Yesterday Dispatch, Master PJ Praetorius (PJ stands for Plum Job) posted Are We Having Fun Yet? Part 1. He also posted an image that I drew on the hood of the SAAB. Had I known he was going to do this I would have finished it. I have conditioned myself, when I see a white surface, to either draw or write something on it. Now Hrimmi is learning to do the same.

I had hoped that he would post an image of Zippy the Pinhead. I’ll make sure that pairs one with this dispatch. Zippy is so strange, I really don’t know what to make of him. But as I said yesterday, his question, are we having fun yet? is so very important for if the answer is no, it’s time to take a step backward and figure out why.

Today I finished building the December agility course. It took a long time because there are 10 obstacles, not say, seven with multiple tasks. This month’s course designer, Vanessa Bee, has also suggested that participants add decorations to obstacles, such as to the grotto and the curtain. The first obstacle involves decorating your horse. In past years I’ve taken a lot of time

doing this. This year, I’m keeping it real simple. I’m adding bells to the saddle pad and tying a scarf around the horse’s necks.

The saddle pad also has a secondary purpose. For obstacle six, which is free choice, I’m going to have Shadow hop on Hrimmi’s back. The saddle pad will keep her claws from digging into Hrimmi’s back.

I got out at noon and finished working on the course at 2 p.m. By then it was starting to get cold. This time of year, we have a really small window of time in which to get outside things done.

Done, I took all three horses through the course individually, having chunked it down first. For instance, I didn’t fill the walk through the plastic bottles obstacle with plastic bottles because I knew that they will do this. I also didn’t have Shadow get on Hrimmi’s back. And I held off on putting on the costume.

I have to say that, this time around, going through the course was near magical. I spent more time putting it together than I did any other course, and I wasn’t sure how the horses were going to take to it.

It was heavily target laden, which they liked (more treats), and it mainly consisted of walking through things, like the bottles. They all did really well, so they only had to go through the course once. A good thing for me because I was by then getting cold. And a good thing for them because they were wanting to get back to eating their hay. Hay fuels the furnace. In cold weather like this, I have to just keep shoving it in their direction.

And to summarize, doing all this was a lot of fun. So yes, we are having fun yet.

Next: 341. 12/12/20: The Dog and Pony Show: At a Crossroads