I grew up with horses and learned most of what I know from the horses I worked with and the internet. I had a 10 year break to focus on my career as a nurse and becoming financially secure. These past few years I have gotten back into training/retraining horses and riding. I want every horse to find their person who will develop a partnership and ideally a long-lasting relationship. In my experience, the horses that are taught to be confident in themselves and can adapt and accept the expectations humans set upon them are the horses that do well and get good homes. I help the horses I train from scratch to form a solid foundation and gain confidence in themselves to be able to go on and develop new skills. Some people want an already 'green-broke' horse they can grow with and continue to train themselves. However, other people want a horse that is already trained in a particular skill set beyond just being ride-ready. I have been wanting to enhance my own riding skills for a good while. As rewarding as it is to help a horse overcome issues like bucking, rearing, and bolting I want to try other things. I have established that I can help horses overcome these issues. To continue my journey I've been thinking about what skills I should learn that I can teach to the horses I train after we establish that solid foundation. I have thought of reining because I have more of a Western background but I have always had an interest in the English world.
Once upon a time, I would say "Dressage looks so boring". "I want to do cross country, show jumping, barrel racing, gymkhana. High-speed timed events!" I still want to do those things eventually but... first, I have to choose one thing to truly focus on, on top of everything I'm already doing -- 'colt starting', starting my own business, and whatnot. Second, for speed and timed events, I want to be on a horse I really trust and have a relationship with --Looking at Carbon in the future when he's old enough--. I have done speed events with Sahara and Spirit so I don't feel I am missing out. Dressage is something new for me, and now, well into adulthood, I don't find it boring at all. It's more about connection and communication, which is there in all disciplines, but Dressage's main focus is that. It also helps keep the horse balanced and use his/her body properly. Those higher-level movements are something I have not ever really tried or needed to try.
In the long run, I would love to master other disciplines within English and Western, but one step at a time.
I recently have been taking some lessons to get me prepared to ride Hannah, a 5 year old Friesian ster mare, who is owned by Michele and Miguel Sanchez. Hannah is very fun and pleasant to ride. I have been spending time getting to know her and looking forward to learning with her now that I have established I can ride English. We are on the same page and looking forward to joining some local shows in the near future. I just gotta worry about my resting b*tch face.
