#problemhorses

[amber-lydic]

Spot the 13 year old OTTB is ready for the saddle… This is his 2nd progress video over several sessions… Please enjoy and feel free to let me know if you have any questions… 

[amber-lydic]

So today I realized I get down sometimes that I am not showing, I do not have a barn full of little quarter horses, that the horses I have in training are mostly deemed "problem horses".  I think to myself, I can't wait till I have a barn full on "nice horses"...

Something happened when I walked to the pasture, I was in there to get the mare Dutchess that one week ago would have mowed me down and not thought twice about it,  I loved seeing her calmly grooming another horse... looking well balanced & genuinely happy. I clucked and she walked over, dropped her head & let me put the halter on. I looked at Camey, one of the most challenging horses I have ever worked with, and when she finally gets new things and relaxes it is one of the most rewarding feelings. Then there is Luna, also another highly emotional mare, so insecure, so herd bound. When she first arrived I remember seeing her run past my house back to the barn, she had ripped the rope from her owners hands to go home... In their most recent lesson I got to watch her trot relaxed & on the buckle all over the arena. 

I walked into the barn to put her away in her stall that two days ago terrified her, turned her around, took her halter off, and instead of her running out to see where her new buddies were, she hung out for a head rub and never worried once about it. Then I walked to the end where Spot lives, I was going to open his paddock so he could spend the night in the large section of the pasture. Three weeks ago he would have ran past me or over me, depending on how quick I was that day, to franticly see who he needed to meet & attach himself to... Today he walked calmly out & followed me back in to his stall to wait for dinner. 

We have nine horses here... Today I waked to each and every one of these horses & apologized for taking the fact that I have the most amazing teachers for granted. The majority of horses I work with have come from other trainers... or situations where they have been treated unfairly... Yet they allow me into their World, let down their guard & allow me to help them with a new future... I am blessed and will not ever take them for granted again.