[MyBabyTex]

Okay... so. My dad just bought my 12 year old brother not one, but TWO horses. I have had a love for horses since I was a small child and he never bought ME a horse. BTW, this brother is not his son, it is his gf's kid. I was furious when I found this out but I have given up caring. I have a horse I love and I worked hard for him. I can't dwell on the fact that my dad went ahead and bought his step son his own horse for his birthday when the kid has never rode more then four times in his life and I took lessons for 4 years. *sigh*

Anyways, I swallowed my pride and went to go see the horses this Sunday. WOW. They are father and daughter Canadian QH sorrels. The dad (who is now gelded) is 15 hands and the daughter is 14.3. Nice enough looking horses. I wouldnt have picked them out to buy, but whatever. They are fenced next to a stallion and a gelding with only an electric wire seperating them. I tell my dad "Bad idea, if this mare goes into heat that stallion may get over the fence" (there is only ONE line of wire at around knee height) He says nothing. Neither horses will stand to be groomed while we are in the paddock (there is no barn to bring them into and nowhere to tie!) and I grab the halter and say HEY and the horse looks at me and is obviously not used to being told what to do by my dad and brother who let them do whatever and jumps up a bit and my dad goes "Don't hurt my horse!" I rolled my eyes at this point.

Then we bring the horses out and Ruby, the mare, won't lead out. She's half rearing and raising her head. My step mom is standing there in front of the hrose with the lead rope in one hand and the rest of it hanging down near the horses feet. I keep telling r "Let me show you" and she ignores me for awhile until I grab the rope from her and do it right. I bring the horses head down and yell HEY HEY getting her attention and then WALK. The horse looks at me like "uh oh she means business" and starts edgily walking forward. Everytime she tries to stop I pull on her head and she continues. My dad says again "DOn't hurt my horse" FInally I turn around and stare at him and say

"Listen, you have a very small 12 year old boy around these two horses. NEITHER of them have manners and won't lead well. You are letting them get away with everything and this kid WILL get hurt if something isnt done about it. So I am going to teach these horses respect"

They all just stared at me lol. But after 5 minutes I got the mare to walk on her own. She is attached to the gelding and won't leave his side (Which is how the guy got my dad to buy both the horses) and well after 5 minutes with me she was walking calmly away from him.

To top it off my dad asks me later if 4500 is a good deal for these two horses. I just stared at him. Neither of these horses has been ridden in over a year, both have terrible ground manners and no papers. I said Yes, you paid way too much.

WOW. I was so shocked. I NEVER got a horse from him my whole life and now he has bought TWO an dhas no idea what to do with them!

Sorry this is so long, just had to vent about people who know NOTHING about horses and make you feel stupid for telling them what to do.

ARGH!

[Huntseat123]

Well there is one thing good about this situation. You have two new horses to train if your brother will even let you touch them. If hes only ridden 4 times hes NOT going to feel comfortable on these horses until they are refreshed with some manners

[gummiponys]

That's...... well.... I would say retarded, but I guess I shouldn't say that on the forum. I hope you teach these horses a lesson of respect! Good luck!

[MyBabyTex]

Well, I told my dad he needs to get these horses trained. He's like "I just need an experienced rider to train them" and then asked if I could come up next Sunday. I am going to charge him. I think 50 bucks a day? This man is LOADED and I am out of work and his house is an hour and a half away from me. It might be a good experience but these horses need ALOT of work.

Like my dad said they were totally broke because he could put a saddle on them and walk them around. I was like did you trot them? And hes like no.

To me, you can take pretty much any horse that has been broken in the past and put a saddle on them and go off at a walk.

I have to teach this mare how to be away from the gelding.

OH and the best thing is I go "Dad, these horses need to be lunged"

"Whats lunged?"

[arabkid]

wow sounds like my dad and my brother (except it's not horses he bought him and my brother is older then me).

Anyways I would leave it be until they ask you for some help, but of course warn them that your brother could be hurt if he is no assisted by someone, and the horses do not get trained.

Good luck!

[MyBabyTex]

Thanks. He asked me to come up next weekend and I'm pretty sure he is going to keep asking. My services are not free!

[arabkid]

Originally Posted by MyBabyTex

My services are not free!

GOOD that is the way it SHOULD be!

[horse_luvr83]

darn!!!! that is so horrid, and $4500????no papers???????? OMG, no way in he11 would i have done it, EVEN if i did have the money. talk about major rip off. maybe if they both had ground manners and have been ridden lots, but not the way they are acting!!!! makes me wanna scream when people do that cr.ap!

[MyBabyTex]

Well I have an update. I went out to his place tonight to try my saddle on his horse because I need one with a shorter skirt for Tex.

My dads holding the horse and I go to put the saddle on and WHOA she would NOT stop moving. So finally I had to get my dad to give me the lead rope and have him throw the saddle on because this horse listens to me when I say STAND (doesnt listen to the rest of them mind you)

Anyways he finally gets the saddle on and I do it up. She tries to nip me when I do up the girth. We put my little brother on to see how the saddle fits him. Its an 18 inch so I KNOW it won't fit and it doesn't. But the kid is petrified. You can tell he doesn't want to be on this horse. She was relatively calm because she was in the paddock with her father, the gelding, whom she can';t be seperated from. Anyhoo Max (my bro) refuses to have a bridle on the horse even if we ahve a halter undernaeth with someone leading. I just shook my head. He's terrified of horses and he got two. Argh.

So my dad asks me to get on her and take her OUT of the paddock which they havent done before. I do so. She wouldn't come out of the paddock first of all but with lots of persuading on ym part she finally did. Well didn't she give her best effort to buck me off. She even reared at one point. I finally let them bring the gelding out so she wouold calm down a bit as I realized taking her away from him for the first time AND her being ridden is alot. So she calmed down once he was out there and I was able to circle her and trot her and OMG she has the smoothest trot. It was actually pleasant to sit. Love her in that respect.

But as soon as I dismounted I said to my dad "Don't you dare put that kid on her and get him a helmet ASAP"

AND they think they dont need my help with training, that they are fine on their own lol. So we will see how long that lasts.

Another point, My dad is 6'4, 300 pounds. A big man to say the least. The horses are 15 hands and 14.2. I think he should get a draft. Am I wrong or can these horses carry him?

[dakota's_sable]

I would say he is too big for them. My mare is 14.2 and stocky but there is no way I would let someone that size on her. Good for you for standing up to your dad and telling him how it is. I would considering raising your training price. Excellent advice on the helmet too. By the sounds of it, your dad should have bought 2 rocking horses instead considering how terrified your brother seems. Definitely won't help the calming of the horses any. Good luck.