Casey

Casey has been reverting back to some of his old undesirable behaviors. Clearly he believes I have not been spending enough time with him. All my time is with Cici, according to him. Remember he is a LB big E and everything is about him.

The tooth fairy was here recently and the vet, Kendyl, as he needs to be tranq'd for it to safely get his teeth done. Well he was full of himself before Kendyl came. And when he saw her he went into over the top bad behavior. Kendyl finds him amusing and always says they have a love hate relationship. She loves him (thank heavens!!!) and he hates her. She takes the time it takes to get him soft with her before she gives him a shot. She takes the time and does not do anything sneaky with him.

But he hates, absolutely hates being tranq'd. He takes a full horse sized dose, and continues to fight it the whole time. Oh and did I mention that he holds grudges?

The dentistry went well, but I could see him seething as he fought the drugs. And then his left stifle locked as he was coming out of the tranq. Well it kept locking and unlocking and Kendyl told me that we just had to wait until the drugs were completely out of his system - and that hopefully he would be fine then.

Of course I had to check on him at 9:00 PM to see how he was doing. Wandering around in the pitch black looking for a black mini who is staying away from me. Groan. It was still coming and going. When his stifle locks he looks like a peg legged pirate. He will walk with the leg straight and he swings it away from his body as he walks. Comical if I wasn't so worried about him.

In the morning, when I made an extra trip to the barn to check on him, he was fine. So I took him for a walk. Well I meant to take him out, but he would have nothing to do with the halter. Remember holds grudges?!?

That a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday when I went to play with Cici and ride I noticed Casey was doing his pirate imitation. What I need to do is back him up and hope that the stifle will pop back. At first it kept going in and then out. Groan. But finally in and I was able to get his halter on with no resistance and took him up to the indoor.

Once in the door he is off and running. I switched to the 22' line and he is bucking, kicking out with both bad feet aimed towards me and flying around. I thought he might be a little sore. But he is full of himself. Beginning to wonder if he is figuring out a way to lock his stifle so I will pay attention to him. Hmmmm, an awful thought.

He is so LBE that I just hold on to the lead as he races around me, changing direction and stopping to face me when he is out of breath. The moment he catches his breath he is off again. He learned the turn and face means time out very quickly, and uses it to his advantage.

As he starts to slow down I try figure 8s around the cones but then he is off again. Decide I will just let him wear himself out.

Today I halter him and take him again to the indoor. Need to exercise and strength that leg and am thinking I better do this more rather than less often. He is again racing around ignoring me. He does stay on the circle, no running out to the end of the rope at least. When he comes in to me, it is a struggle to get him to back up. Seems we are back at the beginning. Know this will get better, but right now I swear I am working harder than I ever do with Cici! And he is what? 1/5 of her size?

Going from a introvert (Cici) who goes between left and rigt brain sides, and a big (okay emotionally big) extravert is causing MY head to spin.

One day at a time.