Horse problem, suggestions??

Question

Okay, I might be getting a horse soon, and my best friend is under the impression that I am going to let her ride it. She likes horses (not loves), but isn't allowed to take lessons. She isn't a great rider, and hasn't taken a lesson for around 2 years, when she took 6 mnths worth of lessons. And she has never ridden Western before, which is the type of horse I am getting. The truth is, I don't really want to ride my horse. I will be paying for everything, for one thing. And I don't really trust her with my horse. I had an incident last year involving her and my lease horse. We were leading the horse down a creek trail and I let her lead. He wanted to run back to the barn, and she let go of the lead rope. He galloped away, and I was scared to death because each side of the trail ended in a busy road. Thankfully, we caught him a few mins later. But if something happened to my new horse, I would be in deep doo doo. I keep suggesting lessons to her, but she said she would rather just ride a horse than have a lesson. What do I tell her?

Answer 1

Tell her your parents forbid you to let anyone else ride the horse because of liability issues.

Answer 2

Why don't you give her lessons? If this is your best friend, you should be helping her out instead of getting an attitude.

I understand you have concern about your horse and don't want anything to happen. So only let her handle the horse in controlled circumstances like an enclosed arena. Also sounds like you guys don't know how to lead a horse. Why was your hand on his halter? Do you think you can force a thousand pound animal to stay put? No you can't. A horse can bolt away from any human no matter how strong. Putting your hand on his halter is just annoying for the horse. What you need to do is learn how to lead in such a way that you communicate to the horse that you are his leader. Try the exercises in this video with your horse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMh0hyaqN...

By the way, your horse is not "western". Horses respond by yielding to pressure, they don't know about human inventions like "western" and "english". The horse might be trained on certain things but could pick up English pretty quick, because his natural inclination is to move away from pressure. That is what all riding commands with the bit, the bridle, the reins, your legs, and handling on the ground are all about.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

http://www.nmhorse.com/

Answer 3

dont listen to people calling you irresponsible..

you probably thought you could trust her!

i would have!

just give her time.

you shoulda seen me when i was the first time!!especially when it reared!!!! i also let one run out of the paddock but we caught her!

just supervise her.

walk around in a pasture standing next to her

make sure shes not doing anyhting wrong.

tell her before she can ride your horse you want her to have lessons somewhere else. tell her YOU want your horse all to yourself until he fully trusts YOU.

Answer 4

tell her this "you know i just don't feel conformable with you riding my horse. we had an incident last time and i don't want to take a chance."

if she is your real friend she will understand. if she does not want to listen or puts up a fight then you need to say by by.

Answer 5

Well, first, I have to ask: wtf where you thinking when you let a beginner "lead" a probably high-strung horse down a creek. And you call her irresponsible. If you let her ride your lease horse, I can't blame her for wanting to ride your horse. Think about it. Just tell her that your horse is advanced and would be too much for her to handle. Which should be a white lie because if you are getting a high strung horse for a first horse, be expecting to get hurt. I personally think your irresponsible. Very, very, irresponsible. And before you go talking about how your friend is such a bad rider and a danger to your horse (while you had the bright idea of her leading a horse down a creek), how many years have YOU been riding? I doubt that many. So before you buy a horse and essentially tell your poor friend to take a hike, think about how she's feeling. For a first horse, you should have a quiet, bombproof, kidsafe, and deadbroke horse. Which means that you can give your friend a mini ride every once in while.

Answer 6

I would tell her that your parents will not allow anyone other than you to ride the horse because they cannot afford to insure the horse for that kind of liability.  Actually, it is a good idea to do that anyway, because your parents would be liable if she was hurt by handling/riding your horse.

Answer 7

Tell her your insurance will not allow the liability of someone else riding your horse.  She can't blame you for that.

Answer 8

Simple. Just tell her that you would rather ride your horse and have this time to bond with him as he is new to you and vice versa.

Also, I really hate when people sit here and call each other bad riders. We all start some where and the faults we can find in others are often found at one time or another in ourselves.

I've known many a great riders that gave up learning and taking lessons in their younger years because barn snobs and others were telling them they were no good and shouldn't be on the back of the horse. Most of these riders got into riding because it was fun for them, and only found it being a pain in the *** because what they thought would be a fun escape from schooling and rude brats at school making fun, would turn horses sour for them as well.

Thus they wouldn't return to riding until they were older, had thicker skin, and over all more maturity. Don't make your friends joy of riding become her nightmare because of riding criticism.

Just tell her that you and your horse need this time to bond and become accustomed to each other.

Answer 9

i assume you are a minor.. so yeah.

if it's true, tell her that she's not allowed to ride him for safety's sake because your parents said so.

if not, then tell her that she's not allowed to ride him for safety's sake. it might be hard to tell her, but you have to.

whenever you meet up with her, make it be so that it can't involve your horse- go shopping, go to her place, go to the movies, starbucks, out to eat, somewhere where she can't bring up 'let's go ride now!' keep her away from wherever the horse is kept- on your property or at a barn. either way, keep her away from your house so that she can't bring up the idea. if she does end up coming over, and she wants to ride, tell her [if it's the truth] that you either rode him today or the day before, and he's absolutely pooped because you gave him a real workout.

what do you mean 'i really don't want to ride my horse'? was that just a typo?

Answer 10

I had a similar issue not to long ago.  I told my friend she could come see my horses at my bording barn.  We planned this a week ahead of time and the whole week she was like, what should I wear, what horse will I ride, should I bring my own saddle (that I thought was weird, I mean come on, your own saddle, you don't even have a horse to ride in the saddle!  Why the **** do you have a saddle!  Jeez!).  Of couse she told me what she could do, she said she barral raced (I ride english just so you know), so I let her ride the lazyiest horse I have.  I let her kind of trot, and she couldn't post or sit the trot (and the mare she was riding has the easyiest trot).  I totally didn't/wouldn't trust her with my horses, they would just pull her over.  I'm hearing ya, and it's hard to tell a friend that you don't want her riding your horses.  Unfortuatly I think you are going to have to tell her eventually.  Just tell her how it is, as a horse back rider, you can deal or have potetial risks that might harm your horse.  You are working your *** off for your horse and you don't need to be paying $10,000 vet bills (been there done that, everytime you write the check it's like, "so would you like a swimming pool with that?". Ya, har har har, until you are sending the vet's kids to college...).  I hope this helped...

Answer 11

She is not covered on the insurance simple as that.

Answer 12

Well then tell her i mean ur horse is going to be ur ultimate companion and if she cant handle the fact that she isnt experienced enough then she apparently isnt putting the horse b4 herself and it should always be the horse over the rider to an extent.deff dont let her ride him or even lead him until she can become a better more responsible horseman.

Answer 13

ok, so tell the friend that you are getting the horse, and it's not safe to ride until a few months into the ownership. until the horse is fully trusted with people riding him or her. let the friend come around every once in a while for visual lessons, she will see you ride the horse and get the visual feel for the horse that way. plus, you have to tell her that she is not very experienced yet. a couple years of western lessons will help her to know what to do and what not to do. this should help.  

Answer 14

You do need to train your horse which may take a few months! Tell her that, and the horse is yours, and he will be special to you, It will be like your baby, and you wouldn't let someone who dropped your previous baby, hold another (just an example) Tell her that its yours, and dont let anyone else touch him either, she will get the point.

Answer 15

Simply state about insurance issues.

I had some issues with my horse.

He bolted down a road that leads to prob the 3rd busiest SR's in the state.

Luckly he turned to our barn and into his stall but my friend was ssooo worried.

I understand what your saying

Answer 16

Tell het to get her own horse and be responsible as you are for its upkeep and liability.  She is not a good friend