Thanks so much from those of you with DHH experience. I have to say, I kind of like this mare for a lot of reasons.
Some more background: She was bred embryo transfer by a very big name arab barn. She was one of five embryos and they felt, the least exciting of the five. Not pretty enough. She’s a dark liver chestnut with not a white hair on her and a fairly plain Jane face. Translation Boring. They breed specifically for the Saddleseat Division and she just kept getting bumped to the bottom of the training list. As far as a saddle seat horse goes, she is far from a super star. Unfortunately, the Arab DHH cross has flopped more than it hasn’t.
I have found that many of my collegues do go for gadgetry and gear when training a Saddle Seat horse. Very frustrating for me as so many horses are ruined due to the skipping of basic building blocks. So many are expected to go right for the finished frame from day one. No wonder Saddle Seat has such a terrible rep. Oh well…
I have only had her a week, worked her five days over 8. Only long lining now. She’s used to a draw rein long line with sidecheck in a bull pen only. I don’t think she’s been long lined outside a bull pen. I have her in a simple full cheek snaffle and a straight rein long line in the main arena. Just letting her get her body sorted out. Doing lots of spiraling in and out of the circle. I have dialed the training energy wayyyy down. The only time she even gets a sharp word is when she kicks up her heels. A firm turn to the outside rein and gruff “no”. She’s responding very well. She’s already calming out and listening to voice. She’s getting a whoa on her. She’s dropping down in the bridle and stretching over the back (although she has that really annoying habit of a draw reined horse where they grab the bit and yank the reins out long and low out of habitually demanding a release from the draw). Im primarily just getting her to trust that I’m going to take care of her, not chase her up. Also, want her to carry herself instead of expecting to be held up by the bridle. Yesterday, I popped the wood block drag on her at the end of the workout. It’s like you could see the wheels turning. All the sudden, she had a job to do, a problem to work through. After a moment of what’s that behind me, she settled and listened to my voice. Then she squatted down like the big mama that she is and just leaned into that breast collar and marched.
I think, due to her ability of getting her heels WAAAAYYYYY up over her head, she is one of the most athletic horses I have seen in a long time! I think she is Sport Horse DELUXE! Just so powerful off her hind quarters. I know, I know, there’s much more to her than that. But man, you guys should see how high this mare can buck!!! She isn’t as upright and necky as many of the DHH out there. Might be the Arab half that shrunk up her neck a bit. But the rest of her is built like a brick S*** house. Just as blocky and square and balanced top to bottom, front to back as she can be. She was worked fairly inconsistantly at the BNT barn due to being “boring” that she got a reputation and habit of bucking and back humping undersaddle. I think she just didn’t care for their whole process of saddle seat training. Plus, if she has the aptitude for it, she would be much better off going up the training pyramid to the final frame. Not starting out being crammed into it from day one!!
So I have had some fun with her. Going to go very slowly through the steps and see if she proves trustworthy to hitch. If not, no biggie, she can stay under saddle but I think her more the sport horse type than saddle seat.
Oh and yes, she’s totally a fat a$$. The other barn feeds very well plus she was out on grass daily. She is getting turnout here too but we have mostly dirt lots and control their hay consumption. She is on a major diet with only a good grass hay and a vit min low cal balancer. I also had her immediately reset and took quite a bit of lenght off the front feet. If she has natural action I can always grow out some toe to accentuate it but until she learns how to balance her whole body, hoof can go bye bye.
Training time? yes, looong work outs with plenty of mental breaks. I have the acreage and the time to take this horse out. That’s the beauty of not being an assembly line training facility.
Interesting to see such a smart horse and the weird habits she has developed already from her previous training. Bring her out to the crossties and she immediately starts to paw, fuss and flap her head. I am doing small and deliberate corrections along with waiting her out. I have time. You can stand there till you are calmed down. She jsut fuss and fidgets and fiddles getting tacked up. That will take some time but she’ll get it. After workout, totally chill on the ties. It’s all in her head to be anxious before a workout. I think she is a smart girl but she reminds me of a big horse who doesn’t realize how her size and power relates to the rest of the puny little world. Plus she’s been a little frustrated with the previous inconsistency of her training. She just doesn’t know what to expect.
I’ve only put her out with my BIG hard to ruffle ASB broodie in pasture. Until I trust her, I don’t want her inadvertantly beating up on my small fries. and of course as soon as she hit the farm, she went into season and keeps whizzing everywhere. Why do mares do that!!
With regards to the other DHH cross gelding, this one is at another big breeding barn. I think you all are spot on. He’s a little more than the trainer and breeder anticipated and they aren’t quite sure what to do with him. I haven’t tried him out yet but he has also been under saddle for a few years in the saddle seat division. Will be trying him out next week and possibly doing a trade for a broodie on him.
I’m looking forward to these challenges. I love figuring out these “throw aways” from the big farms. So many times, the answers to these horses are so obvious that it boggles me that the “big guys” can’t make these horses work out. You just have to be smarter than the horse! And NO SHORTCUTS!
I think one reason so many of my Arab training collegues are shying away from the Sport Horse carriage divisions is because you can’t fake a carriage horse! You have to take your time and put all the nuts and bolts into the horse.
I say this half-jokingly, as in the Arabs and Half-Arabs I have known (many) there has been more than one that I would never hook to a vehicle, and I really can’t say that for the other breeds I have worked with (Saddlebred, Hackney Ponies and Dutch Harness Horses primarily, along with some Morgans and Friesians).