Blog Hop: The Horse You Bought

This blog hop is going around and I thought I'd jump on it. I've owned TC for three years now and have been riding him for nearly four. In that time, so many things have changed!

March 2015

The other day (September 2018)

I started riding TC in December 2014 as a barely broke three year old. When I started with him he:

- had been ridden about 25 times
- had been on several trail rides on and off the property
- could load into a slant load (step up) trailer after a friend got in
- knew roughly how to longe
- had been cantered under saddle twice
- straight tied
- went forward, steered, and stopped when asked (mostly)

TC was a really good baby horse, though he was very much a baby horse. Not unbroke, not started poorly, but just not exposed to much. He spent much of his childhood sitting in a pasture waiting to be old enough to start. They started him in August 2014. He was an incredibly easy break apparently, they just hopped on him one day and he was like "k" and was a good boy.

I started riding him pretty early in his riding life. He was taken out about once per week from August until December. After getting the steering down in the ring, he got taken on the trails every other week. There was a road that went up and over one of the hills near his barn, so he went on that. He was passed by some cars, met a lot of people and dogs, and probably saw a bike or two just based on how he was with me. They also took him out to HBR, the closest trail facility, a few times too.

He was so ugly

His barn was chaotic to say the least. He got introduced to summer camp kids, who tied their horses up outside his pasture. The summer of his four year old year, he spent much of the time picking off the summer camp horses' decorations from their manes and saddles for their weekly horse show. He also was constantly around packs of dogs running and playing in the barn.

Generally I was pleased with how he was started. I have put most of the wear and tear on this horse. I did nearly all of his training. But there are downsides to that. I think with my next horse, I'll either buy the horse unbroken and hand it off to a trainer who specializes in that, or I will buy something with more miles on it. TC was tricky for me because of how green he was, but he is a good boy and has a great mind so that worked out for us.

TC's first horse show, April 2015

Fast forward through some really rough times... and here we are now, three years after buying him and nearly four after starting with him!

In the time that I've been riding him he:

- loads into a straight load trailer
- hauls by himself
- hauls with other horses without being a dick about it
- lives in a paddock
- longes well with a chambon and/or side reins
- long lines

Long lining all last winter was great for him! I wish I could do
it more at the new barn... 

- ground drives
- walks on a eurociser
- swims in a pool
- cross ties
- lets me clean his sheath FINALLY, he tried to kick me a lot, which like, I don't blame him
- improved his gaits x1000

Any excuse to use this picture, he was being sassy here but damn

- schooling Third level and all that comes of that
- does some working equitation stuff (more this weekend!)
- lets me open gates off of him
- developed and nearly fixed a bolting problem
- developed and fixed a rearing problem
- walks through water, over a mattress, over bridges, etc (bombproofing clinics ftw)

Water a year ago at his now-home barn when we were just
visiting

Me: walk over this, TC!
TC: okay sure

- smiles
- ground ties, mostly
- can have his bridle path clipped, but only from the left side, and his legs/chin hair
- wears boots, even back boots without kicking at me too much about it
- handles pressure way better
- became more confident in various situations

Just excited that it popped out, not scared

Trying to push from the wrong side

- has been to a bunch of new places
- can be ridden bareback
- does cavallettis and trot poles
- competed through Training level with scores to 72%
- competed through First level with scores to 73% (I like where this is heading)
- won USDF All Breeds last year for Training level

I love this ribbon so much!

Puts up with me

TC isn't perfect though. Here's a list of where I've fallen short as an owner/trainer. I'm sure the list is longer actually, but these are things I know I've done wrong.

Things he still can't do:

- wear clothes (he is a nudist)
- not take his neighbor's clothes off
- be sane in the winter (getting there)
- stop spooking at birds
- jump over anything
- be totally body clipped, I mean he's fine with being clipped, I think we need to work up to being able to be okay in the cold + no hair
- tie without rearing a bit

You know... at least he doesn't
pull back okay?

He's changed so much for the better and it's still going to be a while before he is my dream horse, but he's totally getting there.