Can Your Trail Horse Do This? “The Vegas Water Box” Video That’s Gone Viral

By: Brittany Bevis

Trail courses are becoming increasingly more complex nowadays. With intricate obstacles and the complicated maneuvering that’s required, Trail horses competing on today’s breed circuits are being tested to their limits. Patience, intelligence, willingness, and trust are just a few of the qualities a horse must possess in order to become successful in this ever-evolving discipline.

If you think raised poles in lope-over pinwheels are challenging, wait until you see the formidable obstacle that was created by the folks at Bar W Ranch in Grants Pass, Oregon. Last week, Bar W Ranch shared a video on Facebook of their newly-designed “Vegas Water Box.” As of this morning, the video has been viewed 2.1 million times.

At first glance, the Vegas Water Box appears to be fairly generic, a rectangular wooden structure containing water. However, the obstacle truly comes alive once a horse steps inside… Thanks to a specially designed interior panel with holes, the pressure of a horse’s hoof causes water to fill up the box and, in some cases, spray up through the holes.

Click here to watch a video of the Vegas Water Box in action.

Since posting the video, Bar W Ranch has been flooded with hundreds of requests from equestrians hoping to discover how to create a Vegas Water Box of their very own. We had the opportunity to chat with the creator of the “Vegas Water Box,” Bobbie Ann, the Ranch Manager at Bar W Ranch, who builds all of the obstacles used on the property.

“The Vegas Water Box that I built is actually quite complex to build, and it’s most definitely an advanced Trail obstacle,” Bobbie Ann says. “I feel, that in order to protect horses and people from hurting themselves, that if I’m going to share how to build one, I should create the plans in a manner of blueprints with a complete list of materials that are essential for safety. All the obstacles I build here at the Bar W Ranch are tested and approved by a professional trainer who specializes in Mountain Trail Training, Rose White.”

Granted, the Vegas Water Box isn’t the type of obstacle you’d see on a typical Trail course; however, it’s right at home on a Mountain Trail course like the one that’s been made famous at the Oregon Horse Center. “Major DeFoe [owner of the facility] basically recreates a mountain trail in an indoor setting. It’s truly amazing!” Bobbie Ann says.

Over the course of four days each year, the Oregon Horse Center is transformed into an extreme indoor Mountain Trail course complete with ponds, waterfalls, streams, ditches, logs, and mountains. Over 200 tons of rock and 80 loads of dirt are hauled in to transform the Silverado and Logan Arenas into an indoor wilderness adventure. Real pine trees and sagebrush, rock switchbacks, and a 60 ft mural of Three Sisters Mountains in the background contribute to the outdoor ambiance.

Each year, new obstacles are added, like fog in the ditches and unexpected drop offs in the ponds, and, each year, horses and mules come from all over the US and Canada to compete for top titles at the National Mountain Trail Championships.

“The Vegas Water Box is my version of the Holy Water obstacle at Oregon Horse Center,” Bobbie Ann says. “Ours is not in-ground, because we need to be able to move it with a tractor and forks. I have been building Trail obstacles for years and it took me a whole day to complete. I will have plans up on our website next week for a nominal fee. It’s tricky and, if not made correctly, can be very dangerous. Also, the horse on the video was trained for Mountain Trail by [Bar W Ranch’s resident trainer] Rose White since she was six months old. She is now four.”

Bar W Ranch’s goal is to train horse and rider teams that are Balanced, Athletic, Responsive, and Willing, traits that are definitely necessary to conquer an obstacle like the Vegas Water Box.

“It took one horse several days of very patient groundwork to get him through [the box] and others less time, so it really depends on the individual,” she says. “If a horse is scared of it, you cannot force them through or they will lose confidence in you. So, like all the training we do here, we take as much time as it takes to give the horse confidence!”

For those looking to learn more about the discipline of Mountain Trail, Bar W Trainer Rose White will be a presenting clinician at the Oregon Horse Center Spring Mountain Trail Clinic April 14-17.