Last year, the Evergreen Gaited Horse Show had a diabolical trail obstacle course with wooden cow cutouts, fake barn, etc. The most testing challenge was a little yellow tent located right as the horse and rider entered the arena. Almost all of the horses had problems with this challenge. Blessi and I did not ride in this event but I wanted to try this event as a ground exercise. I re-created the "tent" using a turquoise and yellow tarp and the jump supports in the riding arena. Blessi went on high alert when he saw this strange "thing" in his arena, even pulling back a bit on the lead line at one point. We walked outside the arena, approaching the tent a little closer each time his head went down to normal position and he was comfortable with the closeness. This took about 5 to 8 minutes. We then entered the arena and Blessi went in willing but still alert and cautious. Once again we walked in serpentines, getting a little closer to tent as the head came down. After about 8 minutes, Blessi would approach the tent and touch it with his nose, and walk between the tent and the fence (about 4 feet). At that point, Blessi realized it was a tarp and tried to pull the tarp off the support poles. When I put the tarp on the ground, he walked over and started picking up the tarp and shaking it in a playful way. The exercise involved a lot of treats but we were not using the clicker. I then removed the tent, saddled up Blessi and we had a good ride around the arena.
During all the other ground exercises we have worked on (umbrella walk, swirling garbage bags, balloons, flying stuffed toys, flags, dragging road maps at the end of lead line, etc.), Blessi had almost no reaction, ie he was comfortable with the exercise from the first introduction of the new thing. And we have done a lot of tarp exercises. He is very comfortable walking on and around tarps both under saddle and on lead. In fact he once followed me under a tarp that was attached to the side of barn to cover shavings. This is the first time Blessi has exhibited that degree of nervousness during a ground exercise. I would like to ask the group for advice. How could I have done the exercise differently? Did I approach the exercise too quickly? (Note Blessi alerted as soon as he saw the "tent" in the arena.) Where do we go from here? Should I repeat the exercise with the tent in different areas of the arena, in different areas around the stable? As a follow up, be careful what you reward for. As I was putting my tack away, Blessi was let loose to graze. He wandered over to the pile of woodshavings, walked over the ground tarp on which the shavings were piled, and proceeded to try and pull off off the second tarp that was covering the shavings. Since I board at the stable, I quickly walked over and redirected his attention to the grass.
