Ouch…. well I guess she will be paying a trainer for a while.
Helmets, yes. Safety vests, not yet, but I’m going to suggest them.
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I don’t want this to be a trainwreck per se, but I am definitely going to stock my pantry with popcorn.
In the wintertime when my young greenish horse gets 6-8 hours of turnout, he can be a nut even though he’s ridden 5-6 times a week. Too much time in a stall really affects some horses in a BIG way. My older schoolmaster doesn’t change that much, but the young guy…yowza.
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Dare I hope daughter has had lessons & is more confident & capable a rider than this Witless Hotmess of a Mom?
ETA:
{gulp} Okay, saw your post re: daughter’s “skill”
In a word: Oy 
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This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. It’s just a matter of when it will happen.
It’s probably one of those situations where she doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. Do you think she’s capable of learning or will she always be clueless?
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Oh she’s capable of learning. She’s well educated, successfully participates in several other sports - which might be why she’s flippant about the approach to horses. It’s a whole different deal learning to ride as compared to say, snow skiing.
She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know and doesn’t understand the risk.
I do give her props for having the wisdoms to enlist full training at least for the 90 days. If they come back from training and it’s still not going well, I suppose she’ll just send them back for more training. I suppose anyways.
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Now I’m curious…
If she’s so well-heeled, why no saddles bought yet?
Seems like a weird delayed purchase when the floofy stuff (fly bonnets, halters) has already been acquired.
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Oh, this makes it somewhat more understandable! I had a friend who is a fellow distance runner–only she’s much, much more accomplished than me–but she wanted to sign up for this endurance race which involved switching between riding and running with a teammate. When I suggested a refresher riding course, she was a bit huffy about how she’d ridden at summer camp as a kid.
(I know there’s another person on this board who has completed in this type of race, but she, you know, actually has ridden since she was a child).
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The Freisans I’ve been around are pretty easy going. Your friend put the horse in training and had the trainer help her the second purchase. Honestly, I’m glad your not my friend. You seem to revel in this and are determined that It. Will. Be. A. Trainwreck.
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OP, please send them this link
REACH Air Medical Services - Emergency air medical servicesREACH Air Medical Services
they’re going to need it.
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Plus they have to wear them. Even if they think they don’t look cool. Any compliments directed toward the very cool look of helmets and vests might help?
That sounds like the random college guy who was really pushing to come out to the barn and ride a horse. And bring his girlfriend. I asked “Have you ridden?” “Oh yes!” “How long have you ridden?” “It was all day!”
My next question: “How fast can you ride? Because these are all ex-racehorses.” Long pause … his request kind of died quietly.
Also look up MASA, for $250 a year you can buy coverage for emergency helicopter medical transport, pretty much anywhere in the U.S. A very reputable company.
I know a beginner rider who completely misrepresented his riding skills, leased a high-powered OTTB Intermediate-level eventing horse, and ended up getting helicopter’ed to the ER. One of the most serious injuries from a horse accident I’ve ever personally heard of, that didn’t end in death. About a year to recover.
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Good question.
When she brought Maresy #1 home, she was underweight and advised by everyone to wait until she had gained weight before attempting to fit a saddle.
Then the ringworm at the girth which had to be dealt with.
We’re in a rural area and there aren’t too many fitters around. I put her in touch with my fitter, who declined to order a bespoke saddle when she wasn’t yet riding. My fitter advised her she needed to be riding for at least 6-8 weeks before ordering a saddle. She didn’t want to sell her a saddle and run the risk of her getting something she’d be less than happy with down the road.
I offered to go with her to a tack shop two hours away where I know they have a large stock of consignment saddles, take some on loan, and help her buy something to get her started with. She declined as she wanted to wait until she could custom order.
Then when Maresy went to the training barn, they had something that worked for her they’ve been using. Once she comes home she may be able to order, but custom saddles from my fitter are out about 12 weeks.
Maresy 2 goes straight to the training barn so I assume they’ll have something to use.
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This all sounds like they are building a parachute after leaping off the cliff and are on the way down.
I wonder what she is thinking. It certainly isn’t very organized.
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I agree. I’d be pretty gutted to find out a ‘friend’ was making multiple threads on a public forum (with an actual photo of my new horse) about what a idiot they thought I was being. This all seems very mean-spirited.
It sounds like they’re lucky enough to be able to buy, board, and pay to train a couple of nice horses. The friesians I’ve met had lovely temperaments. They were great to ride and drive, and were good about being fussed over and pampered too.
Kudos to them, I sincerely hope it works out.
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Is she a good skier? Skiing requires good balance. If she has good balance, I imagine she’ll pick up riding pretty quickly. Having said that starting on a green broke Friesian isn’t something I would recommend to a friend new to riding.
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I worked with someone in the military who was getting ready to retire to a farm. He was so excited to buy his young granddaughter a horse, and proudly told me it would be a QH yearling.
When I looked at him in horror and asked why, he said: so they can grow up together. 
I think ignorant horse newbies assume horses are a lot like dogs. Which is terrifying.
I pleaded with him on multiple occasions to buy her an old, slow, tired QH and let it teach her, when it was time (after at least a year of weekly lessons!).
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Each to their own when trying to work out another’s reason for posting. I often muse on what we base that decision on, and ponder that it is a reflection of our own self…
I read it and I see a person who is concerned, frustrated and fascinated, as I would be in the same situation. The chance to share with others is what the forums live for.
If you see it as mean spirited, maybe it says more about your motivations than the ops.
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Had a friend with the same mindset. It is the great mistake with horses, assuming the horse knows what you intend, what their role should be. Horses have no idea.
My friend said she had barely even ever petted a horse, had not studied about horses and knew nothing about them. But she would buy a foal and they would learn together. Like with a puppy.
I pointed out to her that our pet dogs live in our homes with us and spend hours with us, every day. Unless she planned to move to a farm, she would be keeping the foal some distance away from where she lived.
I asked her how often she planned to visit the foal. And how much time would she spend with the foal on each visit. And reminded her that there is no air-conditioning and no heat at the farm (friend was very much an indoor lifestyle).
I pointed out that if she spent a couple of hours with the foal in each visit, that was 22 hours left in the day when the foal would just be on its own with the other horses, doing what horses do. That if she visited 4 times a week for 2 hours each visit, that would be 8 hours of training / foal-time out of a week of a 168 hours. And the rest of the time the foal is getting no training.
And I reminded her that the foal would grow quickly. The average quarter/ranch horse type around here, not tall, is 800-1,000 lbs. Larger horses would be over 1,000 lbs at full growth, maybe more.
Friend became very quiet. Then she acknowledged that she hadn’t thought about all of that.
Then I went on a bit about care needs, farrier, vet, injuries and illnesses that can happen and some will happen … anyway. The lady got the point. And in her case the plans in her imagination were in no way compatible with her preferred indoor lifestyle.
For some reason horses infect the human imagination in totally unrealistic ways.
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Absolutely concur. Back in the days before digital anything, I read the classified ads for horses. If it remained for sale for after 6 weeks, it means the ad had been renewed several times and the seller was desperate to get the beast OFF THE PROPERTY. They would sell to anyone who turned into the driveway with cash. Usually the horse was green, with green riders and someone had been hurt. Made and sold some really great horses this way. One had learned that he could hurt people and was never safe. He got a bullet. I wasn’t going to sell a known danger down the road.
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Green broke Friesian in particular, or green broke anything? Genuinely interested having just got an interest in them, having ridden a totally awesome one at the weekend. I mean HUGE movement, loads of personality, but the one I rode, teenager, and solid. Is there a reason, apart from the actual big movement that you wouldn’t recommend?
