Just for the record I am not feeling attacked. What I am feeling is pity. Pity because a few people on the internet decided I was a liar, which is bullshit, and because of that everything I say or do will be wrong, and feel the need to point that out at every opportunity. I understand that we all do thing differently and really I am okay with that. I stopped posting for a while to try and let things settle. I concentrated on our move and our horses and life in general. Feeling proud of what we have accomplish I came back. I posted the required pictures and now I am asking questions. There really is no need to read deep between the lines.

1. I am not a parent who shovels money to a trainer and sits back and watches expecting blue ribbons to fall out of the sky. I am very very involved in everything my daughter does. Even more so when it comes to our horses. I have spent thousands.. well at this point HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars now that we have the farm, in regards to these horses. I pay attention. When I don't know something I ask. Plain and simple even if I look like an ass, because I know the collective minds of the internet is so much greater than my own.

2. My trainer is not a DOUCHE BAG! I have been nothing but impressed with this man. I hired him because he is a Morgan/Arab trainer. He specializes in halter, hunt/saddle seat and carriage work. He has a great resume and has worked as a groom and trainer for several major barns on the east coast, all of whom I called before he touched one of my horses. He also has a fabulous show record, not only with others horses but his OWN. I hired him to handle Oliver. In just a few weeks he took Oliver from a fucking squirrel on crack to a wonderful boy who will park and set up with just the lifting of your hand and a tap on the shoulder. He is ready to show in halter, which we are thinking of doing at an open show at the end of the month too see how he handles it all. He has taken us to shows, to watch and learn. We've gone to the North Star (Morgan show), a couple of WSCA shows and others.

3. He stepped up to the plate when our regular trainer baled on us, she decided to stop training all together. He offered his services for FREE because he likes my daughter. He has made it very clear he can not help her with jumps and refuses to even let her pop over a few practice ones at home because he doesn't know enough about it and doesn't want her to fail or worse have an accident. Abby's riding in just a few short weeks has taken a change for the better, with a greater understanding of not only herself but her horse. He is exacting in what he does and what he expects from her. She has a show at the end of the month. Her first real show, not a schooling show. She will be doing dressage tests, Intro A and Inro B as well as showing Oliver in a Morgan/Arab halter class, (At this point that is the plan).

4. Considering the area I live in and what is available to me I feel DAMN lucky to have him. His attitude is not well, "you'll have fun at the show" like our last trainer. His attitude is Were going, and you are representing yourself , your horse, your family. You will have the knowledge and understanding to master what you are doing. So that when she is out there in the show ring she will know what is expected of her. She will have confidence to perform at the best of her ability.

5. The is NOTHING wrong with looking at pictures to gain an understanding of horses, collection, seat, oh the list. We look at pictures of people jumping and talk about what they are doing and their position and the horse. We look at conformation shots and talk about the horse what's good and bad. Maybe I have gotten use to the way Wade writes emails, its like he types every other sentence flowing through his brain. I don't care if he spelled poll, as pole, I know what he meant. We all make typos. Me especially. What's really sad is all of you knew what he meant too. But instead of saying ooh let me find some pictures you had to grab at that and make fun of him, and call him names. Yes the picture of the carousel horse was funny, great but hey follow up with some shots of what a horse SHOULD look like. He doesn't expect her to look at a picture and then be able to do it on a horse. He wants her to look at a picture so they can talk about things. So that when he is explaining what's going on she has a point of reference. AT NO POINT DID HE THINK A PICTURE WILL HELP HER RIDE PROPERLY OR EVEN SAY THAT!

Terryn thank you for the pictures, they were helpful and so were your explanations. Question, did you get your ability to look at a picture or a horse for that matter, and be able to say things like "heavy on the forehand and head a little lower than I'd like, but acceptable. This is as far toward the stock horse HUS ideal as one should go at a regular H/J show." From the back of your horse or from looking at others? Because this is the skill we are looking at building in Abby. The skill of looking at a horse or a picture and determine what is going on in said picture, what is correct, what is not correct, what could be better. What part of your ridingdo you see where can impovements be made? Its a very simple concept.

As for him not doing it himself... were in the country, he has dial up on an old laptop, its slower than fuck. So yeah he emailed me the request, I have a T1 line because of my husbands works and its super fast and way easier for me to do it, print it and give it to him.

For those of you who were able to read through a poorly written email and offer some help, thank you. For those of you who could not get past the words, pole or head set.. well have fun with that.

Last Edited By: ckayser Jul 15 09 8:28 AM. Edited 1 times.