forward quite readily but by this time Reg was getting a bit of a 'beak' lip so we just came back to a bit of friendly and leading so we left it on a good note.
On Sunday I decided to take Reg for a walk - something we have done now numerous times. I decided to go on the power station road, but perhaps my timing was not good, as so far through my walk it must have been power station shift change and I think that all the idiots that I have never met before decided to be on the road that day! The first lorry we met did not slow down and as it was approaching from behind it gave Reg a bit of a fright, nothing too bad, but it did unsettle him. After that, a whole stream of traffic leaving the power station passed us and barely one of them slowed down or gave us much of a wide berth - thank goodness we have a good grass verge is all I can say. I don't think I have ever uttered so many expletives in such a short time, but there were certainly a lot of f -w's on the road that day. In fact the one sensible driver that did slow down, bless him, was overtaken by a number of these idiots!!! We also encountered a bus for the first time and of course, not wanting to do things by halves, it had to be a double decker!! Reg was ok with it just a little bit joggy, but he had already been unsettled by all the other idiot traffic. A couple more lorries, both of which slowed down, and our walk was complete but Reg was quite anxious by the time we made it back. I just hope it has not unnerved him as he was doing so well. We will see when we go on our next excursion probably this weekend (if the wind dies down)..
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Ina