Playtime in the Arena

It was a really, chilly night last night. When I got to the barn, it was only 5 degrees—warmer inside, of course. It was warm enough to ride, but Cole had that look in his eyes—that crazy, intense look he gets in the cold weather. I turned him out to play in the indoor arena, instead.

With very little urging from me, he ran around and around and around. There were lots of bucks and craziness. After about 15 minutes, he started to settle down. I couldn’t find the ball to play with. I didn’t have a lead rope with me to aid in practicing shoulder in—something I haven’t done on the ground for a few weeks, but he is doing them great in the saddle since his ground work lessons. He was all parked out, waiting for me to do something. We practiced bowing and silly walk. Hs silly walk is getting as high as a Spanish walk, but he was going much faster that I’ve seen horse do Spanish walk. He was also adding some Cole Train flair. He was really getting into it.

I was ready to bring him in, but he parked out and refused to go. He still wanted to play games, but I was getting cold. On Monday, after our ride, when I did try a new ground work move—side pass. I gently laid the dressage whip along his side from shoulder to hip. (Yes, he is that small.) He took some decent steps on both sides that day.

Well, yesterday when I wanted to break him loose from being parked out, I lightly touched his shoulder and hip with my hands without thinking about it. The little guy did a spectacular sidepass. I mean with big, definitive steps and enthusiasm. Click time! it was no longer too cold to work. We did sidepasses about 10 times on each side and he did super on most of them. I didn’t want to overdo it, and decided to bring him back in—and he parked out and got stuck again. I think Cole would play clicker games all day if I let him. After a few bows, I was able to dislodge him and bring him in.

I did miss the ride, but I really think he enjoyed the games much more.