Brianna's Blog Post # 1

The Tough Horse

As a young trainer I have learned through training more than I have through being trained. There's a saying that states that the toughest horses teach the most and I have learned this first hand. 

My monster of a horse was born and raised on our farm, Her name is Fine as Wine (Barn name, Fay) and she's a Hanoverian. My mother told me when I decided I wanted to go further in eventing, that she/we could not afford a horse of the quality I would need to get to were I dreamed of going. But she believed I could create a horse of that quality. 

With that I paid for the stud fee of my chosen stallion and with the aid of my mothers thoroughbred mare, my Fay was born. I was 14 when I put her under saddle.  

She was very easy to gentle. Fay accepted all of the ground work and every scary thing you could throw at a horse. Soon she was saddled, ridden, and on her way to superstardom. After a 30 day start I turned her out to grow up. She return the next year for another riding course, maybe some show experience. 

This is when the two of us realized this may not be as easy as we thought. Fay earned the name Dragon mare. She seemed to have developed a mind of her own. I'm sure you can think of a horse like Fay. She drug me around, ran me over and took off when we went for pleasant rides. She maintained a nasty face and was an overall nightmare. I couldn't wrap my head around the ingredient I was missing with this particular horse.

Eventually I was mad and had grown a disliking to working with the dragon. I threaten to sell her and buy something I could handle. That's when my mother told me "You only need to learn how to focus her temper instead of correct it" 

That seemed to register with me. One it made since that instead of fighting her fire, I needed to learn how to work with the flame and direct it towards her job, help her to be competitive and bold. I needed to make adjustments for who she was. To be careful and not break her solid attitude. It also became a challenge to make my self better. To understand such a tough animal. 

I devoted my self to learning new techniques to broaden my horizon from reading to watching YouTube videos from instructors all over the world. I have stuck with Fay and have let her do her job of training me to be a better trainer. She not only has helped me be a better trainer but most certainly a better person, more patience, willing to learn, and to be open to new ideas. 

I have found that if I had sold her for an easier horse I wouldn't have been half the rider/trainer/instructor/person I am now. Challenging yourself to something that is difficult has great benefits if you allow yourself to learn. This mare forced me to be better, to want to be better. I haven't always thought so, but I am very fortunate to have found Fay. 

Somehow it seems horses often step into our lives when we need them the most, tough horses especially. As a team me and Fay are like fine wine we get better with age!