Today was the Ky Mounted Patrol’s Civilian bomb-proofing clinic, held at Masterson Station. It was my birthday present to myself, to prep Rain for the upcoming onslaught of crowds and scary items at Rolex in a few weeks. I do have to say, she passed most of it with flying colors!!
There were some really neat horses at the clinic, all with different things they wanted to work on through the course of the clinic. Rain is a been there, done that, got the t-shirt kind of horse as far as groundwork goes in clinics, so it was just a quick refresher course and she was ready to go.
We of course had to take advantage of the soft sand arena to lay down before the riding portion of the clinic started. This was after Rain got me wet on the water box, so I think she appreciated getting to roll.
There were only a few obstacles that stumped my brave little mare. I have to say, I’ve always been pretty pleased with how she handles obstacles and crazy things.
The first trouble area was the water box, which I realized my entire problem was a lack of “go” when I sent her towards the water box. Once she finally realized that she was going to need to go in there, she actually decided to put some oomph into her go and jump barrels, a personal best for her as she normally knocks them apart and walks through.
The second part of the afternoon was all mounted, and that’s where we found our biggest desensitizing problem – things that blow around her legs. I’ve never taken a leaf blower to her or ridden her through smoke, but we can’t say that anymore! She didn’t mind seeing the leaf blower or having glamour shots with the wind blowing through her hair, but her legs were off limits. I see some gaps I need to fix, that I just need some more time and now a leaf blower….
Her funniest moment was when she sat there and inhaled the smoke into her nostrils, then she would exhale and watch it twirl and contort with the rest of the fog. It was so neat to watch her do that intensely over and over again.
The culmination of my day was being offered a position at the KY Mounted Patrol as a volunteer rider for the search and rescues. I am excited to start! I have been interested in it for quite a while, and now it’s all coming together!
