Dino is getting ready for his first show. So, I thought I would take him on a solo road trip to see what I can expect from him. I am happy to say it was 95% successful!
For the most part, Dino acted like a typical nervous young horse. There was lots of screaming to the other horses, plenty of distractions and a pretty tense body. Not great for showing dressage-but to be expected for a young horse just learning how to travel.
It was the remaining 5% that makes me just a tad nervous…. I have always said that Dino has an extreme play drive. He also can act a bit stud-like on a rare occasion and throw full on temper tantrums if he isn’t allowed to go play with his friends or see a girlfriend. This is pretty infrequent, only happens when he is high as a kite, and never happens under saddle. It is just one of those things he is growing out of.
Today Dino was plodding along on the longe line, looking around a bit, but generalky ok. When out of nowhere, he launched himself straight up in the air and struck out. It was a marvelous display of power! He went into the most amazing stallion like trot screaming toward another horse. When he finally realized that I wasn’t going to release him, he got mad and gave me the full, “I hate you for not letting me go play” power buck. I just let him work it out, and he was fine again within a few minutes after the horse was out of his view.
The question is, “What set him off?” The horse wasn’t all that close. Dino had been watching that horse and 2 others in a dressage lesson for the previous 20 minutes. Why didn’t he get set off earlier?
At the moment Dino took off, it looked like the owner of the other horse was doing some Parrelli like maneuvers trying to load her horse in her trailer. Now I am not a Partelli fan, but this wasn’t as bad as I have seen the Parelli stuff get. Yeah, the horse was under some stress, but not a ridiculous amount. Is Dino that sensitive, that another horse’s elevated stress level could set him off? Guess I won’t know until it happens again. Has anyone else ever had this experience?
Del Mar Horse Girl 
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