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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

I'll Try and Keep it Short

...and not too whiney or sad!

In a nutshell...I am done with Falcon!  :(
Too much money/time spent to tune him back up.
Results basically NILL in my mind
Feet look horrible-now he even has bar shoes on the fronts.
I am very very frustrated but a lot of it is my own mistake for not watching the training process much earlier in the game AND not asking about some type of guarantee in a certain amount of time.

Last night the plan was for me to take my tack and make it sure it fit him
Lunge him then ride.
Trainer has been trail riding him up at Folsom Lake.

First of all Trainer is not home when I arrive on time...but she had a flat tire...was thirty min. late so by now it is 6:40 and sun is setting.

Next she doesnt like the bit I had been using on Falcon in the past-no prob, I have another type of snaffle at home.
He bitted nicely in her bridle.

Then I take Falcons old saddle to him-let him sniff- he is ok with it, I put it on his back and he jumps a mile!
OH COME ON!  He has been with the Trainer since Feb although some of those months he was just being boarded due to lameness.
He was nervous about the saddle but he settled down enough for us to take a look at it.

BOTTOM LINE?  It DIDNT FIT!

He has grown by leaps and bounds since I last rode him in 2008-I think he must be 16 hands by now at age 9 but we didnt measure him.

Ok, no big deal...will have to try another saddle next time.
Next she throws her little endurance saddle on him.  He stands nicely.  She barely tightens the girth.  Says she always rides with a loose girth!  WHAT?  It was VERY loose. That sounds dangerous to me...AND you couldn't POSSIBLY mount from the ground like THAT!

She takes him to the mounting block-climbs up-he steps away when she goes to mount.  He does that repeatedly.  She says he NEVER does that....yeh, whatever!

Actually the mounting issue was one of the reasons I had taken him to her...so 5 months later same issue?  It has nothing to do with the girth that she says I must have tightened too much when I rode him...(even though she has never seen ME handle him) BECAUSE she has the girth so loose.
The other thing she said was that she didn't believe he had ever been ridden when she got him.  He had been ridden for two weeks by a trainer (who moved to Texas) prior to going to her...I had WATCHED HIM and VIDEOED several sessions...plus I have Pics of me ON HIM and Riding him without too many issues!
In fact he is in the AERC records under his registered name and mine!

She lunged him and tried again-same issue AND when she put weight in the stirrup he bunched up like he was going to buck.  I felt pretty angry inside in a way-but on the other hand, I know Falcon very well...
So we left him in the round pen and he knickered heavily at us...not wanting us to leave him....sheesh...what a brat.  He does like her, that is obvious because when he saw me alone he knickered at me, but when she arrived he definitely upped the ante on the knickering.

It was dark...I went home...Upset...SAD...MAD...that I had spent so much money on him and her telling me he was doing great.  I believe her somewhat, but not totally.  I rode him for two years, I did two LD's on him...NEVER had problems with his feet, he was GREAT most of the time on the Trail, but then was pastured for 4 years when I moved from VA to CA...He went back to wild during that timeframe! agha

At this point I don't have the time or money to start all over with him.  AND it would most likely HAVE to be me trying to get on him because he gets attached to ONE person and if another person shows up that he was previously attached to he gets confused and starts acting out.

He is a Love and emotionally it is so hard, but I don't have free pasture anymore...I just can't do it.
He would have to be someones project horse that was willing to start from the ground up with him.
Otherwise-pasture potatoeness for him...

I told the trainer not to re-shoe him.  I was really mad about the bar shoes-she did not consult me about them...He will stay with her until the end of the month and I told her to please NOT  with his feet the way that they are.

Soon he will be on pasture...he will be anxious because it will be a new place.  But he will maybe settle down since he isn't cooped up in a small paddock. I will have his feet trimmed up by a Natural Horse feet Trimmer person and see if we cant get his feet reshaped.  In the meantime I will try and place him somewhere somehow so that he doesn't end up at the meat knackers.

That is it...that is the story too long...not short...A BIG VENT story.
Where's the tissues!  : (



3 comments:

Unknown said...

Would you mind telling me who the trainer is?? My friend had a gelding with a "trainer" near Folsom who was supposedly riding him out on those trails but after we showed and we went for a ride we doubted she did all she claimed..and did a few things with the horse without asking the owner first..can't help but wonder if it's the same gal! If you'd do it privately I can get you my email, or you don't have to tell me, I don't mind.

Very sorry to hear that about Falcon, anyway. Is the trainer the shoer too?? What went wrong with Falcon's feet to begin with?

Tevis Stories said...

"AND it would most likely HAVE to be me trying to get on him because he gets attached to ONE person and if another person shows up that he was previously attached to he gets confused and starts acting out."

It sounds like he's become attached to the trainer, and was possibly acting up since you were there... if that above holds true for him.

A good trainer/owner relationship would have had more interaction between the both of you. She should have been giving you lessons and you should have been on site more often. It sounds like perhaps there was a bit of failing on both sides. :( Hope you can find a solution that works for Falcon.

irish horse said...

I know a good local trainer, actually good, so when you get settled we can talk. I also think i know who your bad one is!!! Don't decide anything too quickly, but I know the frustration is hard. The trainer should have been giving you lessons. If you don't have a trimmer mine has been great. A lot to worry about, I'm sorry!