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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Rough waters ahead.........

Tonight I have the vet out to confirm, or not to confirm that Enzo might have splints in his front legs?? I am only hoping good things! If he does have splints? I would expect that he will be on rest for at least 30 days. Which is going to be hard on me. Since, I still know that Enzo doesn't see me as any type of leader, or friend as of yet. Enzo is super dominant and loves to rear, be mouthy with everything, push, etc. He has reared on top of me once and it happened so fast! I thought he had gotten scared at something and tried to run. But I was in his way so he ended on top of me?? Not still sure, since I never saw it being under him. Since that time I have just been working on his confidence of me as a leader for him everyday. But unfortunately this last Saturday. I went to turn Enzo out after giving him a nice bath and working on some trailer loading only. Since I am trying to stay easy on his front legs, if he does have splints? Anyway, I was in the process of taking his halter off and I was practicing on Enzo lower his head for me. The first time he lowered his head I untied his rope halter knot, but held it together with my right hand. Then, I went to take my left hand up to poll again to ask Enzo to bring his head back down again. Well in an instant he reared straight up and on top of me again and took off like a bat out of hell!!!! Somehow for the second time now, I came out of this totally unhurt! Apparently god is watching out for me. I am guessing, Enzo did already assume the halter was off and I was just taking too long and asking him to put his head down one more time was just too much. He basically said "F" off and I am going back with my cool buddies now! As much as I didn't want to. I decided I had to go get Enzo and start all over again. I had to get some leadership back and get him to realize we cannot leave the gate like that. Unfortunately, keeping his front legs quiet totally now went out the window!!!! I was not thrilled with that. But, I played with Enzo right in his pasture. The other horse tried to save him, but I showed Enzo I could move them away from us and they couldn't save him, LOL. I continued to play dominate games with Enzo, I backed him a lot, moved him sideways, moved his front end around. Meaning he had to move his shoulders from me. After about 45 mins Enzo was very relaxed and happy. I walked him back down by the gate. I again practiced on having his head down and keeping it down while I took his halter off(I didn't loosen the knot on halter this time, in case he tried to take off again). This time when I left Enzo he stayed at the gate! Exactly what I wanted! A horse wanting to know why I was leaving and have me leave first. Not the other way around. But, this brings up a great question for me?????????? Am I the best owner for Enzo??????? He needs someone who is assertive and a knows a plan. I am passive and soft. Enzo can scare me, because he is so fast and reactive. Enzo gets more dominance over me when he knows he scares me. Anyway, this is why I wrote rough waters ahead. I have to decide if I have enough savvy arrows to take care of Enzo mentally like he needs it, or if I should find him a new partner and find myself a new partner who would prefer a quiet human? Hmmmmm.....

3 comments:

  1. Wow, yes...a lot of thinking to do. Perhaps this weekend away will help out with that!!! :)

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  2. Janine, It sounds to me that Enzo is a handful, and honestly sounds a lot like what I went through with my young gelding. I was a beginner at the whole owning my first horse thing. I stuck with it and kept watching DVD's, reading books, anything to do with Parelli. I soaked up as much knowledge as I could get which REALLY help my horse and I. I will say that until he was 4 he acted like a brat a lot of the time but we have made tremendous progress. A concern I have is your safety, usually horses will give you some notice before they bolt up down over or out! My gelding is Left brain so his signs would be subtle and then intense. Try to pick up on those cues and be safe and savvy.

    ~Gina
    Parelli Central

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  3. Gina, I missed this post. But I did get a Parelli trainer, sent emails to parelli, and got more help! Since this post, Enzo and I are doing great! I myself cannot beleive the turn around! I have not seen Enzo on 2 legs for at least 3 months now and I am super happy about that!!! Yes, I have done Parelli for over 8 yrs and this is my second youngster. Enzo is just sooo different, it took us a while to figure each other out! Thanks for the kind words and yes, I keep reading and learning Parelli everyday! Off to the savvy vault for some more info, LOL!!!!

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