http://www.horsenation.com/2012/10/02/the-riding-school-is-your-child-ready-to-own-a-horse/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-riding-school-is-your-child-ready-to-own-a-horse horsing around the world Mon, 20 May 2013 22:57:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://www.horsenation.com/2012/10/02/the-riding-school-is-your-child-ready-to-own-a-horse/#comment-10412 48north Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:52:41 +0000 http://www.horsenation.com/?p=17155#comment-10412 ETA: yes, green on green usually leads to black and blue, but even though I had ABSOLUTELY no idea how to start a youngster, the filly was smart and good natured and allowed me to do it. It’s kind of amazing that horses understand how clueless you are, and if your fumbling with them is kind, they accept it. By the time I had to sell her–off to college–she was trained for both English and Western pleasure and eq, jumping, even did stock horse routines for the AHSA medal classes. No trainers were involved, just her wonderful trainability and her understanding of me. She was an amazing mare, I still miss her.

]]> http://www.horsenation.com/2012/10/02/the-riding-school-is-your-child-ready-to-own-a-horse/#comment-10402 48north Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:33:58 +0000 http://www.horsenation.com/?p=17155#comment-10402 When I was 7, the owner of a nearby stable GAVE me a yearling filly, the product of an unplanned pregnancy. I ran home yelling, “Mr Thompson is going to give Fancy!” at the top of my lungs. When my parents determined that the man was really going to give me the filly, they decided my daily visits to the stable and my pleas for a horse were enough to accept the gift. We built a large paddock and shed next to the house–the stable was closing–and for the next few years my filly and I grew up together. When the stable re-opened, I moved her back and started her. I never had any formal lessons before the filly was given to me, but my horse ownership turned out fine.

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