Rolling Dog Farm Blog

I trailered blind Cash into Missoula today for his first day at boarding school.  He's going to spend the next month with Will Balis, a professional horse trainer who works at the Flying H Stables.  I had interviewed Will a couple of weeks ago about training Cash.  Will had been recommended to us by our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor.  (The young lady who trained blind Nikki for riding a few years ago has moved away, so we had been searching for just the right person to work with Cash.)  When I took the photo above, Will was meeting Cash for the first time.

After a month or so of training, Will expects to have Cash under saddle for riding, doing a little loping, able to back up, and perhaps doing some side-passes, too.  In other words, Cash will still be "green" but he will have learned a lot in a short amount of time.  At that point we'll consult with Will on Cash's next stage of training. 

As part of his skills training, Will also will work on trailer-loading and unloading, though this morning — for Cash's first trailer ride since he was 4 weeks old — he did amazingly well.  It took just under a couple of minutes to get him loaded.  I walked him up the ramp, and as soon as he realized the surface was different, he stopped.  I let him smell the trailer, collect himself a bit, and then I pulled on the lead-rope again.  I kept pulling until he took one step forward, then I released the pressure.  I gave him a little more time to think about it, pulled on the lead-rope again, and after he took another step forward up the ramp, I released the pressure.  So far so good. 

On the third round, he took a step forward and then decided to go up in the air, knocking his head on the rim of the trailer door.  That must have, dare I say, knocked some sense into him, because then he waltzed right into the trailer with me.  He rode well all the way to Missoula, and he unloaded like a champ.

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for the ranch in the Shelter Challenge — and you can
vote every day!  We're currently in third place, putting us on track to
win $3,000 for the animals.  Enter "Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state
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MT, for Montana, and it will bring up our listing.

Vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Last
year we won $3,000 in the first round and then won the $20,000 Grand
Prize in the second round, so your votes really do add up and make for
a wonderful gift for the animals here.

Thank you!