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Never shared his lesson yesterday with Indy, a 3 yr old grey Arabian, and everybody involved learned something.
Working with Indy is like flying a kite on a windy day: he goes right to the end of the rope, screaming and calling and bouncing around. You ask him to do something, and if he's paying attention he'll do it then lose focus and bounce and call. Never takes his lessons seriously. He'll get distracted by horses outside of the arena, but when you ask him do something or pay attention, for the most part he will.
Yesterday, they switched.
The trainer decided to work them both in the arena at the same time, off lead, as neither one had done anything like that before. We thought that after some running and goofing off, Never would decide to relax and learn, and Indy would keep doing laps around the arena. What actually happened was that Never started herding Indy around, and when Indy decided he had had enough and wanted to go to his handler, Never would cut him off and drive him away. He would move him around the arena, back and forth along the wall, even causing him to side pass!
Finally,after 45 minutes of this, Indy said enough and went to is handler and stood quiet. He was quiet and paid attention for the rest of his lesson. Never did laps for about 10 more minutes, and finally agreed that it was time for a lesson. Because of the incident last week, we worked on being near things that were dragging and making noise and desensitizing his hindquarters more. We didn't do any under saddle work, but the trainer has him going at a trot now.
He seems to be doing fine, his top-line looks good and his hindquarters are muscling up well. He's not really black anymore, more of a sunburned dark bay, but overall he's looking good and more mature.
The topic of one of my favorite blogs Behind the Bit yesterday was "times when you totally lost it", your emotions went totally out of your control. The first story that came to mind was from when I was around 10 years old, and colored my view of trainers for years.
Shady was my first horse, born just 6 months before I was. She was true black 7/8 Arabian mare with a blaze and a mischievous personality, mostly because the other 1/8 of her genetics was Shetland pony. She was curious and smart and somewhat of an escape artist, but she was mine and I loved her dearly.
When I was old enough for the 4-H horse project, Mom sent Shady to an Arab breeder friend of hers who's son was a trainer. After he had put about a month or two of work into her (I think, I don't quite remember) he had me in for a lesson.
I knew something was off about her, as she would hug the wall of the dim indoor arena while going counter clockwise, but when she went clockwise she stayed about six feet from the wall. I mentioned my concerns, but the trainer just said she was being stubborn and I was letting her get away with being naughty. He had me get off, then hopped on and proceeded to beat the crap out of my mare with a whip RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I so mad and frustrated I was crying, and kept trying to convince him that something must be wrong with her eyes. Mom was horrified by the whole scene, and pulled Shady out of there soon after. I never forgot or forgave that jerk.
As a result of that lesson, I kept a close eye on Shady and her reactions to things: sticking close while I led her, rearing in a halter class when the judge came around the back, going though a fence at dusk. It was about 5 or 6 years after the trainer incident when the vet determined she had glaucoma in one eye, the one on the side she had issues with. I felt vindicated, in a way, but sad and upset too. She lived for a few more years in comfort, but we decided to have her put down when she continually broke through the fence. She was 21, and so was I.
I have another 'lost it' story about a trainer, but I think I'll save it for another day. Remembering this took more out of me than I thought it would, I'm pissed off all over again!
I've been meaning to write about Heather for a while now, but with things so hectic I really hadn't spent much time with her. Since today was so lovely, and we may not have very many more days like it left this year, I decided to spend some time with her.
First, some background. I went to the feed store earlier this summer and saw an advertisement for 'an older Arabian mare' for sale, $600 or best offer. I took down the number, as there aren't many Arab people in the area and I was curious. Plus, the faded picture looked a lot like one of my mom's foundation mares: liver chestnut with a blaze and stockings. I called the owner later in the week, and after a long chat about Arabians and such we arranged a day and time to meet.
I arrived at the farm without any difficulty. It wasn't far from my farm, just tucked out of the way on a back road that I hadn't traveled before. Nice place, shiny happy horses, plenty of grass and a nice barn. The owner was friendly and talkative. She introduced me to another horse that we had talked about on the phone, an 18 yr old gray Arabian with almost the same name as my mare that passed on 2 years ago now. Tiara, the gray mare, was lovely, but she had a big problem: she ran the fence in a big way. Even when placed in a pasture with other horses, she would run back and forth along the fence. The owner (who wasn't her first) tried to get her to stop by placing her in a pen by herself and making it odd shaped, but it didn't work. She was wearing herself down, and the owner just didn't know what to do. She offered her to me for free, but I'm not equipped to handle a horse like that. So, though it broke my heart, I had to decline. Then she took me to see Heather.
Heather in person looked even more like Bahara, mom's old mare. She was wonderful, smart, steady, healthy, and apparently 30 years old! Yikes! She was fit and in good shape, so I had Jac ride her first, then I took a turn (nothing strenuous). We went back to the barn, and the owner showed us Heather's trick (nodding her head for a treat when you ask if she want's one), and then introduced us to the rest of the herd. After that, I said I would get back to her about Heather, and we took our leave. I kept meaning to call and tell her that i couldn't justify the $600 for a horse at the moment, but the weeks just went by.
Just days after Sketch died, I get a call from Heather's owner. I apologized profusely, telling her I meant to call and explaining about Sketch. We talked for a bit, and then she said 'If you still want Heather, I'll sell her to you, and only you, for $150'. Stunned, I told her I'd have to talk it over with Ken, but I'd let her know. Well, a week later I called back and said 'Sure'.
I know life needs to go on, but I'm in a bit of a quandry. Sketch was the only horse I had that was ridable and of a good age. My other ridables are really old and retired. The others are young and of riding age, just not trained yet. I need to find a dressage trainer (or a good trainer period) that knows Arabians as well as stock horses to get my girls (and one boy) properly started.
Still, though, I would like a horse that I can just jump on and go on a trail ride, that won't need to be schooled every time I get on. I had gone to look at a horse earlier this summer, the ad said older been there, done that Arabian. There's not many Arabians around here, so I had to go see her.
She was wonderful, she reminded me of one of my mom's foundation mares, and she rode wonderfully for her age, which happened to be thirty! She's very solid and well built, you would never guess her to be that old. Her owner wanted $600 and a good home, but I just didn't have the money or the room. Well, a few days after Sketch passed on, the owner called me and asks if I still want the mare, and for me she'll drop the price to $150! I think I need to buy this mare, I just have to figure out how to get more money coming in to cover the other costs.
I will accomplish my goals, I have to keep telling myself that so I keep going.
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