Cavaletti Au Naturel

For those of you who are familiar with riding, you will recognize the above as a Cavaletti, a horse training device used in Dressage as well as when training a horse to jump. The general idea is to teach then to raise their legs over the rods. In Dressage, it is all about grace, height, form and timing. When teaching a horse how to jump, the bars are gradually raised until the horse has no choice but to jump over them, ideally without fear since he has been walking over them for a while.

In any event, Miss Phoebe has graduated to a Cavaletti in her rehab. When I drove into the parking lot of the facility this week, they had one all set up for her in the parking lot, complete with bars about two inches from the ground set into plastic cones. She walked over it beautifully, without knocking over a single bar, and I was told to work on this movement during the week.

Ack!! Where was I going to get a Cavaletti--especially one that wouldn't require setting up and taking down all the time (for the gardeners, who mow the grass and blow the leaves once a week) and that wouldn't become Sam's newest toy?

I first experimented with garden stakes on top of overturned small flowerpots, which worked well enough until Sam ran straight through them and then ran away with a stake. Plus I think Phoebe had a hard time seeing the green stakes on the green grass.

Then as I was walking through the dog park this morning, I noticed all the tree limbs and trunks that were strewn about. Perfect, I decided, but short of needing a chain saw, I was limited to those I could haul back to the car--and those that would fit into the car.

So began a slow but steady process of me dragging tree limbs and Sam thinking I was the greatest mother on the planet for taking home major sticks for him to play with! A few trips and a lot of dirt later, I had my stash, which I assembled in the driveway so I don't have to take it apart twice a day.

Here is my handiwork, which, by the way, works quite well, for the time being.

I'm feeling quite clever and if I have to raise them up, I figure I will set them on those overturned flowerpots or maybe even dog food cans. Sam, however, has not forgiven me for not letting him have even one to play with! Miss Phoebe is feeling quite pleased with herself for walking over them perfectly, sometimes without even thinking about it! Plus she has lost a pound.