This morning I took Kye to the arena. I decided I’d take him to the farthest instrument and work our way back. I was about two metres from the arena wall where the instruments are located. Kye followed me, but stopped to play with the maracas.
We reassembled at the sleigh bells. He rang them with gusto. Next stop, the tambourine. He prefers to lift it away from the wall, let go and listen to the noise. Onto the maracas and finally to the three bells hanging on the plywood. They’re above his head and he’s not all that comfortable with high things. (Zeloso on the other hand is a giraffe in training. He’s always got his nose in the air as we walk by trees with their delicious leaves.)
I rang each of the three bells and he did, too… after a few moments.
Ann found a large (perhaps 30 inch in diameter) cloth Frisbee which she tosses in the paddock for Socs to retrieve. She brought it to the arena and I hadn’t used it yet. I’m not sure that Kye had even noticed this large green circle resting on the corner shelf, what with all the other toys nearby. I threw the Frisbee and it floated across the arena, probably twenty metres. He was very interested. As I walked, then trotted to it he joined me. He put his nose on it and I told him how brave he was. After a few more tosses he was picking up this BIG thing. Sometimes he held it by the edge, but most of the time he grasped the middle. When he did that I was quite surprised that he didn’t scare himself. He certainly couldn’t see the ground in front of him as he held the Frisbee parallel to the floor.
We played with the Frisbee for a few minutes and I stopped our game before he became bored. He loved seeing it float across the arena (except for a brief instant of “worry” when my toss took it along his side). And to think this is the same horse that thought about touching the sleigh bells for SIX MONTHS.
