Ollie the mini has gotten a bit… rotund.
I have also gotten a bit… rotund.
What can the two of us do together to work on this problem? Most
would recommend walking or running, neither of which I can do without making my
back and/or neck hurt. I can bike. People bike with their dogs, why can't I
bike with my mini?
Turns out I can bike with my mini
Yesterday I took out the bike and walked it over to the
barn. I figured it was going to take a bit of training for Ollie to be okay
with walking next to it while I rode it. It took zero training, he just did it.
However, I had to pedal so, so slow for him to keep up trotting. We did maybe
1/3 of a mile.
This probably isn't the safest thing I've ever come up with,
but really, is anything with horses perfectly safe? And, people do it with
their dogs all the time. Granted, dogs are a bit lighter. The safety comes into
question when he suddenly stops, so of course the bike ends up stopping. If I
had any speed it could go badly. I plan to adapt my holding onto him mechanism
(currently it's just his lead rope) to lessen the chance of disaster in this
scenario. Also, as he continues to learn what exactly we're doing it should decrease.
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| Yes, the handle bars are taller than he is. |
Today we got all the way to the gate and back, almost a mile
round trip. He definitely had better stamina today (I think yesterday may have
just been a little warm, he still has a good amount of fuzz.) Tomorrow will
probably be a day off, then we'll do the length of the driveway again. Then,
even with my back screaming, I need to take him out on the road without the
bike and see how he is with traffic passing before I even attempt it with. Then, we'll end up being a local sensation.
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