I never really knew about these and I thought it might be fun to make one, just to share in my experiences and adventures with my young horse Dante.
I guess I'll start off by saying I was also a working student for about 2yrs at a dressage barn, so I've worked with a pretty large variety of horses from very nice, modern type warmbloods to ottbs and draft crosses or backyard ponies. I'll ride pretty much anything within reason. I won't say I'll ride anything because I've seen horses I wouldn't ride lol I'm brave but when I see a rider WAY better than me getting ran off with on a horse, I'll pass lol. I've also been a part of raising babies from birth to breaking, so that's been pretty cool. I also got to ride in Germany for a few weeks which was a pretty amazing and eye opening experience. I've ridden a really large variety of horses, ridden a lot of tricky horses, strong horses, I retrained a saddleseat saddlebred for dressage (very tough, they're taught basically opposite of dressage). Retrained horses from "bad" trainers, done ottbs, retrained older horses *shrugs* I loved challenges. I was the rider people would call when they had a quirky, difficult horse no one else wanted to ride because it's what I was good at and for whatever reason got along with. All my horses that have been mine have been pretty quirky, I just like the ones who need special mommies. Most of the horses I've worked with have not been like this but the ones who have a special place in my heart have been *shrugs* all riders have a "type" they're drawn to. I just like being challenged, I don't like it when they're unreasonably difficult or super straight forward/uncomplicated because I like a puzzle I have to figure out because it makes me better but at the same time I want to be able to get somewhere and be productive.
I'm a former active duty Marine, I am proud of that. Being a marine meant a lot to me, it was something I felt I had to do and I honestly miss it. I wanted to make it a career but my body fell apart. I was pushed way too hard following rehab, they didn't let me take my time to get fit, so after 6mos of not running or doing anything strenuous I was running 4mi and doing some pretty intense PT sessions within the first month and I'm stubborn as they come so I didn't go to the hospital until I was turning white and shaking because I was in so much pain and couldn't avoid it anymore lol. I'm pretty pain tolerant and stubborn to the point of stupidity. So now I'm going back to college as a computer science major, before the Marines I was majoring in Business/Administration and International studies.
When I was a teenager I evented, I showed through novice and schooled training. Did 3'3-3'6 courses on my old thoroughbred who was a nut and a half. Unfortunately don't have many pictures from that time, as it was before the cell phone craze and all the photo touch ups. We had a pretty dark arena to ride in lol and my mom didn't like watching me go cross country, my horse was a nut like would take off 2 strides prior to a max height fence and you couldn't just tell him what to do or it'd be worse. I usually strided him like 8 strides out xc and made some REALLY strong corrections and let him take care of it and that seemed to work. He wasn't all there but I learned SO much from him. Super cool eventer. Super careful but game and powerful, really popped his back over larger fences but he was neat.
I switched over to strictly dressage about 8-9yrs ago. I've dabbled over fences and still like it but I don't love it the way I do dressage.
My horse now is Dante who I bought bascically broke, as I didn't have much money. He is a 5yr old arabian x quarter horse. Quarter horse dam, arabian sire. He's 15.3h even, I'm 5'7 and leggy. I was very worried I'd look too big on him but I think I fit him well, even my trainer who is 5'10-5'11 doesn't look that big on him. I'm very proud of him. When I bought him most everyone I know thought I was crazy for buying him (his canter was SO downhill but he had plenty of jump behind). My trainer back home (I wasn't out of the Marines when I bought him) thought he'd max out at 3rd level but I disagreed and as he's progressed, we think he could do FEI. I can also be pretty belligerent when I want something and see potential, I wanted this horse, I thought he had what it took so I bought him. I fell in love with him. He made me buy him, I was NOT going to buy an arab and I wanted something over 16.1h that could also event but he followed me in the arena and stuck his head in my arms and it was all over. He's hard to ride, even if he wasn't quirky, he's hard to organize, regulate his rhythm and he can contort his body in ways that are very annoying lol he's just awkward. I've never ridden a horse that could contort their body in the ways this one can, so that's been a challenge lol. My friend (who is a nice rider) rode him and she was like you wouldn't think that looking at him. She then sat his trot and was like OMG how do you sit this? I laughed, he's very up and down but not jarring. I think he's so bouncy because he has such a short back, is close behind and is so up and down in his his movement. Canter isn't bad, it just has a lot of movement. I don't know how to describe him other than he doesn't make you look good lol. He's awkward. I can't talk when I'm riding him, I have to be totally focused but he's made me a MUCH better rider, he's so sensitive and so dramatic. He had a pad an 1/8 of an inch thick on his back and threw a huge fit and refused to steer until it was removed. It was hysterical lol I was in tears, I was laughing so hard because he was SO dramatic about it. He's funny and frustrating but he is very capable and I don't have a ton of money, so I don't mind having a capable horse who takes more to ride, plus I don't have any national/international aspirations but I would LOVE to get my bronze and silver USDF medals on him. That's the dream lol. I want to eventually school him GP, I don't know if we'll show it but I'd LOVE to school him one day even if it's 10yrs from now. I really think we can do it. I'm also lucky to have a really great coach. We have fun but she's in Florida for winter :/ so we'll hopefully start taking lessons this Wednesday with the trainer who is taking over for her while she's gone.
I guess I'll start off by saying I was also a working student for about 2yrs at a dressage barn, so I've worked with a pretty large variety of horses from very nice, modern type warmbloods to ottbs and draft crosses or backyard ponies. I'll ride pretty much anything within reason. I won't say I'll ride anything because I've seen horses I wouldn't ride lol I'm brave but when I see a rider WAY better than me getting ran off with on a horse, I'll pass lol. I've also been a part of raising babies from birth to breaking, so that's been pretty cool. I also got to ride in Germany for a few weeks which was a pretty amazing and eye opening experience. I've ridden a really large variety of horses, ridden a lot of tricky horses, strong horses, I retrained a saddleseat saddlebred for dressage (very tough, they're taught basically opposite of dressage). Retrained horses from "bad" trainers, done ottbs, retrained older horses *shrugs* I loved challenges. I was the rider people would call when they had a quirky, difficult horse no one else wanted to ride because it's what I was good at and for whatever reason got along with. All my horses that have been mine have been pretty quirky, I just like the ones who need special mommies. Most of the horses I've worked with have not been like this but the ones who have a special place in my heart have been *shrugs* all riders have a "type" they're drawn to. I just like being challenged, I don't like it when they're unreasonably difficult or super straight forward/uncomplicated because I like a puzzle I have to figure out because it makes me better but at the same time I want to be able to get somewhere and be productive.
I'm a former active duty Marine, I am proud of that. Being a marine meant a lot to me, it was something I felt I had to do and I honestly miss it. I wanted to make it a career but my body fell apart. I was pushed way too hard following rehab, they didn't let me take my time to get fit, so after 6mos of not running or doing anything strenuous I was running 4mi and doing some pretty intense PT sessions within the first month and I'm stubborn as they come so I didn't go to the hospital until I was turning white and shaking because I was in so much pain and couldn't avoid it anymore lol. I'm pretty pain tolerant and stubborn to the point of stupidity. So now I'm going back to college as a computer science major, before the Marines I was majoring in Business/Administration and International studies.
When I was a teenager I evented, I showed through novice and schooled training. Did 3'3-3'6 courses on my old thoroughbred who was a nut and a half. Unfortunately don't have many pictures from that time, as it was before the cell phone craze and all the photo touch ups. We had a pretty dark arena to ride in lol and my mom didn't like watching me go cross country, my horse was a nut like would take off 2 strides prior to a max height fence and you couldn't just tell him what to do or it'd be worse. I usually strided him like 8 strides out xc and made some REALLY strong corrections and let him take care of it and that seemed to work. He wasn't all there but I learned SO much from him. Super cool eventer. Super careful but game and powerful, really popped his back over larger fences but he was neat.
I switched over to strictly dressage about 8-9yrs ago. I've dabbled over fences and still like it but I don't love it the way I do dressage.
My horse now is Dante who I bought bascically broke, as I didn't have much money. He is a 5yr old arabian x quarter horse. Quarter horse dam, arabian sire. He's 15.3h even, I'm 5'7 and leggy. I was very worried I'd look too big on him but I think I fit him well, even my trainer who is 5'10-5'11 doesn't look that big on him. I'm very proud of him. When I bought him most everyone I know thought I was crazy for buying him (his canter was SO downhill but he had plenty of jump behind). My trainer back home (I wasn't out of the Marines when I bought him) thought he'd max out at 3rd level but I disagreed and as he's progressed, we think he could do FEI. I can also be pretty belligerent when I want something and see potential, I wanted this horse, I thought he had what it took so I bought him. I fell in love with him. He made me buy him, I was NOT going to buy an arab and I wanted something over 16.1h that could also event but he followed me in the arena and stuck his head in my arms and it was all over. He's hard to ride, even if he wasn't quirky, he's hard to organize, regulate his rhythm and he can contort his body in ways that are very annoying lol he's just awkward. I've never ridden a horse that could contort their body in the ways this one can, so that's been a challenge lol. My friend (who is a nice rider) rode him and she was like you wouldn't think that looking at him. She then sat his trot and was like OMG how do you sit this? I laughed, he's very up and down but not jarring. I think he's so bouncy because he has such a short back, is close behind and is so up and down in his his movement. Canter isn't bad, it just has a lot of movement. I don't know how to describe him other than he doesn't make you look good lol. He's awkward. I can't talk when I'm riding him, I have to be totally focused but he's made me a MUCH better rider, he's so sensitive and so dramatic. He had a pad an 1/8 of an inch thick on his back and threw a huge fit and refused to steer until it was removed. It was hysterical lol I was in tears, I was laughing so hard because he was SO dramatic about it. He's funny and frustrating but he is very capable and I don't have a ton of money, so I don't mind having a capable horse who takes more to ride, plus I don't have any national/international aspirations but I would LOVE to get my bronze and silver USDF medals on him. That's the dream lol. I want to eventually school him GP, I don't know if we'll show it but I'd LOVE to school him one day even if it's 10yrs from now. I really think we can do it. I'm also lucky to have a really great coach. We have fun but she's in Florida for winter :/ so we'll hopefully start taking lessons this Wednesday with the trainer who is taking over for her while she's gone.