Happy Second Birthday Benny!!!!!!

With the thick of endurance season upon us, I’m actually riding Tarma less than I do in the winter. She gets the standard week or two off after each race, and then a few tune up rides before the next event. This leaves me with lots of free time, and also points to the reason that most endurance riders have multiple horses, someone is always available. Instead of a second (or third) horse, I have Benny! We’re lucky that a local agility club rents a barn here in town just five minutes from my house, so we’ve been taking agility lessons from a trainer once a week all winter.

While we’re not quite ready for a trial, we’re almost ready for a fun run (no weave poles, just jumps and tunnels). Benny and I have been having an absolute blast, and as with endurance, it’s a learning and stretching opportunity for me. It’s also a sharp contrast to dressage work with Tarma. I know the dressage benefits us both and is good bodybuilding and stronger movement and quieter communication and all, but Tarma isn’t always hip to that story and sometimes it’s a struggle, even when I hop on and dink around for twenty minutes. Agility with Benny is just joyful, cause you know who is just happy to be doing stuff with mom? Benny! Who doesn’t argue with me when I say “Please do the thing?” Benny! Who doesn’t throw a princess level amount of sass when I mess up? Benny!

I do mess up plenty, usually with my body positioning (critical for agility to direct the dog to the correct next obstacle) or reinforcement timing (I usually toss the treat a bit after I should to mark the behavior I need to see). Despite this we’ve come so far in just a few short months, of our little class I can safely say we’re the farthest along, though each dog and handler team excels at different things. Benny digs tunnels, but we need to work on his jumping form and hitting the teeter just right. We just started working on weave poles, which seems so difficult but once Benny gets something and it clicks he generally keeps it. He is so good about offering a few different behaviors when we work on shaping something, though after a few tries and not getting the treat his default response is stop and stare.

His behavior while waiting for our turn and working in the ring is so chill but not checked out. I sometimes play some small games to keep him engaged, but he’s gotten the memo that when we’re outside the ring we’re waiting and to be still. He does watch the other dogs and I can see the gears turning in his head sometimes. Inside the ring when it’s our turn he doesn’t bolt around or cause a ruckus, his focus is all on me and asking “What’s next?” We’re having a blast and I’m looking forward to the day we’re ready for some prime time!