DAY 1
Monday 9th

Monday morning shines with the sun blazing its rays down on the meadows. I arrive at the yard at a ridiculous early hour to see all but one of the horses lying down, I feel troubled, troubled that I know I am to soon disturb their relaxing morning. It is a rare sight that never happened at the previous yard so this moment is extra special. I drive down the gravel pathway to see rabbits hop a few feet, just enough to be safe of the car wheels. Little rabbits that seem only a few days old to those that look fully grown and all the more wiser but happily content in the safety of their group.
Little Monty the golden Shetland gives a neigh to greet me and the chickens gather at the door of their pen eager to be out to play. About an hour later Spike is fed and grazing while I am travelling on my way to Stoneleigh with Kyle.

The roads are surprisingly quiet and the journey to Stoneleigh is uneventful, I arrive and see plenty of signs directing me where to go. I see Lee Palmer who helps me locate where I need to go and what I need to do. I drive into the car park and getting out of the car I am greeted by Rachel Moorland who shows me where Kyle's stall is and where all the tools etc are.
Now if your worried about having enough bedding let me tell you Kyle slept on a 5* divan all week and that was with three bales of shavings not 4 as each person was allocated, (Just as well as someone took my 4th bale but who cares).

After settling Kyle, and finding my hotel which was off site, (More of later) I headed back to Stoneleigh to the classroom for 2.30pm for the start of the course.

Inside the classroom were two tiers of around 4 rows each of chairs facing a small stage. Neil Pye talked to us for 30min and I found him so naturally funny and warm and friendly. I was admittedly quite surprised as he doesn't come across that way at conferences. At 3pm we were introduced to Michael Grohmann from Austria, Rachel Moorland from the UK, Carmen Smith from Australia and Rob who is also from Australia (his surname escapes me at this time).
We then had to go outside and play the name game which I am sure many of you have played before. For those who haven't heard of this game, you need everyone to form a circle and a ball is passed around. Whoever you pass the ball to you have to say there name first and if you drop the ball you have to start all over again. Carmen really tested us by having one ball going clockwise, one ball going anti-clockwise while a carrot stick was passed around but we did it to a round of applause to ourselves. This is meant to help you to remember names but I still found it hard to do so.
Back in the classroom we discussed many things involving Prey and Predator and what it is not about. I.E It's not about the trailer. Neil then tlaked to us and mentioned about the three concepts

•  Reveal your horse
•  Discover your potential
•  Live your dream

After a brief guide for 30min at 5.15pm we headed outdoors to the honeycomb for some demonstrations. One in particular about your personal bubble using three strategies,

•  Energetic and fast
•  Relaxed and slow
•  Slow and sneaky

It was also discussed about getting permission from your horse, from being able to approach the stable, to entering, and putting on the halter. Although I always tried to remember to get permission to approach Kyle and Spike, I never though about actually approaching the stall, what a difference it made during the 5 days. Kyle went from standing back in the stall to coming to the stall door to greet me. Something so simple, so obvious and neglected made a huge impact. It was a heartfelt moment to see him looking for me each morning and whenever I approached during the day. Ears pricked forward with questioning eyes. Lovely.