Whew what a weekend. I am just going to combine everything into one post.
Saturday: One of the young girls at the barn owns a rotten paint pony. Last week she bathed all 4 of my horses and hand grazed them each for 30 minutes or so. I told her that she earned a lesson so we met at the barn around lunch time.
After I got her going I grabbed Andy. I was helping her bridle her ear shy pony so I had the bridle over the horn and my rope halter on Andy. I stayed on the ground to watch her first ride with a bit on this pony and decided that Andy could use some groundwork. He is very well behaved but I need to make sure he moves the way I want on the ground and can show what I am looking for at the clinic in June.
He seemed eager to try new things and while I found a few sticky places all in all he did GREAT. He had a super relaxed posture when we were done. I think I'm going to have to start doing this a few times a week before we ride. I think he had fun.
I did learn that he is MUCH more balanced than I thought. He can canter a 25' circle without pulling on the leadrope!! That is balance.
When I got on him and started showing my student what I wanted her to work on with her pony and that got Andy nice and loose. We worked on it, mostly at the walk for about 20 minutes before I turned her loose to do her own thing. Andy and I started loping our circles. It was the first time we had REALLY REAL circles. They weren't disfigured or scary, they were nice, round, and he was staying upright. Its amazing how you don't realize how bad it was until you feel how good it can be.
When we came off our last circle to the left I asked for a stop. He really drove his hind end down and for the first time EVER I got 11s out of him. Granted it was only about 2.5' but it was something. We did a rollback and loped our right circles and got another 2' slide. I was in HEAVEN. I can't wait to get him out Monday (today) and see how our circles look.
Sunday:
I got up early to drive to Advance, NC where I worked with a 18hh percheron mare. Her owner had her in training to be a driving horse but wasn't happy that they had to drug/stock or table the mare every time they went to trim her feet. She wanted me to come out and teach the mare to calmly pick up her feet and stand for the farrier. I told her to make sure her trainer was comfortable with me coming out and training her mare while she was in his care. She assured me that he was ok but I was still nervous.
I got there and everything went smoothly. I had all 4 feet in the air and quiet in 10 minutes. The rest of the hour I spent teaching her and the trainer how to pick up this mare's feet and keep her where they wanted her. The guy was GREAT. He was an older guy but agreed with what I said and took instruction really well.
Before I left he showed me a few ponies he had for sale and asked for a stack of business cards so he could post it in his barn. He is going to talk to the driving club about having me do a clinic.
This was all great but I couldn't help over thinking it.
Are there trainers out there that don't teach basic horsemanship or don't KNOW basic horsemanship?? Are there FEI level riders out there that can't get a horse through Level 2??
When I work with a horse I work with the whole package. I don't just say ok...my goal is to get this horse to lope so ALL I am going to do is lope....
Does a dressage, driving, WP, racing, hunter, etc trainer not care what the horse does as long as their part of the training is covered? Do they not offer their clients help with problems if they come up but are outside the scope of their expertise?
Sorry for all the questions but I am just blown away that I was needed at a trainer's barn.
6 comments:
Very cool about your progress with Andy. It sounds like he pleasantly surprised you with that balanced canter!
Sadly I think there are a lot of trainers and riders out there who don't see the benefits of understanding basic horsemanship, solid groundwork, skills outside a particular discipline, etc. But there are also plenty of trainers out there who DO get it, and who DO train for a well-rounded horse... and those are the trainers I make friends with :)
Sounds like you had a good ride!
I imagine it depends a lot on the trainer. And I can see uses for both sorts. If I had a green horse or a problem horse, I'd want a trainer like you or Gayle who'll work on the whole package and try to understand how the horse fits together. But if I had a 4th level horse who was ready to advance, I might not need a trainer who knows how to teach a baby to pick up feet because that's not what I'm looking for. There I want someone who can give my horse and I, who presumably have a balanced base already, the polish to move on up the levels.
That said, I'm not sure there's really an excuse for the advanced trainer to NOT know how to get a baby to pick up their feet (or an 18hh mare) but I'd probably respect them even more if they were smart enough to say "You know, maybe we should get someone who handles these sorts of problems all the time" in to deal with stuff.
Sorry for the long answer! Oh, and congrats on the 11s! (If it weren't for reading Mugwump I'd have no idea what you were talking about ;)).
Libby, the more I mess with him the more athletic I realize he is. I just hope we don't have a BIG fight oneday....he could easily twist me off! LOL
Andrea, I appreciate the long answer and the thoughts. I too understand that an upper level rider doesn't start babies so therefore doesn't really need to have all the problem solving skills....however...how did they GET to the upper level without starting at least a FEW horses. I was very grateful that this trainer was so open minded but I was still shocked that I was needed. He starts babies a lot and teaches horses how to drive....does he not clean their feet??????
Sorry for the lack of explanation on the 11s. For everyone else it is when your horse stops by really pushing his hind feet down and sliding to a stop. So when you look back over his hind end. You see 11s in the dirt.
Let me add my perspective - the local small name trainers I meet can usually teach a horse a lot of things, from picking up feet to 2nd/3rd level dressage. The big name trainers usually cannot - they have had a groom doing the grunt work of picking up feet. They may be able to start a baby over fences or doing lead changes, but leading correctly? No clue. The higher up the levels you go, the less likely you are to spend time with your horse in a way that most of us enjoy (trail riding, grooming, etc). To make it to that level, you just don't have the time to do those things.
And then! There are those no name trainers that have fooled a few clients into believing they can teach a horse anything...when in reality, they know NOTHING!
At least that is my experience. There are exceptions to every rule. Its tough to find the right trainer for what you need. I experienced this firsthand with a 3 yr old mare I was stupid enough to buy.
I'm with you - respect starts on the ground! Sometimes that respect transfers to the saddle, other times (cough cough, PRO) it doesn't. ;) But it definitely starts on the ground.
And Ellen beat me to it - you might see a lot of top trainers who have never had to start a baby because they've been handed pre-made horses all their life. I much prefer a whole-package trainer like Gayle who, in one visit, can assess my horse's nutrition, evaluate and trim his feet, teach me how to ride, and ground-work my horse. I wouldn't want to go back to having a separate person to do each one of those, because then there's no whole-horse evaluation.
Andy seems like he's doing great, what a sweetheart!
And...
"Its amazing how you don't realize how bad it was until you feel how good it can be."
WOW, YES!!!
So cool with Andy! Congratulations on the 11s!! (And I am proud of myself for figuring out what you meant, LOL!) ;)
I have to say that I was going to say much of what everyone else has said regarding trainers...exactly.
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