I recently went to look at a horse who was advertised as bomb proof and one who would make a great lesson prospect. The first thing I did was to bend over and try to pick up her feet only to quickly be given an excuse as to why she wasn\u2019t that willing. I immediately noted a hint of defense in the seller\u2019s voice but moved along with my evaluation.
\n
\nThe next thing I did was try to send her out in a circle on a lung line. That didn\u2019t go well either and again the seller had an excuse. I decided to take the mare away from the seller and her friends who were watching so I could give her a fair chance without any comments from the peanut gallery. I found a flat spot and started doing a little groundwork. Moving the hip over, backing up, giving to pressure\u2026.you know\u2026\u2026the simple things that everyone looks for in a horse. This little mare had a look in her eyes like she was just plain tired but after about 10 minutes she perked up when she realized that I would release the pressure if she gave me even the smallest try at what I was asking. I did have to tap her hip with my stick and string a few times but she was a fast learner.
\nAfter I felt certain that she wasn\u2019t a killer, I put my saddle on and went for a small ride. That did not go well either for a horse who was advertised as proficient at all three gaits. She did like to walk but leg pressure and clucking meant nothing to her. I turned to the seller and asked if she would mind riding her so I could witness how on earth they got the horse to move beyond a walk. Her friend \u201ca trainer\u201d got on and nearly beat the poor thing into a very rough trot which she did not post and eventually did get 3 steps at the canter then the mare was done. I took her back and did a little more ground work with the saddle on just to let her know that all humans were not pressure happy. She looked at me with those eyes, nearly begging me to take her with me but the owner wanted over $2,000 for her and I was only willing to pay (at the most) $500.00 and that would have been more then she was worth on that day.
\nSo back into my truck I went without the horse who sounded so perfect on the phone. A few miles down the road I got a text from the seller telling me that I was abusive, a liar, a few other things I won\u2019t write and how could I call myself a trainer because I \u201chit\u201d their horse with my stick and string? I didn\u2019t respond because I knew it would fall on deaf ears.
\nIn the horse world there are many different versions of what ground work entails. The few things I asked this little mare to do are, in my opinion basis and should have been easy for the horse to carry out. Others may have their own opinion and that is fine. Just beware of ads that make a horse sound too good to be true. Insist on a video if the horse is a distance away so you don\u2019t waist a trip. There are some great horses out there for sale and buying a horse does require some trust between you and the seller but it can be done successfully for all parties involved. Happy horse hunting everyone!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I recently went to look at a horse who was advertised as bomb proof and one who would make a great lesson prospect. The first thing I did was to bend over and try to pick up her feet only to quickly be given an excuse as to why she wasn\u2019t that willing. I immediately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tammys-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenspokestable.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}