101 Ways To Ruin A Good Horse

yuck. this is making me sick! hopefully the new trainer will do something good for him, although stating he is ruined for dressage does not really give me any hope. she may just be trying to get him to move to the dark side though muahaha ;)
his possibilities are unlimited, and now I'm irritated I didn't buy the guy!

I don't get the ruined for dressage bit. He's too young to be ruined IMO.

poor guy :( what a life hes had!

That does suck. If this new trainer goes back to basics at his speed, then maybe he'll be OK. The bad habit he's learned is kind of a doozy, but surely can be corrected. How old is he now? He seems so young to be already taking dressage tests, but I don't know much. I remember an otherwise perfect horse that would rear and turn into the rail every time he was asked to canter. 3 trainers later, and was never fixed, now is in a pasture. A 50K, 17hh HA Park horse prospect. Now a pasture ornament worth $0.

He's still gorgeous.

I'm still trying to get my head round a horse of this calibre being backed at two!!!
So, how old was he when he was in the ring, under saddle, doing his little "levade" in the warm up ring?

2? My god, mine are 4 and I thought I was pushing them too hard if I were to do some cantering and I almost killed my trainer for bouncing Cyn over 12" jumps.

He should be nearing 4 now? (just checked the site). If he were mine he'd just be getting started.

[quote="rabbitsfizz"]I'm still trying to get my head round a horse of this calibre being backed at two!!!
So, how old was he when he was in the ring, under saddle, doing his little "levade" in the warm up ring?[/quote]

Me too. :BH

Sorry - my mistake!

I remember that!

Perhaps the owner should say "He will NEVER show" and they may not be so amped to have him in the ribbons?

I understand the outrage ... but I don't understand the demands upon the owner. The person SOLD this horse and no longer has any say. She needs to put up or shut up. If she would like to have any influence at all, she is going to need to calm herself down. She may have already alienated the owner and that won't do the horse any good at all.
I agree with her, but unless she retained some legal rights there isn't a darn thing she can do.

Not that I don't agree with her, but I wondered the same thing Heidi.

I read all this and all I can think of is "Why did they sell him in the first place?!?" Then they wouldn't be having this big hissy fit.

The breeders are not having a "hissy fit" and they are perfectly calm. They have shared this story with me privately as they have corresponded with the owner. I thought it was terribly interesting, and that I would share it with this group because I have posted about this colt off and on ever since he was born, and I thought others would be interested in reading about what has happened to him. But I cannot leave the story up as I see now it was the wrong thing to do. He is not my horse, and I have made a mistake posting this.

It IS interesting. AFAIC I have no real opinion on the breeder's input. My interest is in the story itself and where it will go from here. It's very frustrating to see such a promising young horse go down a road like this.

I will ask the breeder if she wants to post the story herself. All of you have the absolute right to your reactions, good or bad - the mistake is entirely mine. I went ahead and posted in a rush because I was so eager to tell the story, not THINKING "this is not my horse" and I am inviting comment on things I have no business in. I should have shown more judgement.

I would also be interested in hearing what happens to him.... I like reading the updates on the owner's site about all that you've posted here.

My bad for bringing that aspect out in the open. :oops: It *is* very nice to keep up with his updates and such because he is a beautiful and promising horse. It just seems to be a very frustrating 'thing' between the breeder and current owner, for us to see what appears to be a good horse going to waste and a situation where our comments will only seem like gossip ... which, I guess, is what it amounts to.
I'm sorry. :oops:

Whew, I'm glad I caught that before it was gone. I guess I wasn't around to hear about the colt before. FWIW I think it's fine that the breeders are upset. I'd be a little suspicious if I heard of a horse breeder that sold something with potential, saw that the nice home was turning out to not be the best environment, then said "f it, not my problem." Even if they can't do anything, them caring means something.

I would like to see where the story goes from here.

Yes but Maigray was right in what she did to take it down until the owner gives thier permission and very gracious in her explanation of why she did what she did to.

No one is arguing that! We just hope that we can keep getting updates. It is a not-so-uncommon-scenario, and we did all watch him until he sold, not to mention several others by the same breeder. And drooled I might add!

yep I remember copious quantities of drool. :ymdaydream: :rofl

He is a lovely horse, no denying, but, I have to say, much as I sympathise with the breeders, and it must be so frustrating, there is NO way I would ever have sold him at two as anything except a halter prospect.
I know you do things differently in the States to Europe, maybe stories like this may back up the idea that we are actually right in this?
Some things, like good wine, are worth the wait.

[quote="rabbitsfizz"]
Some things, like good wine, are worth the wait.[/quote]

I agree with this. A lot.

[quote="rabbitsfizz"]He is a lovely horse, no denying, but, I have to say, much as I sympathise with the breeders, and it must be so frustrating, there is NO way I would ever have sold him at two as anything except a halter prospect.
I know you do things differently in the States to Europe, maybe stories like this may back up the idea that we are actually right in this?
Some things, like good wine, are worth the wait.[/quote]

RF, I suspect there are more breeders/trainers coming to the light and waiting to back youngsters. :toast Shoot, Luna is over 4 and has only been backed a half dozen times now, and Destiny is only 6 months younger and has never been backed but that's because it has just been too hot this summer to do any kind of real training (heat indexes well into the 100+ deg. range).

http://wpdressage.co.za/article1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I was just reading this article today!

Krickette that is a BRILLIANT article, I have saved it and shall use it often, I know.
It also puts the kibosh on people who think "breaking" a horse (especially our Minis) to harness at two (meaning 1 1/2 ) is OK.

That article is STRAIGHT from her site and only a part of it: http://www.equinestudies.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; There are many good articles there but that article in it's entirety is here: http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_200…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's brilliant love that article.