Playground Item #2

Many people have seen Pat Parelli and other natural horsemanship trainers working with their horses and large rubber balls. However those balls are very costly even on Ebay. Dennis Reis' large round ball costs over $200. Luckily, Parelli's is usually $75 but is currently on clearance for $65 plus $13 shipping expense. I'm getting one for myself and I reccommend you do too!

There are many things you can do with this ball. First of all it is great for desensitizing, both on the ground and in the saddle. It also opens up the door for new games and challenges. You could have a soccer match with other riders, or you could push the ball through an obstacle course. If you use your imagination there are infinite possibilities.

The photo is from www.parellicollection.com and is also where you can purchase the green ball.

Build Your Own Playground Item #1

I bet many of you have seen other people doing cool things with their horses on the ground or in the saddle and using different items to create a "playground" for their horses. However, these things, such as giant balls and barrels can be sometimes hard to come by.

However, you can create your very own playground for a fraction of the cost. All you need is an imagination. I will post some low-cost high return items that are easy to come-by and explain some of the games you can play with them. Enjoy!

My first item is a short wooden post. They can be found at a local farm supply store for less than $6 each. The next big question is how many to get. I decided on 6. Why? It is a good number to make the "L" back-up that you see in trail courses and it is also the fewest you can get to make a decent pyramid.

Now that you know the item, let's look deeper into what we can do with it. As mentioned before you can make an "L" pattern and have your horse go through it backward, forward, sideways, or any other combination you choose. You can spread them out and use them as trot poles or just as obstacles. But, we aren't done yet. You can even stack them up into a pyramid to make an even more creative obstacle.

Hope you enjoyed your first step to building your own playground, and for under $40 too!