Another project?

Say it ain't so!  A few days ago, a fellow boarder asked if I'd be willing to 'refresh' a certain Paso's ground manners.  Meet Guapo.

9-year-old Paso gelding

Guapo's owner is in her early 50s and having some medical issues.  Guapo has been taking advantage of these issues and her lack of experience.  I have seen Guapo act up in various ways: dragging his owner around, refusing to allow her to tie him, being pushy, neighing incessantly for his pasture buddies, and just being as obnoxious as equinely possible.  No outright dangerous behavior but he's getting there.

Two weekends ago, while myself and some other boarders were waiting for the vet to come, I witnessed his owner attempting to tie and groom him.  Guapo wanted nothing to do with it - this was during Guapo's usual turnout time and he was being obnoxious and fairly nasty.  His owner called me out of the barn and asked what I would do if Ruby was acting up like this.  I told her I would re-establish the rules, first in the round pen, then out in the open.  She asked if I would be willing to do it for her since she is physically unable, and I told her I would be MORE THAN HAPPY to do so. 

The walk to the round pen was quite interesting since Guapo initially thought he was going to get his way (turned out).  When he realized we were actually heading to the round pen, he tried to turn left towards the pasture...and met with an angry elbow multiple times.  Before anyone gets upset about this, think about just how close a horse has to be to you in order to nailed with your elbow....well within the usual 'respect bubble.'  When a horse bumps me, I am not nice about my reaction - I will elbow them as hard as I can, as many times as it takes for them to figure out that they need to back off.  I've nearly been run down by a horse in the past; an experience that I'd rather not have again in the future. 

Okay, so we made it to the round pen and I went to remove his halter.  As I knew he would, he snatched his head away, gave a little buck in my direction (which I was expecting so I'd backed well out of range), and took off zooming around the round pen.  I walked calmly to the middle of the round pen and picked up the lunge whip.  It took about 20 minutes of zooming before he was willing to really start listening.  Then we had a mini-lesson in the round pen about respectful leading and I handed him back to his owner. 

So, as I said, his owner texted me a few days ago and asked if I could work with him while she's out of town.  I told her that I would work with him when I can, but I can't guarantee a certain number of days, etc.  She said she was happy with that, to just tell her how many times I'd worked with him when she returns and we'll figure out $$ for my time. 

Honestly, I'm not too worried about the cash aspect of this - I find it almost painful to watch when a horse doesn't have any ground manners.  He was descending down into a human danger zone with his pushy, dominant behavior.  In reality, for all of Guapo's bluster, he has nothing on a mustang mare so I'm not too concerned.  My main concern is that his owner won't be able to keep it up once she gets back from vacation, but we'll figure that out then I suppose. 

For now, Guapo's not a happy camper.

Guapo yesterday, unhappy with life.