Abby's Essay
What I Learned About Horses This Summer!
This summer Gina Pierce asked me if I would like to help her train some of her horses, at Boggy Meadows Ranch, where she lives. I love horses so of course I said, yes! Now I am going to tell you about my experience and what I learned from this awesome opportunity! I am a beginner at riding, but I have a 3 year old quarter horse “Quincy Snicker Bar”, I needed to get trained. Let me share with you what I learned.When you are training your horse you must remember that each horse is like an individual, each horse is different. You have to try different methods for training horses, it takes trial-and -error, learning to see what works better for your individual horse! If one method doesn’t work, you need to try to change it a little bit. You have to have a lot of patience to train or work with horses. It does take time, I know! You have to be persistent; if something becomes a problem, you have to keep at it or keep trying until the horse gets it. It also helps to remember this saying; “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” The little things you do to prepare your horse to be ridden or to be trained, are very important. I think by doing the little things on the ground just really helps your horse to be even better! When you are training your horse, it does help to get your horse out of the round pen so it is used to its surroundings. You have to learn to get really comfortable with the horse your working with! It will make training a little easier and fun or enjoyable! If things are just not going well, you have to show your horse who is boss, (in a kind way) because if you don’t, it will think that it can get away with anything.The horse enjoys being brushed or groomed before and after you work with them. While you are grooming your horse you need to remember “safety first!” I have learned that you must not go under the horses’ neck when it is tied up because if you did that and the horse pulled back you could get hurt. You always want to stay as close to the rear when you go behind the horse, because if you are farther away and the horse does kick, there would be more force, that would hurt! And never ever wrap a lead rope around any part of your body!When you get to the point of being able to ride your horse these are some of the fun things you can do! When you try to do the ‘rising trot’ you have to feel the beat 1, 2, 1, and so on. If you are ‘barrel racing’ it helps if you lean with your horse. Learning how to barrel race is really fun and can be interesting too! If you are just getting on or riding your horse for the first time, you should stay alert or focused on what you and the horse are doing, anything can happen. If while doing these things for some reason you fall off, you must get right back on right away! (if your not hurt). I also learned about teaching your horse to round and get them balanced. A well balanced horse can do any discipline, I also learned how important it is to teach a horse to yield off your leg. With Gina’s Help every step of the way, I trained my own horse in this Program, he is going so well, we have even had him out on the trails.One awesome tool that we used to train some of the horses was “The Weight Trainer,” that Gina invented! It is like a saddle but it has about 28 pockets, and about 28 5 pound bags/sacks that you put into the pockets. You gradually add the weight as you train the horse. I can now ride my horse because of “The Weight Trainer!” It was so much fun to be able to do this, this summer, it was an awesome experience! By: Abbey Shamp
