Zelador and Zeloso both LOVE the big horse balls. Zeloso’s been out-of-control with them from day one. Zelador, on the other hand, started out calmly, but over time he, too, morphed into this wildly enthusiastic leaping maniac whenever the ball was brought out into the arena. As a result, we leave the balls tucked under the stairs.
About two weeks ago, I placed Zelador on his pedestal and fetched the ball. The look on his face! He was thrilled. His enthusiasm took him off the pedestal and I redirected him back onto it. This happened a few times. I carried (not rolled) the ball near the pedestal. I rolled it to him and asked him to push it back to me. Zelador managed to stay on the pedestal and PUSHED the ball in my direction. His pedestal is twelve feet from the north arena wall. I introduced pushing the ball to the wall hard enough so that it would roll back to him. He thought this was a SUPER game.
I kept the session short and put the ball under the stairs.
The next day, I brought Zeloso into the arena, removed his halter and turned to shut the lower half of the arena doors. He did something he has never done. He made a beeline for the big ball and before I could comprehend what was happening, he was attempting to manoeuvre the ball from under the stairs so that he could play with it in the arena. I scurried over there, rescued the ball and redirected Zeloso’s mind.
I’ve had some time to ponder this ball thing. I’ve come to the conclusion that Zelador communicated to Zeloso that I let him play with the big ball. But, how did he do that?
