Black Stallions

Last month I went to a meeting that takes place among horse people in my area. Vets, farriers and other horse experts come together and people can bring their horses for evaluation and treatment.

I met a young woman who had her first horse since she was a child. Like many, if not most, of us she dreamed of owning a black stallion. Unlike many this is what she bought, a two year old black Arabian colt. Now when he was four she confessed she was afraid of him. Despite two years of professional training and gelding he was still too much horse for her.

It is a story I’ve heard over and over. Someone has dreamed of having a horse and finally reaches a place in their lives where they can have one. So they set out to get their dream horse. Usually the afore mentioned black stallion. It is the sort of mistake that drives people out of the world of horses on a regular basis.

What the first time horse owner really needs is a twenty to thirty year old horse with many years of experience and training. Such a horse may not be totally sound, arthritis takes its toll on all of us in time, but with proper care it can teach the first time horse owner many things before it passes on. Unlike a younger horse, while this older horse may need special care it will most likely not get in trouble because of racing around and injuring itself. When something happens an experienced old horse will stand there and wait for some human to show up and extricate it from its predicament. The young horse will panic and run up an unbelievable vet bill in no time. I simply cannot say enough good things about the older horse for the first time horse owner.

In fact, if the first time horse owner is bound and determined to have that black stallion they can find one in that age bracket and fulfill their dream in a much safer manner than by going out and acquiring ANY young horse. I don’t recommend that the tyro horse owner begin with a stallion because stallions do have special needs, but if nothing else will do then by all means get a stallion of twenty plus with lots and lots of training and then place yourself in an environment that will help you learn to cope with your black stallion.

What does this little tirade have to do with being a Lazy Trainer? Well, in my next blog I’ll introduce my black stallion and tell you how he taught me to be a better, more effective, horse trainer; as well as enabling me to increase my status as a Lazy Trainer.