A Study in Unsuitability

I got to the barn late yesterday afternoon and there were several people riding in the indoor. Since I knew Izzy need to run around and that wasn't possible, we decided to have a much-needed second groundwork day. I am happy to say that Izzy was much better, as long as I handled her from her left side. When I tried working from the right, she got very angry. We'll keep trying.

On to the more interesting part of the blog!

There is a lady at the barn who I have only met once or twice. She is older, not very fit, and a nervous rider who only aspires to do trail riding. So far, so good.

She also had a totally unsuitable horse, which bucked her off and hurt her sometime this summer. Fortunately, she finally recognized the horse was unsuitable and decided to sell him, then look for another one. The horse she had was 8 years old, semi-trained, and not the type you could just let sit and then go on a quiet trail ride with once a month or so, which is what she does.

Upon selling the unsuitable horse, she promptly bought a new horse. It is an 8 year old gaited horse that I think she liked because it was buckskin. Nevertheless, she assured us all that she bought it because it was bombproof and exactly what she wanted. Cool.

Today, she had the vet out, since it's super important to vet your horse after you buy him. Yes, after. ;-) Due to the large amount of melting snow, they were doing the exam in the aisle by the indoor. Also due to the snow, anyone else who wanted to do anything with their horses were also in the indoor. There were three of us. At this point, though, I am the only one in the arena. I am doing ground work (walk/trot/halt) with Izzy. Izzy is being quiet good, mostly. She had a couple little leaps above the ground, but they were on the far end of the arena.

The lady comes over to the fence and asks me if I could please not do that because, and I quote, "It's making my horse nervous."

Yes folks, the "bombproof" horse is too nervous to have another horse trot by the rail in the arena. Does anyone else think this is a clue? I decided to let Izzy be done (though I was fuming about not being able to work my horse in the arena I'm paying for) out of respect for the poor vet who not only had to deal with the very upset horse, but also the very upset owner.

Sigh. I understand a young horse being nervous in a new place or having issues with other horses going by, but for this lady? Really? If your horse can't deal with new places, how in the world is he going to make a trail horse? If he can't have other horses go by on the other side of the fence at a quiet trot, what do you think is going to happen on the trail?

After the vet finished, the lady triumphantly announced to us that her horse passed. He may be totally unsuitable, but he sure can pass a post-purchase vet check.

Yay?

When Things Go Right...

I had another pretty good ride on Izzy. She had several wonderful moments, notably two (that's right, 2) stretch circles at the trot and of her own volition. She also learned how to do a turn on the haunches in less than a minute. She had to learn because today she decided to lean through her left shoulder instead of her right. I switched my whip and focused on riding from my inside leg to my outside rein, but she still leaned through, so we stopped and did a turn on the haunches to get her to move her shoulder. I was impressed by how quickly she picked it up.

I'd say she's doing very, very well. Apparently, other people have noticed, as now a fellow boarder has asked me to train her daughter's 4 year old know-nothing gelding.

I'm flattered and I'll probably do it because I need the money to pay for my own pony, but I'm not thrilled about it. Here's why.

1) The horse is a big boy (like 16.3ish). His owners are/were scared of him, and he learned to push them around. After a couple months with us, he's finally learned not to chase people, but there's still that mentality.

2) The daughter is a girl I have zero respect for as a rider. She's the one that Izzy pinned her ears and lunged at because the girl couldn't be bothered to look where she was going and kept running up her tail. This is the same girl who only ever rides the horse her parents bought her (so she could win) in lessons and shows. The four year old? Yeah, he was raised at her house and she never bothered to handle him. At all. This girl rode her horse in draw reins and PULLED HER OVER because, well, I don't know why. It was scary. The poor mare clearly hated the draw reins. The girl wouldn't let up. The horse lost her balance. Girl pulled her over almost on top of herself. The other boarders were rushing to see if the girl was ok. I just wanted to slap her. Her comment after what was clearly a traumatic experience for the mare? "Well, I hope she learned her lesson." What? That draw reins are scary and bad and painful?? I think she already had a grip on that. Grrr. I know said girl can't train the horse herself (she's never ridden a greenie in her life), but I feel bad prepping a horse for someone so useless.

3) The people who have worked with this horse since he got here taught him some lovely habits. Today, he tried to roll on the saddle and struck out when I wouldn't let him. He kicks when his feet are picked up and has an attention span shorter than that of the average gnat. I know all these problems are fixable, but it's irritating to have a horse with this many bad habits and zero useful training.

Oh well. I'll keep you updated on how it goes. I console myself by realizing that I already blew my USEF amateur status by shoveling horse manure, so I might as well get paid to ride horses, too. Oh, and new boy's name is Bear. He's a Holsteiner.