Welcome to Bonnie's Training Diary!

Prior to arriving at The Billabong, Bonnie was driven double with her sister Glora. She was ridden with saddle only once.
 
November 5, 2006 - Bonnie, Glora, Magestic Prince and Mozart all arrived at The Billabong. It was late at night, and chilly when they stepped off the trailer. The stallion was peppy, but not what you would expect. He was obedient and settled quickly. Mozart took exception to the barn and didn't want to enter the stall but a bit of pushing and tugging and he was tucked in for the night. Bonnie and Glora stepped gently off the trailer, into their neighboring stalls and immediately started eating hay.  We stayed up late petting them and tucking them in over and over again. We couldn't get over how soft and fuzzy they were and how lovely they smelled. Something about the oils in their coat make Haflingers smell different than the Thoroughbreds we are used to. They were intoxicating and we were all hooked on Haffies!

November 6, 2006 - Demi mounted a bareback and pregnant Bonnie in the arena. She steered well, was obedient at the walk and trot and trotted right over a crossrail. She was still very green and pregnant so we decide not to push it.  While in foal, Bonnie and Glora were occasionally ridden bareback around the farm at a leisurely walk/trot. We  found Bonnie to be terrified of the golf cart. She doesn't have a problem with four-wheelers, but the quiet golf cart is unnerving for her. We placed the golf cart in the pasture one day so she could get aquainted, but Mozart kept trying to climb in thinking he could scavange crumbs of food so we had to take it out.

May 10, 2007 - Bonnie gave birth to Billabong Babe.

September 15, 2007 - Babe was separated from her mother for weaning.

October 20, 2007 - Demi rode Bonnie bareback around the pasture to see how she felt after the baby. The mare was very quiet even and settled. Like all new mothers, she was a little reluctant to get back to work.

November 1. 2007 - Demi saddled Bonnie and rode her at the walk and trot in the arena. She trotted crossrails, poles and a small straight rail with wonderful obedience. 
 
November 3, 2007 - We decided to try Bonnie away from home and away from Glora. We brought her to Highlands Riding Center for a lesson with Demi's trainer Elizabeth. Demi loaded Bonnie right onto the trailer without so much as a hiccup. Once at HRC, Demi unloaded the mare and tied her to the trailer for tack up.  Bonnie was looking around but completely calm.  She went straight to work  in the arena.  She worked on walk/trot/walk transitions and jumped small combinations. We realized that we need to work on getting her to move from behind a little more and to spring over jumps using her back legs. She knocks the poles a little. At one point in the jump combinations she did get frustrated and put in a small buck but Demi quickly caught her and went forward. My expectation for the trip to HRC was that Bonnie would miss Glora and give us a bit of a time. I was more than pleased with her progress. Our main concern now is the canter. Being driven, she's been taught not to break stride and canter, so we're worried about how she will accept the new gait.

November 7, 2007 - Demi saddled Bonnie in the cool evening and took her out for more work on those transitions. Demi tries one jump and Bonnie, rather than trotting over it as she had done previously, jumps it well. Despite the fact that it's feed time and all of the horses are running about, Bonnie is an angel.  Encouraged, I decided to try to get the canter in. I lengthened Demi's stirrups and worked her a little at the trot. I worked in a large oval, asking her to move forward and keeping my inside leg on. I was prepared for her to buck or bolt, but she did neither. She was a bit unsure, and ran into the canter, but took up the correct lead and cantered a few paces smoothly before breaking back into a trot. I took a minute to congratulate her and show her how well she had done. I repeated the steps but this time, when she went to break back to a trot, I nudged her with the inside leg to keep her going and she responded by continuing her canter - wow.  It was a rocking horse canter with no pulling.  Now we just need to work on a cleaner canter transition, and some balance. 

November 11, 2007 -  Took Bonnie to HRC for another lesson. She stands quietly for mounting and we just can't get over her incredible behavior. I wish I could clone this little mare - in fact, based on her demeanor, I'm considering keeping her filly, Babe. Elizabeth and Demi worked on bending and some intro level dressage. This time we trailered with another horse and again, had a perfect trip. Need to spend time on the canter and get this mare out on the trails to see how she does with cows, logs and water.

November 19, 2007 - Demi and Bonnie attended an all-day horse camp at HRC. I dropped Demi off with horse and trailer and left her to tack up and manage Bonnie on her own for the day. They had a wonderful day and continued their dressage work in preparation for an upcoming show.

Novmeber 20, 2007 - We took 4 Haflingers on a trail ride today for a two hour outing. Demi rode Bonnie, Summer rode Glora, one of our boarders, Lauren, rode Loretta and I rode Mozart. I wanted to see how Bonnie would do on the trails.  I expected her to be confident and calm, and she was. In addition, she surprised us all by taking the lead over the creek, which none of the horses like at first. I hesitated to bring the horses through the cattle field given it was their first trail outing, but Demi was insistent and lead the pack Bonnie. We passed the herd of cattle without incident and none of the horses really cared that they were ten feet from a cow. Summer lead the charge through the hay field. I was amazed that she was able to get Glora into a gallop (she's a bit lazy). Demi followed suit and before I knew it the pair was cantering/galloping alternately in the hay field. It wasn't a perfect day. We did have one incident. Loretta was wearing a western saddle and the girth literally popped loose, causing Lauren to fall off. Loretta panicked and took off at a gallop. When she caught up to Bonnie and Glora, who were happily cantering through the field, the pair sped up, scared by Loretta's momentum. It wasn't until they hit the treeline that the horses all came to a stop and Bonnie's stop was quite abrupt. Demi fell over Bonnie's shoulder and landed on the ground holding the reins. She promptly got back on, unhurt, thank goodness. Mozart was the hero - he just looked at the girls as though to ask what all the fuss was about. Since Loretta's saddle was broken, I plucked Lauren up and put her on Mozart behind me to ride home. He was a champ and carried her willingly home. What a ride!

December 9, 2007 - Demi and Bonnie made their show debut at the Serenity Dressage Schooling Show. In two classes of 6, the pair placed second in Intro A and Intro B.  Bonnie was a bit hot under her winter coat with temps in the 80s, but non-the-less showed off her wonderful confidence and obedience.  Our goal now is to get back to work on the canter, introduce a little more jumping and work toward some stronger dressage scores at the next schooling show.