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Least Resistance Training Concepts
Project Activity Album
Knightsen's Activities
OLYMPIC WILD HORSE & BURRO PROJECT
Part Twenty Two
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"This isn't so bad"
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The Last Big Day
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Saturday October 13th was our last big get together day for the volunteers.
We got off to a late start but we had a pretty darn good day.
We started out the day giving the horses some turn-out time, then practiced trailer loading.
These guys hadn't been in a trailer since being hauled from Ridgecrest and we needed them
to load quietly and safely.
Since the Olympic horses were still enjoying some free time, we decided to practice on
Lucky who, while having been shooed into a trailer a few times, had never had to load
or unload on lead.
Lucky was a bit nervous, but loaded well enough with a little coordinated "presence"
from the "human cougars" behind him. While coming out of the trailer, Willis missed James'
hand-off of the lead rope and Lucky trotted off, tail high in the air, neck arched and
with the most incredible extended trot we had ever seen. We all just stood there with our
mouths open. Lucky didn't go very far and came up to James when called and loaded again.
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Lucky headed in
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Getting ready to step down
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The first Olympic horse we tried was Magic. For anyone following this journal,
you can probably imagine that Magic again lived up to his name.
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"Look, no hands!"
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A very quiet departure
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Our next subject was Dusty. He had a little trouble at first since he was the
smallest horse and the step up was pretty big. We placed a hoof up onto the
trailer floor. Then he got the idea and hopped in.
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Checking out the trailer
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A "honk" before exiting
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The horse we were concerned about was Spirit since he started out in this project
being the most insecure of the three. James, however, had done some fantastic
work with him which showed as Spirit basically followed James right
into the trailer.
James reloaded Spirit, unhooked the lead and left him standing in the trailer with
the rear door open while we went back to the barn for some soda and cookies.
Spirit stayed in the open trailer, checking out bits of old hay, until we returned.
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Spirit with James
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Stepping out on lead
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We had some VIPs pay a call to the project later in the day. They visited with the
burros who were meandering about the stable and we showed off the horses.
I opened Spirit's paddock gate and asked him to walk to the back of the
trailer with no halter or lead, just on voice command. He followed like a pro.
Then I stepped inside the trailer with a bicycle horn and asked him
to walk in and honk the horn. He looked at the grass for a second and I
thought I had lost him, then he looked into the trailer, stepped in, and
gave a loud honk on the horn. The visitors thought he was wonderful. (I
wish we had a camera out at the time.)
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County Supervisor Donna Gerber and her assistant, Brenda de la Osso, seemed to particularly
like the animals. She is a supporter of using animals with troubled youth
and we kicked around some concepts involving horses and burros that related
to the County's current program that uses dogs and cats.
Since they were Democrats, they naturally had to take rides on Zip.
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Giving Magic a kiss
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Supervisor Gerber on Zip
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Brenda also hitching a ride
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