In another titillating thread, a poster was asking for feedback about leg yields. A certain know-it-all opined that horses should have learned to leg yield prior to being started under saddle. Terrific but, for many of us, this is no longer an option. We are only able to work with the horse(s) we have as they are right now, training holes and all. We can't go back to start them all over from scratch. We can, however, retrain things, patch holes, fill in gaps in training, take a few steps back in training, etc.

So, without purposely pulling a Tiff (asking a question without providing my own answer - sorry, I think I have piggy flu or maybe just fibromyalgia: I am sick as a swine. I can't think coherently to put together an answer) I would like to discuss what issues your horse has "inherited" from previous owners/trainers. What are you doing/did you do to address these problems and how successful do you believe your efforts were?

Not exactly what I said.




Rather that it be started on the ground first then continued under saddle.



However in response to this thread and a good topic BTW, I ended getting fed up with fixing other peoples problems and went the breeding route.

That being said there could still be holes in your horse's training as a result of various reasons, not only because the horse is just bought.

Who said I was talking about you?

Well, my gelding I bought as an itty bitty baby, so all of his issues are my fault...

I want to say all MY issues are my horses' fault!

I think it definitely goes both ways.

My mare was a backyard TB who was sent to the track to get broke when she proved too much for her owners to handle. There she got kind of screwed up, the most prevalent remaining issue being a fear of doorways/in gates/small openings. When they tried to get her gate card she didn't want to go into the starting gate. They forced her in, she went nuts, and she tore the whole thing down. She ended up with a calcium deposit over her knee and a fear of small spaces.

When I first started showing her I went through insane measures to get her into the ring. At home I could lead her into the ring and then mount. At the first few shows I went to I did the same thing. At most of the shows we went to, the schooling area was attached to the show ring so we were able to jump a schooling jump toward the in gate and then continue galloping through the in gate. It was quite a spectacle! We had to get the whole area cleared -- I'm sure people hated up. We eventually got to the point where we could trot into the ring, and in her last year or two of showing we could actually walk into the ring. We always needed to be aware and forward or she would still duck out of the in gate.

Once I choose from the myriad issues Rio had I'll post again

Same for mine!

Dexter was a trainwreck for too many reasons to count; training was the least of his issues. Then I screwed him up a bunch more with my crummy riding, but I'd like to think that nowadays I've done a good job with him on the flat. It took someone else riding him for part of this summer to make me see I had done a good job with him; his walk-canter transitions were always incredible, and they got pretty crummy with this girl because she couldn't time it. I never was successful in getting good changes out of him, but I think it would require injecting his back again.

As for Bouncer, he seems to be of the sneaky issue variety. He is so slow to develop problems, that you don't realize they are problems until you realize, hey, I really don't want to canter at the speed of smell, and yo, I don't think dropping to the trot after a cross-country fence because we're going away from home is such a hot idea. It is hard to describe or understand, it's like he has Jedi mind powers when you ride him for a long time...

I can't say he had any issues when I got him, other than the fact that I couldn't get him to canter for the first week or two, and that he was/is laterally retarded. And he used to bronc when you hit him. Most of these I would say are not fully resolved problems; he can do decent simple changes/canter transitions now, but he doesn't think he should have to canter on 10 meter circles. He can turn on the forehand with minimal beatings, thinks shoulder-in is awesome, and he leg-yields ok. But it's definitely hard to get him to step over/under. And the broncing thing is not nearly as intense as it used to be, mostly it's a half-hearted kick out of indignation. I like to think of it as part of our warm-up routine. It's pretty hard to say your horse has "issues" when he has convinced himself, and everyone else, that he's perfection. I take no credit.

hehe. I love Bouncer.

I got Gemma more or less untrained at 4. There are issues that come with that, but they are not as bad as having been poorly trained up to age 4. So, I've got no real complaints.

I think is is what ended up being Rio's BFD. Had we gotten him young he could have been exceptional. But as it was we got him after being passed around and crapped on in lesson programs for 5 years. Irreparable damage had been done to his brain.

Yeah, I wish I'd injected Dex's back the minute I'd gotten him (and gotten a real trainer...). He probably would have gone Prelim.

And you know, that's sort of what ultimately ended up convincing me to buy (well, and then keep ...) Gemma. I did a lot of soul searching and basically decided that with the potential issues you can/usually do inherit with an older horse, if I could just get a greenie with the right brain it would be o.k. It has been so far. Her issues are more like "OMG. What the hell is fly spray!!!!!" Then after a few days, she realizes it's not going to eat/injure her and she chills out. Then "OMG. You are going to cut my hairs?? Seriously?!" Again, after a few times, she gets it. Same with baths, trailering, feet picking, etc. It's annoying because it would have been a lot easier to get a baby past this stuff than a full grown horse ... but it could be a lot worse.

Hmmm....what issues did I inherit? Well I'll just say Steel was 3 when I bought him and he had 90 days of barrel training.