Homework in a Horse Trailer

I often make the observation that most people bring their work home in a briefcase but I bring mine home in a horse trailer. Now that the Army is insisting I take all my built up compensatory time (overtime hours) I have to take every Monday off for the rest of the year. That seriously cuts into horse training time, so now I'm in the habit of bringing a couple of them home with me on the weekends. This weekend I brought home Journey, who is still recovering from hock surgery, and Duke who is still in training. It is easier for me to conduct gun training at home than at the Fort as I don't have to worry about other riders. I saddled up Duke yesterday and rode him around our arena which is good sized but not completely clear of mesquite bushes. Dodging bushes while galloping around the arena improves my riding skills--or at least that's the excuse I use for not properly clearing the arena. While I was galloping around I had my son fire off a starter pistol at one end of the arena and then shortened my turns until I was just a few feet away from the gun as I rode past. It is a technique I've used many times before with horses and seems to work pretty well. Once the horse stops reacting to the sound of the pistol going off, I take it and fire it while riding. I'll keep doing this until the horse becomes completely accustomed to the sound then I'll get out the .45 and let him get used to that. I'll just have to explain to my neighbors what I'm doing first so they don't call the sheriff.