Team Onyx August 12, 2025 - Update!

Week 12 with #dakotashowdownteamonyx

A lot of positives from this kid this week!

 

Lets start with his biggest improvement:

 

The surcingle has been a struggle for him, mostly doing up the girth part. And when it is done up, I can tell I lose his brain. He’ll stand, sure. He’ll have his ear on me, listening. But he is not there. And he flinches everytime I touch that area or the girth touches him. So I went slower today. I touched and pet the area where the girth was before pulling it like I was going to secure it, and after doing this a couple times, he finally licked and chewed. And while I don’t take that as a sign of him being comfortable, it is a lot better than the tight-lipped face he does. And after giving him a lot of praise for that reaction. When I actually did up the girth he didn’t flinch and actually shifted his feet and swished his tail. And a lot of people would take that as a bad sign, but the fact he was willing to move his feet instead of standing like a statue was good!

 

He lunges on the line walk, trot, and now canter! He’s super responsive to verbal cues. He knows: walk, trot, canter, whoah, and turn!

 

Along the lines of lunging, we tried ground driving! It’s not very pretty, but we did it lol. It was a struggle for him to move forward at first with me behind him, but once I moved to the side and asked him to walk he did. And ever so slowly I moved behind him and we just walked. There was a couple times he would turn when not asked and would get tangled in the lines, but he would just stop and wait.

 

He got to meet “The Tickler” too (pool noodles on jump stands). He wasn’t brave enough to follow he through without a leadrope on at first. But after a couple times he eventually followed he through without one!

 

Onyx says the big ball is no different from the little one (well, maybe a little more fun to kick).

 

He also got to look super fancy this weekend with his new fly boots and fly mask. He did not approve at first lmao.

 

And I tested his patience when tied by braiding his hair. While he didn’t stand nicely the whole time, he didn’t do anything dumb, just moved around. And doesn’t he look good

I started using his “nose in” cue when going to catch him from pasture, and let’s just say that made a huge difference in his catch-ability. He would do it every time when asked, like an old pro. It honestly took a huge weight off my shoulders.