What a lesson!

Good Morning! Well, I took a couple arena pictures from last night, but they didn't come out. Too large an area and too dark with outside light being too bright. So unfortunately, I cannot post the pictures I wanted to today.

But, what a lesson and how nice it was to finally meet Meggie my Parelli instructor here in MI!!! She was very pleasant and loved Enzo. My main issue I have with Enzo is leading from the barn to the arena. Enzo is a left brain extrovert and sometimes goes right brain when he is scared of his surrounding area and he of course doesn't trust me as of yet. Anything away from the barn is a scary area to him! When he is right brain he starts running around like a chicken with it's head cut off and he doesn't think at all!!!! At that point, he scares me and I don't know what to do? I dread the daily walk to the arena and I am sure Enzo hates it as well. Since, his leader (me) has been no leader either. Why wouldn't he want to go back to the safe barn where his friends are! Anyway, Meggie has shown me that I needed to do lots of falling leaf with him and disengage his hind quarters a lot, when he wants to pull on his halter and RUN away with me!!! We worked on this a lot yesterday and Enzo enjoyed himself once! As he did sneak to run away from us with his 22 foot line flying in the wind along him.

We were not worried.

I have had him walk around with a 12 foot lead rope before, since he was 4 months old. Just for this reason! Plus, he learned young as he steps on it, he doesn't need to freak out. I did this from the beginning with my other horse Palidor and he was so talented in knowing where his rope was! Some days when I played with Pali, I myself would stand on his line and you would see my horse Palidor starting to dance around with all four feet trying to figure which one of his feet were on the line! It was actually me, but he didn't know that.

Sorry, I digress.

But, I want to make it clear, if you take the time for them to learn about their lead rope. They will not flip over and they don't' freak out.

Anyway, Enzo did run back to the barn that one time he got away from us. He was fine and we continued with our lesson. Meggie explained, I should work with leading Enzo to and from the barn without going any farther than both of our thresholds can handle!!! Meaning, we might not make it to the arena for days!!! Think of it as standing by the grand canyon! All of us would have different thresholds of how close we could walk up to the edge. Also, you wouldn't find me as a great leader, if I kept pushing you closer and closer to the edge!!!! But, if I went back and forth to wear you could handle it and maybe a tiny bit farther the next time? You would have more respect for me as leader and trust me more. You have to also think of this as an approach and retreat type thing, until there is confidence from both of us.

So, this is my homework for some time now. I look forward to it and I expect some big words from Enzo about it, LOL. Meggie has also mentioned that not only is Enzo Left Brain Extrovert, but she mentioned he is an EXTREME left brain extrovert. Ohh lucky me, LOL. That means Enzo is super smart, is very dominant with all his body parts, doesn't stop thinking, and I need to be faster and smarter than him to keep up! Completely different from my other horse Palidor who just loved to NOT move and watch the world go by. Well, I wanted to loose some weight. I have to say I have lost 8 pounds, since working with Enzo this spring. I have a feeling I will be able to award myself with a few dairy queens soon!!! Since, I will be running around a lot with my baby Enzo, LOL.

Create great moments~Janine