Moonshine’s Leaving
Posted by Mikki on Mar 17 2008 at 12:30 pm | Tagged as: Training
Don’t worry, it’s not forever!
I’m not sure how much we’ve shared about Moonshine, but to make a long story short, she hasn’t been fit for us to ride since we got her. Our horse friend, Shari, says she’s “green-broke” - she got only so far in her training, and then somebody stopped training her. Not far enough for someone who’s a green rider to feel safe on her. We have Sinbad for Bill to ride now, but he won’t be with us forever, given that he’s (1) not ours and (2) 26 years old. We’ve been going back and forth about getting another horse - namely Champ, the neighbor horse - but Shari is pretty adamant that we should not invest in another old horse who may , in addition, be arthritic. So she came up with an alternate plan.
Shari knows that even if we can never ride Moonshine, we can’t bear to get rid of her, so we’ll have a horse we have to pay to keep for no reason. She suggested that we take the money we were going to use to buy Champ and invest it in training Moonshine. She knows a trainer, Lance, who she highly recommends - he’s going to train her filly too. So Lance came over last Wednesday and worked with Moonshine for an hour. He suggested that it might be best for her to stay at his farm where he can ride her every day. We agreed, so today Moonshine left for boarding school for a month. We’ll miss her, but Lance has high hopes that after a month of intensive training she’ll be a fine horse.
So wish our Moonshine good luck! We hope she studies hard and comes back a new horse - one that doesn’t want to dump Bill off every time he gets in the saddle.
Good luck with the training. I think that’s a good choice. I am struggling with a mare that was really never finished and I don’t have the time to finish her nor do I feel competent to do so.
Sometimes it’s just best to get professional help, I think. Do you think you’ll find a trainer for your mare?
What a brilliant idea! Your money will be much better spent on a trainer. Moonshine will be happy to show off her new skills when she returns.
That’s a great idea.
Might I suggest that one or both of you go and watch the trainer work with Moonshine, learn what you can. See how it’s done. The knowledge you will gain will prove to be invalueable down the road when little problems crop up and refresher courses are needed.
And the knowledge can be used on any other horse.
Good Luck.
What a great idea! I hope it goes really well!
Pop on over to our site if you want to see pictures our “first baby/foal”.
Oh, yeah, Steve - I forgot to mention that he will train us too. We’re to go over there once a week and ride her, and he’ll show us how to do what he’s doing. He feels that it’s worthless to get a horse all trained if we don’t know what to do with her when he’s done! I agree! Next up is Valentine - I know a trainer around here that does gaited horses, and when we’ve recovered from the month of fees for training Moonshine (ouch!), we’ll call Jamar.
Not only is it worthless if you don’t know what to do when she’s home, but I’ve learned you can screw up a month of training in a few days. That’s why I’m taking lessons, so I don’t mess up my new horse.
Hi Mikki,
Sounds like you are doing the best thing for you and for Moonshine, albeit if it’s painful for the pocketbook. Moonshine will come back with better skills and a terrific work ethic, too. And you will be confidant with your new skills, too. A win-win.
It also sounds you found a terrific trainer, in that he knows that both the rider and his/her horse both must be trained together, so they are on the same page.
I forgot, and I’m sure you’ve mentioned it, but how old is Moonshine?
What about Valentine. Who will be riding him? Is he up to par for riding, too?
I haven’t checked in here for a while because you’ve not been posting much, but I have some exciting news to share!!!
I bought my first horse a couple weeks ago!!!
She’s a 15 yr old Tobiano Paint, named Baby Doll. I bought her from the lesson barn where I’ve been taking lessons.
Question for you: When you brought your first horse home, didn’t it feel strange to look outside and see a REAL horse in your yard?
I’m STILL getting used to it! hahaha
Lisa, congratulations on your new “baby!” How’s it going with her? Yes, it was strange for quite a while to see a horse outside and to know, that’s MY horse. Mine. All mine. Wait till you have more!
Moonshine will be 10 next month. Valentine is mine, and he’s great to ride. I just don’t know how to get him to do all his fancy gaits. So with him, it’s ME that needs the training, and he just needs to be reminded (he hasn’t been anything but a trail horse for 5 or 6 years).
Hi Mikki,
Just checking in to answer your question. Things are going ok, but we’ve had such terrible wind that I’ve not ridden her since she arrived several weeks ago.
Baby Doll seems to get so spooked when it’s windy…and it’s windy up here in the mountains for much of the winter and spring actually.
She’s probably getting so many strange odors wafting around her paddock, including cows, strange dogs, animals such as mountain lion and bear. I don’t really blame her for being so nervous.
But it scares me a bit how jumpy she is.
So, I’m feeling a little frustrated.
And then over the past couple days, the weather has not just been windy but terribly dry, so there is alot of static electricity in the air, which makes it impossible to touch Baby Doll without ‘electrocuting her’. She seems to be avoiding me, too.
I haven’t resumed my lessons either, because of all the wind and I’ve been sick for over a week.
So, I think I’m in a slump….
Gosh. I can’t wait for normal beutiful Spring to arrive.
I bet you can’t wait to work with Valentine to see all of his gaits. I hope you’ll post more, too. I miss reading your Blog on a weekly or daily basis.