Dreki is not brilliant at loading.  In fact, he is pretty terrible at loading so I vowed, after the last rugby scrum to get him home, he would learn.  To load would be part of his (and all the youngster’s) training.  I hate a battle.

And I had a Cunning Plan.  To feed him in the van – so I opened it up and showed Dreki his purple bucket.

After an initial not-sure sniff, Dreki put his front feet on the ramp.

I moved the bucket inwards and Dreki thought about it.

He began to see what I wanted.

Dreki is a quick learner.

In he goes because there is a bucket of his food in there.

Dreki is not a stupid horse at all.

He thinks while he is learning to trust me and he has a huge amount of wanting to do right.

I constantly told Dreki what a good little boy he was. as well as lots of encouragement plus little bits of carrot that happened about my person.

Et voilà!  Mission accomplished with minimum fuss and Dreki never said no once.  What a good boy!

After his food, we did the statutory in-hand training.

On both reins.

It is all about listening, trust and body-language – his and mine.

And then I walked Dreki up the ramp just to make sure he knew what he was learning.  He didn’t even remember that he didn’t do this.

Meanwhile, the other two were working on their self-expression.

We encourage this.  Efstur likes to eat his bucket (thought his Uncle Kappi’s talent is to throw his empty bucket over the gate!).

After all these efforts, I took the old man out for a little potter.

Now, we are a team – over 20 years together.

These two, ‘Ster and Puzzah, have made friends and it has turned into a lovely bromance.

When ‘Ster dared to go into the hill for a brief sojourn,  upon his return, Puzzah rammed the crap out of him.  I think that is the only way to say it.  He was furious with his friend and they had a huge argument about “What time do you call this?  You just left me and might as well have vanished.  You didn’t even bother telling me you were going.  Is this all I mean to you?”

They have mock battles now, which is, I think, playing and not half as violent as the beating up ‘Ster got when he came home.  Puzzah likes to nuzzle ‘Ster and then bite his horns, which is very odd behaviour and I have no idea why he does it.  It is not something I have ever seen before.  ‘Ster doesn’t seem to mind, either but he has always been a bit odd.

But they love each other so that’s all that really matters.

A fine bromance.

An update of little cattie.

She hides a lot.  Today, as we were continuing our War on Clutter as we all vacuuming, she took herself upstairs to spend her day under my bed.

BeAnne went along too because where little cats go, cat treats can follow……

Little cattie likes to hide but also in plain sight so you can call her to come out and chat.  BeAnne is a good cat-magnet too.

Little cattie also talks all the time, particularly if she is exploring, is stressed or thinks she is on her own.  She has different kinds of yowls and I am beginning to work out her language.  Night times are getting quieter too which is a blessed relief to everyone.

But her love for BeAnne is unwavering.

She can’t get close enough to her Best Friend.

Little cattie likes her food and is good about keeping clean.  She is very pretty.  Divine markings.

A friend came over this afternoon, and I was amazed to see little cattie stay around and even sit in BeAnne’s dog bed.

She was very settled there and it was a first.

So it is little steps every day and that is fine.  She is not a bold cat but I see her changing all the time, settling into our daily routine and learning to live with the household noises, our comings and goings as well as BeAnne’s barking at invisible enemies.

So, all in all, little cattie is a good little girl.  I am still not convinced we have a name for her, though.  It will come.

The three little half-brothers are living very happily and getting on fine in their field.

Their training has begun.

Every other day we bring them all into the shed.  We catch Efstur and Hjalti because they are easy and Dreki follows along.

Boot camp has begun!

Things I want the boys to learn :

1.  All to load into the van without a fuss.  I am feeding one in there each time they come inside.

Today it was Efstur’s turn and he loaded like a dream.  Hjalti was two day’s ago and he was a good boy too.

I expect the fun and games to start with Dreki but, if we keep it calm and persevere, we may succeed.  He gets a bucket of feed, so he will hopefully see the point.

2.  Feet – everyone will pick up their feet nicely and without a fight.  Hjalti is such a good boy about this.

3.  Stand quietly tied up. Dreki, are you listening?  No fidgeting.

While Efstur, who has the biggest bucket, was eating, I did some more training.

4.  To lead on both reins like a good boy.

Efstur surfaced once he had finished his grub.

I let him out, all calmly and he was happy and relaxed, which always makes for a good training session.  The boys were watching and learning.

Efstur is turning into such a nice boy too.  I adjusted his headcollar, which was far too big, without any problem.

I am feeling very happy with my little lads.  Five days ago, Dreki didn’t even know how to lead.

Early days. I am not holding my breath.  Life is seldom perfect.

I know I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger about the fancy dress competition at last weekend’s show – the 2018 Serrang Equestrian Inhand Show.

So, at last, and because I have spent the morning in town and the afternoon at home de-cluttering (now my middle name), here are the photos of the Class.

All the entries were fantastic.  This is, I think (I should’ve checked first) a Formula 1 Racing Car.

Efforts had been made and there was pride in this work.

The Queen of Hearts was enchanting.

Farmer and cow? I think so and those patches were sewn on by hand – not an easy task writes someone who spent an hour cursing and swearing while mending a rug.

This is Finding Nemo. I just love the fish costumes.  Brilliant.

The spectators, who had stayed to the end, laughed and none of the horses going around the ring seemed phased at all at what they had to wear or whom/what they had to walk with.

There were some equine spectators who were gob-smacked and probably thanking their lucky stars they were not having to do this.

But everyone behaved beautifully. All credit to their owners/leaders.

Finding Nemo was the winner and rightly so.  I thought it was a brilliant idea.

And I won something at the raffle.  Huzzah!  A good day all round.