katya02
Solace
I'm struggling tonight, having just loaded our horse onto a trailer to go south (yes, directly into Hurricane Hanna it seems) to be sold. It's the practical thing to do.
I rode horses for 15 years, showing hunter/junior jumper in Canada. I had an off-track Thoroughbred mare that had injuries from her racing career and never was really up to the big time in the show ring. But I had fun, until it became obvious that my mare couldn't compete with the A-list horses and no way could I afford another horse. Fast forward to now, and daughter rides and we find a young horse that I can tell is a WOW prospect - amazing talent, beautiful, could go to the top in a number of disciplines. We get the horse for a song, because his owner is unwell and selling off. We put him in training and I'm thinking the trainer will teach him and daughter together, and they'll be a great team. But the trainer pushes the horse too hard (I know abuse when I see it) and he bucks her off. She tells us to sell the horse.
I move the horse elsewhere and he settles down and is wonderful. daughter is having a great time. Then we go away for a week and when we come back and the horse hasn't been ridden for awhile, he throws a couple of bucks the first time daughter gets back on. She falls and breaks her right arm severely, requiring surgery and a prosthetic replacement for part of a bone. She can never risk hurting the arm again ... which equals never riding again.
It's my fault. I kept the horse; and I should have worked it and ridden it before letting daughter get on after the vacation. Now daughter's dream of being a horse trainer is over. And this horse, the horse I could never afford when I was young and now I can, has to be sold. So he's gone on a trailer tonight to North Carolina and will be sold. It's the end of dreams for daughter and me. I know it has to happen. But it hurts so bad.
I rode horses for 15 years, showing hunter/junior jumper in Canada. I had an off-track Thoroughbred mare that had injuries from her racing career and never was really up to the big time in the show ring. But I had fun, until it became obvious that my mare couldn't compete with the A-list horses and no way could I afford another horse. Fast forward to now, and daughter rides and we find a young horse that I can tell is a WOW prospect - amazing talent, beautiful, could go to the top in a number of disciplines. We get the horse for a song, because his owner is unwell and selling off. We put him in training and I'm thinking the trainer will teach him and daughter together, and they'll be a great team. But the trainer pushes the horse too hard (I know abuse when I see it) and he bucks her off. She tells us to sell the horse.
I move the horse elsewhere and he settles down and is wonderful. daughter is having a great time. Then we go away for a week and when we come back and the horse hasn't been ridden for awhile, he throws a couple of bucks the first time daughter gets back on. She falls and breaks her right arm severely, requiring surgery and a prosthetic replacement for part of a bone. She can never risk hurting the arm again ... which equals never riding again.
It's my fault. I kept the horse; and I should have worked it and ridden it before letting daughter get on after the vacation. Now daughter's dream of being a horse trainer is over. And this horse, the horse I could never afford when I was young and now I can, has to be sold. So he's gone on a trailer tonight to North Carolina and will be sold. It's the end of dreams for daughter and me. I know it has to happen. But it hurts so bad.