Palomo – Radka
Andalusian horse was a horse I always wanted to have so when the opportunity came to have a second horse I was searching for a PRE. I came across a few but the one I went to see at Dawn’s yard in Bedfordshire was the one! Palomo is a loving horse, a horse who taught me lots of things about myself and horses, he is my soul mate!
I bought Palomo despite that he was a stallion which I was not too sure about. Palomo was a bit worried to start of with so we put him in a paddock with our other horse, a thoroughbred gelding, after his first day with us. They settled in after 3 days. Dawn was very supportive and helpful during the first month of us having Palomo. We decided to have him gelded as well. It all went fine and after a week both horses settled in a paddock together again. We were very relieved that it was all over and that the horses enjoyed each other’s company.
In the following months I started training Palomo as he lost a lot of weight and fitness after the surgery. He was doing OK but he would have a few days every few months when the world would be too much for him as his anxiety level would be very high. In these times, I would wonder whether I had enough patience for Palomo. But I just kept trying different training approaches (no food supplement helped either) until we discovered what suited Pal and he opened up like a flower and turned into the most wonderful and loving horse I ever met! Only when I really tried to understand what Palomo was telling me and how he was feeling about what we were doing or what he was experiencing really helped (thank you, Frederic Pignon!). I started to make every session a pleasurable experience for him and he loved it. Also massage of his ears, face, nostrils and mouth really helped to relieve emotions he was holding in himself. I call Pal “a kid’s pony” when he doses off with his head low while being brushed or after his training session.
As Dawn noted to me, one cannot predict how each horse will handle stress, so if anyone else finds that their new PRE is anxious a bit too much, you have probably struck gold, since when the anxiety is gone it will be one of the most grateful and loving horses you’ve ever met!