|
|
Post by rideanotherday on Jan 18, 2016 13:20:24 GMT
Ohhhhh how I hate that fairy tale. I have run across a few of those type of posts from people on Facebook and elsewhere talking about how "my horse won't let anyone else handle him" and how happy they are about that, as if it's a source of pride, especially if the horse is a rescue.
All I can think of if "what do you suppose is going to happen to that horse if something happens to you? Or if the horse escapes the pasture due to extreme weather, shitty neighbors or a tree down on a fence? It's a dangerous life for a horse that doesn't have basic handling skills for varied handlers. That's a horse that will get run through a chute into a trailer bound for Mexico.
Occasionally, the horse will get lucky and cross paths with someone like Horseguy, who has the skill set to manage the education process until the horse can tolerate others.
I refer these people to trainers...but they are caught up in that rescue romance and typically won't see sense.
|
|
|
|
Post by grayhorse on Jan 19, 2016 3:31:40 GMT
This reminds me of a woman I met once at a boarding facility some years ago. She had a horse that she did not ride. Apparently the horse would bolt under saddle. So the young 20 something trainer at that barn had told the woman that you can not touch the reins with this horse because it was so "soft mouthed" and that is why it would bolt....so the answer was, she never rode it. She would go around bragging about how "soft" and "light" her horse was and how she'd never sell it because no one else would understand the horse like she did. Imagine buying the horse, buying the tack, paying the shoer, the vet and monthly board to keep like Horseguy says, a pet. It was the nicest groomed horse I ever saw, however  |
|
|
|
Post by rideanotherday on Jan 19, 2016 11:13:22 GMT
This reminds me of a woman I met once at a boarding facility some years ago. She had a horse that she did not ride. Apparently the horse would bolt under saddle. So the young 20 something trainer at that barn had told the woman that you can not touch the reins with this horse because it was so "soft mouthed" and that is why it would bolt....so the answer was, she never rode it. She would go around bragging about how "soft" and "light" her horse was and how she'd never sell it because no one else would understand the horse like she did. Imagine buying the horse, buying the tack, paying the shoer, the vet and monthly board to keep like Horseguy says, a pet. It was the nicest groomed horse I ever saw, however Someone should have told her about pet rocks. =) |
|
|
|
Post by horseguy on Jan 19, 2016 13:46:36 GMT
... the young 20 something trainer at that barn had told the woman that you can not touch the reins with this horse because it was so "soft mouthed" and that is why it would bolt... A common problem, trainers with a gift for fantasy and insufficient skill and experience to fix basic training issues. Most are young, insecure and overcompensating. These are the horse sorters that send many valuable prospects to an ALPO can.
Before I closed the farm and retired we had a 4 year old there named Shadow, a gifted agile athlete. I helped a family purchase him and the daughter, an 11 year old rider, rode him. He'd act up once in a while but I'd hop on for a few minutes and he'd be rideable again by the child. The family moved this horse to a "high class" barn with a young trainer when we shut down. Same deal as the story. He's now a pet, unridden for many months. What I have difficulty comprehending in how people can't believe their "lying eyes". The family saw their child ride the horse. Sure he was green but they knew that going in. They saw me ride him down very quickly. They saw his beautiful movement and then some young kid trainer tells them he dangerous or something, and all they observed goes out the window and the 20 something trainer is the expert. I truly do not understand why intelligent parents and horse owners don't challenge these obviously inexperienced "trainers", but instead they take their word as gospel.
I got an email from another rider at that barn recently asking if I'd buy him and save him. I explained that earlier on, after they moved him, that I heard of the difficulty and offered to work with the horse to get him through the transition to the new barn. The response to my offer to help this horse was condescending and insulting. So, they can feed him.
|
|
|
|
Post by rideanotherday on Jan 19, 2016 13:56:59 GMT
... the young 20 something trainer at that barn had told the woman that you can not touch the reins with this horse because it was so "soft mouthed" and that is why it would bolt... A common problem, trainers with a gift for fantasy and insufficient skill and experience to fix basic training issues. Most are young, insecure and overcompensating. These are the horse sorters that send many valuable prospects to an ALPO can.
Before I closed the farm and retired we had a 4 year old there named Shadow, a gifted agile athlete. I helped a family purchase him and the daughter, an 11 year old rider, rode him. He'd act up once in a while but I'd hop on for a few minutes and he'd be rideable again by the child. The family moved this horse to a "high class" barn with a young trainer when we shut down. Same deal as the story. He's now a pet, unridden for many months. What I have difficulty comprehending in how people can't believe their "lying eyes". The family saw their child ride the horse. Sure he was green but they knew that going in. They saw me ride him down very quickly. They saw his beautiful movement and then some young kid trainer tells them he dangerous or something, and all they observed goes out the window and the 20 something trainer is the expert. I truly do not understand why intelligent parents and horse owners don't challenge these obviously inexperienced "trainers", but instead they take their word as gospel.
I got an email from another rider at that barn recently asking if I'd buy him and save him. I explained that earlier on, after they moved him, that I heard of the difficulty and offered to work with the horse to get him through the transition to the new barn. The response to my offer to help this horse was condescending and insulting. So, they can feed him.
Perspective is indeed everything. To you, this is a young horse with what sounds like some "school boy" antics. For you, that's not a big deal. For others, that's an indicator of temperament issues. Some trainers are not equipped to deal with things like that, either because they haven't come across them, don't have the time or desire to work that hard, or don't have that skill set. That's how some horses end up as pasture ornaments and a boarding barn's bread and butter. No work involved past feeding the darn thing. |
|
|
|
Post by horseguy on Jan 19, 2016 15:53:02 GMT
To you, this is a young horse with what sounds like some "school boy" antics. For you, that's not a big deal. For others, that's an indicator of temperament issues. Some trainers are not equipped to deal with things like that ... Then they have no business calling themselves a horse trainer. There are other kinds of "one person horses". One big group is the competition dressage horse. These riders or trainers believe that cross training, multiple riders or any sort of generalized training beyond their butt in the saddle will diminish their horse's performance. There is some truth to this belief, but in the long run, it's myth. The reason it's a false belief is that horses get sour. One rider, day after day, doing exactly the same thing in the same way, hour upon hour, makes these horses crazy in a very quiet sort of way. I think it is one reason that Thoroughbreds are now so seldom seen in dressage competition. The new methodology for training dressage horses would drive them incurably nuts. It's why we see mostly Warmbloods. As a competitor myself I understand that a poor rider can ruin the edge you put on a competition horse, but I also know that some diversity in training adds some initiative and life to the horse's commitment to the work. It's a balance that a true competition horse needs and the trainer has to provide it if the horse is going to be top notch. Most dressage competitors today do not subscribe to this traditional principle of maintaining a fresh mind in their horses. They prefer robots. |
|
