In the same vein, as I was walking a XC couse a cameraman was setting up on land but in the middle of the jumps before the water jump. I told him he needed to move as he would be jumped on. No he wouldn’t.
I pointed to the flags and explained what they meant and I was waved away. I was probably a kid. The jump judge arrived and he was told to get outof there no way as nice as I had been.
Training 2. We are coming across the diagonal. Young mare is doing really well. About at x we start getting pelted by Japanese beetles and I can feel the mare getting annoyed and getting bigger. I say “you’re ok” in the tone i use to settle her, and soften her a little extra through the corner.
Got a 5 for the movement, comment “voice”.
Worth it. But dammit.
Is she still zapping herself on the electric fence? 
At least once daily. I call her dory, like finding nemo.
Here’s her reaction to getting beaned in the nose by a Japanese beetle… I spent the rest of the test laughing.
And a screen shot…
More reports from previous barn.
Mustang girl gets on her mustang bareback, gets bucked off 5 seconds later.
Horse does not know how to lunge at all (has instead been taught to crowd space due to endless treats and “you can do no wrong” treatment), has not worn a saddle with stirrups down or even girthed up, does not know whoa, does not know how to bend off halter pressure. She did not have a rope on the halter to begin to guide him, she just got on and hoped for…? Magic? It’s one thing to do that, and do the “get on, get off, get on, get off” game, but to just get on and he starts moving off… what on earth did you think was about to happen?
He learned something that day… how to unload you.
After that, she put him up for the day. Training accomplished! haaaaaa
Maybe she watched the Disney movie, Spirit, too many times.
Similar story, I was 14, had spent all summer starting colts, including 15 feral horses of all ages.
Late summer this breeder of andalusians sends us this beautiful, elegant mouse gray filly.
No story with her, she was hauled to our riding center and left there that morning.
We always started and rode colts in the morning, I was surprised when the instructor that afternoon calls for her, the riding center owner is with him in the indoor, they are checking filly over and wondering what she knows and why would they have sent her to us.
The breeder has his own trainer and generally starts their own horses.
Instructor tries her on the ground and she seems very gentle, non-spooky at all, like she has been handled plenty.
He longes her and she is a star, very nicely longing right along.
All pleased and smiling, the owner out of the blue teases the instructor about me always tagging along and tells him he bets if he ask me to get on, I would.
Instructor calls me over and tells me he will give me a leg up, to hold on and gets me up there.
Filly is fine, doesn’t care at all, is standing there so very nicely.
Instructor start thinking she must be broke, starts her out on the longe line, she takes a step or two and breaks in two, bucking high, head between front legs but not kicking out, just bucking high and landing hard.
After about several jumps, the instructor trying to get her going on the longe line, she finally gives a great big jump, I lose my mane handhold and fly off out her outside shoulder, somehow landing on my feet.
The owner was laughing so very hard, then said “guess we know now why they sent her” and leaves, still laughing.
We had a class starting soon, so the instructor put her up for next morning.
Funny, next morning we started her like a colt, but we would not have need to, she was a star and never again put a foot wrong.
In fact, the last weeks of the summer she was sent with me to the mountains and I rode her out there all day long, everyplace.
We think that maybe getting on bareback may have set her off, once with a saddle, she was fine.
I heard later the filly’s owner was very happy with her, made her one of his personal horses.
Not sure anyone ever told him about that first ride at the riding center.
Our riding instructor said he should never have fallen for the director’s bet, it was dumb of him and could have gotten someone hurt and the filly scared.
I’m currently paying the penalty for my own dumb moment. Had a photo shoot Saturday night for my 2022 filly. While bathing the mare, I hosed the baby off as best I could. That actually went okay, but then came the stupid.
Scene: Mama mare is tied in barn aisle, standing parallel to the stall walls. I’m on her right side, between her and the wall, combing out her mane. Baby horse comes up on my side of the mare and wants to nurse, but is annoyed by the water dripping down her hocks. I see the tail wagging starting, and I know what’s coming, but I didn’t react fast enough, so…Yep. She let fly with both hind legs and NAILED me in the thigh. I reflexively roared “NO!!” at her and kicked her back, square on her little hind end. She scampered away and pouted for a minute, then came back and asked for scratches. I don’t think she’ll do it again. But, two days later, holy moly am I sore and bruised.
This morning I went hacking on the local xc course. My horse was standing in the pond at the water jump, his favorite thing to do. They haven’t run anything for awhile so there were lots of pretty flowering plants growing in the pond, which my horse was pulling up and flinging around his head, with the roots spraying water out all 360 degrees like a sprinkler.
Then he started pawing. It had rained so the water was pretty deep, and he was getting really into his pawing, and then something happened—he got tangled in the plants maybe?—and almost fell down. I’m lucky I didn’t fall off, I was not even paying attention and I had my feet up so they didn’t get wet. He seemed a little embarrassed, and then he did some practice paws, and then some medium ones, but didn’t do any great big ones like before.
And then I had to yell and kick and smack him to get him out of there, he never wants to leave. One of these days he’s going to figure out that I won’t actually get off in the pond to kick his butt and I’ll be stuck there for hours.
Nope the next thing is that he will lay down and roll in the water with you, saddle and all!
My Vinnie Girl cured me of bareback riding in the same fashion. She kept bucking and bucking and bucking until I came down her shoulder with a hand full of mane.
That is how I met one of my friends, I had to call for help. I was trying to calm her and keep her still as I had lost my glasses in the melee. I need them to find them and I didn’t want her to step on them. I called a stranger for help to find my glasses for me.
Oh… oh there’s video of the mustang launch pad… posted on The Book of the Faces… because she’s proud of it?
I can’t even. I guess now she’s strapping boat buoys to the horse. Despite me HATING that method, lady that was something you should have done BEFORE you got on.
Yep!
That’s honestly where I thought that story was going… 
well I am going to show my NH / colt-breaking ignorance here, but what exactly does strapping a boat buoy to a horse do/prevent? I am perplexed.
The weight and movement somewhat mimic the legs of a rider, so they’re used as yet another desensitization tool. They hang long ways on the side of the horse. I usually see them tied to a saddle or surcingle so they can flap and bounce around all they want but don’t come off.
Same thing as stuffing an old pair of jeans with dirt, and putting that up on the horse. If you don’t have a boat to borrow the buoys from.
Me too!
I used newspaper and tied shoes to the stirrups as well.
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