TNJ.......... A Little about Louie....... the First Show......

Part One

As I mentioned in the last post, BG did oversee, if that's what you want to call it, things with Louie at two horse shows. I don't really know what to call BG's role there with Louie. He didn't do what any trainer I have ever seen does in terms of taking horses to horse shows and getting them shown.

At that first horse show we were there, stabled with them that part is true. If I hadn't been the one keeping track of Louie he probably would have been totally forgotten. I had to remind BG the horse needed to be schooled and pretty much everything else I took care of myself and I do mean everything.

What BG did was he gave some instruction to the teenage boy who rode the horse although he did try to pass it to me. Since I hadn't been around to even see the horse schooled or to know what terms BG was using to coach, I didn't feel comfortable taking that on. I did, however, tell BG what I thought the kid should be doing and he passed it on in his terms.

If you think that could be charged as a lesson, I guess with BG's thinking you're probably right but BG had the teenage boy riding the horse instead of BG doing the work himself. That was a common practice for BG getting the work done with my horses. He had an assistant ride whenever possible. I don't have a problem with that when the rider is competent and the instruction is there.

What I do have a problem with is the fact he didn't take care of a trainer's responsibilities at the show but still wants to charge me for that. Giving this kid a lesson or two on the horse at a horse show only because he was reminded by me the horse needed to be worked doesn't fit what I think a responsible trainers should do. Trainers charge show fees because they hire grooms etc to take care of the horses, all the care of the horses, not just this little blip that BG did.

Both horse shows were a wreck as far as Louie was concerned. The horse didn't even make it into the ring at the first show. Knowing what I know now, I can't help but wonder if Louie hadn't gotten onto the horse trailer to go to the show already having that problem.

The horse was getting schooled at home without me present. It still makes no sense to me he got such a bad burn from a bell boot in just one ride in the warm up arena that he was lame. It just was not that long nor that intense of a ride.

With Louie out of commission with that burn, BG just forgot about him. The horse would have stood in his stall the entire show without any hand walking or care if it wasn't for me. When I did take the horse's blanket off to groom him before taking him out for a walk I found a sweat mark all dry and crackly like still on his back from the schooling session. There were sweat marks from the girth to match and looking closer there was even still dried sweat from the bridle behind his ears.

I wasn't happy my horse had been put away in such condition. I specifically had asked both BG and the kid if the horse had been properly put up and had been told "yes" by both. I spoke to BG and he directed me towards the kid blaming him. While I do get that the kid rode the horse and shouldn't have put him away like that, he was BG's assistant and BG's responsibility. BG should have been the one dealing with him not me. At least that's what I thought, anyway, obviously BG didn't feel he was obligated at all.

Louie was a star at this show but I found myself pretty unhappy about BG's lack of concern for my horse. By this time it was getting more obvious to me that BG wasn't really taking his commitment to me all that seriously. Since they had kept Storm's registration papers and I was believing I was going to be up sh*t creek not getting what I was owed, I did not rock the boat.

I was hoping I could hold things together for as long as I could to get as much of the training I was owed as possible. I had not yet discovered the papers weren't transferred yet or that I had the option of getting a duplicate set to keep them from negotiating the originals when they hadn't fulfilled the contract. My blog post about this situation with Louie reflected my attempts to not make any waves. I posted about how the horse handled the situation at the show but did not share about how BG or his assistant had done.

It was only later I realized that Louie really was not ready to be shown at the first show or the second one for that matter. Looking back at it I recall when the horse did roll over into a frame when asked it was because BG had put what he calls an aperture on him.

I would learn much later that the horse didn't really under stand about going into the bridle yet even though I was told otherwise. Because I wasn't seeing the horse worked, I was relying on what I was being told. Looking down onto Louie going around the ring at the second show is really when I saw the first hints that Louie wasn't performing as I knew he was capable of doing.

The reasons for that would come gradually to me over the course of time. In the meantime I went on listening to what BG was telling me. We'd had such conversations about frame versus function. I thought the man did good with it in the lines but some how it didn't translate over to riding. It had not yet dawned on me that BG was just another one of those people who talked a good game when it came to the under saddle work.

Hind sight is always 20/20. I could slap myself for what Louie went through just being forced into a frame let alone what happened at the second horse show.

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

Louie's Experience at Region 4......

This collage of pics was taken by twosuperstudponies by way of my live web cam back when Bey Aana foaled. This was the first time I actually was able to catch this mare foaling. She has the reputation of being a very sneaky mare and on this occasion it was a good thing I caught her. She required some assistance and it all worked out. The foal is Patriot and he is a full brother to Storm.

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