Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Oh boy... Narrow minded sheeple
I frequent a few different horse forums. This morning I read a comment on one of them that got me thinking about the sad state of the world. Well, the horse world anyway, I suppose. Anyway, the poster said that until they heard how many World Champions someone had trained and how much money they had earned, she wouldn't listen to what they had to say. I thought "man, what a narrow-minded statement!" There is a LOT to learn in this life and I'd wager to say I've learned a whole lot more about horses from non-World Champs than I have from World Champs. Not to mention, stories abound about high ranking trainers who are crooked. A certain World Champion western pleasure trainer comes to mind who had a horse found in his barn that was horribly abused. Also a top ranked Arab trainer who was convicted of several counts of having plastic surgery and a myrid of other surgical procedures done to FIX conformational defects in his Halter horses. I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in anything either of them have to say. Maybe I'll never be a World Champion because of that - so be it. I find it really sad that some people are so narrow minded. The whole thing kinda falls under the category of two things I dislike - people with closed minds and people who are sheep, blindly following along without thinking for themselves. Both of those types of people seem to be in abundance. Has the world gone crazy or am I the one who is mad?
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Checking In
*sweeping away the cobwebs*
Hello all my faithful readers! *cough, cough* It's dusty around here...
OK, yeah I'm a little odd.
It's been a couple months or so I guess since I last posted here. I got a wild hair up my butt just now and figured I'd write something.
I've been keeping busy with my horses and various projects. Right now I only have two horses of my own. My faithful Paint stallion, Bo and my newest addition is a yearling Spanish Mustang colt I call Cazador. (Spanish for "hunter" - or so the online translation sites tell me) I actually got him back in... late February/early March I believe it was, while I was still training Onyx. He was pretty rough when I first got him - shaggy, skinny, wormy, covered in ticks and pretty wild. He didn't want much at all to do with people. He's changed quite a bit and is now a slick, shiny, friendly young stud. He is a flashy dun overo and seems to turn heads wherever he goes. That's good, because I have quite a career planned for him. His main purpose will be to serve as an ambassador for the Spanish Mustang breed. There are only somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 Spanish Mustangs in existence (depending on which figures you read). They are descendants of the Conquistador's horses, the first horses brought to this country. In addition to being from a rare breed, my young Cazador also carries a rare bloodline within the breed. His dam has two doses of a stallion called Scarface. I've been told there isn't a whole lot of Scarface left in the breed. I certainly haven't been able to find him in more than a couple horses in my searches so far. So I plan to campaign Cazador quite extensively and use him to spread the word about the breed. Big plans! So far he's already been out in the world a handful of times and he has gotten rave reviews from everyone who's seen him - horse person or not. The future is looking bright!
The latest development in my horsey life is I believe that, for the first time, I'm going to hang out my shingle for horse training services. It's definitely something I LOVE and I suppose I'm pretty good at it. I don't consider myself an expert and I certainly don't know everything (NO ONE does, no matter what they think) but I can train a horse for sure. For many years I've resisted the idea of training for other people because, quite frankly I like horses more than I like people. But when my adventure with Onyx came to an end, I was pretty bummed not to have a training project anymore. Bo is far from "finished" and there is a lot more I can do with him. I do have Cazador, but it will be a couple of years or so before we get to do any riding. I've found myself missing the days years ago when I had SEVEN horses of my own, all youngsters and all in training. I used to spend hours everyday on chores and training and I loved it. I think it would be great to have more horses to train now, but my finances certainly don't allow having my own herd again quite yet. My business has been stagnating for a little while and I have my feelers out for a 9-5 job (yuck) but until the right one comes along I have a whole lot of hours in the day I could be spending with more horses. So, I think the time is right to dip my toe in the waters or training for other people. I've spent the last several days editing and re-editing a contract, picking other trainer's brains on what to charge and what to expect and composing an ad. I'm a little nervous, but I'm also looking forward to seeing how it goes. Wish me luck!! :)
Hello all my faithful readers! *cough, cough* It's dusty around here...
OK, yeah I'm a little odd.
It's been a couple months or so I guess since I last posted here. I got a wild hair up my butt just now and figured I'd write something.
I've been keeping busy with my horses and various projects. Right now I only have two horses of my own. My faithful Paint stallion, Bo and my newest addition is a yearling Spanish Mustang colt I call Cazador. (Spanish for "hunter" - or so the online translation sites tell me) I actually got him back in... late February/early March I believe it was, while I was still training Onyx. He was pretty rough when I first got him - shaggy, skinny, wormy, covered in ticks and pretty wild. He didn't want much at all to do with people. He's changed quite a bit and is now a slick, shiny, friendly young stud. He is a flashy dun overo and seems to turn heads wherever he goes. That's good, because I have quite a career planned for him. His main purpose will be to serve as an ambassador for the Spanish Mustang breed. There are only somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 Spanish Mustangs in existence (depending on which figures you read). They are descendants of the Conquistador's horses, the first horses brought to this country. In addition to being from a rare breed, my young Cazador also carries a rare bloodline within the breed. His dam has two doses of a stallion called Scarface. I've been told there isn't a whole lot of Scarface left in the breed. I certainly haven't been able to find him in more than a couple horses in my searches so far. So I plan to campaign Cazador quite extensively and use him to spread the word about the breed. Big plans! So far he's already been out in the world a handful of times and he has gotten rave reviews from everyone who's seen him - horse person or not. The future is looking bright!
The latest development in my horsey life is I believe that, for the first time, I'm going to hang out my shingle for horse training services. It's definitely something I LOVE and I suppose I'm pretty good at it. I don't consider myself an expert and I certainly don't know everything (NO ONE does, no matter what they think) but I can train a horse for sure. For many years I've resisted the idea of training for other people because, quite frankly I like horses more than I like people. But when my adventure with Onyx came to an end, I was pretty bummed not to have a training project anymore. Bo is far from "finished" and there is a lot more I can do with him. I do have Cazador, but it will be a couple of years or so before we get to do any riding. I've found myself missing the days years ago when I had SEVEN horses of my own, all youngsters and all in training. I used to spend hours everyday on chores and training and I loved it. I think it would be great to have more horses to train now, but my finances certainly don't allow having my own herd again quite yet. My business has been stagnating for a little while and I have my feelers out for a 9-5 job (yuck) but until the right one comes along I have a whole lot of hours in the day I could be spending with more horses. So, I think the time is right to dip my toe in the waters or training for other people. I've spent the last several days editing and re-editing a contract, picking other trainer's brains on what to charge and what to expect and composing an ad. I'm a little nervous, but I'm also looking forward to seeing how it goes. Wish me luck!! :)
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