Re: Dubai - Valerie

[lbm@ici.net]

Linda Cowles wrote:
>
> 
> When I traveled to Virginia last month, I had the opportunity to ride
> with Valerie and hang around her barn, and I was **very** impressed -
> they are first class from start to finish.
> 
> What I learned in the short time I spent with them was basic...

 ...lots of good stuff deleted...

At last year's AERC convention, Valerie Kanavy gave a presentation on training.
During the Q&A session, I asked her the following question:

 "When you are training a prospect, how do you decide whether the horse
 'has it' or not?  What signs has your experience taught you to look
 for that tell you, 'Forget it.  Give up.  This horse is never going to
 make it.'"?

Well, she didn't really answer the question.  She did say something
interesting, however.  She said that the very best horses they have trained
in their barn have been slightly lazy horses.  That is, the best horses
have not been the real gung-ho, go-go, charge-em prancers, but horses
that you had to push a little bit to keep them going.  That the best
horses are horses with some innate sense of self-preservation and pacing
who do not want to burn the candle at both ends on their way to the
finish, and who tend to hold out a little for themselves from their
riders.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Massachusetts, USA