Cisco is away for training with Tony and Jenny Vaught. This makes Lucky Star the winner of nearly every day riding. This is our second every day. Away we went to the arena. I took off Lucky’s halter and we are “at liberty”. Lucky and I drug the barrels out into the arena….one at a time. I set up the barrel and secretly placed a treat on top. Lucky and I went at least 20 feet away. We stopped and I gave him the sign to “go touch the barrel”. He touched the barrel and discovered the treat! We did this three times. Our last time we were about half the distance of the arena away from the barrel. I told him to go touch the barrel and away he went. Oh we thought that was fun.
I changed the game. I put three barrels on their side lined up on the wall. They are now “jumping barrels”. Lucky and I got into a good place and I told him to go jump over the barrels. Prepare to be amazed. Lucky trotted off and jumped over the barrels. Remember, he has nothing on his head. He is loose. Amazingly, he jumped the barrels at liberty. He got a treat and we rested by the barrels. This is called “training”. I wondered if he would jump the barrels going the other direction. Another amazing outcome. He jumped the barrels again. We got the treat and rested by the barrels.
I decided that we were done with the barrels so Lucky and I drug/pushed the barrels to the middle of the arena…away from the wall. Hmmm, I thought. Will Lucky jump the barrels when they are not shoved against the wall? Why not try! So from the middle of the arena, I told Lucky to go jump the barrels. Clutch my heart, he jumped over the barrels. Good Lordy! Lucky Star got about five treats for that! Amazing.
Finally, Lucky decided I should get on him and ride. We had a good time working out his minor arguments about moving forward in a gait faster than a slow walk. At the end of our session, Lucky and I cantered around half of the arena. It doesn’t get too much better than this for fun with your horse!