Inspired by the Dennis Reis clinic and his great big ball, I pulled out the exercise ball I bought for my horses ages ago but never used. I expected them to get really excited about it.
When I went out to the barn, Scout and Yalla! were laying down napping in the warm sun. I put the ball down out of sight and hurried over to them. Yalla! quickly stood up and I jumped on Scout's back just as he was getting up. He was startled and walked around a bit. I wasn't afraid even though I'd never done this with him before. After a few minutes, he walked back into the barn and I jumped down off of his back.
I went into the barn and brought out the big ball. Yalla! was immediately the most curious and came running up to me and the ball. I let the ball bounce away and she ran off chasing it down the length of the arena. She was suspicious of it but had no problems trying to eat it.
Annie tried her very best to ignore it. She only moved / ran when it threatened to touch her.
Scout and Nadia didn't seem to pay any attention to it at all. Only when I actually threw it up in the air at them did they run. Maybe Scout was still sleepy. I never did succeed in actually bouncing it off of them but it was good that they were so tolerant. Maybe next time.
Yalla! and I had fun playing soccer. I even made the goal!
I'll Roll your Ball - song: Betty Wrong, artist: Tin Machine, album: Tin Machine
11 comments:
Sounds like good fun.Yalla is a sweetie, the young ones are always so curious.I wonder if Annie would have played with it when you were gone/ Phoenix acts like he isn't intersted in the jolly ball till he thinks no one can see him
We tried our big exercise ball with our horses and they could have cared less. We still use it whenever we do any sensitivity training.
Cute pictures of Yallah.
Dan
When I showed Pie his ball - he nosed it and basically said "whatever, it's a ball, where's dinner?".
How fun. That looks like a Pilates ball. The only reason why I've never used one with my horses is because I know as soon as I look away, Bombay will figure out a way to pop it. The picture of Annie ignoring it was so much like the way Lostine behaves when I introduce something fun to play with.
I bought one of those toy Jolly balls for Fritzy, she didn't play with it so I gave it to Chance. I never saw her touch it so I would put it in her shed, and the next day it would be outside, so I kept putting it back there and she kept pushing it out. Actually I never saw her pushing it out, but apparently she did, she did not like it in her shed. I was hoping she would do something with it! Oh well!
Too funny ..:-)
Oh my goodness!!! Too cute! I've missed seeing picture of gorgeous, gorgeous Yalla! It looks like you had so much fun. :)
I've been thinking of finding a big ball to use with my horses. What kind of ball did you get? I'm worried about finding something that's safe and won't explode in their face if they decide to bite it.
It's a big exercise ball- pilates perhaps? I won't leave it with the horses because I know they'll break it. Either Yalla! will bite it or it will get busted on the sharp fencing.
I do leave them an old yellow vegetable oil jug that I know they like to play with because I will find it in all different places.
Yalla! is so cute with the ball. Last summer I taught Apache to touch an under-inflated basketball with her nose and then push it. I leave the basketball in her paddock and I will often see that it's been moved around. The wind? Maybe. I like to think she's having fun with her ball, though :)
~Lisa
I had some ball time with our horses too, they were fine with it, but didn't really play. I think it's too small. Some of the videos i've seen have a really large ball that comes up to their shoulder.
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