Reconnecting this afternoon after several days off again because I was at a show. Pleased to see we didn’t lose any ground. Going to have a more serious conversation about the halter this week and continue working on picking up his feet. I haven’t been too worried about the halter since it is nice and loose and I can flip the lead over his neck so he isn’t stepping on it. Loving how in tune he is with me here
Enzo
We can’t move forward until I can trim at least his front feet. So this is what we’re doing until that happens.
Enzo hasn’t had a ton of work these past couple of weeks since I’ve been gone and so busy.
We are still having no contact with the right side. I decided to try using a long rope to force the issue. It didn’t work very well so I pulled out the dreaded flag (he absolutely could not handle the flag so I haven’t pressed that issue until now). Instead of moving off the flag to the right he just got really desensitized to it 🤦♀️ . I slept on it and decided to use the “unwind” method with the long rope. My video is cut short because things got a little western and my phone fell off the fence and luckily only suffered minor injuries. By the end of our session tonight he was accepting the rope on his butt and flopping against his legs. I was able to flag him to the right and he started turning into me that direction where he got big releases. He’s very reactive still but I can touch him easily and he’s learned to pick up both his left feet with the stick and just sending energy to them. When he doesn’t know what I want he picks up his front left foot which makes me smile. He is leading really well and I can move both shoulders and his hind end both ways. Im happy that he only reverted to slightly feral after the inconsistencies in his training the last couple weeks.
He is a very smart boy and trying so hard to understand. I would be lying if I said this was easy but everytime he gets something, it so incredibly rewarding.
Curry comb action!! I haven’t been able to work with him much the last 2 weeks with my work schedule and being out of town. I also hurt my ankle pretty badly.
Enzo
We had HUGE progress tonight. I have been able to use the lunge whip finally, to rub him all over and flip the line over him. He had stopped the double barreling at the line and I was able to start asking for him to pick up his feet with the whip. He still would not let me touch him.
Last night I was able to rub the halter with my hand but the second my finger touched his skin he said no. Tonight I started using the handle side of the whip to touch him. He brushed his muzzle over my arm and didn’t flinch, so I offered the handle to his nose and he put it in his mouth!! I was entertained by that so let him mouth it a few times. He has a mustache which usually means curiosity. By the end of our session (of course it was out of frame for the video) I was able to rub my hand all over his neck. I dropped the whip and came back, bare handed and he accepted. I teared up, it was like a huge weight was being lifted from him. He let me rub his neck all over for several minutes. I feel for this horse so much. Also my other Mustang was picking up the pitch fork and messing with a chair I had outside of the gate which is the extra commentary 🤪
Well I guess having his tag fall off was more than a fluke. I was able to lead him all around the round pen, moving him away and drawing him to me. I was able to draw him into those last few inches he wouldn’t let me in before. I am thrilled with this progress!!
