The Problem Horse

In today’s convenient horse world, where horses are pets & riding is mainly a sport people do on the side, Diego was the monster ‘problem horse” most people would have sold. We nearly did… he came home from his first dressage show and nearly had a for sale sign slapped on his rear. After becoming unruly, rearing and screaming constantly in his stall, causing a warm up nightmare by bolting in circles on the lunge line, kicking at anything & anyone, biting Mom on the chest and just generally being Mr. Discontent the entire 2 days (I couldn’t even ride my classes on him, I was 11 and Mom was concerned about my safety) Mom was feeling hopeless. But once home with him behaving like his normal self again, I guess she wanted to prove to the rest of the barn that we hadn’t made a terrible mistake in buying him. He continued to have his moments though, from kicking in the stall to nearly rearing on the lead line at moment of passion, to nipping and pushing you out of the way whenever he felt like it. Not to mention riding him was like riding a very lightweight freight trail, rough and fast and it never slowed down, only got bumpier when you tried to hold him back. I remember one lady at the barn told my Mom, “He’s too much horse, get something more suitable for you and your daughter.” I have to smile at that nowdays when I watch him in the pasture or eyeing me when he’s tied in the barn. He was the perfect horse God picked out for us, maybe not to be a calm mount for my mother to ride, but years later I’m learning life changing lessons because of him.
More experienced horse people started taking note of him once we changed barns. His fire and determination, as well as good looks lured them into thinking he’d serve as an excellent sport horse, had he the right training. Problem was no matter how hard we tried, through conventional methods, we couldn’t get the desired results with his speed problems, jumping or ground manners. He was still firey, pushy, speedy and green. I spent years fighting with him to “harness” his ‘power” and train him in the conventional way to be an eventer. While he liked eventing, he hated travel & being separated from other horses, and he hated restraints & being told ‘no’ when it he felt excited (which was usually manifested in bolts of speed). While I took pride in his fire I also spent years frustrated over and fighting what makes him him, as well as makes him a horse in the most natural, primal sense.

Behind the Name
Nowdays I just call him my Red Dragon and laugh.
He has this posture he likes to do when he’s feeling very powerful and intimidating: he arches his neck and his Mohawk splays like spines, his eyes either roll back showing lots of white – or they fixate on you and his shoulders come up, he’s very adept at using his front limbs for striking. That posture finally solidified his nickname. I have been a huge fan of science fiction for most of my life, fantasy combined with our reality and science to produce something that goes beyond what we experience here... where we can grow and change and experience things outside of what we know. I think it's an instinct in many humans, knowing we want more than this world has to offer (yes yes a Switchfoot line ;p ). Dragons have been the epitome of fantasy creatures for a long time, and seeing "How to Tame Your Dragon" recently put it in the forefront of my mind. It made me realize I already have the closest thing to a real life Dragon I could find. He may have fur instead of scales, but he's a heck or a formidable beast, and he may not be able to fly very far but when he does it's exhilerating. =)

Our History (96-04')
Detailing our history together is important, so I figured I’d dig into the memories and start here.
I was 11 when we got Diego, and was currently still riding my school master pony and second mother, Checkers. Diego was really for my Mom, but knowing me I couldn’t stay away. I remember the day we met him, I was expecting a chunky app, along the lines of the other horses our farrier was selling. What I saw up against the side of his stall was a skinny red colored horse reminiscent of my childhood fantasies, marking wise. White stockings, blaze, with an added burgundy dorsal stripe. I was surprised by and skeptical of this skinny critter though, being used to gorgeous Throughbreds and filled out ponies. Test riding him was fun, but his constant speed was a pain in the rear in the ring. Getting him out in the pasture to run though was paradise. He was extremely powerful, almost to a scary extent, but it fed my need for speed nicely. During the first year that we had him I really didn’t handle him a lot or ride too much, I was honestly very slightly afraid of him, though I would never admit it. His resistance to slowing down cues, even forceful ones and his bad ground manners were too much of a nuisance. We were taught to handle him roughly when he misbehaved, more so than normal. Checkers rarely needed any strong reprimand so it was foriegn at first, but we did it unfortunately, thinking it was the only way to set boundaries and gain 'respect".
When we first got him he was headshy. Bridling was not a problem, but raising your hands around him was. The reason being this: in all the time I’ve known him, he’s always been lippy. He expresses a lot through exploring things with his mouth… in today’s sport horse world where horses are supposed to be well behaved puppets, this is looked down on or viewed with fear. Diego had been hit in the face very aggressively by his previous owner to try and curb his lippy habit. (A current note: D will try to bite on occasion when he is angry with me, but gets a very quick hard reprimand followed by immediate normal behavior like he giving his cheek or ear a good rub. His lippiness has never escalated due to lack of "discipline" and in fact I’ve found it’s decreased over the years of not hitting him in the head over it) Looking back I see how badly D’s trust in humans was damaged by all the harsh treatment he received. I’m rather ashamed to say as a teen I learned to channel my anger and frustration over D not meeting my expectations, into various forms of harsh punishment. Whether it be harsh kicks and rein pulls on his back for simply spooking or all out war on the ground if he tried to push over me. This behavior in me was never really addressed by anyone until I met my respected dressage trainer in 99'. After we began seriously training for the summer 2000 show season she began to give me gentle instruction on not getting so frustrated with Diego over his limitations. She was the first to explain that he was trying to accomplish what I asked and was unable to do so. I guess the thought that my horse was fallible and sometimes unable to do things had never occurred to me. I slowly started to see his huge efforts and nearly spastic will to please for fear of any impending punishment. No wonder he was so manic half the time, all this discipline had only served to confuse and frustrate him more. After I calmed down, he calmed down considerably while under saddle. We also started our journey into deep dressage territory and through that I saw him blossom into a new horse – a strong horse. Muscles that had never before been strengthened gave him new balance. The horse who rushed everywhere eventually turned into that beautiful rocking horse. I frequently cantered around the barn yard instead of walking or trotting because his canter had become so balanced that I could ask him to do it as slowly as a brisk walk. And it was much more fun to sit. =) I was amazed at the change strength brought to his under saddle demeanor. I’m sure he was too. Unfortunately with me riding less and less in the coming years we lost a lot of the strength, but mentally I know he remembers how, because I see him try again and again to be as balanced as he was. This was also around the time in our relationship that he truly began to trust again. He started displaying more affectionate behavior with myself and Mom, this floored us since we’d never seen any from him. He got where he would groom me in the crossties, he LOVED to unzip and unbutton jackets in the winter. He also loved to pull me around by my shirt…he tore a nice hole in one that way! He also gave Mom his first hug (over he shoulder when she hugged him). It nearly brought us to tears seeing how many years it had taken for him to become outgoing around humans. It also clued me in to the incredible sensitivity inside him, and the effects our harsh human egos have on these animals... we carry a heavy burden of responsibility, and in a society that is so lazy and shuns personal responsibility, woe to the horse that gets stuck with an irresponsible human. =(