Good luck!

Well just my luck. The mare has a bone cyst and won't pass vetting. No way. So I'm back on the market but I'm kinda just going to chill and just look more casually.
(Oops sorry this is my other acount)

My trainer has found a pony the only catch is shes on the other side of the country. We're going to discuss it, I'm not too in love with, shes nice but has no experience eventing and is just kinda a weird mover. We're going to try a tb gelding named Charlie on wednesday.

Back to riding progress, we had an amazing lesson last week. No refusals and went around the jump course like an angel. He slipped turning into a bending line but quickly picked himself up. I also went through a novice dressage test with him. He was really good. Just needs to work on bending and slowing down. Yesterday we did no stirrups walk trot and we even tried a canter. I'm dead but overall he's improved a lot.

I've been training my morgan gelding who is very barn sour and eager and he jumps really well. We cleared a 2' high and 1 meter across last time i ride him but it took a lot of work to get there. him and his pig headedness where no help. If i can train a grade A Ass than you can do anything lmao. Good luck!!!

My guy that I have been leasing, coming up on four years together next April, has a big issue with cross country confidence. Ever time we have xc schooling, this does not count for shows, I fall of at least once from being caught off balance and him ducking or stopping or for other reasons. But I normally land on my feet. It is rare that I don't land on my feet. But this past year has gotten better and he has become braver, but every time we go schooling we still have at least one refusal/stop at a fence. What my trainer tells me is to sit deep in the saddle and put my heel down and forward, while keeping the momentum going, so having a good pace before you sit in the saddle, and when you do sit, not pulling back on the reigns causing the horse/pony to slow down. If you need to slow the horse down, still keep you leg on while holding them, for you need power to get over the fences, not speed. Speed does not equal power or energy. Also to keep my reigns shorts, elbows by my side, shoulders back, but you can move them to correct where the shoulders are directed. If he feels backed off about a fence I can some days kick him over it, but for some fences he needs a tap with the crop. For example at my last schooling for the year we had just jumped over a Beginner Novice roll top and were doing a bending line to a Training Chevron, and about a stride or close enough that it could have been a long spot take off, I felt him hesitate, so a gave him a tap. He jumped from where we were, I lost both of my stirrups, but I managed to stay on. My trainer also says that she would prefer to see me be left behind then be leaning at the fences. For if a horse refuses a fence and you are leaning at it you can go straight over their shoulder. If you ever do get left behind, always let your reigns slip through your fingers, but still hold on to them. Letting the reigns slip, like you are going down into either stretchy trot or free walk, is a form of release so you don't catch your horse in the mouth and yank on it. Also once you are lined up and have sat down in the saddle before the jump, keep your chin parallel to the ground and have your eyes up on something in the distance, like some hills far off, or the tops of some trees on the other side of the field etc. This is just what I have been taught, everyone gets taught differently, and I respect that.

Thanks!


We just had the best lesson ever. And I realized I don't think I told you guys his name, it's Puzzle.

My trainer decided since I'm going to try a 16.2 tb that's got an huge engine, we needed some steering exercises (we also could just benefit from steering exercises lol). It started with a single cavaletti which was easy. Then we did a four cavaletti line. He was amazing! He only ducked out once. We did some pretty difficult turns and lines. I feel ready to go try out the big guy tomorrow!

We're also going to try a dun mare. She's really sweet from what I've seen. We might bring in a bay gelding to just try but my mom thinks he's a little much.

I went to go try out the two horses today. The first horse (the bay), was way too hot so we didn’t even ride him. Then we tried the little dun mare and she was really sweet! I still have to get used to her and stuff but we’re going to go back and try her again it sounds like. She was a very speedy pon but compared to puzzle it's not that bad. Only thing is she had a weird trot to canter transition but I love her to death. I also rode a 16.2 boyo named Toby when I was back at my barn. He was sooo lazy but the sweetest boy ever and he's really good at dressage. Definitly wouldn't lease something like him but he's still super sweet!

I'm glad you're having some luck finding horses you like. I hope you find a good match to lease! I've never leased since we've always owned a variety and I mostly ride for fun, but I think it's important to connect with any horse you plan to do a lot of riding with. If you've been having trouble with a horse that wants to refuse jumps and duck out of exercises, I'd recommend looking for a horse that feels confident when you ride it. We've had most of my horses for years, and when I want to do something new with them, they act like it's not a huge deal. I'm asking them to do it, so it surely can't be that bad. For example, I have a 6 year old red dun QH mare that was born here. She's 15.3, very powerful, and very forward moving, but she can hit the breaks if I need her to. She runs poles and flags really well. We had to run rings for a big playday competition, so she had one practice run, then had to run it twice for the competition. Her practice was 21 seconds, first run was 19, and third was 14, which is faster than I've ever done on a horse that knows the pattern. She just went where I asked her to and ran her hardest because I asked her to go. She's also waded through 4ft high standing water after a flood without hesitating despite having never gone through water. She just has faith that I'm not going to make her do anything terrible, and she really believes that she can do things. I've ridden her a couple of times with an english saddle and hopped over logs in the pasture, still without any hesitating. A lot of it is her bold personality, but part of it that she trusts me. I wish you luck in finding a good partner to take you to the winners circle, and I hope you form a friendship with him/her that'll take you over anything.

Thank you! It wasn't easy to find nice horses but I waited and tryed my best to be patient

Honestly, trot into the jump if you need to, then you are slower and it's easier to get straight, sit up and fix the equitation and be clearer with what you want. Also, I agree that riding the horse more than once helps a ton. I somehow gotten 'n the first horse I tried, and we originally didn't plan on trying him, but he was my dream horse. Love him to death. Yet he's a hunter, and I'm riding two jumpers right now cuz he's hurt. 😭😭🤣🤣