Party pooper

The Sunday after Jurassic Classic - almost a week before Olive's surgery - was the summer potluck and desensitizing fun day at my barn.

The outdoor arena was filled with familiar and not-so-familiar obstacles.

These included a tinsel cowboy curtain,

a tarp,

a Bozo the Clown punching bag,

a pool noodle walk through,

another walk through,

and a windsock,

a "ghost",

a roping dummy,

a bucket filled with water and apple slices...

and a hula hoop.

Here's the more common hula hoop useage!

I brought Olive into the ring, and she was her usual looky...

and snorty self.

Although she's seen most of these obstacles before, on this day, she wanted nothing to do with them.

She was willing to stand near things, but she steadfastly resisted actual interaction.

It was very windy, so I didn't really expect her to like the scary, fluttery things like the cowboy curtain.

However, even easy things like the bucket of apples were viewed with suspicion.

The only exception was the pool noodle obstacle. She walked through that many times without hesitation. Go figure.

When I could feel my patience beginning to ebb, I put her back in her run and got Kaffi.

He was a little bit tentative at first, but it wasn't long before he worked his way around the entire course.

The only obstacle that gave him even a little bit of trouble was the tarp, and even that was pretty minimal.

What a superstar!

After I put Kaffi away, I made myself a plate of food and sat down in the shade to eat. Although I was really pleased with Kaffi, I was still stewing over Olive. What could I do to motivate her better?