05/10/2022
Please 🙏 buy the horse your kid needs today, not a horse that will be the 1dbarrel horse, Grand pre jumper, spur stoped trained western horse...... Seldomly does it work out that the horse your child starts on will be the one they finishes there career on.
"The prospect of children teaming up to work with animals that are twice their size is undoubtedly daunting in the beginning. But, the more comfortable they get, and the more they nurture and grow the relationship between themselves and the horse — the more confident and empowered they’ll become in all aspects of life"
The finished barrel horse, high jumper, top level Reiner are there because of the athletic ablity, while we all dream of running them the reality is that barrel horse is going to get sour to the kid using it's mouth for balance, that jumper is not going to take a missed distance as a joke and will probably become dangerous, to get the that 10+ stopper it needs a rider that can keep it balanced and stay out of it's way.
Kids need horses that will give them confidence, allow them to make the mistakes we all have as beginner riders and still happily do there job. These horses are the ones that find there happiness in life from the treats given by sticky fingers, there love of baths with to much soap and having the feet painted with sparkly hoof paint. They are not the horses who find there joy in the adrenaline they get from running a race or a jump off.
The cost of replacing horses can be frustrating, but the horses that has the ability to be a stepping stone in kids life's will always have a value if taken care of.
The horse below (tian) I've sold 2x's with an oral buy back option and it worked perfect. When I saw her as 3 yr old I saw her limitations (most horses can walk faster than her lope, her head comes out of wrong hole so getting an acceptable western pleasure frame will cause her to be crippled in a short time.) And I saw her assets, she has gates that fit in the palm of your hand so riders feel safe not getting bounced around, she has a natural relaxed, no worries attitude, and as long as her belly if full she is content standing in the middle of ring catching up with girl talk. She will always have a spot in my barn, and be treated as the queen she is.
Talk with your vets, farriers, trainers for that horses that might need a little mataince because of age (trust me mataince is way cheaper than hospital bills) or the horse that sitting for a summer do to a life style change, or the trainer that's scaling back a lesson program and has one sitting . Please open your minds up to horses old than the age of 12, be ok to the ones that aren't going to win but teach the rider to feel there leads, or one that not the color of your dream horse.
Please let kids find the fun, have the confidence in themselves, and be safe. My biggest frustration is seeing horses with fryed brains, my second is kids scared to death being on a horse that's way to much for them.
Tyler claims it's easier to ride with our stirrups, and that's a great reminder to me that he's currently doing this just for the fun, and when/if the day comes that he says he wants to be competitive we will have a discussion about how he can improve, until then I'm just going to enjoy cheering.
