# Rome Wasn't Built in a Day



## RebelCarter13 (Jun 29, 2015)

Yesterday I was given a horse. His APHA registered name is Im Plainly Awesome. I've named him Roman after Natasha Romanoff. He is 8yrs old, and about 15.1h. 
The first 4yrs of his life he was untouched in a field. A friend of mine's family took him, gelded him and halter broke him. Then my friend's step dad saddled him up and started to ride him, although ride isn't the right word. Roman put him in the hospital numerous times, with broken ribs, a broken leg and more. He gained the reputation of mean, evil spirited and out to get you. He began to kick and bite, so they left him in the field for another 4yrs. They didn't even bother to get his hooves trimmed. A few weeks ago I had to give up my barrel mare due to a degenerative lameness issue, so I have been looking for a new project, or a new barrel horse. (I'm not terribly picky) My friend mentioned how they wanted to either get a trainer to work with him or to get rid of him. I mentioned I'd be interested in training him, so I went to go and see him. The first thing I noticed is that he was very defensive, never offensive. The second thing I noticed was that he was scared of everything. After about 45 minutes of ground work, with and without the saddle I did get on him for about 5 minutes and we waled around. He did offer to buck a couple times, however that was because I had bumped him with my legs and spooked him. I had his nose tilted, so he never got the chance to do more than jump once. I said I'd be up to training him if he could come to my place. They took it a step further and told me to just take him. When I thanked them , they said "No, thank you".
Today is his day to get used to everything, and tomorrow he enters boot camp.


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## RebelCarter13 (Jun 29, 2015)

Today he was introduced to lunging, which was a bit hard for understand. After about 10 minutes he was going with a point and a click, although turning was a bit harder for him to grasp. While walking on a lead he stops right when I say ho, even if I continue on. He's getting pretty good with ground tying. We also worked with plastic bags, which resulted in some rears. He quickly learned that's a no no. By the end he was no longer flinching, however I foresee having to work on this quite a bit. My Florida Cow Whip, however, wasn't something he really cared about. The most he did was just throw his head up, he didn't even try to leave, so I was proud of him for that.


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## RebelCarter13 (Jun 29, 2015)

Ro was such a gentleman today. He also felt very silly about all the fuss he gave with the plastic bag yesterday. Today he only flinched a little at it, although he was the same with the whip. I worked with him on putting weight on his back, and in the beginning he wasn't a fan. After a couple minutes I seated myself on him and when asked to walk he was confused, so we did circles for a while until he figured out what I was asking.


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## RebelCarter13 (Jun 29, 2015)

Ro got his feet trimmed today. He was good with his fronts, just a little unsure about having to stretch his legs out. When she went to do his back feet, he swung his back end away from her and pinned his ears. After he was reprimanded she went to do it again and he threatened to kick. Again he was reprimanded, so she went back to pick up a front, since he had been so good. He pinned his ears and struck out. He was reprimanded. This went on for a few minutes until he snapped at her and reared up. He got beat. She worked with him for almost an hour. She never managed to pick up a back foot. Before it was his turn he watched all the other horses get trimmed and worked on his standing skills.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.


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