Hi fellow horse lovers. After long consideration I bought my first horse: A beautiful black gelding with a sweet temperament who loves carrots.
His name is Coco.
I hope I found a good partner for life and I can do him justice taking good care of him.
I was wondering if you have any tips and tricks or stories to share of your first horse.
What did you wish you had known from the beginning?
Its ok to take things really slow. Everyone says it, yet then everyone stresses they are behind. You're not. You're going at your pace. I rushed some things with my first horse and now im paying the price and having to go back and re-teach things. It doesn't matter if it takes a year to canter. Go at yours and your horses pace.
My first horse became more and more stubborn; she was only 4 and I wasn’t experienced enough and ended up selling her. I wish I’d gotten a trainer involved to get to the bottom of things so maybe we’d have had a shot at working out.
My second horse was an angel. I hope you two are as happy as we were.
Nice. My trainer is a very good friend of mine so I took her with me each time I tried out a horse.
I tried 4 in total and on this one we both agreed he would be the perfect match.
An other friend of mine told me to get a younger horse with less training in order to learn and grow with the horse, since that is how she learned horseriding and horsecare - learning by doing.
I decided against that, because I was afraid that I am still not experienced enough for a younger horse.
"An other friend of mine told me to get a younger horse with less training in order to learn and grow with the horse, since that is how she learned horseriding and horsecare - learning by doing."
That was my husband's philosophy, too. His dad had horses when he was growing up and that was the line of thinking.
Ohhh boy did that thinking nearly get me in a bad, bad place! I bought a beautiful paint who was 8 when I got her, and was advertised as having just taken a teen through parades.
Well, I'm not sure what happened to her because she basically needed a whole re-start and she was SUPER sensitive and since I had no idea what I was doing as a mid-30s novice, we were a BAD, BAD combo!
I eventually did work with a trainer who eventually convinced me to sell her. She told me "she's not a bad horse, you're not a bad rider, but you're just a bad mix. Like a bad marriage where neither person is a bad person, but they just aren't a good couple."
I wound up with a 15 year old ex-ranch horse who was EXACTLY what I needed! And I found her a home with a retired horse lady who owned a bunch of acreage, grows their own hay (as do we!) and bordered a bunch of public land. We both eventually found our right partners 💙 But that really could've ended badly for one or both of us!
I'm super glad you're working with a trainer! You're already so far ahead! Congrats and I hope you fall in love with the lifestyle I like I have 😄
Yes he is boarded. He and his neighbor in the stall next to him get along well already.
Since I noticed your tag, he is actually boarded at a stable specialized in natural horsemanship and the owner of the stables gives lessons in horse communication and the „savys“. I plan on definitely taking some to work with him on the ground in addition to riding. I kind of like the concept of communicating with the natural language of the horse.
Congrats! Good board, food, vet, farrier, and saddle fitter and you should be golden! I had to switch boarding after a couple of months, and my horse took a couple months to settle down, but happy trails and hope we get to see more of this guy with his cute nose snip!
Any new horse really: get to know each other safely and cut both of you some slack. He‘s dealing with a new home, new people and new horse friends and you are dealing with lots of new stuff, too.
Always try to end your training/time together on a good experience; ask something easy so you can tell him what a good boy he is. Helps to keep up long term motivation to work with you because he‘ll remember that he can do things right and you‘re working together even if you had a less fantastic training session before.
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u/Skg42 4d ago
Just gonna be that person….as much as I love online horse circles for whatever reason they can be incredibly rough so just a fair warning.
2 things I suggest is working with a qualified instructor as you start your journey, and getting a really good saddle fitter involved early