As I walked into the office recently, a co-worker smiled at me and asked, "How's the brat?" I knew full well she was talking about my colt, Clementino, whose antics I often describe to friends and colleagues.
Raising a trail horse from birth in my backyard hasn't been a cakewalk. Clementino - born Easter Day 2005 - inherited a spicy temperament from his Columbian-bred Paso Fino grandsires, Petrolero and Vitral. And I hadn't raised a foal in 35 years.
A Bucket of Trouble
I bought my first two Paso Finos at a show farm a few years ago, then boarded there. The fulltime Paso Fino trainer at the farm, who'd originally worked in Colombia (famous for its Paso Finos), taught me about the breed, including its gaits and the training methods used.
This trainer was familiar with American horse clinicians, and recommended that I become acquainted with the one he liked best, Clinton Anderson. In the past two years, I've attended an Anderson weekend demonstration, acquired several of his training videos, and practiced his methods.
After watching Anderson's foal-training videos twice and trying to duplicate the results with Clementino, I concluded that either Anderson demonstrated on docile foals unlike Clementino or was such a good trainer that he made the foals appear docile. Whatever it was, I couldn't replicate Anderson's results with my colt.
To help keep Clementino entertained, my husband and I converted our arena into a romper room, adding plastic barrels, orange traffic cones and balls designed for horseplay.
One day, Clementino discovered he could empty the large plastic bucket we keep in the arena to water the horses. Then he scooted it around the arena by running with his nose pressed against the inside. Next, he found he could grab one of the bucket's rope handles and twirl the bucket in the air.
Then my trail-horse gelding, Alegro, learned how to grab the other bucket handle in his teeth, and the two began having tug-of-war matches. Within a few weeks, the bucket was broken into pieces from the rough play. My husband got another one for Clementino - it lasted a week. Next, my husband bought a cheap bucket, which survived only two days. Since we can't afford to keep Clementino amused with an endless supply of buckets, the bucket play has come to an end.
