I don’t know what horse shopping is like in Mexico but IME now many trainers will have the clients search for horses and then show info and videos to trainer, if they like they’ll go try. Also Trainers will use their connections to see if there’s anything out there suitable for client. I can see situations where a client may look at too many horses which might get annoying but sometimes it simply takes a long time to find the right match. And sometimes issues arise that have nothing to do with the client at all but it’s taken out on the client(s). I’ve seen that happen in different scenarios sometimes with horse shopping sometimes with the barn in general.
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My position is that if a client chooses to do their own search they lose the “ warranty” afforded by looking through their professional. A professional of repute will be more likely to know or to be told about issues and positives a prospect may have. BITD if a buyer called regarding a sale horse my first question was always “ Are you currently working with a trainer?”.
Your professional is going to have to deal with the match you make. Be prepared to live with it. There is value in knowledge.
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It also sounds like OP mostly rides in lessons or when the trainer is there. I know this is common in the H/J world, but as an educator I find this baffling. Students need time to practice independently, whether it’s in a classroom, on a horse, doing some other athletic activity, or playing a musical instrument. Independent practice is really important to understanding new concepts and practicing new skills. It’s also important in fine tuning how a new technique works best for you. I know I do not do well when I am always riding in lessons. I need independent practice time to go through the things I’ve learned and put them to use. I also need to be able to try them, fail at them, and try them again. Plus, constantly being bombarded with instructions just makes me overwhelmed and then shut down.
It also sounds like the horse almost always jumps during rides? Maybe not, but it’s hard to tell. Some horses need to see 3/4 fences each ride, but if the horse is doing 15-20 jumping attempts each ride that is going to cause burnout. Added to the fact that the horse is getting quick and then stopping, it sounds like the horse is being overfaced to fences. Perhaps having some pain somewhere, maybe just can’t do the height, maybe just overjumped and isn’t enjoying it.
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Which is why I said it as only an option and would take ar least 3 years. Look into the horse. Change feeding, look for pain, take it back to dressage and the rider learns to ride before trying to jump.
I said this option as when money is tight and horses are hard to find, you work with what you have.
As you can see in that other thread my advice was to sell that horse and buy the other one which the OP did. That original horse did sound way too much for the rider. It was bolting on her and she couldn’t stop it. In this thread she said refusing. I did not see falling continually to start with.
This thread is almost exactly the same, which is why I asked for the horse’s name.
Mexico, unable to find a good trainer. Horse is too much and rider being thrown off continually.
It sounds like people in Mexico are jumping before they can ride.
People should not be falling if continually in lessons. Something is wrong.
Horses in Mexico should not always be too much horse the basic management sounds wrong.
To me these two riders need to collaborate. Gain the skills needed and one is a lot more advanced now and they should start training quiet horses and open there own training place as a safe place for other riders like them.
In my dreams I know.
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To be honest it is true the riders in Mexico tend to jump really quickly and buy a lot of horse so that you can get up the ranks as fast as possible. Theres a couple of riders here that only have two years under their belt and already jumping 1.25 and 1.30 but its not uncommon if you get an amazing horse. Sadly I don’t have the money for such a great horse to help me out a ton so I got the best I could on my limited budget which is my current hony, took about a year to retrain him, dressage and pole work until he got confident to go around a small course without throwing fits every time (not pain related i assure you), and then we were able to jump amazingly and win a ton. Of course I’m still not 100% comfortable on him due to my past experience, and whenever I want to ride him on bigger courses he gets really hard to ride which is why I think his limit is probably the 1m-1.10m, but I’m proud to say he’s so much better than before.
Usually in Mexico by the second year you are riding you should already be competing and jumping at least 90cm and each year you should be climbing at least 10cm more if not you’re considered going way too slow.
Every country is different in their training process which is why every rider is different depending on their country, as well as the horses are different depending on what country they get started on. Its not right or wrong in the end, just different. Thuogh I can assure you I am more than capable of riding 
just because I have a difficult horse doesn’t mean that I never learned to ride, I have friends that lend me horses all the time and I’m perfectly able to handle them well and I actually thank my difficult horse for forcing me to be a better rider for him
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Yes, that is much faster than a typical progression in Canada or the US.
I think that kind of progress is only possible in highly supportive programs meaning clients put a lot of cash into made horses and training rides by the trainer.
If you need an advanced beginner to ride a horse through a .9 meter or 3 foot course you need an exceptional packer horse and those are extremely expensive. If you want to go above that, you need an astronomically expensive horse that can pilot himself. You are basically buying horse to make up for not being a very experienced rider. It certainly happens in the US too but not on as fast a timeline and most often in hunters.
The problem is, a horse with scope to go big is very often a hotter more forward horse. It’s part of being more athletic. If you aren’t comfortable riding this kind of horse it will be very difficult to find one that can jump 4 feet and is safe for an intermediate rider to do this.
It’s hard for me to have useful suggestions if the entire business model involves putting beginner riders on extremely expensive packers under the total control of a trainer, and encouraging them to take risks beyond their skill level.
If you were in the US or Canada, I’d suggest stepping back into a less competitive model where you could work on your confidence and skills. What I’m hearing from you is that you don’t have the combination of physical courage, riding skills, and emotional resilience to take the next step here, and perhaps not the cash either. And I actually think your reaction is totally understandable. The situation and expectations as you describe them sound risky and rushed. I expect it is a system that winnows out the finalists to be those with very deep pockets, natural athleticism, high risk tolerance, and mental toughness. If you don’t score high in all these categories, there may not be much place for you in a program like this.
I don’t know what the alternatives are in Mexico though.
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Well I don’t mind hot horses as long as they come back into my hand (not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to be said), I just usually avoid them since here, at least in Mexico, hotter horses mean those that pull and try to take the reins from you and my current horse is like that and it’s hard to see my distance when he takes the reins from me and pulls towards the jump, luckily my leg and seat are pretty good so I don’t fall off easily and since I keep my leg on tight if I get an ok distance I can push him through the jump.
I do agree though that most riders here in Mexico that make it big are those who have the pocket money to invest a ton on it and the few that don’t have that kind of money (which I know and have befriended luckily) usually get young horses that have good blood and train them themselves so that they don’t have to waste money on experienced horses. I’ve been on 4 year olds before, helping my trainer sometimes, and though I can ride them I am definitely not ready to go buying one since I’m still pretty new at riding so for now I’m just looking for some lazy guy that needs a stronger rider to push him, don’t really care if he rears or bucks as long as I can see an accurate distance and he doesn’t take the reigns from me.
More than natural athleticism it’s more money-based and family history (as in history with horses), I know more than a handful of riders that if put on a normal horse similar to mine or to my friends they’ll fall off but since they have really good horses they’re able to jump 1.20 in a matter of months without trying much.
I’m excited for the future honestly, I think I will be able to achieve what I’m hoping for this year, jumping 1.10 and 1.20 courses, even if I have to struggle a bit more than the other riders. If I was able to win on my tiny devil I’m sure with one more to my style of riding I can win again, sometimes not everyone gets it easy in the horse world but hey, it makes me a tougher rider in the long run. Now I realize why my friends are always asking me to get on their horses whenever they’ve had a couple of days off XD
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I wouldn’t worry about it, if that’s the way that those trainers work I wouldn’t want to deal with them.
This is true everywhere, not just in Mexico. And it doesn’t really matter, because if you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money.
You can only progress as fast as you can progress, assuming you have good trainers, adequate horses and sufficient time. Which…also requires money.
I still suspect that the trainer’s view of this story is somewhat different, especially with regard to buying a horse. What you are looking for either doesn’t exist at your price range (an athletic but “lazy” horse that still has capacity to jump at the level you want), or your impression of what you need is different than what your trainer thinks you need.
Otherwise, your trainer would not feel “burned.” So - if you want the trainer to help you find a horse, you need to have the sit down discussion to make sure you are in alignment with what you are looking for. Or, you can look on your own, which means that the endorsement and support of your trainer isn’t necessarily going to be part of the package.
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Well, it sounds like the OP knows what she wants in a horse and it is time for her to move on. Hopefully you can have a productive conversation with your trainer and come to an agreement about how to horse shop, and are able to also look at horses you feel are more suitable for you. If not, I think your best option is to find someone else to train with who is more receptive to working with you and your preferences in what kind of horse you like to ride.
I would add that there is no reason to keep a horse that you (“you” in the general sense) do not get along with, or that you don’t trust anymore. The OP’s horse sounds like a little firecracker who another rider will enjoy and have fun with, and there doesn’t seem to be much sense in keeping it and sinking more time and money into the partnership. I’m not sure where the “it will take three years” figure comes from in one of the posts above, but that’s irrelevant. Unless the horse is in danger of going to a bad situation it’s silly to think it would be better off with an owner that doesn’t enjoy riding it and who has higher goals than the horse is capable of than with someone else.
I adore my horse but if I didn’t, or if he wasn’t fun for me to ride I would sell him and find another horse at which to throw my very hard-earned dollars and limited time. There’s nothing wrong with it, and it certainly seems kinder for the horse to be with a rider who enjoys riding it!
I had a horse years ago who I knew I could never sell because he was a rank, damaged, cranky guy, and I knew it was likely that if I sold him he would end up on a truck to Mexico. I put all of my time and effort into making his life happy and sorting out his issues and putting up with what an everyday jerk he was while at the same time advancing his training. I didn’t feel I had a choice and I was able to do that work but it was HARD. I lost him to cancer, and while I mourned him I vowed to never get another one remotely as rank because it just wasn’t fun.
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What does “ended pinging the vet check” mean ?
This is an older thread that was revived by a spammer, I think the OP is long gone.
Old thread or not, assume “pinging” the vet means the buzzer sounded. Like Bzzzz, nope, next. Possibly that English idiom suffered a bit in translation.
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I believe that OP was in Mexico. Agree It may have been an odd translation of an idiom
I just bought this horse and your budget is more than reasonable.
Let’s be honest- probably 80% of trainers in the USA have never shown above the 1.2m themselves. Mexican trainers may push their clients but US trainers hold them back.
There are some traditional cultural norms that are different in different countries and even within different regions in the same country. Some advice here may be outside of what would be considered appropriate in such areas.
Some trainers prefer having a monopoly over selection of their client’s horses. The control of picking a horse that fits THEIR program and the added assumed commission made from sourcing that horse are both beneficial to the trainer.
Your trainer may feel threatened you are searching yourself. It’s quite common in the horse world.
It took me too long to learn that many trainers aren’t shopping for their clients. They’re shopping for a horse that fits into their program, and a horse that is too much horse for their client has the added benefit of needing frequent “training rides” to tune them up for the client to ride.
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