The Beginning of the Playground

So the barn that I board at has given our Parelli playgroup permission to use the area by the pond to build a playground for the horses! We are allowed to swim in the pond (15ft deep) and put up obstacles. Niels and I took the first (and most ambitious) step of building a bridge. We started the bridge before my trip to Utah and the Reno Celebration and left it sitting (in a nice pile I may add) in our driveway while I was there and Niels was in Seattle for work. When we got back from our trip there was a letter (a few days old) that was from the HOA. It stated that we needed to "move our unsightly wooden object out of the driveway." Needless to say Niels and I were NOT happy about that! It didn't look THAT bad! The good thing is that we decided to clean the garage out so we can make pedestals and work on and keep them in the garage until they are finished so we can avoid any more "pleasant reminders" that our stuff is ugly! UGLY? Seriously, like the yard that had a literal trash can's worth of trash in the backyard for 2 weeks. THAT was ugly. But a bridge?

We got it done (finally) between the many rainstorms that have been gracing us here in North Carolina and it is the beginning of many fun things to play with with our horses!

Other items include

1. Barrels (some with cow flavored covers)

2. poles that stick into the ground to use for weave etc

3. cones

4. pedestals (which are next up to build)

5. pvc pipe for jumps and ground poles

6. The pond (no work required, just savvy!)

7. Eventually a carwash obstacle and 50' playpen with a low fence

But so far just with what we have I've got plenty to keep me busy all summer. So far Duck has only jumped the bridge (which is 33" wide and 18" tall) and put her foot on the ramp in the last 2 sessions. Yes, it is going to be a fun summer!

To add to that we've done mounting bareback by the neck a few times. Nothing consistent yet, but I did get brave enough to try the put my legs between her head when it is down and get flipped up on backwards. Very cool!

Yes, Yes I know it is all tricks! But how else can I justify giving her all those treats that she loves so much?