Last weekend I had an Elite Nose Work Trial at the Gathering Pines Adventure Center. It was not my worst trial but it was not my best either. Let’s say we are blaming it on horses.
As usual, there were four searches over the course of the day. I did great in my second and third searches. The weather was kind of hot but not too bad and I found all the hides in those two searches.
My first search of the day was in a horse arena and the last search was in a small barn with a tack room. Mom kept me on leash in the arena search because she was unsure of what I would do with horse poo. I always do better off leash but it was what it was. I was fairly distracted and in the end I missed half the hides which means four of eight. That is way too many to miss! Now I have an idea of a horse arena and how it smells and next time I think we would do better.
A small barn with a tack room was my last search of the day with a range of one to four hides. Because a rain storm was moving in, some parts of the search area were rather dark. I cruised through the area and landed at the tack room. The small area was packed with this stuff full of horse smells. I don’t know horses which made me cautious. We brightened the photo so you can see things but in reality it was quite dark. After sniffing for a few seconds I got scared and ran from the area. Nothing Mom did got me to go back. On the bright side, I found one hide in another space.
We headed back to the tack area and I was quite tentative. Trust me, it was a lot of horse smell. The judge said it was too dark so she turned on the light. Now I did feel better as I could see things and knew there were no animals hiding in the area. Mom decided one hide was enough and she let me slowly sniff my way around the “u” shaped room to learn horse stuff is not dangerous. We used the rest of our three minutes letting me sniff. Yes, I did miss one hide but getting to really experience horse smell should help me down the road. It sure was frightening at first though. I’m thankful Mom helped me to learn rather than forcing me to do something or being mad we missed a hide. Team Lime Green is a good team even on a day when we miss five of eighteen hides.
We’re joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Horse smell is very overwhelmingly strong. Under the circumstances, you did very well, Nelson.
It was very scary in a small space with all the horse blanket stuff in the almost darkness. Once the light was on I felt better about it and Mom let finding hides go so I could just sniff horse stuff to learn about horses.
We get it Nelson…the dark can be scary, especially when there are new smells everywhere!
xoxo,
Rosy & Sunny
Lots of horse smells and I was afraid one might be hiding somewhere.
Even though you missed some hides, you learned and experienced wonderful new things, Nelson. And now you will shine the next time.
Mom was fine with making the second horse search a training/learning search. Now I know more about horse smells.
I would have Been scared too!
Down at my level it was a lot darker than for people and I had all that horse smell in my face.
Definitely a scary moment – your Mom is so great at listening to you. My mom told me a story this morning about my brother Dash when he ran INTO a horse corral and ran around and barked at the big horses. Mom screamed and screamed for him to come to her. He had gone under the fence and she couldn’t get to him. Finally after what seemed like ages (maybe 1 minute) he ran to her and crawled back under the fence. From then on he had to be on leash if they walked in that area of the park! He told Lilly that was fine with him because the horses were big and scary. Have a good day your friend Chester
Mom’s Kuvasz used to chase horses on the beach on the North Sea Coast when they lived there. She got in a lot of trouble as it wasn’t allowed but she kept taking off and doing it.
Always new adventures! and experiences. Knowledge is power – now you know about horse smells. Good job!
The more experiences the better but it was quite scary and I don’t usually get scared.
Nelson ~ bravo for what you accomplished ~ would think the horse smell would be a bit distracting and over whelming ~ hugs ~ Happy Weekend to you ~ ^__^
an artist reflects
Normally I power through all the smells but it was dark and so much horse smell I was afraid one was in the room somewhere.
Oh Nelson those really big horses are a distraction….I must say this so forgive me.
Now that you have horse sense you will excell at horse scents.
Hugs groan groan
Cecilia
I need to ignore them next time and do my job but it was good to learn something new that was scary.
Horse smells are definitely distracting but you did a good job! Smooches to your sweet sniffer❣️😘❤️ Kit, Kat, Rocky & Cali
It was scary with all the horse smell but working with Mom and some light, I felt much better.
Your mom is very wise. I hope next time you smell horses, you aren’t afraid.
It was very creepy in that search but now I know more for next time.
Horse smells, yuck! You did good and you two are a great team! Thanks for joining Angel Brian’s Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Mom didn’t smell them at all but her nose is terrible compared to mine!
Despite the understandable horse smell distraction we think Team Lime performed well. I’m sure the experience will serve you well in the future.
It is always about adding to the library in my brain through experiences.