I should be in Germany...

But I've been grounded as its a risk to fly in case I have a bleed in the brain. Nice. So everyone else went to the ball without Cinderella.

On the plus side, they got up at 3.45 and I didn't have to, so rough with the smooth and all that!

Magic - has totally turned a corner with the leading at liberty thing. This morning we managed a wander around the top paddock, then this afternoon, we went out of the yard and out to the wood. We would have done the first little loop but I got spacey so we had to come back. He was absolutely perfect, no stickiness at all, but he is still a bit high energy, I need to keep doing this until he totally understands there is no wrong answer!

Merlot - similar to Magic with the leading, he is so pleased to be asked to do something, that he is catching on really quickly. The difference is that there isn't the same level of trust - Magic and I have seen a lot of things together, faced a lot of tigers and lived to tell the tale. So although in some ways this is our downfall because I have poisoned so much, we still underneath it all trust that we each want the other to survive with us!

Merlot doesn't yet trust me when things get scary (in his opinion) so we have worked over the last few days on - come with me, lead alongside me, but leave if you need to - all that will happen is no treat, and possibly end of session. As soon as he realised he had a choice, and didn't HAVE to come with me, he has been a different person!

Remus - we have progressed to rug on completely if put on from the right side, from the left it is still a little bit worrying just having it over his front half (when the front straps swing down I think). So we are still working on it. He is learning to be so brave. "If I stand here while the thing is put on, I get a treat". Sometimes, he tries to target it once its on him. Cue the spotty stripey baby turning himself into a pretzel!

Then this afternoon, Echo went off for a wander so Remus and I went to see if we could find her, we walked all the way to the wood, and then had a graze on the return journey. He is absolutely fine about leaving everyone, as long as he has his person :-)

Oh, and Echo thinks he's a big dog - she greets him every morning, whereas she ignores all the others. And if he's lying down, she always wants to go and pester him!!

The new hay bale net is working really well. I've seen almost four together eating (Magic, Merlot, Dan, Remus). But generally 2 or three works pretty well. The only combination that hasn't happened yet is Merlot and Aero. Dan/Aero/Magic, or Dan/Remus/ Aero, or Dan/Magic/Merlot or Merlot/Remus/Magic are all possibles. Basically, if Dan and Magic and Merlot are all on it at once, its like a merry go round - Dan pushes Magic around, Magic pushes Merlot around, Merlot pushes Dan around.... so they have learnt NOT to try to push each other off, as it rebounds on them, perfect!

Merlot and Remus were there together for a long while this morning, so I'm happy that everyone gets a go on it. Considering I moved it on Wednes though, they are definitely eating it more slowly (evil cackle). They are still getting the tubs filled too, but gradually Magic and Merlot especially are choosing the bale net, but that might be because its a nicer bale.

It won't work so well if the next bale off the pile has any mould on it.... I need some way of knowing which are "good" bales to go in the net, and which need filtering so can go in the tubs.