This has been a big month for Pringles. We have been continuing on with Pringle’s bodywork. She has started her PEMF sessions and continuing with chiropractic treatment and Bowen therapy. She has been letting down well and has finished her 8 weeks spelling. The racing muscles are starting to subside and she has been putting on some more weight. Pringles has been going well on grass hay, Lucerne hay and her Seedhouse Build so I have continued with this feed upping quantities when she has days of work.

Pringles had her retained baby tooth removed ready for her to have a bridle on, she also had front shoes put on this month. We are still working on getting her comfortable in holding her back legs up for the farrier so I chose to only do the front shoes this time and continue to work with her so she has a good experience with the farrier moving forward.

For the first two weeks of this month, I have focused on groundwork and also lunging for Pringles.

In our groundwork, we focused on ‘stop’, ‘go’, ‘turn’, ‘back’ and also lowering her head when she would get anxious. All of these aids will help us in our transition to under saddle. Another thing we practised was ‘park’, this will be translated to standing still at the mounting block when I go to mount.

I am fortunate with Pringles that her breeder/trainer had done a lot of work with her in regards to lunging so this is something that is familiar to her and that can be used to help Pringles loosen up and stretch and also help develop balance and rhythm.  Lunging is also a beneficial way of building up fitness and strength before starting under saddle.

After 2 weeks of groundwork and lunging, I had my first ride on Pringles. Our first few rides were reasonably short. Before getting on I make sure that Pringles is responsive to our groundwork and it is important that we continue to practice our ‘park’ at the mounting block.

Under saddle, I worked on keeping a rhythm in the walk and riding accurate lines. This also progressed to the trot.

Pringles also started her float training. Prior to me getting Pringles she had only been transported via truck. When I picked Pringles up I brought my pony (Vincent) with me to be her buddy coming home. So he has also been her safety blanket in our float training at home. To start with I would use our ground work training with our forward and back aids to get Pringles to quietly walk in and out of the float without rushing and then ‘park’ while I closed the divider. We have since started doing little float trips (literally 2 minutes down the road and back) and will continue to build from this.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for me with Pringles this month was that she finally took some treats!!

Next month we will continue to work on our groundwork and under saddle training as well as continuing with our float training.