Great News I think - Reschooling for Danny

[dannyboy]

Hi everyone

Just had to ask you about what you thought of an opportunity I stumbled across.

The Livery - I told you all about having little or no turn out is no longer even being considered due to your great advice.

My focus is now to get Danny re-schooled and so started ringing about. Have been offered a place approx 40 mins away for £60 a week to re-school him. They only sorta do it in their spare time. What do you think? I haven't seen the place yet and am only going on what the lady sounded like although I would defo be seeing it first if I go with it. They also advised that they could take on the wee pony for an extra £60 and he hasn't been broke at all (not sure if I can afford the 2 at the one time tho). Does this sound reasonable? Hopefully then I'll bring him home in approx 4weeks and take the reins from there myself, maybe getting a trainer to come to me once a week - what do you think? The always confused Dannyboy.


Good luck with the new site!!

[brigadier]

Hey Dannyboy
glad youve come over to the darkside!!!!
Sounds the best option so far given your other options. Do check out the place though! £60 is reasonable as my full livery costs £65 with no riding. Do try and get a trainer to keep on with you though and maybe go for a couple or three lessons at a riding school in meantime to get yourself limbered up!
brig

[gnuton]

Hi Dannyboy; I can't tell you whether that's a good deal or not.
The questions I would be asking myself are things like, who is recommending them, how successful have they been with other horses. Are their training methods sympathetic to yours.?

I had a friend send her mare out to be 'trained' on the recommendation of the boarding facilities owner. I cried when I saw what they used for training.

I met a trainer, one whom I consider to be very good. I asked her to help me out with Hunter and I ended up with 4 lessons. She refuses to train any horse unless you, the owner are there to participate. This makes sense to me.

[dannyboy]

Thanks Brig - I'm gonna take your advice and will hopefully get going this week for the first lesson. Going to look at a couple of 2nd hand saddles within the next few days - anything I should look out for?. The darkside is brill!!!

[dannyboy]

Hi gnuton, thanks for your reply. I have an opportunity to go to a BHS riding club event on May Day - This lady is very near to this club and I'm sure they will know her - good or bad, I'm sure I'll be able to find out. You suggest me being part of the training and participating - I think thats fantastic advice - at least then I will know their standards are what I expect.

[ceej]

Hi Danny - yeah check them out as best you can...

Mum recently paid £80.00 for schooling but they did it as a job, not in their spare time but I dont think they had enough time to care for him properly - training yes..grooming, mucking out..it appears not!

I would put a time scale on what you hope to achieve to (being realistic as horses dont always stick to time scales! But when you are paying weekly, time can go on and tings may not progress as fast as they could (not that I am saying in ANY way he should be rushed) but a rough schedule focuses the mind!

These places are difficult to judge but if you can get some honest recommendations...ask if you can come and see them train another one too, and oversee as much of Danny's training as you can. It would also be helpful if the person was willing/qualified to come and give refresher schooling to Danny and even lessons for you both?

I personally think you are taking on enough with Danny - no need to get the pony broken too!!! What is going to happen to pony when Danny goes? have you thought any further about where Danny will go?

[brigadier]

Hi Dannyboy
buy the best you can afford as long as it fits. Synthetic are my choice nowadays. Secondhand saddles are good option but only English leather ones will hold their value. A GP one should be fine for now. Most important is that it fits so get this done professionally. If it costs you £50 to have it fitted and only £10 for the saddle its still worth it if you know what I mean.
Brig

[dannyboy]

Thanks Ceej & Brig
It was really interesting to here your mum's experience ceej - That worries me slightly. Will definitely visit the premises and will ask about as much as poss for recommendations. The other wee pony suffered last year with laminitis and may have to come in with limited grazing shortly - just keeping a wee eye on him at the moment - any suggestions what I should do for him?
Thanks Brig for the advice on the saddle - I think the 2 I'm going to look at are english leather - not sure of their condition - wasn't sure about synthetic - but at least that gives me an alternative option if these turn out to be wrecked. Thanks again.

[ceej]

I totally agree with Brigs about the saddle fitting - v important. I bought Harry with his own saddle (dunno how many years he had been wearing it) 3 1/2 inches too narrow for him!! owch.

Re lami - willow is a sufferer. The way I manage him is by fencing off (leccy fence) a small area of the field which becomes his 'fatty' paddock. He stays in ther all the time, but I also put Harry in there at night to eat the grass down (obviously when its really low, Harry wont go in - he is my monitor!). At the moment that seems to be doingt he trick for Willow, as he has been on strict rations now since feb, but if he was overweight, or in times of good grass, he comes in for the night (day if mid summer and its hot anyway) or wears a grazing muzzle. Hope that helps...

The pony isnt being loaned to you though is it?

[dannyboy]

Not loaned to me but as the owner isn't well I feel pretty responsible for the little mite! I have always groomed the two - so have bonded with the both young men. I don't mind looking out for him but live a bit away and don't get to see them as often as I would like. There is no-one else to attend or look after them.
We have difficulty keeping a head collar on the little pony - (called nemo) and have tried the muzzle last year but to no luck - he goes mad and usually always gets it off some how. His feet at the momemt are a bit overgrown and farriers are few and far between - does this make him more at risk of laminitis?

[duckles]

Hi Dannyboy, I think money spent on decent schooling or re schooling is money really well spent and could set you and Danny up for the future. THe only think I would suggest is that you get personal recommendations about the person you send your horse to. A friend on mine, who is fairly experienced, sent her mare off to be backed last year. The place she went to was very reasonably priced and they were full of natural horsemanship talk which sounded great. they had the mare for a couple of months and did nothing with her - so turned out to be a huge waste of money - i'm not saying that the people you are going to are like that, they could be excellent but i would try and get recommendations and also(if possible, try and have lessons there as well so that you can keep an eye on how he's getting on and when he's ready, have lesson, trecks etc on him. Sorry if i sound supicious. I used to have a horse at a schooling yard and the horses who were most regularly worked on were those whose owners turned up most often and it was a fairly decent yard too. Plus its nicer for you to be part of the schooling programme.

[dannyboy]

Hi Duckles, Thanks for your great advice - I'm really need to be careful thats for sure. Hopefully they won't mind me taking a pretty active role - to be honest it will be good experience for this total greenie anyway.