What started out as a crappy, frustrating day turned out to be a little fun and informative.
I decided to put a snaffle bit on Brie. For those who aren't familiar with the Paso Finos, let me explain. Pasos are Spanish horses from Colombia and Puerto Rico. Hence, they use Colombian style bits. (if you really don't know, bits are the metal parts that go in the horse's mouth) Snaffle bits are mainly for English style riding, like dressage and jumping. Based on the knowledge from Dominic, Carmello, and my mother, who are all trained in dressage, I believe it's worth a shot. Because they offer explanations as to how what the trainers are doing wrong, and how a bit of dressage training would be good for these horses, I believe its worth a shot. And because the trainers in Florida are winning and catching onto the snaffle bit "revolution", I believe it's worth a shot.
And anyways, Brie started out with this snaffle bit. It can't hurt to go back to her roots. And hey, if dressage has been working for hundreds of years on all sorts of horses, why wouldn't it work now to help this Spanish breed have more finesse?
Anyways, I worked with Brie on the snaffle bit. She seems okay with it, but slightly shocked at the difference between it and the Colombian bit. I don't know how it'll work out, it's just an experiment.
New problem: getting Brie to willingly accept the bit.
Now with Nina. She's very unhappy. Andre pointed out that Nina has sores, symmetrical sores, on the inside of her mouth. Hmm I wonder why. Not. She's pacing and not in her natural gait. The only good part about that is that Andre gave us a way to fire him. He suggested giving her time off! His situation's complicated and I don't wish to go into it. But we all at the stable think that he's getting ready to quit right before Nationals because of his situation. That'll leave the stable in peril, but not me!
The fun part of my day? After getting really angry at Andre, I decided "well what the hell." I got out my hard hat, took some cones and a long 2x4, and made a small jump. At first Brie was hesitant, but once she got up to it, she jumped right over it! And she liked it! I think I might've found her calling! The smaller jump circuit. I'll keep it up for a while and see how it goes.
And for those who say a Paso Fino can't jump, I say to you this:
A horse is a horse and will do what makes her happy.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Day 1
I'm sick of my horse being head-shy.
I'm through with chasing her around the paddock.
I'm tired of being cornered in the stall when I go to get her.
And I'm most tired of my trainer's "training"!
This is the account of one 17 year old girl's experience when she takes "training" into her own hands.
Impossible, you say? By the end of this blog, I promise to have won one blue ribbon in a class of at least 10. I promise to have solved the three problems I aforementioned, and any others that come up along the way. And, most importantly, I promise to have done it all without raising an angry hand to either one of my mares.
Maybe I should state why I'm taking on this project.
I've had my black mare, Brie, for 5 years. Don't get me wrong, my trainer did help in the beginning. Let's call him Andre. Andre started training her when she was 3. She's now 8. And while she is still very....easily excited, I have to give Andre some credit for calming her down. Now while she was in training, someone took her for a joyride and she's been headshy ever since. Back up as to why. Brie is a Paso Fino, a rare gem in America, land of the Quarter Horse. I don't want to go all out into her breed, but you may google it if you're interested.
About a year ago, an expert in the Paso Fino came to our stables. I'll call him Dominic. Dominic observed Brie and me and said that Brie is a very anxious horse. She needs to calm down. So I followed his advice: walk her, don't let her gallop, make her face her fears of the sunshine demons. And it got me to the point where I could ride her in the show ring without her rearing or freezing and getting excused. And while this is an accomplishment, I'd at least like a fourth place. Brie doesn't like other horses in front of nor behind her. Or in general. She only likes my filly (young girl horse) Nina.
At my most recent show in Kentucky, I met an elderly man I'll call Carmello who is packed with knowledge. To make a long story short, I'm following his advice combined with Dominic's: no more doing without reason. See, Andre, who was once very gentle, is getting very aggressive with his training. And when you ask him why he does what he does, he either doesn't know or answers simply "because everyone's doing it". He's not training Brie anymore, but he is training Nina. And I do not like what I'm seeing lately: scars on her nose and ankles. Good thing this is the last week of her training.
So to start off my tale, today I walked Brie for a good hour. I didn't use a bit, which she seemed to really like. After bucking and kicking while I warmed her up, she was really wanting to take off on me. But I managed to work with her and calm her down. Nina and my mom even joined us in our calm state.
So that's how day 1 went. Nothing big, but I guess it takes little steps. I plan on going thru all of the Level One Parelli DVDs this week while I sit at home and have nothing else to do! So that should prove an interesting challenge in the weeks to come. As will the state fair.
I'm through with chasing her around the paddock.
I'm tired of being cornered in the stall when I go to get her.
And I'm most tired of my trainer's "training"!
This is the account of one 17 year old girl's experience when she takes "training" into her own hands.
Impossible, you say? By the end of this blog, I promise to have won one blue ribbon in a class of at least 10. I promise to have solved the three problems I aforementioned, and any others that come up along the way. And, most importantly, I promise to have done it all without raising an angry hand to either one of my mares.
Maybe I should state why I'm taking on this project.
I've had my black mare, Brie, for 5 years. Don't get me wrong, my trainer did help in the beginning. Let's call him Andre. Andre started training her when she was 3. She's now 8. And while she is still very....easily excited, I have to give Andre some credit for calming her down. Now while she was in training, someone took her for a joyride and she's been headshy ever since. Back up as to why. Brie is a Paso Fino, a rare gem in America, land of the Quarter Horse. I don't want to go all out into her breed, but you may google it if you're interested.
About a year ago, an expert in the Paso Fino came to our stables. I'll call him Dominic. Dominic observed Brie and me and said that Brie is a very anxious horse. She needs to calm down. So I followed his advice: walk her, don't let her gallop, make her face her fears of the sunshine demons. And it got me to the point where I could ride her in the show ring without her rearing or freezing and getting excused. And while this is an accomplishment, I'd at least like a fourth place. Brie doesn't like other horses in front of nor behind her. Or in general. She only likes my filly (young girl horse) Nina.
At my most recent show in Kentucky, I met an elderly man I'll call Carmello who is packed with knowledge. To make a long story short, I'm following his advice combined with Dominic's: no more doing without reason. See, Andre, who was once very gentle, is getting very aggressive with his training. And when you ask him why he does what he does, he either doesn't know or answers simply "because everyone's doing it". He's not training Brie anymore, but he is training Nina. And I do not like what I'm seeing lately: scars on her nose and ankles. Good thing this is the last week of her training.
So to start off my tale, today I walked Brie for a good hour. I didn't use a bit, which she seemed to really like. After bucking and kicking while I warmed her up, she was really wanting to take off on me. But I managed to work with her and calm her down. Nina and my mom even joined us in our calm state.
So that's how day 1 went. Nothing big, but I guess it takes little steps. I plan on going thru all of the Level One Parelli DVDs this week while I sit at home and have nothing else to do! So that should prove an interesting challenge in the weeks to come. As will the state fair.
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