I remember saying to Allen Pogue (www.imagineahorse.com) that he has entirely too much time on his hands. I said this because I could not believe the incredible things he dreamed up to teach his horses. Perhaps his “malady” is contagious…

I got a bee in my bonnet a few weeks ago. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be NEAT if I could teach the horses to play music.” My mind went to those “things” on the floor that you can step on and a note rings out. Then I thought about my “twinkle-toed” horses and realized they’d destroy the thing in seconds. Undaunted I dropped that image and wondered if teaching the horse to touch something with his nose might be less destructive. Of course the nose is close to the teeth…

Moving right along. Bill is quite gifted when it comes to mechanical things (not gifted when it comes to hearing words I speak). He also has a PhD in Physics. Perhaps he could make something the horse could touch (with his nose) and then we’d hear a note.

I presented this idea to WILLIAM and he told me quite a few reasons why “it won’t work”.

I persisted.

Initially I was thinking that I could find a song with just a few notes in it and teach the horse to touch each note. Then I realized that I was asking for a chain of tricks. I needed to start with ONE trick: one note. Next question: which note? That’s when I remembered the sleigh bells hanging in the computer room. Yep, the horse could touch something that would make the bells ring. I couldn’t let him touch the bells directly because I’ve learned that getting a large jingle bell out of a horse’s mouth isn’t the easiest thing to do…

Bill suggested the William Tell Overture might be the perfect piece for the horse to play. He looked it up on the internet and found a version that’s between three and four minutes in length and it wouldn’t matter WHEN the horse hit the note!

Actually, parts of that plan are good. Other parts are not so good. I told William that I won’t be using the William Tell Overture because my horses love music and react vigorously to vigorous music. (Can’t think of too many tunes more vigorous than the Lone Ranger’s theme song.) Nope, we need to start with something calming, soothing… perhaps Brahms’ Lullaby… with sleigh bells ringing sporadically throughout the piece.

Today is Christmas and Bill combined wood, hinges and sleigh bells into an apparatus that causes the bells to ring when the wood is touched. The bells are behind the wood and not readily accessible to the horses. (At least that’s the plan.) Bill attached the gizmo to the arena wall this afternoon and announced, “It’s ready”. I haven’t seen it yet and I can’t WAIT to show it to each and every horse on Winsong Farm! Let the music begin!!!!