Beginners...

Ah, beginners.  Is there anything really quite as frightening around the barn? We have a new boarder and she seems like a very nice lady and she’s certainly enthusiastic about having a horse for the first time. She’s also greener than the grass and scaring the bejesus out of me.


I will give her credit for asking me to help her find a saddle that fits her and her horse. The down side is that she has some medical issues so she keeps going for really ugly synthetic saddles that wouldn’t fit anything well. She likes them because they weigh next to nothing. I’ve got a saddle for sale that fits her and her horse but weighs about a thousand pounds. Makes it hard for her to lift it onto his back.

Since she has multiple medical problems that means falling might be a really bad thing so you’d think a super quiet horse would be her priority but she likes to rescue critters in bad circumstances. Instead of letting anyone experienced help her find a calm, old trail horse to save she went and got this little backyard mutt horse that she likes probably because he’s got a long mane and tail. He’s also got a little crazy in his eyes and doesn’t seem super forgiving about her beginner mistakes. His conformation is strange and he moves a little weird. Like a pony, I guess is how I would describe it. Oh, and he’s off in the back too. Sigh…

I have no idea what they were riding him in before but she went out and bought a fancy show curb bit with a high port and a roller. When I saw her trying to shove it in his mouth the first time I had to stop her to explain that her bit was on the bridal backward. Helping her get it turned around I realized she also had no chin-strap on her long shanked bit. Sigh… I told her I had one I wasn’t using and she was like, “that’s okay, I’m only going to hop on for a minute to try out your saddle.” I explained why her leverage bit wasn’t really going to work without a chin strap and that it would cause extra pressure in his mouth when the port flipped too far forward. She was too busy to worry about it. 5 minutes later she couldn’t understand why her horse was tossing his head and wouldn’t move forward. I went and got my curb strap and put it on and gave her some tips about how to hold her hand forward and low when she asked for him to go and to ONLY pull back gentle if she needed him to stop or slow. They finally got moving... Double sigh...

She has no steering and doesn’t use her legs at all. I’m not sure if she’s ever ridden before. I thought she had but maybe I was wrong. On the up side if she’s open to it I think I can really help her and if she’s open to it I will just to make sure her and her horse are happy. I’m trying not to be too pushy and so far she seems to really appreciate the help.