With reference to riding a well-trained horse: When I was a teen, we used to go on vacation for two weeks to a place in the Sierra where they had horseback riding (of course!). I became friends with the operator’s daughter, and was allowed to go out solo with her at a discounted rate once I’d shown them I actually could ride acceptably. One of the wranglers was a paniolo (I think that’s the name - an Hawai’ian cowboy), and one day he asked me if I’d like to try his guide horse, a 3 year old appendix QH. OMG. That thing was perfectly trained, but hair trigger. Lean to one side or the other, and you were spinning that way. Lean forward and he was GONE! Barely touch the reins and he came to a dead stop, immediately! I managed not to make a fool of myself, but it was quite an experience for someone used to hunt seat school horses.
Someone just sent me a resume and the first line of their cover letter is: “Human Resources, After hundreds of resumes, I can confidently say ‘I am the perfect match’. Congratulations, a job well done.”
His name is not Nick though.
Nor is he the perfect match.
My old eventing trainer had a gorgeous 17.2 palomino appendix gelding that she trained to Grand Prix, and eventually sold to the wife of a “celebrity” to fund her daughter’s college tuition. That horse was a sweetheart and she could let anyone ride him because if you knew what you were doing, he was as close to “push button” Grand Prix as you could ask for, but if you didn’t ask correctly, he’d just stand there, maybe offer a little walk or collected trot, and even shift over to catch a beginner-type if he felt them start to slip., LOL
You won’t forget his letter will you 
And I bet you DID look at his resume. Maybe that’ll work one day LOL
:lol::lol:
And was her first name Lynn and from the SF Bay area? If it’s the same horse, yes, he was absolutely gorgeous and before she sold him she had a freestyle with the music from Chariots of Fire. She used to come up north to our barn in Oregon and give us lessons.
Yes, Lyn P. “Sugar” (Fort Knox) was such a wonderful horse. I got to ride my first (dressage) flying changes on him in a lesson.
A friend was kind enough to lend me an upper level schoolmaster for a few months and there was nothing easy about it. Took me weeks to be able to hop on and walk off … poor boy could feel the tension in my hips & back and figured if I was holding, well, staying still until I figured it out was the only correct option. Couldn’t have tension or be gripping anywhere with that horse. I HAD to ride to his standards or else we weren’t going. No kicking or threats of a whip would change his mind … he was 20+ and it was ride his way or just stand there. So yeah, I spent weeks learning to unlock and loosen my clenched up muscles then more weeks learning to never ever suddenly clench or he’d downshift into a square halt and we were back to our statue act.
I also got the inadvertent tempi changes down the centerline due to unsteady legs.
First attempt at sitting trot was nothing but passage & piaffe while my trainer was yelling “let go” and I’m like “let go of what?” and she answered with “whatever you’re holding because if you were supple, he’d be going forward!”
Nothing is as humbling as hopping on a confirmed upper level horse and realizing you can’t even get the basic three gaits out of it because of how unskilled your riding is by the horse’s standards.
Except in NP’s case, it would be the horse’s training he would blame. It is inconceivable to him that he is an intermediate rider at best.
You are too generous in your assessment…
of course, I meant the intermediate that is just a bit above advanced beginner…not THE Intermediare.
In one of the Nick threads is a story from a (then-unsuspecting) farm owner - Jackie Somebody at Golden Gait Farm. Nick convinced her to let him come demonstrate his mad skillz as a trainer. Owner put him on a young mare who promptly cottoned to the fact that the yahoo on her back hadn’t a clue. She strolled off into a corner of the arena and there she stayed until the owner went and retrieved the two of them.
Nick then proceeded to make up his own version of what happened and verbally abuse the owner, as per his usual modus operandus whenever his deficiencies are made glaringly obvious. .
IIRC, it was the farm owner who called HIM out, and she pointed out to him that she had to go rescue HIM from being stuck in the corner. Someone with mad Google skillz will find that bit, I’m sure.
And then he offered to train all her horses - for a fee! :rolleyes:
:yes:
Wooooooooow. The more I read the more I can’t believe it. This man is like a character from a book - and a satire at that!
I was probably wrong. Didn’t see a new one recently when I wrote that.
This is the greatest post ever! I have, of course, never ridden a GP Schoolmaster. This is hysterical, how the horse reacted to you! And the “Let go” story, lol, I can see it entirely! Tempis because your legs are unsteady! The downshift into a square halt. I’m sorry, its just so cute and interesting, I had to laugh! I’m sure it would be similar for me. I always wonder what these schoolmasters are like.
I’ve lessoned on my trainer’s schoolmaster Morgan mare, who is a level 3 schoolmaster. If you can’t loosen up your back, she takes the same mincing little teeny tiny steps your hips are taking. If you realllllly loosen those bad girls up, she’ll just stride out. Learning to trot on her was quite a trip. Anyhoo, thanks for the chuckle.
I actually had a very similar rule - I hate the cold, I have poor circulation, my horse was a heavy sweater so I either had to commit to clipping her at least twice during the season or else make sure I had at least an hour after I finished riding for her to dry off, and I didn’t have an indoor so the number of days I could even ride usually made clipping more trouble than it was worth. Maresy didn’t seem to mind having three months off and while I’d still go out to groom and possibly for a bareback trail ride, I mainly had those three months off too.
HOWEVER, I am not claiming to be God’s gift to dressage and I kept a horse for recreation, not to make money off of poor unsuspecting saps. And that is probably the key difference there between me and the Maestro.
