Buying a Prospect

This is where I can tell we come from two different schools of riding. I've worked at a training barn, starting colts. We did lots of prep with groundwork, but once that colt got saddled (usually in the first session or two) he always wears the saddle for work, whether someone was going to ride or not. Getting on for the first time, we did that in a nice wide open arena. Ponying is a great transition to riding! I love that. Some colts need the extra support.

Considering this colts starting condition, he's going to take a while to get him going the right direction. Best of luck.

I am not sure that we are so different. All the initial riding is bareback in the system I was taught. The point is for the horse to feel the seat bones of the rider. The idea of that is later when the horse is saddled they "listen" for seat bones because it is part of the unity they seek. One difference is the first time the prospect feels a rider on their back it is in a stall, but before that there is basic ground work like leading, stopping & backing on a lead, etc.

I worked at a place where the first ride was in an open area. Sometimes that went well, others it was a fiasco with the young horse panicking and alternately fleeing and fighting. In a box stall there isn't much room for either fleeing or fighting. The closeness seems to even out the experience, plus it is a very familiar place. The stall backing method takes skill and practice. A big part of that is knowing the limited number of outcomes that can happen. We start by laying over the horse's back while another person leads the horse is a circle in the stall. If there is a buck or rear, the person easily slides off. If the horse "takes off" there isn't much room to go anywhere, yet they do get to feel "flight".

There are dangers to this method. If a horse gets away from the leader and spins its butt into the center where the rider/backer stands the rider/backer can be hurt. SO, the leader needs to be the experienced one who knows what can happen and stop it before it gets going. The leader stand with a short hold on the rope at the shoulder. If the horse begins to spin its butt in toward the center of the stall, the leader pulls the horse's head around to the center. If the horse spins its head in toward the center to bite the rider/backer, the leader has to block the head with their body. I tend to use a fist to fatten their lip if they demonstrate an urge to bite. Bottom line the leader keeps the rider/backer safe, so they need to know the system well. A benefit is the rider/backer learns the system and someday can be the leader.

All that stall backing work begins with basic ground work and building a relationship where the horse feels safe and that the leader is in control. If this is done well, the backing in the stall goes very easily. The horse is backed first laying across the back, then later backed with the rider laying lengthwise and hanging a leg on either side to desensitize the horse from the "tickling" rider's legs, and finally the rider/backer sits upright. At all stages the horse is lead by the leader in circles both ways around the stall. When this is completed, we just go for a walk outside around the barn and arena. The prospect has been lead around these places plenty of times before so the only thing different is there is a rider on the back bareback. The comes ponying if needed. Then the saddle, and as rideforever said, the saddle stays on for work after that for riding, but not for ground work.

It looks like the horse will be moved this coming weekend. The wait is that he has some snot when we last saw him and I do not want to bring a snotty horse to the barn. I think the work will be slow with him mostly because he is so thin. His butt is hollow, which is pretty awful. We will start the backing when he begins to put on some weight. Laura will be the rider/backer and I do not believe she weighs 100 lbs soaking wet. So he will not have to deal with much weight. I am thinking of naming him Flipflop after the barn were he came from. I have never seen a horse farm where the staff wears flip flops (one girl did have on cowboy boots).

And I do not ground drive. I never really learned. The closest I have done is once I had a draft horse I used for pulling logs out of the woods. I was awful at it. I kept getting the logs hung up on trees and other mistakes. That horse got very frustrated with me. It was a romantic idea to have a draft to help work the farm. It didn't last long.

Young prospect will come to the new barn today. I'm really looking forward to it. Realized this morning that I thought the black and white paint cross, Beaudant, would be my last young prospect. Then I remembered that my old friend Fred Harris, Master of Fox Hounds Cazenovia Hunt, bought a 4 year old off the track at 73. Will post pictures.

Too bad for the colt.

Flip flop lady deserves what she gets.

I posted on craigslist seeking more information about this place. I have had a few articles published in various papers and magazines and I thought I'd write a piece about how these low end horse dealers us the "rescue" tag as cover for neglecting horses.

york.craigslist.org/grd/5779970560.html

I have received a few replies already and one was this:

Hi, I know he is a Farrier, they get horses at auction, train a little bit and sell for top dollar to first time buyers, they hooked my neighbor for $4,000, Glenn Myers, the horse threw there daughter, he called them. they came out, to help, I watched they knew very little, then they said they would replace it, and brought him one that looked dead, I took several pictures, and treatened to call animal control, then I did call. they told me they were watching them, but can’t get them because they are storing horses all over the place and moving them frequently, mostly in adams county, hope this helps you, these people have been doing this for years, if I think of there name I will email you, I think they still have a big sign along the road, advertising a fantasy kind of horse, thanks Tom.

This indicates that these folks are not only hurting horses but unsuspecting people too. I am confident that the probably unknowing parents thought that by spending $4,000 that their child would be safe.

The fact that they are rotating horses from place to place even across the County lines indicates that they are skilled at their deception in maintaining the cover story that the skinny horses are skinny because they "just arrived". ''Also, I flailed to mention that there was a young dog there with sores over his body. The owner was quick to tell us that the dog had a chicken allergy and that was the cause of the sores. "Chicken allergy"? These are very practiced liars and deceivers.