I must confess that I wasn't looking forward to today all that much. A poor night's sleep followed by a long-term non-loader, and another, particularly nervous horse, didn't fill me with enthusiasm. In fact it has been a fabulous day. The owner of the two horses had done all of her homework without going off on a frolic of her own, so she hadn't practised the non-loader's 'no', but had worked on the nervous horse's little self-esteem. She's also good at agreeing where the best stopping point is for the session, wanting the ideal moment for the horse rather than the ideal result for herself.
Dom, who is new to this orientation of transport, got as far as having the front ramp down, and waiting, without rushing for the front bar (complete with Bar Buffer) to be taken down before calmly leaving the trailer.
Odey met the feather duster and learned how to give things a chance, and breathed well throughout the session instead of holding his breath as he did last time. And Georgie has now got a deep firm touch which she demonstrated by almost squeezing my hand to death when we shook hands at the start!
A beautiful view of Salisbury from the farm.
A sublime afternoon also, taking Jack and Jack-Jack out into the inclosure for another walk and daring to take them both off the lead rein. The really enjoyed themselves and we only took hold of them again when we saw the Forestry Commission truck and thought there might be forest works going on. Instead the vehicle contained the lovely, and wonderfully named, Sandy Shore, who is the Forest Keeper for the area and also a commoner. We had a delightful chat - I could talk with her all day - before wending our way back round and to home again.
