Back in February, I started training a 5 yr old paint mare.  She is owned by Very old friends of mine - who used to live locally, then they moved to Virginia, but we stayed in touch.  Then they came west again, to Arizona.  Last year they wanted to send Two horses to me, but their barn was struck with Strangles, so no one could go anywhere, then the roof on their home got damaged and all money went to that - so fianlly, Reggie and Rainey came to me in February.  Reggie was a 6 yr old morgan gelding who had a rough start with another trainer, and it left him panicked of a saddle.  I worked with him for a month and got him to where we could actually sit up on him and ride him.  They then got him placed back with a Morgan breeder and trainer who took over the long term project. 

 

Rainey is a beautiful black and white paint mare - the daughter of a PMU mare (some premarine producers saw the logic of at least producing registered stock).  So rainey's mom was pretty antisocial.  And she put a bit of that in her daughter.  We worked hard on ground manners for a month, and convinced Rainey that saddles and bits were all about the carrots.  We also had her teeth done, she had wolf teeth and some sharp edges and no bit seats.  Once that was all taken care of, she started accepting the bit better. 

 

Every horse gets lots of ground work, lunging and I believe in Lay overs before you climb aboard.  No 30 minutes from first saddle to loping round the pen.  Sure, you can DO that, but can you do it again?  Usually the horse is sour and angry after so much being ram rodded down their throats.  So, it looks good on a video, but they never show the morning after.  I prefer to go slow at first and progress fast as the horse is ready. 

 

Feb 22, starting under saddle 

 

The first time we sat up on her, she was SOO Good, until I went to get OFF - then she leapt forward and kicked at me!  That left us Both a little cautious of each other.  But after a lot of careful work, she has proved to be wonderful and willing and SOO calm.
She has never bucked
 

 We started her English, becasue she has this lovely long trot.  But then I studied her pedigree and she has tons of Scootin Spook and Sir Quincy Dan - all western preformance bloodlines.  So we tried the western tack, and Voila - she is a natural!

natural head set 

 

As soon as she is tacked up, she gets a whole different expression on her face - life seems to make sense to her if she is working.  And now, she is even going out on the trails.  I was very proud of both of us, last Tuesday, she did her first trail ride, and I managed to take a video with my cell phone!   It isn't much, and it is raw footage, but what the heck, at least we have proof of how well she is going.  Every ride brings progress.  Which makes advertising really hard - as soon as I get a video up, or an ad worded, she is already beyond that! 
 

 

Now the tough part - listing her for sale and trying to find the perfect owner for her.  Her current owners are willing to take her back to Arizona, but I worry that she will just sit unused and she really ENJOYS working.  I may have to offer to keep training her on consignment.  I guess it is time to start the advertising blitz.  I hate selling horses - it feels like turning my kids into slaves and taking the highest bidder for them.  But I sure cannot keep them all, so I try to think of myself as an old Matchmaker - creating marriages!!! 

 

Single White and Black female seeking life partner for adventures in the wide open spaces.  Calm but with an independant personality, looking for an equally strong willed happy go lucky friend! 

 

Hope that works!

 

www.SweetwaterRanchAV.com - a fun place to learn to ride  mw

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Comment by vickie lawson on April 23, 2011 at 1:41pm
sounds like super progress! i love your sharing of how you train. i have trained and started both of my babies. the older one at 5 is just lovely to take out also. the 3 yr old is just starting, and like you, i take it slow, happy with a small amount of no pressure progress every ride! good luck in finding the perfect home for her!

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