most spectacular event... mo... yesterday - i could swear donkeys and mules have a sense of humor- which would be a sign of higher intelligence-- i had a problem with her knocking me over a while ago-- so to keep her concentrating on whatever business at hand, i chose to carry and use carrots in one hand and teh whiffle bat in the other.-- she understands both... and there is not a mean hair in her-- but there sure is a tendancy to ignore the size difference between us...
we were scheduled to harness her at 10-- well 10 carzy acres tiem was 10:30 mainly because teh door from the "barn/kennel area to the arena was only 28.5 inches- and i know her mo's rib cage touches both sides of the door to her stall... and that is 30" -- she could squeeze her ribs thru, but if she caught a hip bone on the door, she would pull down the entire side of the barn-- so it was decided she should go around teh 10 kennels and into the arena side door,. because that secodn gate by puppy hill has not been opened in a while , we dicided she would fit thru the chain link gate if she put her head down... it measured 31 inches...
that was the point at which i realized if i tried to maneuver her onto the concrete walk and thru that gate, she would be walking aLL OVER ME... and if i the cp's tried she would not get near it.-- so we waited for janine. it was lovely to watch-- mo avoided the concrete walk and approached the gate at a right angle... clearly saying "i can't step up 6 inches" -- janine just as clearly said "oh come on now-- i know you are a professional-- just side step up on that and lets get on with it." and mo did exactly that... like a ballet dancer...
let me be clear... a well trained draft horse has a valuable education about tehir size in relation to stuff tied to the rear of them-- if theri traces hit thier hind ankles the y are trained to stop and wait for someone to tell them what to do. and if you yell whoa-- they stop and stand---- no fidigeting like a "normal" horse woudl do.... they just stand there.. i once handled the lead team of the walt disney hitch-- you coudl yell whoa... then go have coffee and they would still be standing shock still 20 minutes later when you came back. those were horses... mo is a mule... she knows all that-- except she also knows a bunch of clowns she can take advantage of... when she sees them.
around here her modus-operandi is "lets see what i can get away with," - she lowered her head thru that gate.. no problem-- and got into the arena--
i had planed to have herr eat carrots while we harnessed her- knowing that would make her stand still.
janine decided "once you start feeding her , her mind will be only on food so lets just make her behave from the start..." does that sound like what i say about training dogs??????
janine set her up with a whoa and started draping the harness over appropriate parts of mo.. mo noted teh cdocnfusion- and took a step[ forward-- just one... and waited while jody janine fiddled with buckles etc.. so she took another step... just a little one to be sure they were not paying attention... she started for another step at which point janine noticed and made her turn around where i was sitting...handed me the rope with a loud " knock it off... whoa"-- so mo stood.
once dressed mo was "ok, i am on it" and showed she knew more thatn they did aobut stepping carefully around stuff in the arena-- with janine on the reins....jody, eileen and susie hanging onto the rope behind to show mo what was going to be the job at the party friday night where we hope to have a tug of war between a bunch of people and mo- where i fully expect mo to walk off "like she is going to church" dragging the people behind her. should be an interesting demonstration.... hopefully.
now--- i got back to my computer to find a CP was appalled that i shoudl ask mo to wear a harness and work for maybe 10 minutes.. -- plus teh work will not be anything like pulling a plow- which i am sure she did for many years.... personally, i think she enjoys doing something beside wandering around the pasture-- she often stands at the fence looking for some amusement...
i think i can relate to that-- at 80, and retired, if someone offered to pay me to wear a giant hot dog suit, i would think it was a great idea.
i don't know where some people get the idea that work is bad.. it can be darn annoying at times, but no work is awful.
