Practicing Obstacles

This evening I hauled the boys over to Upper Pond Stable so we could practice the obstacles in the cowboy field. Cierra, Meagan and Mary-Jo also practiced with us. There is going to be a fun show at the stable at the end of the month and I asked Brooke if she would ride Shots in the obstacle class. She happily agreed but neither of us had any clue how he would do with obstacles. He's got such a level head and he's very laid back so we figured he'd do well with a little practice. When I arrived at the stable, I tied the boys to the trailer with hay so I could help Cierra fitting a western saddle to Tinkerbell. Luke insisted on eating out of Shots hay bag instead of his own. I think he had a master plan to eat all of Shots hay and then he would still have his own bag that Shots couldn't reach. I had Cierra try my Arabian work saddle on Tink. It didn't look bad. Brooke had a western Wintec and that looked like a pretty good fit too so Cierra decided to give that one a try. I gave her my western show bridle as I don't have anything it really fits. I've had it for nearly 20 years and have only used it a few times. It looks really nice on Tinkerbell and I thought she'd get more use out of it than I ever will. Once Brooke and I were saddled up, we rode down into the cowboy field and I saw Meagan trying to get Scarlett to cross the tarp and Scarlett didn't like the idea at all. I went over and asked Luke to walk across and he didn't mind at all and went right over. Scarlett watched him and decided if he could do it, so could she and she walked right over after that. I did the sand bank, then the ditch. The ditch is quite narrow and Luke did quite a hop over it the first time. I tried to walk him though the tires but they are small tires and he had no clue what I wanted him to do though he tried hard to figure it out. The tires didn't bother him any though. We backed the "L" and he did fine with that. He was good at the bridge too. He went slow and careful the first time but he didn't make any refusals. None of the equines seems to like the water obstacle but since I'd already done it before with Luke, he grudgingly did if for me.....multiple times......poor mule...... and he did very well with the plank between the two barrels where you pick up one end and walk around and make a complete circle and place the end of the plank back down on the barrel. Shots did very well also. He hesitated at everything, had to think about it, look things over. But, he did all that was asked of him with a little patience and persistant asking from Brooke. She read him so well on how hard to push him and when to back off and let him think. It didn't take long for him to cross the tarp or the water. He tried to go though the tires but like Luke, he just wasn't sure what was being asked of him. He was a little sticky on the backing the first time but then got it. He took and even bigger jump over the ditch the first time but did it in the typical smooth mule way so Brooke was steady and stable though it. The one thing he didn't want to do was the bridge. It took a while to convince him to do that. Eventually he followed Luke across. One he did any of the obstacles just one time, he was all set and there was no more fuss about it. I thought he did great. A few more practices and he will do fine at the show. If Brooke beats me on my own mule............ hahahaha.