Hesa 2 year old Quarter Horse

This is a pretty talented gelding. Hesa Came to me pretty much the same as Georgia, saddled and bridled but not ridden. His ground manners were good, but he was bit errogant. He was mean to the gelding I had him in with, hard to catch, hard to lead, etc. Once I got him in the round corral he was fine. He needed to be humbled a little and start to work. I would saddle Hesa first thing in the morning and use him to lead my other horses up out of the pastures and then lead them out. When I wasn't riding him I would lead him to water and then tie him up, he was pretty tired at the end of the day. When I turned him out at night I put him in with a filly that was a liitle visious towards geldings, and by the morning he was begging to be caught. The gelding seemed to walk, trot, canter naturally, but he was spooky! I worked him the opposite of Georgia, he needed more hacking and long rides. His flat work came natural so getting him over his spookiness was what he needed. Hesa liked to look for things to spook at, this told me he needed a jod as Georgia did. The difference between his spook and Georgia's spook is Hesa's was created out of bordem and Georgia's was almost taught to her in away. It took a couple of weeks to get him to quit looking and relax, after that Hesa just became easy. Even after he got over his spookiness I still just took him on long rides and doing just a little flat work with him. This is a nice gelding and handling comes natural to him, he needs to learn to realx and enjoy being rode.

Hesa is just about at the end of his 60 days and will be turned out for the winter. The owner is sending him back in the spring for about 30-60 days befoe he goes off to be finished as a barrel horse.

Georgia 2 year old Warmblood/TB cross

This is probally one of the most talented horses that has come through the program. She came to me with a bit of ground work done with her, she had been saddled and bridled but never ridden. Her training stopped there. Georgia was a bit spoiled, not mouthy or looking for treats just in your space. This filly needed a job! She went to work almost immediatley, always excited to go to work, but still a bit impatient. I did start her just like I always do...hobbling, ground driving, sacking out, she seemed to remember what she was taught in her previous training. Riding the filly for the first time was the fun part, as I expected she rode nicely. She seemed to be naturally balanced so teaching her to go correctly was the easy part, going quitely was the hard part. Right away I took her out to the 300 acre hay field and we went to work. Georgia likes to go but seemed to want to look at everything, so it was stop and go, and side to side for a while until I could get her to slow down and look at the forest instead of each tree. Once she started to mature a little bit her work ethic only improved, she would see me grab the saddle and start to paw and winnie...she loved to go out. Once she started to figure out how to carry herself we started to do more flatwork than just hacking down the trails, more work on correct canter leads and departures, collection, etc. Her impatience had slowly dissappeared. This filly is just about at the end of her 60 days, and has matured into a nice horse. I have just about a week or so left with her until she goes home to be turned until the spring. In 60 days this filly has come a long way from first ride to start correct lead changes. More to come on Georgia before she goes home. The biggest problems I had with this horse was her impatience and getting her to slow down and pay attention, please comment if you have any questions on how I dealt with these issues.

They Are All Horses...

This is a group of horses I have in training, all different ages and different breeds. All five are intented for different diciplines. One thing these horses have in common; they are all horses.

Left to Right:

Georgia, a 2 year old Warmblood/Thourobred cross intended dicipline Hunter Jumpers; Hesa, a 2 year old Quarter Horse intended dicipline Barrel Horse; Luna, a 4 year old Andalucian intended dicipline Dressage; Pistol, a 9 year old Quarter Horse intended dicipline Trail Horse; Takota, a 6 year old Appaloosa POA intended dicipline Childs Hunter

For the most part these five will go on to further training with trainers that speacialize in thier intended dicipline. The one thing these horses will have is a solid foundation of trust, respect, work ethic, and condidence. With a little understanding of what each dicipline requires from the horse and also the rider i.e. head carriage, striding, etc...these horses will be ready to go on to further training and suceed to best of thier ability and the rider as well..

There will be further post and updates on each horse that comes through the Young Horse Program. Please feel free with opinions, questions, and ideas you might be looking for with the the young horse and this blog.

Tommy Gesell

The Young Horse Program