Is it really Saturday?

What a day. My first saturday off work for a while and time to spend ALL day with B. We played in the school to begin with and it was fun, circle game, yo yo, sideways the length of the school but when I asked for circle again she blew up. Off at a very fast trot and then when I asked her to slow down and then come in she pulled back and careered off again. RB alert! I interrupted the pattern and let her hang for a while and we did a lot of friendly game. . . . . calm restored. In the space of two days she has completely accepted the c/s and I can touch her everywhere with it, which really helps friendly game work lol.

It was great to see that although Breeze noticed Bertie had gone she didn't panic and want to follow.

We went for a walk with Sandra and Bertie and B was really really chilled out to the point of eating everything in sight. Including bark off the trees! We didn't ask much of either horse today. I am focusing on letting B get to know her surroundings and making every experience a good one. We took our time and hung out when we felt like it, basking in the sunshine as it filtered through the increasingly leafy trees.

We did play with some sideways and going over the log at the top of the old woods. B steps over them very carefully and calmly and daintily. Very funny and lovely to watch.

I found at one point B went quite introverted and hung her head low and 'switched off' after a bit of sideways following Bertie. She had put her head down to sniff the ground and just went introverted. I let her hang and waited and in a matter of minutes she was head up, blinking and with us again. Lots of friendly game followed to make sure she was ok.

I showed B the pedestal yesterday and after a little hesitation she got her front feet on it. Today she was far more confident and climbed up and asked for her treat lol. I tried some mounting simulation by asking her to stand ready for me to get on. She couldn't stand still so I left it. No pressure. It ended up a game of approach and retreat for both of us. At one point as I was standing on the pedestal she decided to get up next to me. Very funny.

When I went to see B in Cornwall I did saddle her but she was quite unconfident about it. So I didn't push it then either. I am determined to set this up for success. My confidence in riding can be quite fragile and easily broken. I am making no assumptions about why B is like this about saddling up but I will take the time it takes to get it right. She was fine today about the bareback pad. I need to spend some time working out if the shims are ok in the saddle pad for her too.