Any horse people out there?

[steve1 5]

I think this thread is taking a turn where many think I am horse stupid and really need a trainer bad. It isn't so much that I am a green horn with a horse, as that there is truly so much to learn when it comes to working with horses. I may already know a fair amount, but there is always plenty more to learn.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been around tough horses all my life. Part of what I learned about wild horses was riding broncs in amateur and Pro rodeos. Many were orangatang horse my Dad bought at the horse sale. I've broken several other colts with good results...without any so called trainers.

So, I'll throw in a few points that may be a bit controversial with what has been brought up so far.

Finding someone who is a good horse trainer, may not be easy. I've met several who start colts who know less than I do. Many are young people who earn extra cash by getting on colts. There are many that I wouldn't trust with my horses. We've owned a ton of horses over the years that have been started wrong, and almost ruined by idiots.

It's easy in hind sight to say that this colt wasn't ready. There's no way to say for sure what a colt will do. The more ground work the better, but there's no guarantee that a colt will not buck or try to run off, when you swing a leg over their back. If I'd had the proper corral the ending would have been different in this case.

Most everyone I know around here starts their colts under saddle, when they are two....if they are big enough. I know the growth plates aren't fully developed yet. As long as they have enough size, and if you don't overwork them their shouldn't be any problems from this at all.

My thinking on this is that the younger you can do things, usually the better off you are.

I bought a five year old mare this past winter, really cheap. She's beautiful, has some Hancock breeding. I figured I'd use some of the techniques that I had learned watching videos and reading. I figured if they can do it on TV, I figured I could do it. I mean this horse was only a couple years beyond three.

I should have known this wasn't going to be an easy trick. We had to run it into a chute just to get a halter on it. When I tried to load it, she struck at me with both front feet and hit me with her chest.

This horse has a fairly calm dispostion, but has never been worked with. I'd like to see the horse trainer that can tame this horse down. I've used many of the techniques I've seen on TV. The thing is that almost none of them are working.

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that some horses just aren't worth keeping around. Maybe there is a way to tame some of them down, but it would take so much time that it just wouldn't be worth it. I'm getting this mare bred, and hope to raise a colt or two out of her.

This same horse would now be a good saddle horse if someone had started it early enough and spent some time with it rather than waiting. I think that goes even for starting them under saddle. So, I'm going to keep starting mine at two.

I have a friend who has a three year old, that he hasn't got on yet. It's mostly because it is small framed, and he doesn't want to hurt it. He will start riding it later this summer.....Steve1

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

Dee Snyder?

Nah...that's "horse-FACED"...

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Billy 0]

Steve,

Sorry I missed the part with your experiance,, it was late and I assumed you were a wanna be cowboy from New York .. then I saw your that you were in Stevensville and I had to laugh...

Your right about "good trainers" and feel lucky we found one for our last colt... I am more uneasy on a green horse than on almost any skydive, ya just never know what will set them off...

Know what ya mean too about some horses not worth the time, and sure ya've seen folks sink lots of it along with a boat load of $$ and still have a knot head... too bad she wasn't started better for ya but hope ya can work the kinks out...

Hope to meet ya at LP!

Billy

Natural Born FlyerZ.com