Janet's report for Jan 19 This weekend we worked with somewhat of a skeleton crew as it being a holiday weekend, several people took advantage of it. On Saturday Leilani, Jackie, Becky, Cliff and I made it out. We had lots of fun with the boys. We began their lessons of "ringing a cowbell" so they can cheer on the competitors at the venue like spectators do. Of course Dusty was the star pupil and was having lots of fun ringing that noisy bell. Jackie also brought out a baby stroller so each of the boys got a chance to walk beside a moving baby stroller. But no one here has any babies so they didn't get the benefit of the moving/crying baby but they all took it with grace and no one got excited about it at all so we don't think it will be a problem, particularly since the crowd will be kept 15 feet away from the boys. Spirit spent an hour or so at the tie pole and was so calm and relaxed. Every once in a while, between taking pictures of the goings on, I would put a horse blanket on him or just go over and give him some good love. I think he was actually enjoying the "extra time out". Leilani, with her quiet layed back demeanor has been doing really well with all the horses so she decided she wanted to tackle trying to catch Yogi. It took her a few minutes, but before I knew it she had a halter on him and was leading him out of the paddock. Yogi was very dirty. He has had some soreness in his right shoulder, probably from playing a little rough, so he has been on light duty. It took Lani about an hour to get all the caked on mud off but she had him shined up and looking nice by the end. He was so relaxed with her it was really great to see him relax with someone else. He was doing so good we decided to try a horse blanket. I kind of took over on this one as he can be a bit pushy at times. It took some effort but eventually we got it on. We also worked on trailer loading but by the time we got to that we were starting to lose his attention so had to settle for simply putting a nose in the trailer and smelling. Quite a few horses got saddled as well and they all seem to be becoming pros at it. Jackie saddled Frosty and worked on mounting from both sides. He stayed relaxed through the entire process.

Dusty hiding under the saddle blanket Spirit modeling the horse blanket Cliff with Mo Leilani with Yogi

Frosty checking everything out Continue to Part Twenty Six Return to Part Twenty Four Meet the SLC Animals! Meet the Knightsen Animals!

Magic checking out the stroller with Leilani Jack relaxing with the blanket on