Flash was wearing his prong collar (makes all the difference). Although he seemed a little excited at first, Rachel kept distracting him with cookies and tricks until he was focusing his attention on her and not on the horse.
We started off in the arena where Betsy rode Doc, starting with the walk, then trot, then canter. By the time she was cantering, Flash was totally focused on getting another cookie and paid no attention to the horse.
Then we went for a walk along the trail, Rachel holding onto Flash, Betsy riding Doc, and me trying to keep up. I don't walk that fast anymore.
I have to say I was surprised and pleased that Flash was walking quietly alongside Doc. About half-way down the trail, Rachel gave the leash to me and I walked him the rest of the way. We stopped part way and just stood around talking and giving Flash and Doc a chance to get used to each other. At one point Doc leaned his head over to investigate Flash and then sneezed in his face. Flash blinked and pulled his head back a little, but that was his only reaction. I think he thought it was raining again. Then later Flash jumped on Rachel asking for a cookie and that made Doc take a step away. That's it. No hysterics, no trauma. Both the dog and the horse did great.
You can see by the following picture that Flash is more interested in getting a cookie than in hassling Doc.
And here he is being a very good dog.
We're going to continue our horse/dog walks with someone (maybe Dennis) holding the leash and me riding Doc. Our plan is to eventually allow Flash to run with me on horseback on a daily basis. That would be fun for him and for me. I'm not so sure about Doc--it's work to him.
Betsy and I hung around the barn after Rachel left. After Doc was put back in his stall, Betsy tried to get Flash to "find Doc." Armed with cookies she kept saying "Where's, Doc?" to Flash, walking him to Doc's stall and tapping on the blanket bar on the door to his stall so Flash would jump and put his paws on the bar. When he did that, he got a cookie. This is a cookie-driven dog. I think he was kind of getting the idea of what he was supposed to do so I'll try to keep it up.
Betsy is foreseeing the day when Flash will take Doc's lead in his mouth and bring him to me. That would be cool.
All this exercise and excitement must have worn Flash out because he fell asleep when we got home. I was going to let him stay outside, but he followed me in the house and flaked out.
Around 2:30 Homero came to take Flash for another run. Flash will sleep good tonight.
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