A Change of Scenery

Hello again,  I am back from my travels and what adventures I have had.

Before I left for my trip in August,  Furst Love and I had our first argument,  or should I say,  parting of ways!  He decided after 15 minutes of work in the arena that he had had enough, and bucked like
a rodeo bronc horse, depositing me soundly, and with a thump, on the ground.  He raced back towards
the barn (a good 1/2 mile) before he was tagged and brought back to me.

I must say I was quite bruised and battered ( I am not 21 anymore) but I creaked back on and finished
some quiet work and a hack.  The next day,  I could barely move and headed straight into the Doc who warned that riding should be avoided for at least 3 weeks.  Ordinarily,  I would have been fine with this as he was due a holidy but I felt strongly that Furst Love needed more work after his naughtiness and looking at my calender, I realized I would be away almost 12 weeks  before Xmas.  I needed to find a "bouncy, brave" rider.

A client  recommended Genevieve Edwards of Eschelon Sport Horses, in Guyton, Georgia as a young, talented rider who could pick up the slack for me.    After a few phone calls with Genevieve and her successful  first ride on Furst Love,  I decided to move him to Guyton where he is now happily residing until I have more consistent blocks of time here in Savannah.  This 28 year old lady has experience as a Grand Prix Show Jumper and Basic IV dressage rider and loves to ride young horses. She instantly fell in love with Furst Love and saw the opportunity for her to ride a horse of this calibre.


Furst Love seems to love his new surroundings in Guyton.  He has acres of beautiful pasture to chill out in, spends the night outdoors with his buddies and his days in Genevieve's fabulous barn.
Training has changed tack somewhat as I felt it was important for Genevieve to bond with him so she
is riding him regularly now, with my help on the ground though I get on and have a hack or last minute schooling if he still has gas in the tank.  We are mixing up his routine to include lots more hacking, a bit of jumping and flat work every other day.

The Terrible Teens....FOUR-FIVE Year olds!
Young horses are always a test to one's patience especially as they start to get stronger.  What they willingly accepted as a 3 year old and early in the fours,  they begin to question as they head towards 5.
Depending on their temperaments,  there are many ways to approach their challenges to authority.
Routine is extremely important, as I have already expounded on at length, but also adding fun to their work.

Furst Love comes from a very "hot" blood line,  his sire,  Furst Piccolo, is a re-known for his expressive nature.  However,  in my experience, that hot blood is what is needed to get that extra lift and impulsion in the more advanced dressage training.  So we want to contain the brat but encourage the impresario!

I asked Genevieve to mix up Furst Love's routine so that he would get different ways to express his
athletic creativity.  I don't want him getting bored with circles and finding ways to dump his riders - that
is definitely a habit we don't want to encourage.  He has tried it on with Genevieve a few times,  and the one time he did get her off,  she bounced back up like a rubber ball.... I felt really old at that moment remembering my winded carcass hobbling along to grab the loose horse!

So we will be experimenting with a mix of hacking, jumping, lunging and flat work.  We will try
to improve his strength,  develop his character and keep him happy to do the work.  It is a challenge
but I am hopeful we are on the right track.  Meanwhile,  I am away again next week for 2 weeks teaching in England.  I will report back at the end of September with how our new regime is working.