Horse agility

Had a fun day yesterday with Helen Norville and her lovely Bella Belle (aka BB) at horse agility in Cheltenham.
Alfie loaded right away into the trailer (phew!!) and both horses travelled well together which was great as it was their first meeting.
Both behaved brilliantly - a bit on their toes and took a while to get them to listen to start with but it was really low key and relaxed which was great for Helen and I, both of whom went for a fun day out to spend some time with our horses and as another step on our confidence-building route.
We started with some basic groundwork under the guidance of Sheila who ran the course, an accredited Intelligent horsemanship trainer. Alfie and I were fine at this as it is what we do a lot of anyway, but it really worked to get his attention back on me rather than the 6 other horses and his new girlfriend BB.

Helen and BB concentrating on groundwork instructions

Then we were encouraged to go around the course trying all the obstacles in our own time, concentrating on making it as stress-free as possible for our horses and giving them time to suss out each obstacle and not pressurising them into doing something before they were ready.

To start with Alfie was really on his toes and more concerned about where BB was, but with some assertiveness from me (need to practise that!!) and keeping his mind occupied, I found I could settle him and each time he got distracted, it was time to give him something to work out.

After being pretty shy-ey at everything, by the end he would go on everything, except the see-saw - after frightening himself twice by going over it too fast and nearly mowing me down on the second time.

After lunch, we had a mini competition which again was focussed more on training and no pressure (although I admit to having a few butterflies - how silly!!). Had to do all the groundwork again with Alfie whilst waiting to go in as he had been away for lunch but then he was fine and went round very calmly. Even came home with a 4th place rosette.
Enjoyed the day and spending time with Helen. Think Alfie enjoyed his outing too.