Eventually

It started off really sunny this morning so I decided to take Corky out for a hack. We went our usual ride, but managed the whole circular ride which took us just over an hour. It's quite a while since we've done the complete ride and  she was a good girl as usual, but we had some excitement going through the little wood where a guy was revving his tractor and chopping wood with a very large, noisy machine. I like it when she gets a bit antsy, she fills up under my seat , gets her back end more underneath her and feels like a different horse :-) More excitement passing between two fields of mares and foals as they came over to say hello. All in all a very enjoyable ride.
When I got home all the stable jobs were done - even better!

I got the best of the weather -  it started to snow in the afternoon, not very much at all, but it turned very cold.
We brought them in early as they were waiting at the gate. After yesterdays success I wanted to have another trailer session with Remy and Bonbon so brought Bonbon in first. I'd lowered both ramps and tied a hay net inside the trailer at the front. I walked her over to the trailer and straight up the ramp, into the trailer and halted her. We stood quietly for a couple of minutes while she had some hay and then I asked her to walk out  down thefront ramp. She was so calm and matter of fact, I couldn't believe it, well to be honest I could because she's a little star.
We then brought Anky and Remy in and I took Remy over to the trailer. I thought that today I'd see how he coped with putting his own feet on the ramp, but he couldn't seem to get the hang of it.  He didn't appear to be worried, he had a good look around the trailer, sniffing the ramp, rattling the springs with his headcollar but wouldn't put his feet on the ramp. He didn't pull back, just seemed to get stuck, unable to process the information 'put foot on ramp'.  After the quick success with Bonbon, I could feel myself getting frustrated, but feel pretty chuffed that I kept my cool and if he got stuck at the bottom of the ramp I just asked him to back up a couple of steps and then forward again, really just to keep him moving and thinking. We joked that boredom might entice him in, but no, he's evidently got tons of patience! Eventually we reverted to plan B and Jim put one front foot on the ramp and I asked him to come forward with the lead rope. I kept the tension on the rope just long enough for him to put all his weight on the front foot and then start to bring his other foot forward. Once he'd got past this stage he walked into the trailer very calmly with no high stepping , I halted him at the front and like Bonbon, he stood quietly eating hay for a couple of minutes and then I asked him to walk down the front ramp which he did calmly and quietly. The stumbling block is obviously the initial stage of feet on the ramp, and while he's not as quick to catch on as Bonbon he's not a thicko, ( at least I hope not) just needs a little longer to process information, so I'm confident that after a few more tries he'll get it.