Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on September 7, 2009 at 9:33pm

Where are you located? The reason that I ask is that you do need "in person" help with your horse--not internet advice (no matter how knowledgeable--besides, the knowledgeable ones will give you the same advice that I am giving you :-) ). I am very sorry that your initial experience was not good. BUT there are good trainers out there. A three year old stallion (or any other young horse, for that matter) cannot be trained over the internet (as you probaby know).
Please don't give up on all trainers. I wish you a lot of luck, and if you are in my area, give me a call....I don't usually take young horses myself, (although I am helping to back a young one now....) but I may (I emphasize, might) be able to recommend a facility for you, or at least give some "in person" advice. My phone number is on my website http://www.iride.at
In any case, good luck in your search.

Permalink Reply by Kathryn Elliott on September 19, 2009 at 3:02pm

Hi have you ruled out any physical problems , teeth, back, saddle, checked these first. I had my 4 yr old's teeth done before i broke her I did it very slowly I have a round pen but I followed the Jennie Loriston Clarks videos and I have learned to round penn 'when I had another horse broken from an amazing man Jim Young and his assistant Tristan. It takes time to break youngster be patient ''walk is very important transitions help balance . A horse at 3 is still developting keep to your traing scale . I like to know why the trainers need spurs. My little 4 year old, I wouldn't use spurs at all 'going forward to the leg is important', little steps of training at a time, don't rush your horse. Your youngster is young and it takes time to strenghen the back, rule out physical problems and be patient . Good luck Kathy Elliott elliott@interlinks.net

Permalink Reply by Kathrine Gilker on October 25, 2009 at 6:56pm

Have you thought of having a horse massage therapist or chiropractor to look at your horse ?
It is also possible that you do not have your side reins adjusted correctly,your horse needs to make contact with the side reins and the reach for the bit,not all horses will do this however, it also depends on your horses neck set,if your horse has a high set on neck sometimes it is hard for them to re learn how to stretch down for the bit sometimes lunging with draw reins that come up between their front legs helps. Best of luck.

Permalink Reply by wendy on December 8, 2009 at 11:08am

Thanks very much for taking an interest in my youngster. It has now been 5 months since he returned
from this bad training experience. We are making small progress with the stretching forward into the bridle. Recently I felt him becoming more confident in his work with less back problems so I took him 3 times to another farm for some lessons with a top dressage trainer. He was considerably more forward at the new place which was nice but he also pretended to lose his ability to steer preferring to remain in corners of the arena where he could see other horses close by. After 3 people agreed to stand in the corners with lunge whips to encourage him to keep moving we were able to get around without running sideways or stopping. It was more of a rodeo than a dressage lesson however. After that I took him back to work in that arena by myself, after 1 1/2 hours he was able to go thru the corners at a trot so I stopped at that point not wanting to press my luck. We are now back at home working harder on the leg aids and steering. I also use the exercise of wiggling the bit in his mouth while standing still with my legs on to get him to stretch his neck down. When he does he gets a big pat and a piece of carrot. He is slowly starting to perform the same stretching at the trot but he hasn't
put his chin below chest level yet which is required in the most elementary of competition tests so we
have a way to go before overcoming all the damage done last spring.