During the past week I’ve brought out the five large pliable feed tubs (with the large hole in the bottom) to practice “in the middle”. Sue and I set them up Monday for Zelador to walk through. We were puzzling over how to arrange them for the horse. We tried putting them side by side, in two parallel lines, side by side with a bit of space between them, off-setting the parallel lines and a few other configurations. Zelador managed to step into most of them, but had not yet stepped fluidly through (and into) them with all four feet. Hmmm…
Yesterday I finally placed the tubs in a slightly staggered (almost straight) line. He was able to walk through perfectly, front feet and hind feet, just like when he walks normally. That’s when it hit me. “Walks normally”!!! Duh!!!!! I asked him to do this a second time. He was perfect. A third time. Still perfect. Wow!
So, to recap, I introduced this new game to him this past winter. At least five months later I’ve figured out: if you want a horse to place his feet in something as he walks, then set them up in a pattern mimicking his walk stride. (Talk about a quick learner…)
