40 Things for 40

So, I was somehow persuaded to enter Matti into a dressage class which was running this Sunday. Only problem was, I had less than a week to practice and learn the test. Gulp! The test was Intro A, a simple walk and trot test, although admittedly it felt like a PSG test when I first had to try to learn it. Practising went well in general- we had a couple of disagreements, but nothing too serious. As it was quite a simple test, I also practised it on Amber and a couple of times she did it better than Matti! On Friday, I loaded Matti into the box that we would be using on Sunday. He messed about for a few minutes, so I just backed him away, then turned round and backed him past the lorry. After that, he was quite eager to get on! Took him on and off a few times, closed the partition and tied him up. He was fine with all of it, so I was confident that he would be fine for Sunday. Saturday was spent finding and sorting all of our kit, including my show hat, jacket and boots and Matti's ...

As Amber did so well yesterday, we decided to try her again in the lorry. The first time we walked up to the box, she stopped at bottom of ramp for couple of seconds, then walked straight in. We closed the doors for few minutes, then took her off and tried twice again. Very good every time. After that, I decided to try Matti, although he doesn't really have any issues, I thought it would be good practice for him too. He was a bit more reluctant at first and tried to back away. So I made him back up the way he wanted to go, the turned him around and backed him past the ramp. Walked up to the box and this time he walked straight in. Gave him lots of praise and some treats, then took him off. When I walked him to the ramp, he went straight on. Like we did with Amber, we shut the partition for a few minutes, then took him off and then tried again. He hesitated for a few seconds, so I backed him up- only for a couple of steps then he walked on again. So proud of him too.

More puppy cuteness

I decided to try loading Amber again today, with the plan of just getting her front feet on the ramp as we did before. I thought that it would be best to try in the afternoon before she had her dinner, so that the treats would be more tempting. Took her up to the box and after a couple of moments hesitation, she walked onto the ramp. All four feet. I was a bit shocked at this, so gave her a couple of treats, then backed her off the ramp. Tried her again and this time she walked straight up the ramp and had her front feet in the box! As she was completely un-phased by this, we decided to see if we could get her to stand in the lorry for a few moments. So, we tried that, and she did it. Took her off and led her round then back to the ramp and she went straight up and in. While she was munching on her treats, we closed the partition and once again she did not bat an eyelid. Decided to take her off, then try once more (without closing the partition) before calling it a day. Super pony went...