Used Tack Sale and Why TC is a "Misery to Train"

This last Sunday was another awesome used tack sale! My mom heard about the last one and really wanted to go to this one, so I invited her along. It ended up being a really fun day with her!

We talked about Sunny, and she's been having some nerves with him. He's not doing anything wrong, but she's still getting used to him and he's a different sort of horse than she's used to. He's smaller so he feels like he's going faster than he is, and she's unnecessarily worried about tipping him off balance. So she wanted to come to the tack sale to try to find an English saddle. She doesn't like putting the western saddle on (which is heavy and lives in the trailer for trail rides) for arena work and I had told her about some balancing exercises she could do in the English saddle.

We stopped to get tea and sandwiches and then we were off! The tack sale was awesome. We got a couple of western saddle pads for Sunny that were five dollars each. We found an older Wintec to buy that fit my mom really well and would fit Sunny well (that same day in the morning, a family friend lent my mom a wintec isabel dressage saddle that fit Sunny really well).

Remember him? I have no new pictures of him

I found some obnoxious mint green polo wraps that I'm super excited about. I also found a saddle pad, it's just plain and old, but TC has been sweating through his pads lately (wet saddle pads = schooling Second level, right?) and is just generally a pretty dirty horse despite me giving him baths whenever I can, so I go through a lot of them. The jackpot, however, was in the books this time. I found FOUR books to buy.

One was by the clicker trainer that Kate had out in July at her barn. I couldn't go audit the clinic because I was in Michigan, but after seeing how some of her horses have changed with the training, I decided to at least buy the book. It was a dollar, so why not?

The next was Basic Training of the Young Horse by Ingrid and Reiner Klimke. I think TC is beyond basic training at this point, but I couldn't not buy a Reiner Klimke book. Plus it might help me fill in any gaps with TC that I forgot. It was five dollars so why not?

The third was Cross Training Your Horse by Jane Savoie. I think it's more for other riders to use dressage to cross train their horses, but hey, free exercises. And it was again five dollars so why not?

Maybe not in need of basic training? Though we always need
basic training. Also I need new media stat. 

The fourth why not? book I got was a weird one. It was a dollar. So I was pretty sold on it. It was written in the early 50s on dressage by someone who turns out to be rather judgmental. I get that dressage was very different back then, but so far the only chapter I read was this one in the back about what to look for in a dressage horse and I'm a little insulted because it sounds like he would hate my horse.

Some quotes:

Feet to be well shaped, open, with a good frog. Boxy feet condemn the horse. So do big and clumsy feet.

Oh... but what if his giant feet are kind of adorable in a platypus type way?

If the quarters are short, the angle between the hip-bone (ilium) and thigh (femur) will be too small and the angle at the stifle joint between thigh and tibia is likely to be similarly affected. By that formation, the development of a good swinging gallop stride is impeded. 

My horse can gallop just fine with his tiny butt, thank you.

Too short a back is a disadvantage, because it makes it even more difficult than it always is to obtain lateral flexibility of the spinal column. 

I mean he can go REAL fast and REAL sideways when he wants.

A roach-backed horse should be rejected; it is a misery to try and train them. 

TC has a bit of a roach in his back and he is not a misery to train!

The neck should be long and fine and its natural elevation at an angle of 45 degrees. 

Oh... his neck is short and thick and definitely high on his shoulders. Which the author did say only "may" lead to problems arriving in a "correctly bridled position" which I do agree with I guess.

It will be understood that horses with short, heavy, thick necks will never go far in dressage. 

Get out.

The essence of dressage is the search for light and elegant movement. It cannot be expected from the heavy built, broad-chested horse. 

Boo! Though TC isn't very broad actually.

My short necked, roach-backed, giant hoofed, thick, ugly horse

The author goes on to say that the best sort of horse for dressage is one with a hot temperament. He says that this horse is generous and courageous, but requires a "sympathetic and understanding rider, for whom they will go like a lamb."

My favorite quote follows though:

Hot, in the context in which it is here used, does not mean gassy, scatter-brained, or temperamental.

Lol I think the word gassy was once used in a different way.  Back to insulting TC, we have this one-

I would similarly reject any horse given to habitual shying, a defect frequently due to poor sight. 

I'm pretty sure TC sees more than all of us.


Obviously I'm not taking any of this too seriously. It's so clear though, based on this book, how much dressage has really changed in the last 60 years! And that was just reading one silly chapter on how to pick a dressage horse, not even looking at how he prefers to train them. I'm curious to see what the rest of the book sounds like. I love the older writing style and think that at the very least, it will be really entertaining to read.

Even if the author hates my horse and thinks he would be a misery to train.