This is my appreciation post for my horsie, Agave. (Tequila Sippin Jack)
If you can ride a horse, then by all means do it. I don’t care if you’re a western rider or an English rider. Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t ride, because you worked hard to get where you’re at, and it’d be wrong to let anyone take that away from you. So be free, jump in a western saddle, barrel race in an english one. We’re all riders and we can do whatever the fuck we want.
Sometimes I feel like my horse should’ve been named Loki, because of all the mischief he gets into.
I mean, how many fences do you HAVE to break down “Just for fun” horse? Honestly, Loki would have fit better than Agave. Oh well.
The world may never know
The face of Loki I mean Agave (aka Tequlia Sippin Jack)
I find a map and draw a straight line
Over rivers, farms and state lines
The distant from me to where you be
It’s only finger lengths I see
Horse Trainers: A Rant
I left my horse trainer about 2 weeks ago. As I had gone off to college, I left my horse under her care. She promised me over and over again that she would take care of him, keep him in running shape, ride him. And we (my mother and I) believed her. We trusted her.
I have to back track a little bit. My horse trainer is a wonderful person- or so we thought. She’s older, around her 50’s and has a beautiful barn not exactly near our house. I moved there when I was kicked out of my last barn by the owner, who was insulted that I had spoken my mind about the treatment of my mare (she was 150 pound underweight) and she told me basically that I knew nothing and kicked my family and I out. So I turned to this lady, this horse trainer that we knew well. She was friendly and nice, and while we had heard rumors about her, we don’t make judgements based on what other people say. It ‘s not what we do. So I move my mare in. And it was wonderful.
But then my mare got hurt, and I was devastated. So we searched and searched and searched until I found another barrel racing horse, the one I ride today. And we moved him to her place and I began to ride him and we began to do…okay. I didn’t think anything of it, I thought it was because of me, because I was new to him and he was new to me that we weren’t doing well. But as time wore on and I worsened (not bettered) I wondered what was happening.
I went over tapes and tapes of riding and found that I looked ridiculous in this method this new trainer was telling me. So secretly I began training back in the method that I had trained my other horse (She was 1D after all!) and slowly but surely we became faster and faster and-then I went to college.
She assured my that when I left, she would care for him. She told me she would ride him, and her only, and I believed her. After all, we pay her to train. Later though, I find out (from close friends) that she had put other kids on him, to ride him. This animal is not a toy. He’s worth a fortune, cost more than my car. I was devastated. So we gave notice and pulled our horses from the barn. But this lady, she wouldn’t let us go quietly. The day my family went out to move (as I was away) she comes out screaming and yelling and ranting and raving, so much, her husband had to push her away and into the house.
Immediately she defends me on Facebook. I really just want to know why. So I ask her. Her response: I’m a liar and a horrible person and that I had no right to leave, that she charged us less because we were her biggest clients and gave us a deal, that she was deeply offend by my comments (which I had made none) and that I was insulting her by even talking to her.
Calmly, coolly, I explained my reasonings for moving the horse. I explained that we pay her to train and not anyone else. If I wanted someone else to ride I would pay them. But I pay you because I thought you where excellent. But she clearly did not listen. Told me to stop insulting myself, that I was acting stupid. That I was lying and being offensive to her and I should confess to who I really was.
To which I did not respond.
Then today, she sends me a text saying a certain person (who was one of the people riding my horse) rides all her horses and she works with another trainer riding his horses. I told her that’s great, good for that person. But I did not want her on my horse. She then goes on to tell me that in the real world of horse training, horse trainers have other people ride their horses for them just as people clean stalls for them. To which I responded that other horse trainers have riders ride their horses and not clients horses. If I wanted someone else to ride my horse in truing, I’d pay them.
The response I got was ridiculous and cruel. She told me to go to hell, that I didn’t know what the F i was talking about, and that I could go F myself. I am dead to her.
She is in her mid 50’s, and I am between 18-24. What is wrong with this picture? Am I wrong for calling her out? I don’t know any other horse trainer that does what she is suggesting. Do you guys know?
