Belle is a little horse, for a Warmblood. She’s only 15 hands at four years old. Undoubtedly she’ll grow a bit more—after all, Warmbloods don’t really mature until they’re six or so—but for now she looks a bit, well, coltish. Mike’s a bigger man, too, and when he sits on her her legs splay a bit. He hasn’t actually done much riding in the past month, but he’s spent a great deal of time on ground work.

Mike’s methods are probably a lot slower than some people would want. When you ship your horse off to get backed, you want it to come back ride-able. I, personally, have had to work really hard on being patient with both Mike and Belle, trusting that he knows when she’s ready to go under saddle. I come from the old school—longe them, teach them voice commands, and then get on. Mike comes from the old/new school. Do hours of groundwork, confirm all signals, build a calm and confident horse, then get on. 

Since Belle had such a tough start in life—her mother rejected her when she was just two days old, so she became an orphan—she has some “issues.” Number one is a mortal fear of injections. Don’t ask me when this started, but stick a needle in her neck and she freaks out, strikes, rears, etc. So desensitizing her to the needle has been a primary job. Secondly, Mike has worked on Belle’s busy feet. Although not a nervous horse, she is an impatient horse. It makes it hard for her to learn to just “be,” where ever that is. In the cross-ties, with the horse shoer, waiting to be tacked up, Belle has learned to just stand, and even take a nap when the sun is shining on her face and she’s relaxed. This is tremendous progress for a horse that, in the past, nibbled, wandered, stamped, and needed to be in constant motion.

While I’m anxious to ride her—she’s a cute horse and a nice mover—I’m learning to be patient. Mike gave me a lesson yesterday, teaching me some of the ground work he’s been doing. Of course she’ll be so much better under saddle when the ground work is confirmed and solid. I know this intellectually. She’ll have all the skills that I’ll need—all the body language and cues—to build a really good partnership. Emotionally I want to get on and ride. I have to remind myself that horses live a long time. You can push them into work when they’re just a few years old, or you can build a lifetime partnership with them one small step at a time. I could have gotten on Belle last year. In some training programs I’d already be taking her to her first shows. But instead I’m convincing myself that slow and steady will help us have better experiences when we do get to our first outing. In the meantime, I’m learning new skills that will refresh my own training program.