Class Clown

Well, I didn't get my riding lesson--I got an awful sinus infection instead. Boo. Got antibiotics on Wednesday. Today I felt well enough to ride (the 50 degree sunshine helped!) but since our car is ailing, my husband took the truck to work, so I was stranded! I guess I could have ridden Keno to the arena or just around town, but I opted instead to play at home.

Flyboy has turned into the class clown as you can see from the pictures. I started out doing some of our regular ground work: following a feel, yielding, side passing, etc. I played rope games with his feet in preparation of teaching him to hobble. I lunged him over the barrels---which he jumps nicely. Then I got out the tarp and an empty (crackly!) dog food bag. Fly has always been fine with tarps UNDER him, but he has been very nervous about them being over or on him. Not any more. Today, Fly became brave. I had both the dog food bag (like a thick, stiff tarp) and the regular tarp all over him. Once we had done that, I turned him loose so I could work with Keno.

Keno is an anti-tarp horse. He always has been, but I have decided to fix that hole in his training. But while I was doing some ground work/lunge work with Keno, Fly kept stealing the show. He was after the tarp, the bag, and anything else. He stomped, pulled on, picked up, shook, and chewed the tarp.

At one point the wind grabbed the tarp and threw it up against Fly's front legs. He did a little half-spook and then just stood there thinking about it. Something in Fly's mind has changed. (I will post more about it eventually.) Poor Keno kept getting put in his "stand still and don't move" command

 so I could photograph the class clown. Even Keno gained some confidence today--walking and trotting over the tarp. It was great!