Dewey Meets the Tarp

I introduced Dewey to a giant tarp today.  There were wind gusts to 40 mph this afternoon, so we did it in his stall in the barn out of the wind.  I set him up for success by lying the tarp down, then putting some of his dinner mash in a little pile in the center of the tarp.   He could reach this pile by stretching his neck and lips forward while keeping his hooves on the dirt.  The rest of his mash I placed in his metal tub on the far side of the tarp.  This pile could only be reached by placing his front feet on the tarp.

My other horses who are all tarp-proof made quite a scene!  Even though they have all worked with tarps before they honked, snorted, and generally made a scene about this big crinkly object invading Dewey's space.  Who knows why they behaved that way, unless the wind just had them all wound up and they were looking for an excuse to jump around.  The other possibility, knowing that my conniving lesson horse was instigating the antics, is that Cole wanted to see if he could scare Dewey out of his mash thus allowing Cole to enjoy the feast.

Miles the dog was his usual helpful self, he sat on the tarp and showed Dewey there was nothing to be concerned about.

Dewey is so level headed!  He watched me drag the tarp into his stall, and then he watched me dispense his dinner mash in the two locations.  Despite his friends making a fuss he just logically and carefully thought his way through.  First he brushed his hoof up against the tarp.  It made a noise, and he retreated to the far side of his paddock.  Then he came back, and touched the tarp with  his nose.  It made another noise and he retreated.  He continued in this fashion for a few minutes, until he realized that he could access the middle pile of mash by engaging his go-go-gadget lips.

Once he could eat mash off of the tarp, lick the tarp, and bite the tarp, he decided he was pretty impressive, and he started to paw at it.  He only startled himself once or twice, and then he was stomping all over it to get to his mash in his tub on the far side.  I had folded the tarp so that he could still reach the feed with only needing to put his front hooves on, tomorrow we introduce hind feet on the tarp.  I left it near the gate to his stall so he can look at it overnight if he wants, and in the morning hopefully I'll have some fun video of Dewey thoroughly having mastered the tarp.  When I left him, Dewey was snurffling through the folds in the tarp just in case there was some way to encourage it to yield up a second helping of dinner. 

The next morning Dewey conquered the tarp! He must have thought about it all night because when I came out in the morning it had been dragged part way into his paddock. When I dumped his feed he marched right onto it for breakfast! Very anticlimactic - just the way I like it.

Uneventful video of his walk onto the tarp can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10206004113599378&pnref=story