Even scarier junk pile!

Last night Cupid and I had a good ride in the covered arena.  There were 3 lessons going on (4 riders total) plus another person just riding, so it was hectic but Cupid doesn't seem to mind the activity.  After doing half an hour of walk-trot I asked for the right lead canter (his good side), and he picked up the left.  Doh!  Got it on the second try and went twice around the big arena.  Cupid has a smooth canter with long strides, but he is lazy and will drop to a trot if I'm not paying attention.  But his balance is getting better.  After a little more walk-trot we tried the left lead... nope.  Back on a circle to try again, another fail.  Cupid was getting a little upset, tossing his head, so we took a little break from trying to canter and just worked on bending and other things until he relaxed.  Then we finally got the left lead and went about one and a half times around.  I gave him several pats and "good boys", and told him we can cool down and be done for the day.

Today I woke up early and decided to go ride in the morning, since when I go after work it is already dark.  We warmed up with a nice relaxing walk around the property... at least until we got to the world's scariest junk pile. 

I didn't think this would be a big deal since Cupid has never been bothered by tarp-covered piles but somehow Cupid thought it was terrifying.  His head came up and he started snorting and staring as we approached.  Then he stopped dead.  I let him look for a moment, then asked him to go forward and he didn't want to go.  Then he tried to spin around.  I could feel him trembling under me!  This is on the driveway to the barn, we were on the road and of course a car has to come by just then.  I had to turn around to get to a spot so the car could pass by.  Then I asked Cupid to go back towards the scary pile.  He was not very happy and we almost ended up in the bushes, but eventually got passed it.  We finished our ride with a little cavaletti work in the outdoor arena.