This past weekend was eventful and FUN!

The eventful part started with Bill taking me to Emergency Friday afternoon. I’d taken two or three naps and couldn’t shake off an incredible fatigue. Four hours after arriving at the hospital I was sent home. The blood tests, x-ray, electro-cardiogram, etc. test came back “OK”. Saturday after playing with the horses in the morning I returned to the house to find a voice message from the hospital. “Get to emergency now.” Turns out another doctor looked at the chest x-ray and found fluid. I have walking pneumonia. This is a misnomer. The disease should be called “sleeping” pneumonia.

The fundraiser Sunday was great fun. I stayed away from the barn until just before noon, conserving my energy. The show started at 2:00. The April 19 fundraiser opened with Kye. During his act he tried to blow bubbles. He gave it a great effort. We all surmised that the bubble liquid was a dud. Monday I bought some new bubble stuff. It’s in a container that looks like a soft-swirl ice-cream cone. This is a new concept and hopefully the bubble liquid isn’t old. One thing…the liquid obviously has a horse-retardant-smell…

In preparation for the second fundraiser this Sunday April 26 I’m playing with Trooper (our vizsla) and Spring Song (the horse) doing three verses of the Hokey Pokey this Sunday. I’ve contacted our musician, Allen Kalpin, and asked: “Can you play the Hokey Pokey?”

Also, I introduced Z and Z to two new games yesterday (one horse at a time).

1. An equine version of horseshoes. I have a bag that contains human’s shoes. The boys seem to enjoy tossing slippers.

2. Bowling. I place a horse on the pedestal, then put a ball on a block on the ground nearby where the horse’s nose can reach and finally position six bowling “pins” a few feet away. Having the horse on the pedestal almost eliminates the horse leaving and picking up a pin. I’ll probably experiment with creating an alley for the ball. Currently I’m using the basketball for my bowling ball. It would benefit with some more air in it. The pins are about 18”s high and made out of light-weight plastic.

One of the acts in the fundraiser is: jumping rope while riding the horse. Zelador and I breeze through this exercise. Bill and Zeloso do not! Zeloso is taller and has a longer back than Zelador. I’m guessing his body eats up the jump rope. Invariably Zeloso’s left hind has not cleared the rope when Bill tries to bring it from back to front. We’ve developed a training tool where we call out, “Clear!” when the rope is not underfoot and Bill can bring it forward.

Well, wouldn’t you know, today after playing at liberty with Zelador in the arena he walked over to the wall where all the toys and equipment are stored. He raised his nose to a few longe lines that are hanging there. I called out to him, “Excellent point, Zelador. Perhaps the longe lines are long enough for Zeloso and Bill to play the jump rope game.

On another note, yesterday I practiced liberty with Zeloso with the Lumineers’ “Ho!Hey!” He did a good job. We went to the arena and practiced again today. As I was putting Zeloso in his stall I decided to give Zelador a spin in the arena. I would put on the music just in case he was capable of honouring my space AND listening to me.

To say I was blown away by Zelador’s cooperativeness would be an understatement. Yet again I have PROOF that the horses talk with each other. Zelador was very much aware of the variety of tricks I’d incorporated into Zeloso’s dance AND he was very happy to dance brilliantly with me.

Still shaking my head over that session…