Baby Greenie Support Group now open: Share Your Pain!

[Duffy]

You don’t want to take mine by himself, even for a walk down the driveway. You can’t turn him out by himself either. He’ll jump out and go back to the barn with his buds. From what I understand of their upbringing in Germany, they are turned out with tons of other babies until they’re maybe three, then they’re brought in, broken and trained. They don’t get the turnout that our horses are used to. He is NOT used to being all by himself!

Oooooh! He jumped for the first time in about 6 months today and was such a good boy!!! (I just warmed him up for my trainer. )

[Janet]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Problem is, I don’t like bratty little kids, are there any other kind? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, there are always bitchy adults!

I certainly hope you get some conclusive good news soon.

[Merry]

Hey now, enough of the Royal Waving Wrist and the command to “Fix it.” Like, when do I get to do that? My wrist is ready and waiting.

Oh, and Bumpkin, you just keep coming up with those moments of inspiration. If nothing else, they’ll keep us laughing. Your current ditty is right up there with that oft-quoted Olympic adage about, “It’s not the winning, it’s the struggle,” or something along those lines. Yeah, right. Remind me of that when I’m out lungeing at 6:00 am, or galloping around the warm-up ring in a two-point.

“Friends don’t let friends eat fish tacos.”

[findeight]

as I well know since he beat us the only show we were against each other

From Allergy Valley USA

[Merry]

Wow, the photos that’ve been posted are lovely! At least we can all agree: our babies are beautiful!

Oh dear, poor Busters Mom: We so, so deeply feel your pain! Your incident recalls the former spotted Wonder Mare I bred/raised/owned. She did exactly the same thing in her baby green years. It’s a fear of leaving the herd and going into the arena alone. True, you can force the issue, but it gets really ugly! Our solution: we went to a half-dozen teeny shows where my sister went into the arena ON ANOTHER HORSE and sat there whilst I schooled over the fences. Talk about making a fool out of oneself! But it worked and that mare went on to be an awesome jumper!

“Charter Member of the Baby Greenie Support Group of North America”

[wtywmn4]

Never fear dmj, he’ll revert just to see if you’re on your toes. Mine continually amazes me. Even on a daily basis! Today we were like old shep. Just plodded around and behaved like a super star. Lesson went fine, hopped (literally) over the ground rails. Did everything he was asked, not a spook nor a snort. Okay, tomorrow will be???

Both dekster and beau are cuties. Looks like the pre-green divisions are going to have some good competition this year!

[OnceAThief]

I’ll join the “Just Started Psycho Pony” support group with you guys! As of today, Warmblood William has been officially “backed.” Whoo.

William has just started out in Pony School, which would be exciting enough if I got to do things on my own terms, but instead I have some help… Here’s what happened today:

My trainer, who has really taken over my project horse (not bitter) met me at the door to the barn today with another goofy smile on her face. “You’ve GOT to come see Willbur!” she said as she bounced off toward his stall. It being hellaciously early and me being my normal pissy self, I was expecting to see that he’d managed to suck down another western saddle only leaving the silver pieces… again…

Instead, I was met with a yellow horse. Seems Trainer and William had gotten in a spat about Furazone spray - she kept saying how long it took to get him good with it, I kept shaking my head and saying, “He was always fine with this with me!,” and she’d remind me again that when you have them from baby-hood you can’t blame the other trainers for their issues. Ugh.

So, Chestnut-Gone-Jaundice Willbur turns around and I see that he not only has tiger stripes and a tic-tac-toe board on one side, he has A-- HOLE!! spray painted on the other. (sigh) Pictures were taken from every angle, with William looking as sweet and innocent as possible in them all.

I got the joy of heaving myself up onto the yellow nightmare bareback in his stall. Sitting on him was all well and good, until I looked down and saw that I had now transferred all of that yellow crap to my jeans, shirt, and face. Ah, the joy of the Just-Started-Out-Psycho-Trainers…

---

Swift’s Injuries: 4 Major, 16 Minor, 9 XRays. Injuries to rider: 4

[Bumpkin]

Same goes for an “Unfit Rider” (As I think of myself )
haha

[Showpony]

YEP, I said the same thing!

Maybe I should post that on the “how I know my horse loves me” thread!

Schooling w/out customers there she is great then when someone comes to try her she acts like she can’t get out of her own way. Huh? what? a jump?

So I KNOW my horse loves me because apparently she wants me to own her FOREVER!!

[Bumpkin]

And woe am I!!! hahaha
I am due for a root canal at 7:30 tomorrow morning!!!

We worked on walk, and trot and canter and using the reins etc…
The funniest part was when we were doing the sitting trot, my wonderful trainer said, “tell me if it hurts your cheek”…

I thought she meant my bum!!! Since I am still a wee bit sore on one “cheek”!!!

hahaha

I was thinking, now how did she know that??? Wow this trainer is so awesome!!!

What she meant was my “Alvin the Chipmunk” swollen cheek from the infected molar.

I think she was surprised to see me come in the barn today, I told her, “Of course, Darvon works real well, forget about Vicodan”

Elliot was such a wonderful boy!!!
I love this horse and I love my stable and trainer. Makes me feel like I am 30 years younger.

[Merry]

“A project”? No, that’s a jigsaw puzzle, or knitting an afghan.

“Charter Member of the Baby Greenie Support Group of North America”

[Chef_Jade]

Awww - Mr. Beezer sounds like every horsewomans’ dream.

I am sooooo sorry.

I am realizing more and more that I have been extremely lucky in the soundness department. (knocking on wood, fingers, toes, other extremities crossed, salt being thrown over shoulder, etc.)

Jade made her debut in the 1st years with some inconsistent rounds. But she did get a 4th in the last class out of about 15.

I checked on Dekster out in his pasture. He was hanging out by himself with not a bite mark on him. So it looks like he will be staying out there for 6 months but when he comes back I shall have plenty of greenie stories to relay to the support group!

[Merry]

Oh, the rust breeches my trainer has ordered me to burn?

No, this is for “the book”.

But back to the discussion at hand:
To make us all feel better, I was at a reining/working cow horse “show” today with my photographer, and they had classes for greenies. It was comforting to know that we aren’t the only ones who suffer. Beyond the rough dry work and patterns (although why is they all got their flying changes smoothly?) when they began to work their cattle, some of the riders got just about slammed into the arena wall. Then there were some horses that were expressing the, “Ah, I’m not so sure I’d like to get up close and personal with a steer.” It warmed my heart to see these folks struggle.

“Friends don’t let friends eat fish tacos.”

[Bumpkin]

Like I said mine is awesome. She knows Elliot and myself and knows what she can get us to do without taking any chances!!!
To find a trainer who is good with both the horse and client is a treat indeed!!!

Hats off to our wonderful Greenie and Adults reliving their childhood trainers!!!

“Have You Hugged Your Trainer Today?”

[Duffy]

I love reading the posts on this thread! They make me appreciate my beast even more when he’s good and let me know there is a light at the end of the tunnel when he decides to be…hmmm…inspired!!

I’m getting a little nervous. We had another fabulous lesson today, complete with cavalletti! LOL We jumped through them one time by accident, but he still felt great.

The trainer, who usually rides him, got to watch me ride him today and said that he truly is beautiful and that we make a great “picture”.

[Bertie]

Thanks Pam. You’re so right. I’ve got to forget about tradition and get right into the lesson with this horse. Short and sweet.

Funny you should mention lunging after working. I’ve thought about doing that too, but then I decided against it when I figured people at the barn would think I’ve gone totally bonkers The crazy woman is lunging her horse AFTER riding it

And thanks for the tip for bracing against the inevitable root. I bet your “hands on thighs” method will help. I was bracing my knuckles against her withers, but that didn’t work very well.

Sounds like you’ve been there done that with this type

[Merry]

Ah, DMK and Laurie, your babies are so lovely! Tess looks like this wonderful ad. am. horse I was admiring this past weekend. “RV” (cute name!) resembles Hammie a little, I must say. I love it when they jump really round over something, as if they’re studying it as they go over.

“Friends don’t let friends eat fish tacos.”

[DMK]

Agreed with everyone else, Lucky Me! Get thee to a trainer!!

But as some have pointed out, the most important thing you can do is to spend a lot of time working with that trainer too. If he/she is a good one, they will understand exactly why that is most important.

Also, you may want to get a book on conquering fear around horses - I thought Janet Edgette wrote a good one, but there have been a few threads on this topic, so a search may be in order!

Probably the reason why Merry, Lord Helpus and myself (thanks LaurieB ) are so comfortable dealing with greenies is because this is the devil we know, and we know our limits. We’ve been down this road before! Fear-wise, I would rather trot an unorganized, klutzy oversized 4 year old OTTB through his first gymnastic than jump my made horse over a 3’6 oxer ANY day of the week.

There are quite a few people who think that is not a normal outlook on life, but I know Merry and Lord Helpus understand where I am coming from

[Calypso]

Can I join? I don’t have my own horse anymore and I’m not riding right now but plan on starting up again within the next couple weeks. I may need some adult support and wisdom in my venture.

So, can I can I? Please?

Babbabouie

[Merry]

Good job, chef!

This support group is great! I hope no one minds if I’m chuckling along while I read these posts. Just remember: I’m not laughing AT you, I’m laughing WITH you!

Justice: A reining/working cowhorse trainer might do the trick! Just think, on weekends when you’re not showing hunters, you could make some $ doing jackpot team penning!

“Charter Member of the Baby Greenie Support Group of North America”