Day 3

Half way through the course and I'm flagging, feeling really tired. I soon forgot all about it when we started playing. No heat in Bonnys leg at all but she is stiff in her right hock from the arthritis so I'll keep giving her double movefree+. She has settled down now with her new field friends, Evie and Aero, and even pushes Aero around. My little rbi is going up the pack ;o)
Today was practice figure 8 and it was taped! not proud of the video but figure 8 has improved a lot. We've been playing with lots of squeezes and Bonny hasn't bothered about any of them. 2 large tyres that have been stood up are great for playing with, I can send her through them from about 6 foot away now. Bonny had both front feet on the tyres that are laying flat as well, that surprised me cos they are a lot higher than our pedestal. Elaine asked if we could play follow the rail, which was great for us cos one of my goals was to do that today. We could come off the rail at anytime to play with the squeezes set up in the middle. Lots of hindquarter disengages and lateral flexion. Cathy asked us to call out when we felt the inside back leg leave the floor, I couldn't get this I've got to have to work on that when I get home.

Day 2

The weather was better, sunshine and wind!!!! boy was that wind strong! I came home with a red face but I'm sure that's wind burn not sun.
Bonnys leg was still a little warm, so again she had double supplement in her dinner.
As the weather was dry we made the most of it, playing on-line in the field and in the arena. Cathy split us into 2 groups, introverts and extroverts, that's people not horses! It took the pressure off when we did go into the arena, just the 3 of us. I achieved my goals today, to go into the arena, and to sit on Bonny in there.
Happy wind blown bunny.

Cathy's here!

Not sure what happened to last week... it went by in a blur!
Cathy is here and day 1 is over. Bonny loaded into Cathy's lorry in about 1/2 an hour with the final attempt by Cathy, she just needed that extra bit of pressure that I wasn't giving her. We made it to Ashover eventually, with only a couple of wrong turnings! It rained nearly all day!
Big panic by me when we got there as Bonny was down in the lorry. Cathy just opened the ramp and let her find her own way out. She was a bit shakey and has a graze down her face but hopefully she will be fine. We turned Bonny out with Evie, they just walked away together like old friends. We went to play in the afternoon, thankfully Cathy let me play in the field Bonny and Evie was in, which was interesting as Evie kept wanting to take Bonny back. After permission from Cathy one flick of the carrot stick kept Evie away for the rest of play.
Obviously Bonny was rbi, being in a different place and other horses around, so we took it nice and slow. She couldn't come to me when I first went in so I went closer and asked her again, she still couldn't so I went to her and gave her a treat. Evie was totally ignoring me but I know she was aware of everything that was going on. when I turned and walked away Bonny followed me at liberty which was nice, till Evie trotted over and took her away again! so funny. As it was wet and with Bonny's fall in mind I didn't want to play the catching game so I waited till they stood still and walked over to Bonny again, she followed me and I got the halter on much quicker this time. There's poles, tyres and a gate all set up in the field so we played squeeze, yo-yo through the tyres, stick to me, sideways over the poles. Bonny was great really trying to do everything I asked, including when I asked her to put her nose on one of the tyres I pointed to it so she put her nose on my finger, how cute! she got a treat for that. lots of walking over the poles to help her stretch out her back legs. For a rest, I kept taking her over to the gate where she could see the other horse playing in the arena, lots of approach and retreat cos they were very scarey! by the end of the session she was falling a sleep there. So proud of my baby.
I gave Bonny an extra scoop of movefree+ and some of the alphabute in her dinner hope that helps with any pain she might have from the fall. Hope to get some pics if it stops raining for long enough!

2 for 1

No play on Saturday, Bonny had toothache! We had to rush to the tack shop for some pain relief for her, got some great stuff from global herbs.
As it was so hot I thought I would give her a bath instead of playing, spa day Cathy calls it ;o) but no she wasn't happy about that, she didn't want her legs touching and definitely didn't want to be rinsed off! and I had to flush her mouth out with hibi-scrub.... I was thinking she'll hate me now! when I let her go she stomped off to the dustiest place she could find and rolled, and rolled, and rolled! After lots of snorting, stamping and rolling she came back to mug me for treats.... do you think she still loves me?

Sunday, very hot again, so we had a very short play session. Only a little bit of trotting to check she was moving ok, then lots of stick to me, sideways over barrels, dragging the tarp behind me, playing with hula hoop and standing on the pedestal. Bonny was just plodding around so I thought I'd jump on bareback, now it's been a while since I rode bareback, I'd forgotten how different it feels. While I was trying to fix my seat Bonny was trying to bite my foot and I found myself really tense, squeezing with my legs uummm how interesting! when I relaxed Bonny stopped walking straight away, love my horse :o) Threw the rope over her head a few times then got off. With the heat from Bonny as well, I was so damn hot! lots of treats, then I let her go back to munching the grass.

Vets turn today

Why do these things all need doing at the same time? Vaccs and dentist, Bonny has a loose tooth on the right and a large gap same side. Poor baby... vet had to rasp it as well cos it was sharp and angled into her mouth. She felt the pain even though she was sedated! I've now got to shred her veg and wash her mouth out once a day so the gum doesn't become infected. I wonder how we can make a game out of this?

I was right!

Farrier came today, Bonny couldn't stand still to have either back hoofs trimmed. Mick was very good with her, trying not to hold her hoofs high while he worked. Her back right hock is the bad one, she doesn't flex the joint. So glad I went with my instincts and didn't ride yesterday. The vet is coming tomorrow to do teeth and vaccs, I'm going to get her to check Bonny, lets see if she can suggest anything.

All on our own

I went out with a plan today, to be a little more particular about sideways over something and to get 4 feet on the pedestal. We started with a board on the floor, with a little bit of effort Bonny managed to get all four feet on it so got lots of treats and a long rest. Next we went to the pedestal, now Bonny doesn't have any problem putting her front feet on anything, so she was straight up there, waiting for a treat, which she got obviously. It took about a minute to get her to put her back feet on as well, with lots of focus and only a little bit of pressure on the rope.
Next was sideways, I set up 5 square barrels in a line. When Bonny first saw them she snorted and gave them a wide berth, then walked straight up to them and tried to put her foot on one of the barrels, uummm no problems there then, so I asked her to sideways over them. 3 times no problems at all. 10 minutes into playing and we'd done everything that I'd planned!
We started some circles but she was looking a little bit lame, so stopped that straight away and did stick to me instead, that's going well, I can be about 4ft away from her now. Push the ball is good too.
Walked Bonny out down the road on my own, surprisingly I was feeling really nervous about this, but we did lots of approach and retreat and it wasn't long before Bonny was walking with her head down and picnicing wherever she could. The first time Rocky called to her she spooked so we came straight back, after that she didn't bother and didn't call for him at all! I think she's starting to think of me as a leader! yay
Donna had her hands full with Rocky when Bonny and I walked out on-line. She chose to have him on-line so had to do lots of circles and figure 8s to keep him thinking. But of course as soon as she stopped he started to panic again.uuummm that's going to take some working on!
No riding but for me it was a good day.

oh sunny days

It was nice and sunny today, so much so, Bonny didn't want to do a lot at all... infact she would have preferrred to just doze thank you very much! I did manage to persuede her to do circle game at trot, she wasn't impressed, kept trying to escape out the gate. To give her a break we went and watched Donna practising getting on Rocky. He was doing a strange thing with his mouth...neck stretched out and head tilted to one side. He only did it when standing at the mount block, introverted behaviour I think. Donna was getting more and more annoyed cos he wouldn't stand still, obviously his strange head neck thing was worrying her too, so I suggested she didn't get on and said she could ride Bonny instead. A few lateral flexions and hind quarter disengages later Donna was much happier, although Rocky was working himself up into a sweat cos he was on his own! could this be jealousy? He doesn't bother at all if I go and play with Bonny when Donna isn't there, he just waits by the gate for us.
Bonny was a little sweaty when I took her saddle of so she had a quick bath, not all over just back and legs... now she has white legs again. I did mean to get a picture but I totally forgot, maybe next time.
riding 1 hr = 3hrs

No fun all week!

Been feeling bad all week, migraine and all that goes with it... ugh!
So tonight I was able to spend some time with Bonny. She was so funny, showing me where all her itchy spots were and letting me massage her ears...that was a first!
Then she was trying to mug Donna for treats and managed to wipe her mouth all over Donnas jumper, so funny! Donna you really must learn to defend your space... ;o)

I've booked a place on Cathys next course in Derbyshire... should be fun, but I'm soooo nervous.

It's all coming together

Due to my lack of confidence, I have never hacked Bonny out... that is till today! All the work we have put in with Cathy as finally paid off. Everthing felt right so after walking out on-line I jumped on and off we went! Cathy taught us to keep a check on how confident we felt with a scale of 1-10, anything below a 5 is fine, above that don't do it till you felt you could push yourself a little and only if you're at 6-7, above that is a definate no no! I can honestly say I was at 7, and I knew I could get off at anytime. Bonny was really eager to go so we had to do a few circles in the field entrance first till she stood still. Donna and Rocky came too on-line, first stop was at our gate, then a side street and finally to a small layby where we turned to come back. Bonny picniced at each stop which was good, but when we turned she wanted to stop again which wasn't a safe place for us, we got into a little argument and I was just about to jump off when Donna suggested she went in front and bonny just followed her!!! we did this 3 times till Bonny stopped arguing and turned lightly. When we got back home she got loads of treats.
riding 1 hr = 2hrs

Todays the day

that I thought I'd set up a new blog for journaling about our Parelli journey, seeing as we can't play due to the awful weather.
Pic was taken last year, I'd just taught her to stand on the pedestal. we've come along way since then.

Last Sunday we had a lesson with Cathy Sirrett, working on confidence for everything really. A couple of friends, Linda and Jo, came over to watch, that was a big thing for me, I hate people watching me. Cathy taught us some new exercises to do on-line to help Bonny's mobility. I only managed to practise this once this week due to life getting in the way, lol
Had a lovely ride, including trotting which was a fear of mine not so long ago. It wasn't untill Cathy suggested that we go in that I realised how much I was enjoying it and I didn't want to get off!
Cathy advised I keep a log of how many hours we ride so I'm starting this from last Sunday.
riding 1 hour = 1 hr