I remember the very first time I “met” Domino. I was in the second stall of the lesson barn where I took riding lessons. His mother was quietly standing there beside me while I groomed her in preparation to ride. That’s when it happened- while brushing her flank a small tiny hoof tip stretched it’s way into visibility through her skin. I remember touching his little foot through her skin and having him kick at me. It was an amazing feeling- enough to make my little thirteen year old self squeal with delight shouting, “He kicked me, He kicked my hand!” I suppose that’s when I should have know that something special was in store.
I wasn’t a very large part of his life at first. The most we shared were trail rides when someone would ride his mother and he got to tag along with the rest of the group, and there was one occasion where I began teaching him to pick up his feet. Other than that we weren’t too involved in each other’s lives. I was more taken with a stallion we had on the property at the time. That horse was my first big step towards natural horsemanship, so I suppose Domino should be grateful for me being more taken with the other horse.
After the Lesson barn closed up, I left and went onto taking lessons elsewhere- eventually quiting after I entered highschool. Luckily, in my junior year, my school created an equestrian club group. I jumped at the chance, and began going to Graham Equestrian Center on saturday mornings. This is where my real foundation in the Parelli methods came from. I eventually took lessons full time with Jim Mcdonald at Graham until the horse I worked with, Jesse, passed away from a freak accident. I stayed away from horse stuff for about a year after that due to the grief I was feeling.
Domino re-entered my life in 2009 when I went back to the old lesson barn in hopes of finding the location of the other horse, Saleem, that I had been so taken with years ago. While I didn’t find Saleem that day, I found myself with an offer to start working with Domino from the new owner of the barn. She was lacking time to work with him, and he wasn’t exactly the type of horse you could afford not to take your time with. He was naughty, Impulsive, and the most forward-aholic horse I’d ever met, but he was intriguing and intelligent like his father had been.
I worked on basic things like catching him, the friendly game, and not bolting every time he got frustrated or confused for the first year. He was quite the handful, but I loved every minute of it. I kept at it until he finally trusted me. And after that, we were golden. Learning things was so quick and easy. By the second year we were playing with tarps, excersize balls, and plastic bags like he was born around them. I was proud of myself for coming so far with him.
in August of 2011, Hook (the other elderly horse he was kept with) became ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The owner of them both, Jenni, offered to give me Domino for free since I had done so much for him. I scrapped together all of my finances and became the proud owner of Domino in July. We have been progressing through Parelli ever since.
