95. VIDEO: Twinkletoes

The indoor arena’s pedestal — a big tractor tire laid flat with a thick disc of plywood attached on top — remains one of Gus’s favorite go-to destinations.  Whenever he’s in its general vicinity, he gets drawn into its gravity field, and, unless I lead or call him away from it, his default is to pop his front feet on it and perch there, tall and proud and waiting for a click and treat.

Recently, the pedestal has been moved inside the little seating area that’s demarcated by PVC pipes on the arena floor.  It’s just as easy for equines to hop onto the platform, but it’s trickier to step off it backward, as a descending hoof can land on a pipe and roll or skid.  The trick is to take long backward paces in order to clear the pipes.  Or, in Gus’s case, simply to shift forward instead of back, and to clamber up with all four feet and then descend from the pedestal frontways.  In his limberer youth he could be persuaded to stand up there with all four feet; nowadays he already begins stepping down in front as he brings his back feet up.

I’d dearly love to train him to stand all four feet on it again — solely for the purpose of adding a pirouette or other circusy flourish — but he’s no longer a spring chicken, and it's not a very big surface.  Anyway, does a donkey d’un certain age really need to sacrifice his dignity just for a silly trick?  Ohhh, the answer is a resounding Mais oui!