Busy Day

Today was a very busy day. I was able to 'borrow' two small children (Kristina's niece and nephew) to start working on de-sensitising Brina to children as she is not really very 'good' at kids. I think that she just doesn't get the point of them so she tends to stand and shout at them. The kids were quite shy to start with which is fair enough so I got them to sit, one at a time, on the stepladder in the middle of the paddock and pat Brina 10 times each. So I would take Brina away, bring her back and get them to pat her and I would give her a treat. It was great as Brina really relaxed around them.

Next I harnessed up Sammie and walked her around in the cart for a bit on her own (helped by Brina of course) and then Kristrina's niece was put in the cart and had a wee ride. Sammie was great and not at all worried about having a child in the wagon. Helped by the fact that the child was fabulous and sat very quietly.

Then it was Brina's turn. Once again, she pulled the wagon by herself before giving Kristina's nephew a ride. Brina was FABULOUS!!!! She even trotted with her little load on board (who loved it :-)

Finally, we put both kids in the wagon. Brina found that too heavy to pull at this stage so I grabbed the shaft and pulled it for her and everyone was happy with that. It was a very successful morning (followed by an ice cream for all helpers :-).

In the afternoon Sarah and I took Spyke and Bert to the forest. We had a fabulous ride. We did a long ride with lots and lots of trotting on a long rein. The boys really seemed to enjoy it, they were certainly sweaty by the time we got back to the truck