Pablo and Rojo: Week 2 - Progress and Observations

Pablo and Rojo, Week 2

In the second week of training, Rojo and Pablo continue to make progress at their own pace. Rojo is showing remarkable adaptability, while Pablo is taking cautious steps forward. This week highlights their individual personalities and the unique challenges they present.

Rojo is doing really well. He will come up to me and follow me all over. If I turn from him, he will come up behind and sniff, sniff, sniff, then check out my ponytail and hat. I have started to move to each side of him and touch him on the nose and chin. He learns quickly and will stand still so I can stand next to his shoulder on both sides. I am starting to use the stick to stand off to the side and touch him. He has grabbed the stick and will play with it but still reacts when it touches him. We will continue to work on this. I can touch his face and move him, and he will turn into me right away. He has very little fear of anything and will go smell the dog and watch us play ball.

I spent a little more time with Pablo this week. I do not expect him to progress to where Rojo is, but I wanted to try and get him a little farther along. Every day over the last week, he made improvements and would get closer, but he really is skittish and not very comfortable still. All I am doing with him is walking towards him; he will get a little nervous, and I will go slow and easy until he calms down and relaxes. As soon as he does that, I relax the pressure and let him rest a minute. Then I will do it again. I can get about 4 feet from him now, which is a huge improvement. If I turn my back and walk away from him, he will take a few little steps to follow and then stop to think about it for a minute. Then a few more steps and stop and think.

I have been giving Rojo little pieces of apples and trying to get Pablo interested, so I will put the apples in his feeder. He has now figured out that I am doing this, and while I am working with Rojo, Pablo will take these little baby steps to get to his feeder and eat his apples. It is very interesting to me that he has these very definite lines that he does not want anyone to cross. If you get within 5 feet of the feeder, he will not eat. If you get within 3-4 feet of him, he will pace, and if you stare at him from anywhere, he will pace. I am going very slowly and trying to make sure that he is accepting of me crossing these lines fully before I move to the next step. He watches me constantly, and if I move him, he will turn in to me with his eyes, just not get physically close. Another item to note on both is that neither has been aggressive toward me in any way. If they turn their butts to me, I will stomp at them and move them until I get their eyes, but they do that with no issues.

My husband is also feeding and spending time in the corral so the horses will get used to more people, and we continue to have the neighbors’ help. LOL. Both horses learn quickly but move at different speeds. For week 3, I think Rojo is ready for the halter and more handling all over. He also seems to really enjoy interaction with people and playing games. For Pablo, I am just going to continue being around him and getting him used to this new life of his. In my opinion, he is not the kind of horse I want to force into being gentled. He makes progress each day, which I am happy with, and I believe we will get there, just a bit slower.