Today Note and I went to the round pen to play. He has become a typical Bit of Honey horse in that he loves to jump, even without a rider. I prefer to introduce jumping to horses this way because it gives them a chance to figure out what is required of their bodies without a rider to balance as well. Note enjoyed himself running around the round pen and jumping the barrels, and also took a couple swings at Mazhi my dog when she tried a little too hard to motivate him.
Some video of Note free jumping can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWbP3hE3Uys
Once we were done jumping we decided to mess around with some of the toys I keep in the round pen. First were the tires, which Note has seen before. Mahzi helped with the obstacles as well since she is so good at demonstrating they are harmless.
Lastly we worked with the tarp. Usually something big, green, flappy, and moving is scary for a horse. However, I have a few ways of introducing the tarp which minimize the boogey-monster qualities. Sometimes I introduce it with cookies, so whenever the horse approaches the tarp they get a treat. However, I didn't have any treats on me today so I decided to use one of my other techniques. This one involves chasing - but it's the horse chasing the tarp. It works really well with horses who are curious and intelligent. Note is also a very confident fellow and is always keen to boss someone or something around, so this method was going to work well with him.
I began by standing near the tarp with the dogs so Note could check it out and see that the dogs didn't think it was anything dangerous. He went up to it and did some snorting and honking, also poking it with his nose. Because my tarp has been around for a few years it's in rough shape, which worked in my favor today since I could grab a smaller piece and drag that around.
I picked up a section of the tarp and I proceeded to walk away from Note with it. Once it started moving Note really began to pay attention. He followed it, still snorting and honking. This began our game of "chase". When Note stopped, the tarp would stop. When Note started chasing, the tarp would retreat away from him. In Note's point of view, this monster could be herded around the round pen, and monsters are much less scary if they run away from you! It was a fun game for him, and he even grabbed a piece of it and tore it off. Eventually it wasn't a scary thing anymore, and he took a break to roll. After his sand bath he resumed following the tarp around. Tarp training: mission accomplished.
Here is some video of Note chasing the tarp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ne6Rdw9KYs
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