Alejandro Salazar on Malia, Training Level, test 3. First time showing for Malia.
Sorry for the smallness but I could not zoom in because the phone camera kept trying to compensate for the poor lighting...
My Delicate Flower, Malia, under saddle with Alejandro Salazar.
Malia has been a lot of fun and a HUGE learning experience for me, from the early beginnings of her life until now. Malia is extremely sensitive to just about everything and that is combined with a low level of self-confidence. She gets anxious when she does not understand what is going on. However, she has grown up in a loving environment and she trusts and loves her people.
I had no issues starting her on the longe-line, with or without saddle, with bridle, side-reins, all was great and easy! The issues started appearing with riding. While ridden, her back was stiff and arched, with frequent head-tossing and tail-arching. You could have argued that she was resisting and just simply a difficult horse! I know this horse since birth, she was clearly stressed and trying to tell us something. Her back seemed fine, I suspected the saddle. Multiple saddles were tried, they made no difference, until we put Peter Grigoriev's Dynamic Saddle on her. Literally, problem solved! No more head-tossing, the back relaxed and she started swinging through her back, tail relaxed. Happy horse, happy me!
Next issue was her bit-grinding. It became constant and seemed to become a habit! Teeth were ruled out as an issue but we noticed that she was still a little anxious while ridden as her poop got loose after 20 mins under saddle. Alejandro suggested trying a gastro-intestinal supplement. A week after starting the supplement, the teeth grinding stopped, as did the loose stool while riding, just like magic!
Malia is doing great now and I am just in awe as to how much I have learned about horse-communication in these short 6 months of working with this beautiful mare!
I am very much aware that a similar horse in a less attentive barn would not have been successful in its training and I feel very privileged that I can work with my own youngsters whose complete history I know and whom I trust.
I am super grateful to Alejan
My 3 year old Percy making progress under saddle - ridden by Alejandro Salazar. First time doing counter canter - and he just does it. First time doing shoulder-in, he did it, first time doing leg-yield, he did it. It might not be perfect but Percy tries his heart out. He has talent, is a nice mover and he LOVES to work and learn. You just got to love a horse like that!!! đđ
Malia today in training with Alejandro Salazar.
Malia is making progress under Alejandro Salazar đĨ°
Percy ridden by Alejandro Salazar is making progress.
Malia under Alejandro for the first time. So excited to see her develop with such a great teacher!