The dreaded tire!

We have had some AMAZING weather this week!  With the warm up in temperatures we are also getting mud - and lots of it!  This means no trailering out and no riding in the pasture so instead, my dad has been helping me build some obstacles.

Last night I pulled Cat out to see where her chest would hit the barrel push to see if we needed to raise or lower the barrels before securing the levels together.  I was having so much fun messing with her I decided to forego building obstacles to play with her some more.

Barrel Push similar to what I'm making

I had build a narrow bridge so we pulled it out to see how the horses would do on it - not a problem! Both of them walked across it confidently and didn't seem to mind that it was 1/2 the size of a regular bridge.  We'll see what they think once it is raised up off of the ground but for now - they did well.

Narrow Bridge (mine is straight - for now)

Then we pulled out the red tarp.  I was told at a recent ACTHA ride that at a competition in KS they had horses go from a blue tarp to a red tarp and the horses were scared to death to walk on the red tarp.  You can imagine my disappointment when Cat walked onto the scary red tarp without giving it a second look.

Next was the inner tube!

The inner tube of death!

Yep!  Now I have her attention!  I don't know what it is with her and tires but you'd think I unleashed a lion on her (actually I think she would have been less reactive to a lion).  Needless to say, I spent the rest of the night trying to get her to relax while the tire moved around her and while she moved around the tire.  I made progress, but I can tell this is going to take some time to get her really comfortable with it.


I have three goals for Cat this year (these may change as the year progresses).

1.  Get her over her tire fear!
2.  Get her to pick up the correct lead on cue (she struggles w/the right lead).
3.  Get her to sidepass.  Right now she has side ways down but I want a correct side pass.

And now I leave you with this quote.............