Victory!

So, had a rough week but the work week ended on a positive note for P and me.

We started out, as I've previously mentioned, on a good note.  P did much better with the vet than I'd thought he would and we'd set up a time for the farrier to come out and the next day was our assessment with a trainer, wormer came in the mail, etc., etc.

And then things kind of went "kasploot!" like a big pile of dung all over my plans and ego. 

First the farrier was a doo-doo head and left after about five minutes, trimming down one heel, telling me "Call me in August" even though he'd previously told me repeatedly that P needed ALL of his heels trimmed so we can try to get his feet correct and give the toes a chance to grow out.

I came up, in my head, with a thousand reasons for why he left the way he did but he gave me no substantial input so we're going to go with a different farrier in spite of the fact that Mr. Five minutes comes with rave reviews and lots of references.  The bummer of it all is that P likes him (and I do too!) and that recommends the guy to me more than anything else. Hopefully, P will give the new farrier a chance too.

Anyway, the second bad thing was our first real encounter with the trainer.  I flat out do NOT like the guy.  I admire him and I think we both (P and I) stand to learn a LOT from him but I still don't like him.  I hope that'll change in time.

Last Saturday I stayed out at the ranch to watch his training session with another boarder, Pam and her mare, Macy (sp?) and was really impressed with how he worked with Pam's horse.  He was awesome and I was really enthused in spite of the fact that I felt like he talked too much.  I chalked my misgivings up to myself being too judgmental and a jerk-face and contacted him to set up an assessment to see if he'd be interested in working with P and I.

He came out on Thursday and brought one of his long-time students to audit.  I don't remember her name but I liked her straight away.  For the first 45 minutes to an hour, they both cooed and ahh'ed over how well P was doing, how quickly he understood what was being asked of him and generally said that he was a very good, nice boy.  And then, the trainer asked me how old he was and when the last time P had been ridden.  I answered truthfully, "8 years old and never." and JUST LIKE THAT, we went from, this is a nice, well put together, smart little horse you have here," to , "You should not waste any more of your time on this dominant, poorly conformed, probably never going to be able to be ridden horse."

WTF?!

For the next 45 minutes the guy told me every which way that he could that I should give up on P, that I shouldn't buy him... even went so far to try to sell me a different horse (he approached THAT as if I were a frikkin' 15 year old getting her first pony with "AND this horse is a PALOMINO!" not realizing that color really isn't a selling point for me and that I'm not so ignorant that I don't know that color should have NOTHING to do with why you decide to purchase a horse.  That's utter ridiculousness!).  The guy changed his story from "he's well put together and you can work with his feet" to, "well, I'd like his withers to be a little higher and his so wide in the barrel that he could slip a saddle and his feet are probably never going to be correct," and on, and on.

I was flabbergasted.

We ended the session with the idea that I'd take what he'd said under consideration, think it over for a night and e-mail him the following day.  Instead, yesterday I woke up to an email from him that was even MORE negative than his conversation had been.  He told me in the e-mail that if I wanted to train P just to get him to have good ground manners to be a pasture pet, that he'd help me with that but that P would NEVER be able to be ridden and I should give up now before it was too late.  He told me that P was too bossy, had a bad attitude which isn't something that I could change and that he'd never be able to be ridden.  Told me that P was going to be dangerous and would probably freak out as soon as someone sat him for the first time.

Again, flabbergasted.  All of this because P is 8 and has never been ridden?  Seriously?

I responded in the nicest way I could (I really wanted to tell the guy "I hate your face and I don't agree with almost everything you've said about my horse.") and explained that THIS is my horse and THIS is what I have to work with and while I respected the man's opinions and had hoped that he would see the same potential I do, I understood.  Told him that should he ever change his mind and see the value in training myself and my horse, I'd be honored and pleased to have him.

Within a couple of hours, the guy responded again and again, he changed his tune and said he wanted to work with us and we should start tomorrow (that's today). At that point I was spitting nails and unbelievably frustrated.

The thing is, I have to think about what's best for Phoenix and this guy is good, really good at what he does.  I don't have to like him.  I just have to learn from him and Phoenix responds really well to him so we're going to try and see how the next week goes.

Because I'm such the novice, I have a tough time knowing who to believe and it seems like everyone's got an opinion... and everyone knows more than I do.  That's a little stressful when you're trying to learn, especially because almost no one agrees with what anyone else is saying.

I'm figuring things out but it's a difficult and sometimes upsetting process.  On the other hand, there's Phoenix.  He is a constant wonder and joy for me.  Every day he teaches me something new and I hope I'm doing that for him too.

Yesterday, thanks to all the negativity, I needed some positive reinforcement.  I hadn't like most of what the trainer told me but I HAD to listen and try to consider objectively.  One of the things he seemed to have been trying to verbally pound into my head was that Phoenix might never let someone sit on his back...  sooooo, last night, for about 20 minutes before I left the ranch, Phoenix and I went up to the round pen and tried something new.

In between short sessions of yielding hinquarters and walking out on the lead in a small circle, I introduced him to a mounting step.

I'd been told that having someone stand above him might freak him out (prey reaction) and that this could be an indicator of how he'd act once I sat him.  Well, P sniffed the mounting step and then calmly walked forward to the correct position as I asked and just stood there like "OK dork girl, this is kinda boring."

The thing is a 2 step mounting block so I started out by leading him up and then standing on the lower step to see what he'd do.  He didn't even flinch.  He got lots of rubs and "good boys." and we left it for a few minutes.  Went back and then next time I stood on the top step.  Again, P didn't even flinch. So he got more rubs and "good boy's" so again, we left it and did other things for a few minutes.  Third time was a charm.  He walked up, I stood on the top step and laid myself over his back, not with my full weight (because I didn't want to end up face down in the pen with a mouth full of sand) but... I'd guesstimate about 1/3 to 1/2 of my weight with my legs on my left and my arms reaching down over his right side so I could scratch his belly.  He looked at me funny on his right when I patted him on that side, kinda like "wtf are you doing over THERE?" and that was about it.  We did the same thing a couple more times and the ONLY thing that P did was reach back like he might try to nip my leg (unsuccessful attempt; I blocked the lil booger).  That's it.  No bucking, no freaking out, no "I'm a crazy horse of doom and you will suffer my wrath!"  Just, "Hey weirdo, I'm not sure how I feel about this but I'm gonna stand here like you asked and let you do your thing, I guess."

How ya like them apples, trainer guy?  In yo face!!!

The ONLY thing wrong with my horse is his feet and those can be fixed, I think.  That being said, "THPPPPPPTTTTTT!"  >xP