On The Road

Today Manny went to school, actually it was a de-spooking clinic put on by a guy who use to be a Denver Mounted Patrol cop. We left the house here at 8:45 and got back home at 4. Sue & I went over last evening and gave him (Manny) a good grooming. He is starting to shed his winter coat and its coming off like crazy. Yukon was in one of the pens and we wanted to use it for Manny so he wouldn't go out and roll in the mud after all that work. So I'm holding "The Idoit" and he won't stand still and lo and behold he lays down and starts rolling on the ground! I don't have much use for this horse anyway, I think he's and idoit, and when he gets up he starts bucking like crazy and then rearing up and jerked me off balance and I went flying. Didn't fall but my foot didn't flex like it should have and I think I cracked a bone. Lord, does it hurt!

Anyway we got Manny loaded up(he has been loading fairly easlily lately) and the juke we wanted to take along and went out to this stables where the clinic was. It was about a mile right behind Johnsons Corner so we really didn't have far to go. After a short lecture on things we got him out and took him into the arena. CRAP! The damn horse jumped at EVERYTHING and every sound. If a horse walked by he jumped. We finally got him past everything and to the far end of the arena where they were going to work with the new horses . First thing was a piece of carpet on the ground, and he would not go near it! My first thought was it was going to be a long morning! Well, 45 minutes later it was no big deal anymore. And to his credit, after we started taking him around to other things he did settle down. There was a big horse down at our end and Manny just didn't like him and the lady that had him just seemed to be in our way all the time. And her horse was twice as spooked as ours! We learned in a hurry that things above him weren't a problem. If he had to step on it was another story. Balloons on sticks with banners he would walk right by. A sheet of plastic cut in strips and hanging from ceiling were alright. Finally got him to step on a mattress laying on ground and a sheet of that silver windshield reflective stuff. He would cross a wooden bridge that the noise terrified him in the beginning. By the end of the day(3pm) he would do anything we asked but still wasn't comfortable with black plastic on ground. We'll work on that. Most horses had trouble with bubble machine but that didn't faze him.

Wooow. That was a mouth full! Sue got some pics so go to her blog and have a look see. As for me....

Later....