The Whirling Horse Eater

So we got a new tool, the horse walker (pictured below), which was a generous gift from the in-laws, however it was a gift that required patience from all involved! So my MIL shopped and shopped to find "just the right" horse walker within the price range she was looking for. And with all new and exciting things, it did not come soon enough, delivery company says Tuesday, I think the semi rolled in 2 days late...go figure. Now setting up said walker, several things had to happen first, ground work, electric line, cement poured, ASSEMBLY of walker and assembly of fence around walker. Now of course FIL got HIS part done, running electric line, scoping out site, etc.... Cement guys FINALLY made it, I love it when they tell you they'll be there TUESDAY, what they FAIL TO MENTION IS WHICH TUESDAY (in this case 2 TUESDAYS went by on the calendar!) So K and I go to a horse show and we come back to a completely assembled horse walker, NOW THE FUN BEGINS!
Now we have to TRAIN the horses to WALK on the Horse WALKER. Should be easy enough, right? K turns it on, we discover we have 2 speeds, walk and trot and will go either direction, however when you turn it on, IT'S ON, there's nothing gradual about it, it's ON! So we go get the first guiena pig, ummmm horse. We start with a horse we figured has SEEN a horse walker before and go and get her, now horses, like dogs that have been leash trained, KNOW to give to pressure, but occassionally the fright and flight reflex kicks in, so we put our first victim on the dangling rope and turn it on, the horse FREAKS, pulls back and realizes that she's being pulled FORWARD then LEAPS forward, after trying to adjust herself to the speed, she's "kind of" got it figured out. This is NOT necessarily a GOOD sign, especially on the horse we THOUGHT had been on one of these before. Onto our next victim, whom I KNOW has never seen a "hot walker" before. We get my horse, now he's not EXTREMELY tall, but he IS the tallest horse in the barn and I CAN NOT see over his back, so he's not small either, I walk him out the back door of the barn and his eyes bug out of his head and he snorts...and THEN he jiggy jogs in place just at the SITE of the WHIRLING HORSE EATER, err horse walker. So because he's a trusting soul and he LOVES me, he decides to be lead, err lead me, closer to the WHIRLING HORSE EATER, we open the gate and decide to NOT shut it down, but just to walk to the next hanging rope that whirls by and attach him while I walk with him and then kind of fade out, hoping that it will be less of a shock like it was to the first horse.
So I get my horse brave enough and we wait for the hanging rope to whirl by AFTER the first horse, my thinking, horses are herd animals, hopefully this horse will WANT to follow the 2nd horse...yeah right. So I walk a brisk pace, but unfortunately for me, my horse doesn't WANT to walk a brisk pace, he's more interested in the WHIRLING HORSE EATER, Will it EAT me? So after TWO laps I FINALLY get him UP to the rope ALMOST close enough to attach him. Notice I said ALMOST! Now because the footing is SAND and it's NEW SAND, it's rather bogging down my pace as much as the uncooperative horse is. So there I am, trudging through the sand, one hand on the whirling rope, one hand on my horse and neither the two shall meet, I've just become the human Binder cord! After SEVERAL attempts I get horse hooked up to the rope and am able to let him slog through the sand and I sit back to watch. Not bad, he walks/trots a reasonable pace. I go on the hunt for some Advil, it had been a long day .... at 10 a.m.