Cali Day 4

So how many horses do you know that you can just lift their tails slide on a
plastic bag and bungee it to the harness?
I know one and her name is Cali.

The plan was to go to town today. Cali would ride in the trailer. Trailers
are a place where Cali can "go". So, let's take advantage of that. On with
the plastic bag and into the trailer and tied. Voila! Mini horse goes into a
Wal-Mart bag. Sounds like a head line for the National Enquirer. I was so
surprised that it was so quick, I clicked and took the bag off. A bit too
quick because she needed to go again. No matter, a plan develops slowly and
we now have the start of on-cue pottying because we have a sure thing on
where she will "go". We'll add the bell on the next trial. Not only do I
want her to go on cue, I want a cue for her to tell us it's time.

My friend who has big horses that "go" on cue will load a horse onto the
trailer and since for them too it's usually a "sure thing" she stands right
there with a bucket. Cool. I like it when great minds think alike.

Thank you Becky for your article from the vet who collects pee for testing
and her simple system. No complicated stuff for us either. Just a Wal-Mart
bag and 4 bungees - no problem.

Off to town we go. Somehow my mind "saw" sidewalks in our town. Our town is
1/2 mile long and 1/2 mile wide. That's it. And it has a lot of old people.
But, no sidewalks. Just roadway that's been spread wide effectively giving a
wide shoulder to the road. Cali thought the white line was a good shoreline
and was quite sure we should be on the other side of the road. By the time I
realized my error in routing we had passed the single crossing guard cross
walk.
Oh well. Next time I'll do better. We walked to the center of town even
though there were screaming kids, soccer practice, and teenage drivers
gunning their engines. That, not to mention the fire siren going off just as
we got to the town's intersection. Do guide horses stop and "pull over" when
speeding fire engines go by. It seemed logical so we did.

Going back we were on the correct side of the road and walked comfortably on
the shoulder. Using the white line as our guide. A nice teacher from the
school caught up with us and we had a nice chat about how one walks the
roadway in town. What's safe and what do most people do.

Once back at the school we travelled around that roadway past young ladies
playing soccer, and "found a door" to the school. They were even going to
let me into the school but I passed on that this day. Soon though. At home,
Cali had been ready for be more in front. But, the rigors of this experience
kept her closer. It was a little stressful for both of us. We made it
through and loaded up to come home. Horses don't get trained in a few days.
Each experience builds on the previous one.

This morning I had someone come for a lesson and as we walked to the arena a
little whinny told me that Cali thought she should be coming too. Going to
the arena is like comfort food. We added another trip down the driveway.
This time I set some cone obstacles in our way. Cali pointed them out and
went around with no problem. On the way back, she thought she should point
the out again even though they weren't in our path. To her they were.

Another good day although a bit mind boggling as I thought about just what
does a blind person do in some situations. I'll be dropping a note to my
friends with dogs and horses to ask.
Just for fun, here's the scenario. You are at a school baseball field
parking lot. There is no crosswalk to cross the street. You are desiring to
go to the market that is a right turn and 1/2 mile from where you are. There
are no sidewalks. You can't cross to go against traffic. Your only safe
option is to go on the shoulder with the direction of traffic. There is a
crosswalk 1/2 way to the market. Do you cross there or continue to the
market on the same side.
Mona, what would you do with your cane?

I'll let you all know what they say.