Any other horse people?

when i was a young child, i did do a spot of horse riding

i don't now though (for obvious reasons) but i do still get interested by the horse programmes

They have to be retrained because pulling back to them means go, that is how they are trained when they pull those sulkies.

Well my little Rodney is from the race track in Del Mar, CA... only 9 years of age... but can totally relate to the advice above.... He is such a 1,400 lb sweeaty now, but had me holding on my my life a couple of times!!!! Talk about coming thru the back field in 30 sec.... AND SURVIVING!!!! Little did I know he had set several track records before he was hurt at age 4....

Now I get him to run around first for about 10-15 mins... before I hop on top... so he gets some of his energy out!!!! Love him!!!

I love horses. I started out w/ a welsh cobb when I was 10. then I got an arabian, I had hime for 22 years, he passed when he was 26. No due to having kids and no time to ride I have a mini. He takes care of my horsie needs. I can pet, love, talk to him, and he is so affectionate. He is also trained in perelli so he is a smart little cookie.

I worked on a arabian horse farm for 10 years. The farm had 40 horses. I used to train horses. A few even made it to the quilifying stages of the Olympics. I have espicially worked w/ traumatized horses and trouble horses. I undo what is the issue and work w/ the individual as well helping them understand there horses spicific trauma.

I also pet set for farm animals and reptiles as well as regular pets for a living. I seem to have a way w/ animals. Even lizards love me. Lucky me. I love them to now though.

Yes, Liz, I have heard of Michael Matz, I didn't realize he went into horse racing though. That is a horse area that I have very little exposure to myself. I will say though that I do not agree with racing horses "before" they are fully developed, which is common practice in that sport. There is a whole mindset involved in that sport that is not very compatible to my personal opinions about "respect for the animal".

In the horse show world I did "not" enjoy going to the shows, I was constantly triggered and stuffing. I was constantly talking to my daughter about developing the right mindset in that environment and putting the priority on proper horse care. We were not rich and I pointed out constantly that if she wanted to continue to enjoy competing that she better make sure she is taking care of the animal, otherwise she would have nothing to sit on.

Luckily I found a trainer that had the same value of the animal, if we drove two hours or so to a show and the footing was bad, we never even took the horses off the trailer. It took time, but my daughter learned that how she needed to value her achievments in skills both of herself and her horse was not how many "points" she had but that when she competed with the upper crust compeditors and "won" or placed really well, that was enough.

The horse she has now is an import, I don't know if you know but he is a Concord that was imported from Holland. He was purchased by a wealthy woman who was very impatient and pushed way too hard on him when he was way too young. She crippled him and abused him so much that he associated the riding ring with pain and would not even move or tried to resist even going in a riding ring. He got so bad the woman was going to euthanize him and he was only 3 years old.

Well, my daughter bought him and first had to spend time to get him sound, and that cost her over $6,000 just to get him sound enough to work so he could even eventually take a rider. Then she could not take him in a riding ring, instead she took him on some trails and in a field, rode him bareback because he was also very backsore when she got him.

When she first showed him to me her whole attitude was that she had no real goals for him, she was just going to see what he could learn. He was a very confused animal and she could not train him by any normal book so to speak because of the way he was abused. It was a lot of work just to get him to go forward and trust to be even willing to learn. He would shut down or rear up, he was not something just anyone could sit on either. He was extremely "unbalanced" with no real rhyme or reason, by far the most challenging animal my daughter ever worked with, and she has been on some very messed up horses.

She kept at it one baby step at a time, two years of alot of patience and hard work and finally got him into a show ring. Everything was very small baby steps. And the other thing about this horse is he is over 17 hands and has a "huge" jump that can throw a rider right off his back. For example jumping a two foot cross rail? Oh, he would jump it as if the crossrail was set at the top of the standard and then some.

The other challenge is that the average stride is 12feet, not him, he has a 14 ft stride. Do four in a four stride? Ummm, maybe a two for him? Maybe could compress to a three? Ya gotta know how to angle the appoach to get the best possible four.

She had a three day clinic with this horse under George Morris. Now he is known to be very tough. She had ridden with him three years ago at one of his clinics and she had a different horse. He used her alot for the other riders to watch because he loved her riding. After three years of not seeing her he remembered her which is a huge compliment because he sees a lot of riders. Wellllll, when he first saw her riding this new project horse he was not very nice to her. But, he didn't know the story behind all the work she put into this horse.

When I heard about what happened that first day, I emailed the owner of the facility that clinic was taking place so that they could tell George about the history of this horse. My daughter would be "furious" if she knew I did that. But honestly, I really felt it was not fair for him to look at this very fancy animal and blame my daughter for whatever had not been accomplished because of the abuse the horse had suffered. And this horse was very leary of any other rider than my daughter. She had only had one professional get on him just to begin to get him to accept another rider.

Well, George (who 80 years old now) was getting on the other riders horses here and there and my daughter was so afraid he would try to get on her horse. She told me, she doesn't want to be known as the girl who had the horse that hurt George Morris.
And when it came to jumping and George set up some very complicated things, well, everyone got to see her horse fly over these jumps like "superman" and my husband told me in the viewing room the trainers were gasping in fear and commenting on how amazing my daughter was that she could hang on.

I am glad that George finally got to hear the history though so he could look at this horse with the right understanding of how challenged my daughter really was, how brave she was, and how much work went into what he was seeing.

He did finally get on the horse and rode it around. And with the history in his mind, he looked at my daughter and said, wow, you did amazing work because this horse is incredibly well balanced. And then he "really legged the horse" and the horse reared and reacted. But lucklily because George is so tall, even at 80 he had the right leverage to handle that and push through it. And he told my daughter, I understand what you were doing, but now it is time to "push" and move past the babying.

I think that the other professional trainers that were there auditing that clinic got to learn the history too. And they all told my husband how amazing my daughter was as a rider. And that is the kind of response my daughter gets with all the "true professionals". It is so far removed from all those years of horse showing where I had to keep reminding my daughter "what was really important".

My daughter also rode with another top trainer who competed with George and won the olympics, I just can't remember his name but he has some new books out on the market now. And again, he also noticed how well my daughter rode and even said, this is the kind of student I really enjoy working with.

What amazes me soooo much is how she took this young, broken, abused young warmblood that a woman was going to euthanize to a point where she could ride it under these professionals in an advanced three day concentrated clinic with other riders that sat on horses that were big dollars and had all the bells and whistles needed just to be in that position.

If all that is worried about is some damn ribbion, then you never get to this level of riding. Infact George Morris can get disgusted too, because of how some riders these days tend to be entitled. Yeah they have the big bucks and the nice horse flesh, but they lack the right skills as riders.

It's how they are trained to go faster in flat racing too. It's hard as "heck" to let up on the reins when on top of a horse that takes off!

We once had a Quarter Horse stallion who'd been at the track. His previous owners told us if he ever took off he would pull himself up after 440 yards because that was the distance he raced the most. He was a real sweet heart with a calm nature. One day we were riding along the side of the road. Some um, idiot threw a beer bottle out their car window and hit him in the head. He took off with me. I went into 2-point and gave him his head knowing he would stop. Only problem was the set of railroad tracks up ahead. I was hoping for all I was worth that they were further away than 440! Thankfully he pulled up at the end of the "race" before we got to the track. It was the last time I rode along the side of the road.

The two thoroughbreds I have now both went to the track. Kyote raced until he was 9 years old and couldn't keep up with the younger horses. Thankfully he's far enough along in his retraining that I don't have to worry about stopping him. Actually, he is a mellow boy. Maverick wasn't at the track long enough to be fully trained to race. The racing trainer called the owners and told them to take him home because he was "slower than dirt."

Open Eyes, Michael uses the same philosophy training his race horse that he did his show horses. I hope his philosophy rubs off on some of the other racing folks. I've met him. He is really and truly a nice guy who treats his clients and animals respectfully.

There are evil people in the horse world - racing, showing, selling, whatever. There are also some truly wonderful people in the field. I too deplored those people who were chasing points and ribbons. I used to tell my clients "if you are doing this for the ribbons, save yourself some money. Go to the awards store and buy the ribbons. It's cheaper and less work." I encouraged my students to compete against themselves. If they went out and did their very best, that's what we focused on. Is winning more fun than losing? Heck yes! But I won ribbons that meant nothing to me because I knew we put in a poor preformance. One of the ribbons I was proudest of was a fourth place we got from Rodney Jenkins. I had a little Quarter Horse mare who was a wonderful mover, but tiny. People thought she was a pony, but she was a horse (14.31/2 hands). We won the fourth against giant thoroughbreds who showed the major A shows. When he told me she was "a nice little mover" I could have popped I was so proud!

Not all of us focus on winning and ribbons.

I love horses. I don't have one, but I am an admirer!

Also, when I was 12 I had horse earrings, a horse blanket, almost every horse book ever written, horse posters and only drew horses. Yep, those were the days. lol

Yes, you are right, not all barns/trainers focus on winning the ribbons. Often the "A" barns did though, at least around me. The clientel were wealthy and the cost of keeping a quality show horse and owning one was alot, and often these wealthy parents expected their child to "be a star".

As you know it is a very "expensive" sport and very expensive to run a show barn. Basically the wealthy parents were the bread and butter that kept everything going.
And I noticed that the different show barns around were very competitive with each other, wanted to be the "barn that won" to draw in wealthy clients. This kept pressure on the students to win, and often that led to the kind of atmosphere that I didn't like.

One barn that my daughter rode out of, and basically outgrew, got a younger crew of wealthy kids that turned the barn around to "servicing these wealthy spoiled kids".
It really upset my daughter the way they left stuff around as when she was actively involved there that was absolutly not allowed. But, it got to be all about the money and the kids being happy and entitled.

Also, some trainers have big egos too. What I also see is that a certain amount of catering takes place to keep the "wealthy" happy so that the show circut can exist and keep going. I think that is especially true in this economy.

When it really got to be a challenge also is when throughbreds got pretty much dropped and replaced with the very expensive imported warmbloods. It used to be that you could pick up a decent horse from the track and train it to be a good showhorse, which some people still do that, where I am, that is few and far between the last I looked now though. Some of the warmbloods that come from Europe are incredible and the AAA shows where the really wealthy compete is hard to get near because the horse flesh is so amazing. As you know there is a big difference between the Florida Hitts, and the Palm Beach Circut.

Open Eyes

I was the poor kid who could not afford lessons. I'd save my money from birthdays and other ocassions to get a few lessons. I had to do joint lessons at that. A friend of mine was gracious enough to let me share a lesson w/ her. She had enough money to get lessons every week. She knew I had no money and would come home and try to give me lessons. It didn't work so well. My horse was green and so was I. She struggled to teach me much. I did end up getting enough lessons to know what I needed to to show. And I did my fair share of jumping. But the big barns got all the attention. They were there for the points and I was there for fun. Of course the judge is gonna give the points to those who are serious about point standings. So I eventually gave up showing.

I have had my fair share of retraining to do w/ race horses and other problem horses. Due to my demeanor when a training issue arose I got the first call. A friend of mine got a race track Thoroughbred and he was absolutely spastic. The girl called me, warned me about how he was. She so badly wanted to make a fool of me but I took the opportunity anyway. She had a very demanding personality and I have a very laid back personality. I'm only 5 ft tall and this horse was huge. After I finially got up on him he turned into a big baby. He just melted he was a most pleasent ride. The girl was so angry because he ran, spooked , would not listen, or anything for her. He was so calm he would trip while walking. I sang to him and was constantly rubbing his shoulder bone, poor high withered guy. I talked to him lots and the girl looked at me like I had lost my mind. She kept him about 2 months and sent him back to the stable where he came from, I hated to see him be returned due to her ignorance.

Well that is just one of my stories. Sorry I just had a horsie flash back and had to share it w/ you guys.

I love everyone's pictures and stories. I miss riding, as I just have my retired boy these days. I should work on training him some more tricks to keep up both busy, as I haven't for a while. He does like to show them off. Hopefully I'll get back into the riding one day again. I really enjoyed jumping in the past, but I'd also like to put some time into dressage if I really got back into it. I'd happily give eventing a go, though I'm not sure how far I'd be willing to take it!

I need my horses in my life.
They sure keep me busy.
I understand the flat racing industry well, and enjoy it too.

My poor Gin has to be stalled tonight. It's so cold and terribly raining. I hate putting her up, it just makes me feel so guilty, but I need hr warm and healthy.

All this talk of show horses...I grew up really poor, always wanting a horse, never getting to have one, riding anyone else's who'd let me or show me a thing or two. Over the years I've done a lot of research on care and training and such. Almost two months ago I finally got my very own first horse. She is very smart and wonderful to work with. She has taught me a lot and I'm sure to learn more. Our progress has been slowed as I'm still recovering from my hand surgery due to my own stupid move while riding. I'm still impressed at how quickly she stopped once I left the saddle. She's a great horse and though our relationship is new, I already trust her to have my back.

lizard.... thank you... my worst experience also on the road with Rodney... was when I decided it would be great to go and ride with my neighbors in the next field about 30 acres... the husband said once... "Let me open the GATE"... and rest is history... I did survive this one as well!!!! I guess to Rodney... it was a command to GO and GO FAST!!!!! Must love these critters ps. none of the others could not keep up...... even by a half a mile... LOL

When attendin' university out in the country down in Texas, I had a mule named Samantha and her pasture buddy was Midnight. I love equine...both horses and mules.