Professor: ‘Follow your dreams’ is cruel advice

[magical thyme]

106. my understanding is that arabians are all about bloodlines

according to a breeder/acquaintance from a few decades ago. There are certain bloodlines that are golden. Her horses were sweethearts and wouldn't rear, buck or bolt for anything (but hers lacked good conformation and athletic ability). Back in the 80s when the arab market crashed and truckloads were being shipped to slaughter, the top arab trainers in the country, Bill & Susan Bohls, bought up some of their client's herds and started their own breeding operation. (But not the herd my old gelding came from, lol.) The arabs they bought were golden -- beautiful conformation and gaits, but also beautiful minds and hearts, so safe for their amateur clients. As their trainers, they knew which bloodlines to buy. The rest are tough, tough, tough. You cannot "make" them do anything; you must win their hearts to get a willing partner or you will have pony mind in a very powerful body. My old gelding was essentially sweet, but deep down needed to be in control. He had to get me off every way possible, but just once. It seems he wanted to know my limits in order to "control" me. It took him years to figure out how to buck me off, but once he had he never did it again. But he would amuse himself by just getting me unseated a bit with little bucks before settling in to work. He also wouldn't hold still for mounting, until one day he finally managed to scoot out from under me and leave me eating dirt at the mounting block. And then he never did that again, and instead stood stock still to take care of me. He just needed to once, and then he took care of me. He also flipped on me once -- I jumped free and he landed right next to me. But then he rolled over me and used my back to hoist himself to his feet. I spent about 15-20 minutes as a quadriplegic and literally was just a head in the dirt before feeling and movement returned. I had a fractured sternum and deep tissue bruises that took 2-3 months to surface. I also sprained my knee badly, I think when I was jumping free. I consider that the most athletic feat I accomplished in my life. If you jump too soon you can pull them on top of you. Too late, and you can't get out from under them. But the momentum when they start to fall is enormous. There is no way to train for when to jump. I just remember my voice in my head saying, "No...No...No...NOW!" while my out loud voice was cussing up a storm. It all happens in slow motion...

The mare doesn't have his sense of humor or caretaking mind, and although she looks sweet and will cozy up and beg for treats from strangers like a dog, butter doesn't melt in her mouth. But once she accepts things, she is quite obedient and willing. She just needs to accept being ridden, but getting there could be lethal. For example, learning to accept the girth, at first she was very afraid. I proceeded very slowly and she lost her fear and seemed ok. Next season, I start very slowly again, but she had decided "no girth" and went crazy. Broke away from me inside the barn and tried to climb over the dutch door into the stall with the gelding. All you can do is stand back and let them have their tantrum. Once they accept, it's never a big deal again. This season, she tried to puff herself up but I don't give her anything to resist. I just leave the girth a little loose while putting on other tack until she's relaxed, and then gently tighten it. Lunge a little, tighten it the rest of the way. After a few days of that, and I can take it straight to riding tightness, especially once the weather is warm enough. They are very, very sensitive and intelligent, so it's also a matter of respecting that and allowing them the space to think things over and decide it is ok and safe. With lunging, she broke 2 sets of side reins that were long enough to start 16+ hand horses in (she's 14.3 with a short side of medium length neck). So I switched to vienna reins, which I prefer anyway. She tried to fight those, but they don't give her anything to fight, so she accepted them, but not quite. This spring, she had over the winter figured out being "on the bit." Soft, soft, soft and beautiful. And a few minutes later, rebelled without warning and hit me in the face. So I got off and put her on the lunge. She totally regressed and re-visited her fight with the vienna reins until she realized she can't "win" a fight or break them when there is nothing to fight. That will probably never happen again; she has totally accepted them and I can see it in her carriage. Even her winter blanket, on the 2nd winter I took a double-barreled kick and ended up with a cracked rib. Now, I can just toss it on without a thought (although I always am careful; she schooled me well).

Part of it is also climate. It is winter to them until it's at least 80 or 90 degrees. At 100 degrees they become totally different horses. We're melted into a puddle and they're finally comfortable, easy and willing. And diet matters. If you look at pictures of them in their home environment, they are bags of bones. They have been bred for centuries to run in desert heat on very, very little low grade fuel, and we overstuff them with premium and put them in a cold climate. I found with the gelding, and I'm seeing with the mare, that when they are overfed they become aggressive. Carbs are like angel dust or something in their system. I'm thinking I may need to move to the desert to keep her warm enough to relax. My 2 arab breeder friends both send horses out to two different top trainers and when their horses came back, announced that the trainers "starve them into submission." It's not starvation. It's an appropriate diet for the breed. They aren't meant to look like quarter horses.

As to Bill Gates, I have a personal hatred for him after he ruined the company where my career was at (Digital Equipment Corp). He destroys everything he touches. He is a lousy engineer and all about marketing and legal loopholes. Microsoft software sucks; there were much better products out there all along. And now his kind destroyed dressage, although I have to say the destruction started really back in the late 70s to early 80s. I saw an interview with him and Melinda Gates on PBS the other night. Frankly she looks like hell at this point; with all their money, her face has misery etched into it. The bad news is he read a book on fertilizer. The worse news is now he thinks he's an expert on agriculture so is planning to save the food supply. I see soyent green in our future. He also is designing a better nuclear reactor. Make that fluorescent soyent green because we'll all be glowing in the dark...

Back in the 80s, the Germans were very clever to change the judging rules to favor their horses. They saw the "adult amateur" market coming, and turned it into a market for oversized horses with fancy gaits, and money took over the dressage world. For a long time, they sold to us for top dollar horses that would have gone to slaughter. I remember Fritz Stecken pounding a table asking why Americans were importing the German horses. He considered thoroughbreds to be the best horses in the world. He said we had the best horses in the world right here. Instead, Americans being Americans, we tried to buy something that actually takes generations to grow.

I was there when Kathy Connelly was being helped financially by her father and dating Tad Coffin. At that point, she always smiled very sweetly while she was grinding you under her heels. Unlike Robert Dover who just wiped you off his boot and pretended he didn't notice you, as if you were a turd he accidentally stepped in. Luckily I had moved on when Tad traded Kathy in for a "caretaker" type. Word was she did not handle it well. 'Nuff said

Right now I have 2 part time jobs. In 3 years, I can start Social Security and lose one of the part time jobs. If I can also being doing some training up and selling, that could work...it would be nice ending. Postpone gratification until I can do it more on my own terms.