Obstacle Practice

Today the forecast was for rain. But, by noon time it was still dry if quite cloudy, so I decided not to waste the day.  The Maine MESS is coming up in less then 2 weeks and I am planning to go. I know I want to ride Marie in the versatility events as she did fantastic last year. (high point of the day in the trail trial). And I would of course love to take Luke. But, I have no idea how he will handle obstacles. So, I figured that today was a good day to get a feel for how he handles such things. I would set up some obstacles in my front paddock and ride there. Then, if the weather got bad, I'd be home so no problem.

So, out I went and dragged all sorts of things into the paddock. PVC pipe, tarps, cardboard, ropes, bag of trash and a tire. Louie got all excited at the new "toys" in his paddock and eagerly trotted over to check out each one. Marie was busy scrounging around for any stray scraps of hay and completely ignored me. Luke followed Louie out but was not quite so eager to check out the new things up close and personal. He was eyeing everything with a bit of suspicion.

I decided to ride Marie first and let the boys watch. I have found the mules are very good at learning by watching. Both of Marie's saddles are broken so I had to just jump on her bareback. I'm getting to old for riding bareback.......... Anyway, I went around and sidepassed over a board, backed between poles, picked up the bag of trash and carried it, walked her over the tarp and cardboard and then grabbed the rope and started dragging the tire. Well, to this point the boys were watching with avid interest. But, the tire that was obviously chasing Marie was too much. Both boys quickly vacated the area with no attempt to rescue Marie from the monster. CHICKENS! Luke was the first to come back, he was worried but actually kind of curious. Louie wanted no part of the tire.

I got off Marie and got Luke. I saddled him up and gave him a try. He has very solid and good training. He knows more then me I think. So, that would be a help. We backed through the poles, then sidepassed over the board. He was a bit sticky with the sidepassing. I don't know if he hasn't done much sidepassing or I'm cueing him a bit different then he is used to. But, in a short amount of time, he did do it several times quite nicely. He walked over the tarp without any concern. Walking over the cardboard made him hesitate but only for a moment. I picked up the bag of garbage and though he was wary of it, he made no fuss and let me carry it. Then the tire drag. He was really very, very good about this. He really was not sure he liked it but once again, he did as he was asked and only froze a couple times for a few moments. Soon, he was dragging it all around with really no problem. I was very pleased with how he handled things and think he will do fine if I take him to the show.

At this point, Louie was feeling very neglected and ignored so I played with him for a short time. I didn't ride him but I did go through the obstacles with him in hand. He does NOT like dragging the tire but he did do it eventually. He was fine with the rest. He's so cute! So, good day with all equines.