TOABH: Making of the Horse

Here's the second installment of Beka's blog hop in anticipation of Archie's 18th birthday! 

Making of the Horse

Last week, we talked about our babies.  This week, let's talk about our greenies.  Who trained your horse?  Is your ponykins still in the process of figuring out this whole monkey-on-my-back thing, did you send off for thirty or sixty or ninety days, or did you buy a horse with all the bells and whistles?  Who has helped your horse become what he or she is today?

Isabel is definitely NOT green, tho she had me convinced otherwise the first year I rode her. Turns out that nope - she is just happy to let us think she knows nothing. That way we won't ask for much!!

In other words - she's not stupid. lol 

Anyways... to the best of my knowledge, she was trained by her breeder. They did some local dressage shows - tho not sure if they ever did anything rated or recognized. Also not sure if they did any regular jumping.  

Isabel with her breeder at their first show

I don't know the breeder's training philosophies or approaches or anything like that - but I DO know that she installed one trick very firmly in Isabel: Isabel halts immediately if you drop your stirrup irons. 

And not a nice square halt - but a sudden giraffe halt that always catches me by surprise (like when I drop my irons in the winter to warm up my toes... or in a flat class when they call for posting without stirrups... oops). 

this actually happened lol

In any case, for reasons unknown Isabel was living idly as a pasture pet when her current owner met her and fell instantly in love. The horse hadn't been ridden in some time (I believe a year or more) but was totally fine when her new owner hopped on for a trial ride. 

So she moved on to the next phase of her life: being a fun horse up for occasional gallops through the woods. This suited Isabel quite well - tho the lack of structure and her own natural proclivity toward pushiness meant that she became less and less interested in endless circles in the sand box. Or, ya know, going whatever speed was requested of her rather than the speed she wanted to go... 

'this is how i go. period.' - isabel

When I met them, Isabel's owner was working with a natural horsemanship pro to help reestablish some order and authority into their relationship. I didn't continue these lessons when Isabel's owner left the country for six months (which was why the horse was up for lease) - tho I did use this pro to get us loading in the trailer. 

Ever since then, it's been just me and Isabel's owner riding her - plus the many lessons I've taken with her.