Peroni and I have been enjoying lots of time together. Sometimes we just hang out together and he really enjoys being groomed and scratched, primped and brushed and even I trimmed his feathers and beard with the clippers! His whole demeanour is becoming so much more relaxed, I can get him to lower his head now and whereas he would stand still, he would be highly attentive to me and which part I was grooming. Now he stands with his head low or munching on his hay and is much happier for me to do his face and ears. It might not seem like a lot but it's a big change for him as a right brain extrovert!
We've had some groundwork training with Sue Edwards which has been amazing fun! Peroni is such a fast learner and being an extrovert he finds it very easy to move his feet. We've been working on the 7 games and are making rapid progress! He just loves to try new things and when we walk to the arena his expression says "oooh - what are we going to play today?!" which makes me so happy. The games are really helping his confidence and I've entered a youngstock showing class next weekend! I'm mostly just looking forward to making him all beautiful and getting some nice pictures, but it'll be a good introduction to competition. With that in mind, we had our first lorry loading practise today. After 15 minutes of sniffing and pawing the ramp, Peroni loaded himself! A few more times on and off and he got a well deserved reward on the box, totally calm and happy!
We've also been out 'hacking' (just leading of course) around Hodgemoor woods which, he took all in his stride. He found the different surfaces under his feet the most interesting part and sniffing some bollards!
Over the past few weeks, ongoing trouble with my back has meant I haven't been able to do much riding. One of my clients horses, William is a regular though and I mostly just hack him out twice a week as part of his varied exercise regime. He's so well behaved and although, he asks politely if we can go a bit faster somethimes, he's been so good just walking round the woods with me, and has really looked after me recently.
