About a year and a half ago, I got my current horse. I didn’t have significant riding experience, was coming off 2 years owning an older, been-there-done-that horse, and had only shown with him for one season at local shows in the 2fts. I liked showing, but I could see how it was so much more gratifying for my peers working with younger/greener horses. So when I was horse shopping, my goal was finding a good-minded, younger or less experienced horse that I could invest a lot of time in and develop with my trainer. Like a 4H project for an adult, basically.
This didn’t quite work out for me. My trainer steered me to an imported wb gelding, had been in the US just over 2 years, quietly being networked out of a rated show barn. He wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but I fell in love with him, he passed the PPE, and the price was (suspiciously) right at a time when even barely restarted OTTBs were going for low 5’s, so I jumped for it. Of course, within days of getting him home it was clear I had bitten off more than I could chew. I handed the reins to my trainer for 30 days, but we only made it through 5 of those before he turned really nasty and explosive. She advised sending him to a western colt starter for a full restart from the ground. Simultaneously, I was hearing through the grapevine that the horse had a reputation, was probably never going to be appropriate for me, and the trainer’s motivations were not altogether above board.
So I left the barn, found a natural horsemanship trainer, and committed to restarting the horse from the ground. Six months later, I had a horse that was if anything worse than before, and a complete disillusionment with the whole rope halter, yacht rope, carrot stick scene. I was at a loss what to do next, didn’t think the horse could ever be rideable, but didn’t know how to go about parting ways with him. Luckily I found a living situation where I could board him at home and do part-time barn management. So I moved him to a small, quiet boarding farm, mostly retirees and a few weekend beginner lessons. I figured at least this way, I wouldn’t be pouring money into training board, so I could bide my time figuring out what to do next. I still religiously kept up with groundwork and had the barn owner/de facto trainer give feedback in an informal lesson every week. But I was pretty much past thinking he could be brought around to riding, at least not for me.
Fast forward several months, I had a different horse. No tension, no freak outs in the round pen. I kind of wanted the trainer to try riding him, but she seemed understandably hesitant given his history. So one day, I decided to do it myself with her as a ground-person. All went surprisingly well. The horse was nothing like his former self under saddle. We’ve built from there, settled into a routine, even started jumping. All in all, it was a much tougher journey than I anticipated (and involved more burned bridges with trainers than I would have liked), but I got my adult 4H experience after all.
My question is what comes next. It would be crazy to move the horse again anytime soon when he’s finally going well. But the current boarding situation has a ceiling on how far we can progress. There are no trails, no trailer available to take “field trips” (and the horse is still a nightmare to load without heavy sedation), and the trainer is effectively a retired hobbyist, fairly hands off, no opportunity for pro rides. I have a year-long lease and also realize that, with winter coming, I’ll have my hands full just trying to maintain the progress we made this summer. But even then, I’m debating if I should engage another pro before then, proactively, to help keep him sane through the winter? Move him someplace with an indoor? Or just continue DIY’ing it until spring and then searching for the right program?
We are coming up on 6 months out of any formal training program, and I think we both needed that time. But at the end of the day, as much as I have learned since getting my “pandemic project horse,” know there’s a cap on what we can accomplish this way. I just also have a lot of uncertainty/doubts about changing our situation, and messing up the delicate equilibrium we’ve reached this summer. Should I put a full year into doing what we are doing? Will he mentally unravel in a professional program? I want to do more with him, certainly get him capable of trailering, and one day showing—I do think it’s in the cards, even if it’s a long road—but I’m just not sure how long that road is, or where the next turn needs to be.
