What can happen when a novice rider is teamed up with a gentle but untrained BLM mustang who can only see out of one eye? Could be a recipe for disaster. Or....
About seven years ago I drove over to the next county to help a 15 year old girl get on her mustang for the first time. OK, so things went alright that time. Probably just luck. So where did that horse end up? What about that poor little girl, being stuck on a wild horse with out even having ever had proper a equestrian education?
The horse is with the same family, living happily in Arizona and training for her first competitive 25 mile ride. The little girl never did get much of a proper equestrian education. She was stuck with what she picked up from me, watching some natural horsemanship videos and, oh yeah, spending endless hours in the saddle.
Somehow Emily overcame all of that and is one of the more knowledgeable horsewomen I know. Best of all, she has a pair of little sisters that might even become better than she is.
All of this started with one ancient pony who was looking for a home, a pair of untrained BLM mustangs and some little girls who wanted a pony.
This is a model that could be implemented by any trainer that truly understands horses and kids. But to make the program safe and effective that trainer will have to learn to stop pretending that there is any validity whatsoever in the pronouncements of the established horse world.
Too many horse people would prefer the praise of Mrs. Drysdale to the pleasure of Ellie Mae Clampett's company.
(This is a picture of Emily as a kid just before she mounted her mustang for the first time. Emily and Mrs. Drysdale would not get along well.)
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