Re: Re: buying without riding

["Becky Huffman" <TOS@htcomp.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Karen Sullivan <greymare@jps.net>> very short round pen lessons one
day and a short trail ride the next.  BUT
> she had a year with me running looose on the trail and being ponied, so
she> had learned how to trailer, be handled a lot, go over creeks, ride
with> dogs, and probably because of all of that, is not spooky.  She has
also> learned the confidence to go in front, or stay behind.............and>
learned tons from the horse I was riding, who did all tihs with an
> unflappable manner...

To me, this is a prime reason to get a horse as young as possible., at the
very least to get one that has been raised, not just on 'pasture', but on
terrain, and in a natural herd!!   My horses are hand-raised...  handled
almost *every* day, usually several times a day as babies and run on 50
acres of the roughest, meanest piece of land I could get.  We don't have any
mountains around here, but they don't have any flat spots either.

I took my yearling for her first trip away from home a couple of months ago,
we hauled to a local ranch and I ponied her on a trail ride.  She went
quietly in a group of riders and strange horses, walk-trot and lope, front,
center and back of the pack...  she drank strange water out of stone
troughs -that many grown horses are scared of... up and down hills, no
problem.   A week later, I hauled her six hours and she trailer tied all
weekend at a ride camp with all the attendant excitement... She Loved It!!!
She is naturally bold, but you also have to consider that she *lives* in
conditions that most people have to train their pen- or stall-raised to
horses to accept, either at the same time, or after they are being trained
under saddle.

Consider that as a 4-5yr old...  so many of the major problems that people
have starting horses in endurance are going to be a non-issue to her...
running in a pack, the excitement of ride camp, drinking strange water -
that will all be 'old hat' to her.

Becky Huffman
Huffman's Arabians ~ The Original Series ~
http://www.htcomp.net/Huffman/



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