Need Toy/Obstacle Ideas

[MyMiniGal]

Ok, since I've had to move Halo, I am missing the trail course, that was at my friend's house. There is no place to set up a permanent one at this new place, so I need ideas, on things, I can bring easily, in my car, when I go see Halo. I have come up with these, so far...PVC pipes, several of them, to configure in all sort of ways, on the ground, a hula hoop for turning, and a tarp for walking over. She won't play with a ball, but that is something I could still try. She liked, over at the other place, some plastic balls put in a cloth bag, so she could step on them, and grab them, so that is an idea too, and orange cones, to weave in and out of. Whatever it is, has to be easy to transport, in my small car. So any other ideas, you all could throw at me, would be much appreciated. Her paddock is ok size. I wouldn't want to leave the stuff in there, but once or twice a week, to take this stuff over there, and work with her, to take away some boredom. I'm really missing the bridges we had. I am thinking of asking, the owner, if I could have my husband, make a small bridge and leave it, in the paddock. I just plain miss the trail course. Thank you, in advance!

 

[Rhondaalaska]

It sounds like you have all the things I use. I hope others have an idea for you.

One toy that I have for Diva is a dog toy , actualy there are two that she likes. One is a hard plastic kong that you

Can unscrew and put treats in side, and it wobbles around as she noses it. It is weighted on the bottom. The other is a soft rubber ball with a rope in the middle. Diva likes to grab the rope a throw it around her pen. Have fun with Halo

 

[MountainWoman]

One thing that is great to have are plastic cones. You can do all kinds of things with them. You can teach Halo how to stand in one spot by creating a square around her, you can create a weave course, you can teach her to pick them up and hand them to you and on it goes. I do clicker training and trick training primarily so don't know if these suggestions would help you but I have a toddler zylophone my minis have learned to play, a toddler play horn (none of them are small so can't be swallowed) and one of the Little Tykes basketball hoops so we can shoot hoops. Those are all lightweight. But my favorite by far are my cones because there are so many ways to use them. Another suggestion might be to look at the portable dog agility courses. Some of them are very inexpensive and there might be items in there that would be fun. The weave poles would be fun as a change of pace from weaving through cones. And I love the giant EquiSpirit balls but they won't fit in a trunk.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

Obstacles are a HUGE part of my training on all horses (biggies, mini's pasture puffs, A Rated hunters, western pleasure horses, whatever!) and I train with a "Heinz 57" style of training, I use pieces of a few "natural" horsemanship trainers, some cowboy tricks, some things learned from the amish and local old time draft horse guys, and some things that I've tried that just plain work!

You can also look up halter obstacle world show classes, to think about obstacles and how to perform them for shows.

We set up a BIG obstacle course about 1X or 2X a month. We have a tractor tire filled with stones as a pedestal, the "Carwash" of scaryfullness (shiny decorations, pool noodles, etc dangling from PVC poles), a "Debris field" of cans and bottles in an area, tarps to go over, a bridge, a mailbox, the "tree of scaryfullness" (a fake ficus found at a garage sale and decorated with EVERYTHING tacky and shiny we could find!), a gate to work (on a round pen), various cones, poles, etc, and of course everything is decorated obnoxiously with shiny tacky pinwheels! Go to the dollar store, get every cheap, potentially terrifying form of decoration you can, (this time of year is GREAT, the shiny grad party decorations are way discounted!) hang them from trees, fences, etc, and just have a normal lesson. Your horse will be bombproof at fairs, etc.

 

[paintponylvr]

We set up a BIG obstacle course about 1X or 2X a month. We have a tractor tire filled with stones as a pedestal, the "Carwash" of scaryfullness (shiny decorations, pool noodles, etc dangling from PVC poles), a "Debris field" of cans and bottles in an area, tarps to go over, a bridge, a mailbox, the "tree of scaryfullness" (a fake ficus found at a garage sale and decorated with EVERYTHING tacky and shiny we could find!), a gate to work (on a round pen), various cones, poles, etc, and of course everything is decorated obnoxiously with shiny tacky pinwheels! Go to the dollar store, get every cheap, potentially terrifying form of decoration you can, (this time of year is GREAT, the shiny grad party decorations are way discounted!) hang them from trees, fences, etc, and just have a normal lesson. Your horse will be bombproof at fairs, etc.

anyway we can get some pics of some of these? I'd love to see them - I'm a very visual person.

I've been looking into the horse agility contests... Haven't really started doing anything with those yet.

 

[Marty]

Keep in mind is not really about how much stuff you can get. Its about how you can utilize each one of them and change things up to keep the boredome at bay. I'm really big on using music with forced exercise. I bring my boom box out to the round pen and do all sorts of fun stuff to music

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Strings of flags might be something. Walking under them can take some getting used to. Or those strings of glittery fringes. I've seen those at obstacle classes.

Sounds like you are having fun with Halo!

 

[shorthorsemom]

I put trash bags on a whip and waved them hard. I had my kids run around the pasture with balloons and trash bags yelling "look at the little horsie mommy". I threw pool noodles over their heads like missles and would take the end of a tarp and hold it and run with it to the other end of the pasture letting the air take it up off the ground. I opened automatic umbrellas. All of this stuff can be carried in the car and not left in the pasture. You can roll hula hoops. Hula hoops are so much fun for them. Those plastic push toys for kids like the john deere mower kids can push and pretend to cut the grass are great for pushing around them for noise makers. My one mini even pushed the toy lawn mower around himself. I also LOvE those kids hoppy balls. attached some photos for examples, I call the one photo playing with a vampire hoppy ball, he used to roll on it...