Susan wrote: "slowing down the training in order to have a good horse. Build trust before riding and then when you ride break it into small increments."
I think Susan has really made an excellent point about training any horse. Most riders really want to ride. The goals are sometimes more important than the journey. With some horses, who have had a good start you can get away with 'just get on and ride', but this gelding needs slow and consistent work to build his confidence back and to develope trust.
I am currently rehabbing an 5 year old TB off the track. This is not something I planned to do, it sort of fell into my lap;-) But I'm doing exactly what Susan describes. I treat him like he's never been ridden. I didn't get on his back for a month and when I did I didn't ask much: walk over there, soften your neck, walk over there, soften on the other side, get off. Maybe a 5 minute ride. We do tons and tons of ground work. There are all sorts of valuable things you can teach your horse during this rehab time. I've taught my new gelding to ground tie, self load into a trailer, and come when called. Now my guy seems pretty sensible compared to the horse we're discussing, so I might suggest my program is to progressive for him.
My advice: If you want a horse you can take out on the trail tomorrow, this guy isn't for you. If you have the time and patience and willingness to put him through a slow retraining period I think you will have a great (and grateful) horse as a reward;-) Good Luck. Jennifer.
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- [RC] Help for "Un-ridable" Horse, Susan Bothern
