[2fatcobs]

Did you break/train your horse yourself or did you pay a professional to do it for you?
I am paying someone starting this week because i do not feel i could do it (i worry about bucking and rearing)
Just curious about what some of you did.

[HUS_WP_lovr]

Both of my geldings were already broke when I bought them. I did Jacksons training with a trainers guidance. Felix was barely broke with only knowing leg pressure means go and whoa means stop. Currently I am training him myself.

[2fatcobs]

Have you had any accidents , i am so nervous of untrained youngsters?

[HUS_WP_lovr]

Felix has fell on me 2x. Once he lost his balance as many youngsters do. The next time he decided he did not want to back up so that was his plan to get me off of him.Both times were over sideways not over backwards.

He also went through a bolting phase where if I touched his mouth the wrong way he took off and I had no control.


Jackson was my rearer. He would rear 50x in one day. Thankfully nothing ever bad happened.He finally grew out of it.

[jackiesbabyjet]

Wow.. My sister is 15 and is starting her 2year old filly herself. She has raised the filly herself since she was 6months old. She is riding and training herself and she takes 2 private lessons a week from our trainer for advice on how to train her. She started lunging her alot when she a year old and then moved on to driving her alot and putting weigh on her. Then one day she got calm enough she just hopped on her.... Sweet is bred for speed events so she takes extra lunging to get her tired enough to ride. She can now trot,walk,stop,turn and working on side passing and moving off of leg now. she has only 2months..

[HUS_WP_lovr]

Oh and I forgot to add that Felix is 2yrs old and Jackson was 5 when he started his real training. I am 14 yrs old

[Simon Says]

Simon and Echo were unbroke. Simon was 3 and Echo was 3, I put all my time into them and had a friend help out with some parts, I never break a horse solo! I sold them to show homes and they are doing wonderful. Stormy we bred and I have had my hands on him since he fell out his momma, i broke him to the track and now retraining him in dressage and jumping! I don't know why I don't just buy a made horse, I guess I like the thought of take nothing and making something! I have had my fair fights and have learned when to pick my battles. I got a concussion from Simon's fear of dogs, but after living throught hurricane katrina, Simon figured out that dogs were the least of his worries! So far the worst thing in Stormy's training (who is now 6 1/2)is when he gets excited and I ask him to canter he want to be a race horse again!

[JumpingPassion8]

Dominic had the basics when I bought him at 3. I actually rode him a few times prior though. (My trainer bought him when he was a weanling and broke him using Anderson's techniques) He's now five and now trail proof, jumping 4ft, responds to all aids, side passing, flying lead changes, passage up to the trot, and now working on pirouettes.

Horses bucking and rearing, at any age, isn't really scary, but when its YOUR horse and you're the only one riding him, you anticapate, and if you let that anticapation overcome you, your horse senses it and will act up, which increases the anxiety of the entire situation. You just can't let it get the batter of you.

It's probably better to break a horse and at least have a certified trainer around to help you, so if something goes wrong they can give you advice to help your horse through the issue and calm your nerves. =)

[SaddleUp158]

Striker was not broke when I got him. I have done all the training myself with lessons 2x a week. I started out just lunging him and working on ground work-moving off pressure, learning voice commands, how to back, yielding hindquarters, etc. Then I started sacking him out and added the saddle and then the bridle. I lunged him for a week or so with the saddle and bridle and then started bitting him up- gradually tightening the reins until eventually he had contact on his mouth and later was fully bitted up. I also long lined/ground drove him. By the time I got on him I had no doubts as to what his reaction would be, which was "Oh, something new, ok, what next?" lol, if you do your homework before attempting to get on for the first time, you should be fine. In all the horses I have seen ridden for the first time, they had had a thorough start on the groundwork and lunging that I listed above and none of them gave a negative reaction to being ridden for the first time. Good luck! (oh yeah, this was my first horse to break!)

[IIIBarsV]

My gelding was green broke by my mom when I bought him from her when I was 12. There were a lot of ups and downs.... now he's 15, I'm 22, and he's pretty darn trained, western, english, barrel racing. (Couldn't make up my mind). We are going to try Dressage next year.

I do all my own training now and have trained a few horses from scratch for other people. We have one 3 yr old western pleasure gelding who is getting 30 days from scratch at a friend's, only because I don't have time or an arena, and he need to get riding right now. I've had english lessons for two years... 6 to 8 years old. Other than that, my mom's taught me a lot and I've self-educated through books, movies, clinics annually. I'm very independant and not a girl who's going to jump on before the class or work with someone instructing me... gonna have to get over that more when I'm at school, but it won't be a big deal because I *want* to learn about the discipline of Dressage.

This year I'm riding a 5 yr old mare who was green broke when I started riding her as a 4 yr old and had major yo-yo-with-the-head issues... now she's barrel racing this year and I've trained her for that myself (first barrel horse I've trained when I actually knew what I was doing! (the first gelding doesn't count, I was only a kid lol). This mare is going into Polebending training under the coaching of my little sister, who is the 2007 Congress Jr Polebender champ and Eastern Canadian NBHA/OBRA Mega Finals Poles champ, so I'm gonna listen to her this time! (She trained her own gelding from scratch, no outside help). My mare is also schooling Dressage movements, but probably won't really get into it with her until she's older.

Then there's a 10 yr old gelding, "broke", but major gaps in his training. A proven national-level barrel horse. Some health issues (hooves, and possibly a tooth floating around in his jaw- ouch! Getting x-rayed in a couple weeks), some behavioral issues (very nervous). He's going to be my Dressage horse at school, and I'll be riding him english a lot over the next few weeks and throughout the summer. We're still barrel racing all summer, though- he'll be the local NBHA district horse (the first mare will be the provincial level), and I'm planning on going to the BlackGold Bonanza Supershow with him.

Then there's the 7 yr old Appendix QH gelding who was trying to kill us in August and is now pretty much being re-started in his training- super quiet, great boy, not a bucker, and best of all, not trying to kill us anymore! He's western pleasure/hunt seat... and will be learning trail, and to jump. (Should be able to jump, he's by Chocolua and out of a mare by Another Hour for god's sake... lol). I'm showing him a bit this year in HUS and Equitation at the local breed show, so we'll see how that goes.

And then... there's Small Fry, a 14hh 3 yr old pony who is getting trained up pretty much from scratch. Western pleasure/HUS/ Large pony Hunter/Dressage... totally awesome pony. Smooth as silk, quick learner, retains everything, and seems practically trained already because of his insane "give to any pressure, anywhere, anytime, no fight whatsoever or even thought of not giving to the pressure" attitude. He already neckreins, moves off leg, even rides bridleless at the walk and jog. Don't I wish I had this pony when I was 8 years old! lol As it is, Small Fry is for sale because I can't take him where he needs to go to be a star.

Once the 3 yr old western pleasure gelding gets back from my friend's in a couple weeks, I'll probably be adding him to my little list...

And that's not including my main gelding, who's on vacation (but might ride a bit), or my pleasure mare who's still recouperating from her psychotic desire to drink herself to death. Luckily, both of those two will be "jump on and go" types... although the mare is pretty fresh with all this new energy and feeling good, so we'll probably lunge her a lot with tack first... She may be slow as heck, but she's the worst sneak-attack bronc we have on the property.

Um... anyways... if you're going to train yourself, literally *TRAIN YOURSELF*. Read books, watch movies, go to clinics. You need to have the skills and be confident in order to be able to teach them. If you're not comfortable with that, then either get a trainer/coach, or simply don't buy a horse who needs to be trained. If you get frustrated easily or have a short temper, don't train. Training is very frustrating and you need to be able to laugh off a lot of things, keep a cool, relaxed mind, and be in control of yourself first and foremost at all times, no matter what happens.

Sure, I get mad at horses sometimes, too- it usually takes something pretty wild and unusual to do it, and usually I just end up yelling "Whatever! I'll go ride somebody else then!! No attention for you!" and leaving them alone, while they secretly snicker behind my back. lmao

I find I end up doing that a lot with my little mare, especially when she goes into heat........ There's just no point in fighting with her when she gets wound up during that time, so I ask her to do something simple (like walk in a circle), tell her "good girl", cool out and hope she's in a better mood the next day.... lol

(This is why I rode geldings for so long!)