On 13/07/07, Nancy Sturm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'd seen her do lots and lots of appropriate groundwork and she'd been on > him with someone leading him in the round pen before she decided he was > still too reactive for her. > > I think we all need to know our limits (real or imagined) and accept that > there probably is someone who can do a better job of starting a youngster > than we can.
No doubt. I've been thinking a lot about this training/trainer thread today. I sometimes think we aren't very fair to trainers. We tend to expect a lot in a short time frame because ... hey...it's expensive. But if a horse has been at a trainers for that length of time, and behaves badly or hurts someone. ... then that would say to me that the trainer perhaps pushed the horse into something before s/he was ready. Not really the trainers fault, she was probably given a time frame and felt compelled to follow it or risk looking bad. The ideal situation to me would be to participate fully in my horse's training if I hired a professional to do it. Let the trainer take the first few rides on the horse, but be there to begin taking over the reins and perhaps take a few lessons on the horse before you take him/her home. If the trainer felt the horse needed more time, you would be right there to witness it and understand the reasons why. Dagur is a hot little tamale, and Cara has said that he's probably going to be the one horse that dumps her. We're doing everything in our power to set him up for success and avoid any dumpings completely. It will take longer, but I think Dagur will benefit in the end. I couldn't afford to pay a trainer for the time that Dagur needs to sort things out.. But we see progress...everytime we introduce a new concept...Dagur is at first a bit fussy and questions everything. Then during the next training session, he's much more solid with things so we move on. I fully expect that our next ground driving session will go swimmingly... Wanda
