Friday, April 28
Apr. 28th, 2023 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Gorgeous weather. Frogs singing.
I feel that it is warm enough now to put away the small heater for the pony/goat water, and the long extension cord.
I cleaned out the pony/goat water tub (it gets full of algae) and refilled it.
The goats and ponies were able to spend some time in the bigger pasture, and I groomed Ursula for a while. She still has a ton of winter hair. I guess the birds will have something nice to line their nests.
Then I went to see River.
While I have cooled off a bit since yesterday, and R did a lot of minimizing of the situation, I still feel like this person was trying to manipulate me into selling River for "her daughter's sake".
R made me feel okay about letting the girl keep using him, but I made it EXTREMELY CLEAR that River was not for sale, and that this girl should be realistic about her expectations and look for her own horse.
R went on to express some of her own thoughts, that this family was very odd in that they say they were ready to buy a horse for this girl, and have been looking, but they don't seem to be ready to commit any actual time or money to doing so.
I personally think they thought they could get River for cheap by manipulating me, and get a very quiet, well-trained horse that they already know would work.
The problem is, if they put almost no time into him, in a year or so he would NOT be the quiet, well-trained horse that he is anymore. This kid only comes to ride him twice a month, tops, and R says that their lessons are very un-challenging with few actual goals.
River is only such a good horse because I work with him about four times a week (one of those days is a lesson day) where I reinforce our training and boundaries, and I do so all year round.
This girl doesn't ride any of their horses at home, and if she took River home and proceeded to never ride him, THEN WHY BOTHER?
R went on to say that they ALREADY OWN A HORSE (she talked to them about bringing him in for training) that would likely work for this girl, but they would have to invest in some training, which they are unwilling to do. There is also a SECOND horse that they own, that they also said they didn't want to spend money training. Both of these are horses that were once well-trained, but have been left out to pasture for a few years, so they would need work.
R has no idea why they want to buy yet another horse that will likely get left out to pasture until it is no longer rideable.
Basically, these people want a perfectly quiet horse that is already trained that they never have to put any effort into no matter how long they ignore it.
Good luck.
Even better, R told me this woman used to ride and train jumpers, and is perfectly capable of training the horses that they already own, except she just...doesn't.
So there's no sob story here, just manipulators who really don't even need another horse from the sound of things.
R said she would not allow them any illusion that River is for sale, and encourage them to seek elsewhere.
River did well. His breathing was a little off, but he did well on our ground work, and did well with that Liberty circle to the right. I worked on the gate obstacle, and he did okay with that. I want to keep refreshing it so that when we get ready for a class it isn't such a big deal.
R's truck was hooked up to the trailer, so I got River to load a couple of times. Not right into place and divider closed, but all four feet and he stayed relaxed, which is good enough. Many cookies.
Then I rode him outside for a while, which was lovely. It was the perfect temperature, sunny, and just so nice.
R said that Phoenix made it to his new home (a six hour trailer ride away!) in good shape, and that his new family was very happy to see him.
I came home and chilled.
I learned that there is such a thing as albino redwood trees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albino_redwood
Gorgeous weather. Frogs singing.
I feel that it is warm enough now to put away the small heater for the pony/goat water, and the long extension cord.
I cleaned out the pony/goat water tub (it gets full of algae) and refilled it.
The goats and ponies were able to spend some time in the bigger pasture, and I groomed Ursula for a while. She still has a ton of winter hair. I guess the birds will have something nice to line their nests.
Then I went to see River.
While I have cooled off a bit since yesterday, and R did a lot of minimizing of the situation, I still feel like this person was trying to manipulate me into selling River for "her daughter's sake".
R made me feel okay about letting the girl keep using him, but I made it EXTREMELY CLEAR that River was not for sale, and that this girl should be realistic about her expectations and look for her own horse.
R went on to express some of her own thoughts, that this family was very odd in that they say they were ready to buy a horse for this girl, and have been looking, but they don't seem to be ready to commit any actual time or money to doing so.
I personally think they thought they could get River for cheap by manipulating me, and get a very quiet, well-trained horse that they already know would work.
The problem is, if they put almost no time into him, in a year or so he would NOT be the quiet, well-trained horse that he is anymore. This kid only comes to ride him twice a month, tops, and R says that their lessons are very un-challenging with few actual goals.
River is only such a good horse because I work with him about four times a week (one of those days is a lesson day) where I reinforce our training and boundaries, and I do so all year round.
This girl doesn't ride any of their horses at home, and if she took River home and proceeded to never ride him, THEN WHY BOTHER?
R went on to say that they ALREADY OWN A HORSE (she talked to them about bringing him in for training) that would likely work for this girl, but they would have to invest in some training, which they are unwilling to do. There is also a SECOND horse that they own, that they also said they didn't want to spend money training. Both of these are horses that were once well-trained, but have been left out to pasture for a few years, so they would need work.
R has no idea why they want to buy yet another horse that will likely get left out to pasture until it is no longer rideable.
Basically, these people want a perfectly quiet horse that is already trained that they never have to put any effort into no matter how long they ignore it.
Good luck.
Even better, R told me this woman used to ride and train jumpers, and is perfectly capable of training the horses that they already own, except she just...doesn't.
So there's no sob story here, just manipulators who really don't even need another horse from the sound of things.
R said she would not allow them any illusion that River is for sale, and encourage them to seek elsewhere.
River did well. His breathing was a little off, but he did well on our ground work, and did well with that Liberty circle to the right. I worked on the gate obstacle, and he did okay with that. I want to keep refreshing it so that when we get ready for a class it isn't such a big deal.
R's truck was hooked up to the trailer, so I got River to load a couple of times. Not right into place and divider closed, but all four feet and he stayed relaxed, which is good enough. Many cookies.
Then I rode him outside for a while, which was lovely. It was the perfect temperature, sunny, and just so nice.
R said that Phoenix made it to his new home (a six hour trailer ride away!) in good shape, and that his new family was very happy to see him.
I came home and chilled.
I learned that there is such a thing as albino redwood trees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albino_redwood
no subject
Date: 2023-04-30 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-03 03:27 am (UTC)Time and hours invested make good horses. Some people seem to miss the boat on that concept for whatever reason.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-03 04:33 am (UTC)I work with him all the time, and train him, and take care of him, and correct things as they arise.
This girl shows up once in a while, and he behaves well for her because of all the work I do the rest of the time. She wants to do some Liberty? Sure. He can do Liberty. She wants to do some obstacles? Sure. He can do some obstacles. She wants to maybe ride bareback or do some long lining? Sure, why not. He's done that too.
BECAUSE I TRAINED HIM TO DO IT!!!
If they took him home, and proceeded to not work with him for a whole winter, they might be surprised to discover that he wasn't quite as good at those things any more. Or, maybe showed a bit of resistance or being buddy sour after spending an entire winter out in a field with his new friends.
Or he would start being sore in his back, since he takes a lot of work to maintain anything resembling a top line at his age.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-06 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-07 08:58 am (UTC)They have horses at home, one that the girl says she even rides a little bit, so why not start there?
no subject
Date: 2023-05-09 03:26 am (UTC)