Remy and Bonbon Trailer Training

No riding today, we hitched the trailer up on the yard and practiced our loading. I put the travelling boots on as I don't intend to travel them without, and Remys reaction was to plant his feet as if I'd strapped him to the ground. He soon got the hang of them though.
It's been a long time since we did any trailer training and he did his usual, suspicious walk around it,  looking inside but not wanting to go in. Many people say it's a no-no to open up the front ramp, but it works for Rem and as soon as we did this he walked straight in. He doesn't try to rush out via the front ramp, he stands pretty calmly, so not a problem. We walked him in and out a few times, then put up the back ramp, closed the partition and closed the front ramp. All fine and calm. Tomorrow we'll try walking him in with the front ramp up.

Bonbon goose-stepped across the yard in her travelling boots, really funny, I wish we'd had the video cam at hand! I didn't expect a problem with her and we didn't have one, she just walked straight in without a second look. We took the same steps as with Remy without a problem and she took it all in her stride.

A little sunshine to brighten the spirit

We've had that in reality and figuratively speaking today.
It's gloriously sunny, and it seeps into you and warms you from the inside out.
My babies have given me plenty to smile about.
The trailer's still hitched up in the yard from collecting the unit the other day so before my session with Rem, I took him out for some trailer training. We'd left the training a good few months back with both Remy and Bonbon loading on, standing for a few minutes and then walking off. Today, I asked him to walk on, stand quietly as I put up the breast bar and then Jim raised the back ramp. He was fine and it was all done with quiet, confident acceptance. Chuffed!
Our session was good.I wanted to ride him up to the school, so Jim walked alongside and it was fine even though a couple of cars came towards us, they stopped just ahead of us and we walked past without a problem. We had a short in-hand session with the bridle (first time in a while) and I moved him around the school, asking for a nice stretch forward and a soft feeling in the hand. He setted to it well and we got some nice circles with even bend, some shoulder in and some reinback with a low neck. I finished by riding him back down the lane, home.
When we got back, I told Bonbon how well Remy had done in the trailer, so, of course, she had to show me how clever she was too. To be honest, I was never in any doubt that she'd oblige and she walked on the trailer without a second look and stood quietly as I raised the breast bar and Jim closed the back ramp. While she was having a good sniff around, Jim opened the jockey door and I stepped out for a minute or two, leaving her in there alone. Then she waited calmly as I lowered the breast bar and we walked quietly off the front ramp. Although it's a while since we've done any trailer training, it's obviously sunk-in and they're happy with it all. The next step will be to have them in there with the motor running.

Yipee, it's T-shirt Weather!!!!!

The day dawned sunny and warm this morning and after a lovely afternoon yesterday with Trudi, Bev and Lydia I felt refreshed and ready to take on the week - thanks guys!

I took Remy up to the school. He was pretty chilled until he was spooked by pigeons nesting in the little wood at the far end. After that he was quite distracted, but no worries, I just tried to keep his attention by tutting, and clicking and rewarding when he returned his attention to me. He spooked a few times and we had some impromptu lungeing (well, running around me) in trot, not very pretty, but he didn't take advantage of the situation and once he'd calmed down we did some nice lungeing at walk with some good halt and walk transitions. We finished really calmly with a walk around the school,weaving in and out of the jump wings and over the poles. 

Anky's been a little better this last couple of days. The jaundice is gone, her gums are pinker and she's been eating well, no stretching or lying down in the field. She passed some intestinal lining on Saturday and immdiately looked and I'm sure felt better. After doing some research, I'm sure the jaundice was caused by the toxicity in her bowel, putting her liver into overload. The vet is coming on Wednesday, so we have lots to discuss. He will take bloods and, hopefully we can arrange a gastroscopy. Anky obvously has an inflamed/irritated bowel, whether that's caused by ulcer recurrence or something else, I don't know, but I do hope we can find out.

I wanted to ride Corky, it was such a lovely day, but somehow time got away from me, hopefully soon though :-)

We brought them in early for their feed as it's their first night out tonight, so had a little trailer training session, first time with the partition in. Bonbon first, led her to the ramp let her have a look inside and then led her in. She took absolutely no notice of the partition, walked in and stood nibbling the hay at the front. I then led her out the front ramp. Remy next, did exactly the same with exactly the same result. Brilliant!!

Here comes the sun.....

It has been beautiful today, sunny and warm.
I started the day by taking Anky up to the school again. A short lungeing session including the trotting poles and a little in-hand work. She is a good girl.
I'd decided to give Remy a day off so I took Corky out for a hack. It was so good riding out with the sun warming my back.
A friend had offered me a rug for Bonbon, she's outgrown all hers and this one was going spare, so I went round to collect it this afternoon. I thought it may be slightly too big as it's a 6ft 9in, but it fits her like a glove.
We actually managed to do some gardening this afternoon, planting bulbs and tidying up the shrubs, it felt like Spring has arrived - god I hope it has!!!

We had a short trailer session when we brought them in. Bonbon first, straight on the trailer, standing for a while whilst Jim put the back ramp up. She jumped when it closed, but made no attempt to move so we stood for another few minutes and then I led her down the front ramp.

Remy next, we thought we'd leave closing the ramp until next time, all I wanted was for him to walk straight on, and he did, so we stood for a few minutes and then I led him off the front.
I'm really pleased with them both, all this steady work seems to be working.

A new week, a new season.

According to the weather men, today is first day of Spring and at some points today, I could believe them.
There was no wind this morning and the sun was making a valiant effort to show itself. I took Remy out for a short lungeing session and then wanted to start the exercises in-hand that I've been doing in the stable. These are preparatory exercises at halt, including the stretch down and to the sides and flexions both sides. I soon discovered that it is a whole different ball game outside and Remy couldn't understand the need to stand at halt while I fiddled about at his shoulder. He wasn't naughty, just confused and a little impatient, so definitely something to work on.
As the weather was so nice after our horrible weekend, I took Anky up to the school for a lungeing session. She looked fairly relaxed on both reins, and offered a nice relaxed canter, something that she's never done on the lunge. At one point she had a little squeal and a kick of her heels, but nothing too melodramatic. Between changes of rein we did giravolta  and the steps were measured with good crossing over. She's made my day.
The trailer is now back on the yard so when we brought them in we had a trailer loading session. It's been a while since our last session so we brought Corky and Bonbon in first and Jim led Corky through and I followed with Bonbon but let her stand inside nibbling the hay for a few minutes. I then led her through without Corky as a lead and , no problem, she just followed me up the ramp and inside. Again, stood calmly while she nibbled the hay and then led her out the front. Brilliant.
We then brought Anky and Remy out and did the same, Jim led Anky through and I followed with Rem. He followed me in without any hesitation and we stood calmly for a few minutes letting him nibble hay. I led him down the front ramp and he was really calm. Next job was to load him without Anky's lead. After his previous inability to work out how to put his feet on the ramp I wasn't sure what to expect, but I walked round to the back ramp and walked up it expecting him to follow me and that's what he did, no problem at all. We stood in the trailer for a few minutes while he sniffed the front and nibbled hay and then I led him down the front ramp.  Double brilliant!  I was contemplating riding Corky for a full house, but it started raining quite hard so thought better of it.

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.

My brilliant babies

I had an early start this morning to be over at Trudi's for 9am, we were picking Bev up to go to the first meeting of a local (hehe, for Trudi and Bev) newly formed horse group. It was more curiosity, for me at least, as I'm already a member of another group closer to me.  I knew it would be good fun if Trudi and Bev were going along and we had a good laugh. Wanna know the name of this group?  Blazing Saddles Horse Group - hmph.... nothing to do with me!!!!

I thought about riding when I got home but it was getting late so we decided to have a little trailer training session when we brought the horses in.
We've had 2 or 3 sessions now with Remy and Bonbon and it's been interesting and enjoyable, our last session was really positive. I brought Bonbon in first and went straight over to the trailer, we'd already lowered back and front ramps.I asked her to follow me and she came up the ramp to the top, put one back foot on then took it off and just stood sniffing around and looking in, stretching her neck as far as she could but not wanting to walk in. I asked her to back down the ramp and she did so nice and calmly. Corky was standing at the gate waiting to come in so I suggested that Jim walk Corky through and I would follow with Bonbon. So that's what we did and as Corky got to the top of the ramp I followed and asked Bonbon to walk on with me. She just walked through with me and down the front ramp as if she'd been doing it all her life. I'm sure she thought 'well, if it's ok for Corky, it's ok for me', but she was so calm about it I'm hoping it will give her the extra confidence to go through on her own next time. She'd not made a big deal of it and neither did I, I gave her a pat and told her she was a  good girl and  then took her straight into the stable. I was so proud of her though, I wanted to jump up and down with glee!!
Anky and Remy were still waiting at the gate so we brought them in together and tried the same thing. Anky walked through but Remy was distracted and walked out to the side. We tried a again, but the second time he just stopped at the bottom of the ramp. It's funny,it's like he doesn't know where his legs are, he picked one of his front legs up but caught his hoof on the bottom of the ramp so just put it back down again. Jim put Anky in the stable and came back and lifted one front leg  and then the other onto the ramp. I then asked him to walk forward and he stepped forward enough to place first one and then the other back leg onto the ramp, he looked really funny, if you can imagine a triangulated piaffe, back legs almost touching the front ones. He stood for a few seconds and I asked him to walk toward me into the trailer, he hesitated, but I just kept the tension on the rope for an extra few seconds and he started to walk toward me. It was like John Cleese's ministry of funny walks. If you've ever seen a horse with travelling boots on for the first time,high stepping, you'll have a very accurate picture of what he was doing. He came into  and through the trailer to the front ramp,he was pretty calm apart from the funny walk, he hesitated at the top and then high stepped down to the end of the ramp and hopped off. He then turned towards me as if to say 'ok then, where's my treat'!  What a good boy! I praised him and took him into the stable.  My brilliant babies, they bring me joy!!!

Hanging about.......

.....waiting for our barefoot trimmer person who was due to come at 12.00 today. Thinking that the horses would be in all afternoon, we put them out early. Brought them in at 11.45 and at 12.15 got a call saying that he couldn't make it as he was ill and had to go home, but he could rearrange for the same time Friday. Ok, no problem, we'll put them back out again - no, can't do that, our friend Pascal has just arrived to spread the muckheap!
I decided to have another trailer training session with Remy and Bonbon. Having given it some thought, I opened the front ramp also. When they feel happy to walk into the trailer I want to be able to just walk them through nice and easy.
I started with Bonbon and again she was calm, straight away walked to the top of the ramp, peered in but wouldn't walk any further. She kept her back legs firmly on the ground though. I backed her off quietly and took her around to investigate the front ramp, then came back and asked her to walk up the ramp again. No problem, backed her off and called it a day. She's not the slightest bit worried, just needs to get her head round it. Knowing Bonbon I can't see a problem if we give her time to work it out for herself.
Remy next and he needed a little encouragement. He stood at the bottom of the ramp looking in, but didn't want to step on it so jim lifted his leg and placed it on the ramp. No problem so I asked him to walk towards me and he stepped up and placed his other leg on. He then took another step forward and placed one hind foot on the ramp. We stood for a few seconds while he investigated the inside of the trailer, then I asked him to back off which he did nice and calmly. We repeated the procedure, let him investigate the front ramp and then called it a day. Goodo , I love my babies!

Hey, it's warmed up - or has it......

Well according to the thermometer it has, but it's that damp kind of cold that seems to get into your bones!! Is that a legitimate excuse for not riding?

Before I put the horses out I lowered the ramp on the trailer. After yesterdays success I was feeling positive, and after putting Corky in the field I took Bonbon over for another look.I stood at the top of the ramp whilst she sniffed the bottom of the ramp, I asked her to walk towards me, but as she raised her foot, she caught it on the ramp so I asked her to back up a few steps and then asked again. She put one foot on the ramp and hesitated, then put the other foot on and took a step towards me, peering into the trailer. We stood for a few seconds, she remained calm and then I asked her to back up off the ramp. No problem, Mum! No back legs on yet, but I'll happen.
As I was putting her into the field, Corky was waiting and had a little yahoo moment, legging it to the bottom of the field, Bonbon was brilliant, waited until I unclipped her and then cantered over to join Corky. I was intending to have a little trailer session with Remy, but didn't want him distracted by playtime in the field so left it.
When I brought her in tonight I did the same thing. I stood at the top of the ramp and she just walked up the ramp to me, spent a little time searching my pockets for a sweetie and then when asked, backed down the ramp. What a little star!
Remy is much more suspicious, he's fine sniffing the bottom of the ramp and quite happy to peer inside, neck like a giraffe, but he's not yet willing to put his foot on the ramp. Petit à petit, he'll get there.
I've always had a horse box and never had a trailer before, so I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. Do I open the front ramp so that when I ask them to walk into the trailer, we can then walk straight through, or leave it closed and ask them to back out (this may not be a problem as Bonbon seems ok backing down at the moment). We've taken the partition out to start and I don't want to risk them trying to turn round once they're in there. I also don't want them to panic once they're in there and rush backwards down the ramp. Should we put the partition back in and just open it to one side? I suppose we could leave the front ramp closed, but be ready to open it in case there's a problem. Lots of thoughts,any advice welcome.

In-hand and Trailer Training

A lovely session with Remy this morning. He was very responsive and calm. His walk halt walk transitions were good and his backing was really fluid, nice unhurried steps. It felt today like he'd 'got it' and it gave me a buzz. Jim took some pics, but they're not that brilliant, according to Jim it wasn't 'good' light. :-o

When we brought them in tonight we had a little session of trailer practice, Jim lead Corky up and through the trailer whilst I held first Remy and then Bonbon, letting them watch and investigate the trailer. They were pretty calm, more inquisitive than anything else. I stood on the ramp whilst they sniffed the bottom of it. Ironically it was Corky who got a bit huffy, obviously impatient to get in to her tea.

How much is gravel these days???

It was very cold this morning! Even in the sunshine it felt like the wind was on the fast lane  from the ice caps! Anyway I didn't ride. Our local gravel man called round to give us a quote for laying new gravel on our drive. Aaaaaagh, do they think we're stupid - obviously they do!! I'm not being Frenchist but they definitely do have "English Rates". I guess we'll be doing the drive ourselves.
So, the horses went out, I went out to the supermarché, bought a few essentials had a lovely drive (it usually brings me down off the ceiling) and Jim did the stables.
After lunch we brought the horse trailer onto the yard and left it hitched up to our old motor so that we can practice getting the youngsters used to it.
The horses were playing in the field, as usual I missed the best bits but managed to get some nice pics.
The wind had dropped a little and the sun felt warmer so I brought Corky in. With the others watching at the gate I groomed, tacked up and put her boots on. I think they were a little confused with the change of routine and the fact that the trailer had appeared on the yard. I had a lovely ride, made me feel good, I'm hoping it'll carry me through the snow that's been forecast for the next few days.
When we brought them in tonight we walked them up to and around the trailer, lots of huffing and puffing from Remy and Bonbon but pretty good for a first try.

Sanity prevails.