What are you most proud of?

What's something that you or your trainer have taught your horse to do that you are most proud of?

Of course I'm proud of my paso's lovely gait but I didn't train him for that so prob his bow, he gets lots of attentsion for it

Great thread idea!

I'd have to say that mine would be taking Woodstock from being a rank, aggressive, unhandled jerk to being a solid citizen that can work a halterless showmanship pattern & doing well under saddle.

Mine is very similar to yours. Hunter was an unruly, pushy, mean, aggressive 2 year old, and is now a pretty well trained 3.5 year old. Though the pony in him still comes out sometimes and we love it (his mean face).

Love this thread, great idea!! This place needs more happy threads like this, just makes the day so much better

The one thing I probably brag about the most about Indie, is how well she does with kids. I didn't really train her for it so much, as just imprinted her with children early in her life and she's just always taken to them so well. At 4 years old she was a lead line pony for my siblings, and now at 5 she is a part-time lesson horse (nothing fancy, she helps teach the basics of riding and so calm about it.).

Besides that? I've taught her how to bow too! LOL I love that trick, best one has to be the (self taught) "get into the house when the door is open" game though. Gotta love explaining THAT one to your mom. Her gait as well, we've been spending the past year trying to really refine Indie's gait and she's been working so hard on keeping it consistent, it won't be long we'll be racking the whole trail.

Overall? I think my horse just makes me proud no matter what. She's just a simple joy, everything is so quirky but gentle, hard not to be proud of her♥

Not sure if he was trained or does it on his own. He's a good babysitter. If I lose my balance he will adjust. And when Danielle was jumping him, she lost her balance and he stopped before the next vertical to keep her from falling off.

Going from a big mean/aggressive horse to a somewhat docile animal... its still a work in progress :) still have ways to go

I'm proud of everything I've done with Aires. Lol However, I'm probably the most proud of how well he handles new situations and things that would set off most horses, especially young green ones. Part of this is due to his temperament, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that I exposed him to a lot when I first started working with him. The other day we were on a trail ride with the dude string and a big diesel dump truck passed us revving his engine (on purpose!). We were riding drag and the three horses in front of us were really nervous and one of them actually bolted and kept trying to run through the fence to the side of the road. The truck passed within ten feet of us (there was really nowhere to get off the road) and Aires was perfectly calm, even letting me ride one-handed as I gestured for the jerk in the truck to stop revving his engine (he was laughing and revving it harder as the horse in front of us bolted! People make me so mad!).

Right now, I'm most proud of the fact that Vanna actually seems to remember me after spending 12 years apart, and that she seems to like spending time with me. I'm also proud of how willingly she accepted a saddle and bridle, and how uneventful our rides are. In 16 years, she has only been ridden 3 times (two of which were by me).

It takes time. Woodstock was born here, sold as a weanling to a cutting barn that planned to put him in the show pen and stand him at stud. They came on hard times and he was basically left in a box stall with no outside interaction for 3 years. When I found that out I bought him back no questions asked. It's been a long haul (kicked, picked up by my shoulder by his teeth, struck at, charged at, any bad behavior you can think of, he did it) but it's been extremely rewarding. Don't give up and remember that even though there are bad days, the good ones will come. When I first got him home, it wasn't safe to go in his stall to get his feed pan, had to use a rake. He is now pastured with the herd, comes when I whistle, he even fetches his feed pan and brings it to me. Out of adversity can come the tightest relationships.

I'm proud of what I have learned from Abby. The only horses I had really ridden before her were deadhead trail horses that wanted nothing more to than to plod along in a line. They knew nothing about leg and seat pressure, so I didn't either. Stupidly, I bought a horse that was way out of my league and eventually, I came up to her level without ruining her.

In the process, I taught her to neck rein. I'm so glad she's a smart horse and picked up on it within a few days. We've been working on using seat pressure to stop and back up, in addition to vocal cues.

Overall, I'm proud of the mutual respect we have for each other. We certainly aren't best friends and I don't think we ever will be. Frenemies is a better term. I'm sure she calls me the same colorful terms I call her when she's being a snot, but at the same time she is well aware that she will be disciplined if she actually tries anything. Though the size difference between us is hilarious (she's 15.2hh, around 1200lbs. I'm 5'7" and 110lbs) and I'm sure me walking up to her wagging my finger because she did something obnoxious and her quickly adopting her pathetic "I'm sorry" face is quite the scene.