Eros T&OM 2022

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Eros T&OM 2022

Hello! Meet Eros. He's a 5 year old 15.2 hand, Palomino butte gelding. He is for reassignment!

24/10/2022

We ended this chapter the only way I hoped for. Eros found his new home with Mild at Heart Mustang training. It was tearful but a relived goodbye. It was seeing a horse that I loved so much being handled in such a way that I had no doubts, no fears and no regrets. I have so much faith in this new team. The best of luck to both of them. I'll miss Eros with all my heart, as he saved me from myself and taught me so much more about horses. And even if I'm tearful now, it's all been in happiness and relief. Can't wait to see more of you Eros, just from a different side.

21/10/2022

One of my favorite stories that inspires me everyday. Breaks my heart, especially today.

21/10/2022

Hi y'all, it's been awhile. Honestly, we've been doing really well. Doing some big scary things, sometimes dealing with it well, and sometimes not. He's done some really big steps, done some really great things but sometimes he just blows up. The past three weeks he's bolted on me twice, one time I caught him the other time I didn't. Doing something we've always done and BAM, things change in an instant. I was a little frustrated, but not discouraged. We kept going, we kept doing great things. He's lunging out of the round pen, he's walking with other horses in a big ol' arena with riders all around. He's meeting and getting lead by new people, he's getting all four feet done with the stands. He's lunging beautifully, we started to be able to even drive abit, and then he jumps through his window and takes down the entire stall wall. I'm kind of lost right now. I feel like I'm at those first days with him again. I feel like I'm at the end of my thread, I don't know if I can do this anymore. So, this is me extending my hand for help. If you know of anyone who could help me rehome this guy, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm still holding out in sending him back to the corrals, but I'm getting to the end of my tether. Thank you

04/10/2022

Also, update on his beautifulness when he was feeling his oats the other night. I thought the slow-mo was pretty tight.

04/10/2022

Okay! Finished my first week of school and boy it's been a doozy! Posting will probably go down to once a week to once every two weeks, just wanted to let y'all know! In the meantime, Eros just keeps settling in more and more. He's going into and out his stall more confidently, he's nickering at me when I come in the morning and evening. He's really connecting with people and getting lots of attention when we're walking around. It's been such a relief having this huge accomplishment of having him inside, that I've just been coasting with him since school has started. We're not rushing, so it's really nice to have him settling in. Not that we haven't been pushing the boundaries. Last week we got to exploring the arenas for the first time! He was abit hesitant going into the big scary dark alley, but he managed to get his feet moving after a bit and went right in. He walked with my friends horses and even right besides them! That was awesome. He did so exceptionally well with the horses riding around, noises, ect. He only had a butt scoot when we came back outside, but that was because a trailer pulled up and then a truck was coming up at us pulling in on the other side. He handled it great, didn't even pull on the line barely and he came RIGHT BACK to my side. I've also been working on getting him to trot next to me, which he figured out SO fast. He's so freaking smart and I think the reason why he's picking stuff up fast that were hard for him before is he has the space and time to do so. He isn't rushed, everything is calm and he's really starting to realize not everything is super scary, gonna eat me.

26/09/2022

I'm so excited to announce that Eros has gotten into the stall and has spent 3 whole nights in his new ( but not so new) safe space! I can't say how relieved I am for this to happen, especially with school starting on Monday. Now I can breath easier because he has shown me he is ready for this. He has done such an incredible job adjusting these past three days. Ive been keeping to the routine of turning out and in and lunging for a few days and plan on doing that for the first week of school. Just to get him in the swing of things, but he's doing really well. The worst of it is his speed. Most of the time, he's walking with me like he had been doing it his whole life, and confidently walks all the way to his pen in the morning and then evening doing the same back to his stalls. And some days, we're crawling. We're stopping a lot, looking at things, taking it all in even if nothing really has changed. He's not spooking, and he's very calm but obviously a little worried when this happens. But, he's keeping his head and he's trusting me even though we're doing a lot of stopping and going. I'll take that over bolting ANY day, he's become such a stellar boy. I've even had friends walk next to me or him on his way in, and he's surprised me with how comfortable he's gotten with people and people riding horses. He's not even phased by it anymore. Cars are still alittle scary, but honestly SO much less then when he first was walking out of his pen a week before. All in all, Eros has done great. He even got his first vet visit yesterday for vaccines, and omg he was SO GOOD! He even accepted berry treats from the vets, SO cute.

21/09/2022

My sweet boy, he tries so hard! Today we went alllll the way through the aisle way PLUS another lap the other direction. Ah!!!! I had a good feeling today, and he went beyond my expectations! You can see in the pictures, he's pretty unsure about the whole thing but he's thinking and trying reeaaalllly hard to trust me and the situation. We used some alfalfa for some extra support. We had horses kicking stalls, crap flying around and yet he still looked for me and continued with my asks. SO freakin' proud of us today. We did so well I even introduced the stall to him and the cutest thing happened. He was more then willing to come inside, but he didn't know how to lift his feet over the concrete entrance. So, he kept leaning in and shuffling his feet against the concrete slab. It's only about half-a foot high step, but he just doesn't understand it yet. He did the same thing with the poles, now we gotta learn the step command! I was thrilled how willing he was to try, but I held off on the stall today because he were doing some pretty big things already. Then, we got to his pen and he kind of looked like he wanted to graze. I waited for a while, realized he wasn't going to take the first bite and started handing him handfuls of grass closer and closer to the ground. He took his first bite on his own, then flew backwards snorting. I realized how vulnerable it was for horses to graze, and this was a huge step Eros was trying to take on his own. We then sat there, and I hand fed him closer and closer to the ground. Waiting for him to take his next bite on his own, which took awhile. I then sat on the ground and invited him to take his time. Eventually, he started to eat all on his own. With no flying backwards and only a couple of snorts. I didn't realize how much of a trusts building exercise this was, but I was thrilled that he showed it to me. Hurray for Eros!!!

20/09/2022

My guy has come so far and we have WORKED FOR IT. It's so nice to see him calm and safe but it's not without many days of hard work, tears, laughter and bravery. He's taught me so much, and in the last couple of days he's started to blossom. The videos illustrate him starting to play when I'm lunging. He got super excited and was doing his voluminous trot and canter and it was so fun to watch! ( You can tell but my voice, haha didn't realize how loud I was being, apologies.) He really felt like he was letting loose, in a great way. That was yesterday, and the second video was of us today tying for the first time. I've been practicing with pressure, he'd done such a good job at trying to figure it out and he ended up being stellar with it. I decided to work on going behind him, which has been a struggle for him but as you can see in the video, he's fabulous. Definitely not sure, but instead of reacting he's doing his best to think about stuff. We're doing it y'all, we got a fantastic horse coming along!

20/09/2022

Mr. Eros had some wonderful break throughs lately! I will be highlighting them in two posts. This post will illustrate one of my anticipated goals, getting into the barn!!! He did so well, even with the horse banging on the door next to us he stayed with me and was calm. We didn't get to lunge since the smoke was bad today, but we did accomplish a lot! I was so proud of him, the back part of the barn has been a place of uncertainty for him. But, I had a couple of my barn friends hang out with him for a while and then I let him watch what they were doing inside the barn. Then, two horses lead out of the barn, Eros wasn't fazed but I think he was starting to piece stuff today. He's so incredibly smart, it's so fun ( and hard sometimes) to work with his intelligence!!!

16/09/2022

I have been so thrilled with our progress! The past two days we've gotten out to the big round pen and Eros has really got to show off his moves! He even played today when he lunged, striking his feet out and doing some cute lil' bucks. It was really nice to see him play today, it's really fun to see his mind in a safe but playful state. We even did an evening sesh with one of our personal horses, I wanted to see if having another horse would give him confidence. Turns out, didn't make that much of a difference. Eros is very confident on his own and doesn't seem to have that much of a draw with other horses. Totally fine. Tonight he even got to get upclose with my friend on her horse and he did such a nice job at facing scary things and overcoming it. He was sticky on our evening session, as he's used to just getting food and that's alright. Super proud of our big man!

13/09/2022

Hurray!! Witness our first walk on the property! We went from the back of the barn, to almost the front and he was so calm the whole time. He was taking it all in stride and was checking in with me lots which was so nice. I felt so safe and I think he did too. I am so so so SO proud of this moment. I hope to keep expanding our walking route day by day. Just to get him used to the new surroundings and to understand he's safe wherever he goes. We took that first step today, and I'm just ECSTATIC!!

10/09/2022

Alright, first off apologies for the funky angle. HOWEVER, we did it y'all. This is a great representation of how we work, slowly and carefully but still achieving our goals. He did such a good job walking in and out of the pen today I felt confident enough that I could take a video! I then forgot that I was taking a video and decided to take him into the pen right next to his which is a similar but with different things inside. So, secondly apologies for the long break in the middle, but I kept it in just so I could see how long it took us. It took a lot less time then it felt, which was awesome! He was unsure in the new space but looked for me and trusted the process. I'll definitely let the video speak for itself. All of this has been time. Lots of time, effort, problem solving, getting frustrated, gaining baby steps and so on. I'm really proud of how this is turning out and I'm really proud of us!! It's such an honor to show this big boy that he can live without fear. On to more big goals, I can't wait to show y'all when he's finally out and about on the property!

09/09/2022

We've been working really hard on the gate, as I've described to many people I still have to fight for every step. We're doing it so calmly, and I am so happy that we haven't run into any crazy blow ups but I'm SO proud to announce we had another break through. I didn't get any video cause I was by myself but we finally got the point where we could walk the full length of the outside pen THREE TIMES!!! It took us turning around the first time to get his feet moving, he was acting like he didn't even know he COULD move his feet out there until we did that. I have been turning around, but instead of going right back in I just turned him around again and that's what started him walking. So excited. So, instead of videos of it I have some few pictures from the first day we got him and current pictures from TODAY! Hurray Eros, you're gonna make someone a great pony!

04/09/2022

Yesterday was FULL of great moments. We had our break through y'all. We made it through the gate! My mom was watching and we were so surprised it happened we only got the end part in video, but it still has the same impact and shows how calm he was. Before that, I noticed we were kind of stuck and I wanted to try a method to see if I could raise his confidence. I decided to bring in some poles to see what he did. It was hilarious, he had no idea and kept shuffle stepping and kicking the poles forward instead of going over them. Mustangs are wonderful to work with because you have to get so creative! I then sent him out on a lunge circle cause I know he's good at figuring stuff out on his own, and after a few tries he did it! Then we were walking over them beautifully, like he'd done it 100 times over. I started with the gate again and we did our releases, but I used the poles as kind of a touch stone, something that Eros knew he could do and was easy. After that a few times, we were through the gate and turning around. Can't say I was definitely close to tears at the end. I was so thrilled we did it SO calmly, our hard work pays off and I'm so happy I can be working with this guy. He's taught me so much and given me so much, after yesterday I'm starting to see that maybe I'm doing the same for him.

31/08/2022

Got back from a wonderful camping trip. Eros is doing well! He got worked by a friend over the weekend and it sounded like it went really well! Also, I keep forgetting to mention but Eros got ALL four feet done last week. Hurraayyy!!!! So proud of our teamwork. Right now we're working on getting that front gate comfortable being in. He has a lot of trouble with the front gate, a lot has happened there and Eros is a super smart boy and remembers. So, we're trying to replace those memories with more positive ones. We've been walking right up to it, I look for a release or a good effort and then we back up and take a lap. This seems to be working really well since I've noticed him releasing every single time instead of being stiff and relying on his flight instinct. We've been working on it the past couple of days and today we got all the way up to his hips! I can't say that I'm not nervous, I still am but the more we practice being calm the more it helps the both of us relax and center. Pictures are from when he got a full bath ( tail included) last week and a photo from yesterdays gate session.

24/08/2022

Threw someone else in the ring for a change! Using my trusted friend Madison ( who has great body language and understanding of reactive horses) I put them both to work on some of the normal things I do with Eros. This was about 20 minutes of working him myself and giving Madison an idea of what I do and how it looks. She translated so well and Eros did AMAZING with her. I for sure thought there was going to be more stranger danger but he worked with her just like he worked with me. I couldn't be more proud, especially of the both of them! She even helped me pick up all four feet and work on his ground work too. It was really fun seeing how well he did with Madison and I feel much more excited for the future when he's with his new person! Gives me lots of hope.

21/08/2022

The adorable cube eating needed a post of it's own. Look at how calm he looks!!! He's body language is so different from even a few weeks ago.

21/08/2022

Hey look at us go! Today we worked on the dreaded small/narrow 'gate' into a tiny area. Oh my gosh, he did better then I expected. Never a butt scoot, just snorting and looking unsure. He listened to me when I guided him through, and we didn't rush it. I made sure to monitor him to avoid getting to the point of 'fear bolting.' and it worked in here. I'm hoping to tackle getting out of his pen again in the near future, I'm excited but nervous. We've worked so hard for this, and we'll continue to work hard no matter the outcome. He also had a big breakthrough in accepting a treat that wasn't hay!!! That was so surprising and very exciting. We had tried for months with grain and cubes. No matter what we did he'd never take it. But today was the day! He awkwardly ate a timothy cube from my hand and it was the best thing ever. he's so cute!! One step closer to being more comfortable in domestication.

20/08/2022

We've made some great headway on our gate practice! We've been working alot on those small lunging circles and giving to pressure. Which has done such a great job at setting us up for success. He's now starting to look towards me when he gets scared and he's reacting to pressure in a much more sustainable way. Really proud of us hacking away at this really tough problem patiently and overall calmly. We haven't had a big upset in quite a while and it's so nice. I've also gotten a few offers on him which is so exciting! If you'd like to adopt Eros please message me so we can set up a meeting time!

12/08/2022

Yesterday we worked on lunging mostly and trying to hone in things we may have missed in our training. I'm practicing making the circles smaller an him respecting it, and he does really well going to the right, but to the left he pulls hard and braces. This video was when I got that other side doing a lot better, but it's good we're starting to see some holes we need to work on. I'm hoping this will help in the long run when we tackle real life gates again.

11/08/2022

Oh my gosh I keep forgetting to post stuff! Me and Eros have been working on our usual, leading, ground work, squeeze game. We're working up to doing the gate again, but I'm taking my time. this video is a clip of some liberty/join up I've been doing. He's gotten so good about coming in now, it's a real treat to see the connection without the line. Eros is living up to his name, he loves his cuddles after.

08/08/2022

Hello! I'm back from my week vacation. It was a much needed break and a great time for reflecting on Mr. Eros. I've decided that I will not be taking Eros to competition, I will be keeping him but still hoping to rehome him. He needs a very patient person so I'm willing to take the time to find that right home for him. Aside from that, Eros picked up right where we started after convincing him that it was me and we were okay. Got his mane brushed out and he is looking beautiful! Did our usual ground work stuff and after he literally just cuddled with me. He put his sweet muzzle on my chest and leaned into my hand on his forehead. I'm happy to have the weight of the competition off our shoulders, and I'm looking forward to working with him slowly. If you'd like to come meet Eros for adoption or just to say hello please message me for more information, I'd be happy to introduce you!

31/07/2022

Hello! Stuff has still been lokey on our end because of the heat. It's just been oppressive, but we're doing a great job at working on fine tuning our ground work. Eros is a high energy horse so today he was very flightly and jumpy, needed to move those feet. I was able to in our evening session because it cooled off. A wind was picking up so there was a lot of stuff flapping and scaring him but we did a great job working through that. I even ended up working on join up and doing some liberty work with him just leading without a line. That's pretty big for him, so I was really proud of that moment tonight. I will be leaving for about a week so Eros gets some time off, I'll hope to update you guys as soon as I'm back on the 8th of August!

26/07/2022

Eros got a day off cause it was my birthday weekend! We picked up with our usual grooming routine today, but I didn't do too much else because we're in the middle of the heat wave. I did put up a sun screen for him, which was a great desensitizing time. In the evening we got a full body bath!!! The only things I didn't get was his tail, which he is not comfortable with getting wet yet. I am able to grab it and touch it with just my hands. I'm also picking up all four feet and picking them out easily. Now just working on duration with those back legs. Eros is such a smart boys and picks up right where we started! Practiced some of our ground work tonight and he did wonderfully. Such a pretty boy!

22/07/2022

Hey y'all! Still trucking, just decided to take a few days off from posting. I've been feeling pretty burnt out and posting was a big bad wall of ugly for awhile. Not for any reason in particular. Eros and I have been working on our squeeze gate religiously, which is hard but good. Going to be a big challenge for us to get over, but every time we work on it, it gets that much better. I do have trouble when the momentum starts to slow down and our progress is tiny little half steps forward and then five steps back. But, exciting stuff did happen and Eros got his front feet done! Trying to get his back feet done, I am able to quickly pick out his back feet and now am just working on duration of time. Put the english saddle on him, turned out okay until he got to trotting the stirrups slipped from their spot and slapped him on the sides. Turned into a full bronc session: scary, but I managed to get through to him and stop him. Thank goodness, and then after that he was trotting like a dream: which is the video after the aftermath. Gave him the day off today, trying to pace my own self out too and let those blisters heal lol. Onwards and upwards!

18/07/2022

Still pretty tuckered today and sore but we're making good progress! This morning was very low key and just itchy/feet time. Later this evening I worked on the squeeze game! Using the sheet and bucket I worked on closing the gap and he did really well when we were lunging. Leading him through was a different story, especially when I'm leading him on his left when HE'S on the outside. The video is of us leading with him on the inside, and he does really well! He does get nervous when the stuff is behind him, but I think that will be easily over with time. Him walking on the outside was a bigger challenge and we spent most of our time trying to figure out how to do it. I did a great job at replicating our problem because he was bolting readily when I was leading him on the outside. So, we worked with that over and over again until finally I had to walk him his good way, turn around and then walk him back through on his bad way, and it worked! It was an issue to start on his bad way cause his feet would get stuck, and when I'd ask him to go forward he'd just bolt through the 'gate.' Still a work in progress, but good so far! Our cool down was walking in circles in the pen both directions and he did fabulous on both sides. Using his tiredness to my advantage I managed to grab his back feet and hold his hooves. Yahoo!! That was such a great accomplishment I was so happy to end it on that note.

17/07/2022

Had a busy day, forgot to post about yesterday! I was pretty sore after our excapade so I did work that didn't require me to pull. We did our usual routine, worked on our ground work and even tried setting for showmanship. Then we lunged for a bit but he was pretty tuckered like me. I then put on his saddle pad and tightened it up even more then last time and he was unphased, so I decided to bring it up and notch. I got some pool noddles, let him smell and then rubbed/bounced/tapped them all over his body and even threw it over his back and let it fall a few times. Then I attatched it to the saddle pad and wha la! He was really good when he was going the other direction for the first time, cause when I asked him to trot and when one of the noddles jumped and smacked him on the bum he stopped. Such a good reaction, but the video was when we went the other direction and got him going. As you can see, he did beautifully. The evening session was slow and easy as I had a friend out and they were willing to come in and meet Eros. They have little prior horse experience so it was really nice to get my friend in there. Eros took a little time to warm up, but after that he was melting into her touch and even offered his neck to her for scratches! It was probably my favorite moment of the day, it was amazing to see him look for me to see if it was okay and then totally accepting and loving the situation. Hurray!

16/07/2022

Whoof, okay. Eros got away from me to day and went for a couple of joy rides. I explain a little in the video, but I will more in depth here. Before I get started just wanted to say everyone is okay, everyone is safe with no injuries ( except for a few blisters on my right hand.). As all of you know, Eros and I have been doing super well these past couple of weeks. So well that I got ahead of myself and didn't make a great decision. I wanted to lead him out of the gate, but I was afraid to keep the panels around his gate up because in the past he has just bolted out and ran back into the pen rather violently. I thought we could do it, I BELIEVED we could but it was too big of a step. Upon coming out, he was super calm, steady and quiet. I could tell he wasn't comfortable but he wasn't showing any signs of bolting. B***y all the way out, basking in the glory of being in the open and bam. He's gone, and I couldn't hold onto him. Running away he went to the pastures behind him, I was so afraid he was going to crash into someones hot wire pen, but you know what I found out? He respects hot wire LOL. He ran into an aisle of hot wire pens, and amazingly enough he let me catch him and he was super quiet. We walked, painstakingly slow back from whence we came. There were buckets, horses in full fly gear, waving branches, bales you name it and we had to walk by it. He was so good about leading out there, I was so proud of him but we got to the point where it opened up from the aisle, and I was afraid he was going to try and bolt again. I wanted to keep trying, I wanted to get this right. I got him into a small arena behind our barn and like before as we got through the gate, he bolted again and I literally couldn't hang on but luckily we were enclosed. That is where I took the video, and after the video I went on leading him and lunging him over and over so I could practice stopping him in motion. He did great, I was super confident we were going to make it back okay. We got through the gate, literally walking out of it and stopped him. Then he was gone, and I couldn't stop him. My fingers were stinging at this point because of how many times I held on for dear life. He bolted right back to where he went before, and just like before I lead him back much faster this time and he actually did great lol. I got to his pen, he didn't want to go back to his pen but we did and of course he bolted through. I almost didn't want to post this today because it was still raw and fresh and emotional, but I think it's for the best. There were a lot of mistakes, but a lot of good decisions and progress we made even though it was super scary and could have definitely been done differently. I definitely made a mistake, but I'll still stand by what I've taught him because he let me catch him and lead him out ( and into) unknown areas and I am so proud of him for that. Just... a pretty big step for him. He and I got the night off, but I still gave him some good pets and picked up his feet. We were both pretty tired after today, that's for sure.

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