Another Journey Begins - a Little Bait.........

Part One

While I did bring a full trailer load of horses on that first day, BG only worked with one horse and that was Tag. By the time BG was done with that first session, we were all exhausted for the day so the other two horses just got the experience of riding and standing in the trailer. Since none of these horses had been off our farm before that was still not bad for one day's work.

That first encounter with Tag was at the end of September. Later the following week, BG worked with Louie as well. Percy didn't get his turn until after the October Arabian Show.

With that show out of the way, I quit bringing Dandy until after the first of the year when the kids were ready to get back to work. That left one spot in the horse trailer and into that I switched Vee. While the mare was green broke she was having a little bit of trouble getting her left lead and I was hoping for some input.

I posted about those first rides and the work on Vee although I actually posted well over a month after the actual events. Tag The first two horses went pretty well. Louie There were some problems with the third but BG seemed to be open to my concerns and made changes as I asked so I was comfortable we were on the right track getting these young horses going under saddle.

Looking at how things were going with the horses BG had worked to this point, I thought maybe he could help me with Reflection Since the fall, the horse had been with a trainer for a while and was supposedly ready for me to ride. However, the plan had been for me to get on the horse before those training sessions were over and that hadn't happened. I didn't feel safe getting onto the horse on my own. I wanted BG to do the "test ride" to be sure everything was worked out.

I actually put that horse in training with BG and took him over to their facility to stay. Even though Dave's job was just ending, I paid for both board and training thinking it would just take a month or so to be sure the horse was safe enough for me to ride.

All I needed was someone to get the horse past any fear he might have of a new facility and get me comfortable with being back on him. Then I could take over from there. If I could get Reflection in the ring, that would do a lot to get people's attention onto my breeding program. It was a priority for me. I thought surely BG could get this done if he'd worked out Goldie's issues but that's not really what happened either. Life......and Eight Second Rides Looking back I can't help but wonder.....

Even with that addition of Reflection to his training string, BG continued to work on getting those young horses started for me. Before long we had Tag, Louie and Percy going under saddle although none of them was safe to ride yet. I kept a journal right from the start about how it was going. I did posts about how things went with each horse.

Some days when we'd worked these young horses, BG wanted to spend extra time working with a particular horse. He requested I leave that horse for what he called a "sleep over." I told BG right up front I couldn't afford to be paying any kind of board on another horse, not for one day, not for a month. I wasn't leaving any horses to incur more bills. BG's response was there would be no charge because the horse was staying there so he could work it at his convenience. He'd just put a pen up in the arena and throw the horse a flake of hay. It was not big deal. Since I was already paying full care board for Reflection, this would somehow balance out.

At first these sleep overs were not a regular thing. Gradually BG began to expect that I would leave a horse with him. Which horse that might be was rotated based on what BG saw as need. I continued to remind him that I had a spot in my horse trailer and at home for these horses. I could be taking them home. BG insisted he was having fun and really wanted to be able to have the horse easily accessible.

I might as well admit up front, I realize I am too quick to judge what someone is doing. I accept things at face value until I learn otherwise. Sometimes, that gets me into trouble because I've made my leap before enough time has passed for the problems to show.

I felt so grateful and even overwhelmed that someone would just help without anything in return that I wanted to do something for BG and WF. It seemed only fair to me with all I perceived they were doing for me "just because we're friends" that I should do something to show my appreciation. By this time BG had made lots of comments about how much both he and WF loved Scandalous Storm. I began to think maybe there was a way I could repay their generosity.

To be continued.......................

The Journey Takes a Turn

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