Horse experience

I don't have much horse news. I have a super itch to ride my horses. Those string horses have left a bad taste in my mouth... I am now craving a horse that has a lot of spunk.

I ride since I am 6 years old. I have broke a few horses, had many falls, broke and sprained a few things and had to deal with horsey meltdowns more than my share. All that to say, I know how to control a horse and what to do if said horse bolts, buck, rears or just wont behave. I've taken a taste, over the years, to having a little challenge everytime I ride. Every ride we do, I either race with my companions, do tricky and challenging schooling (tight turns at a canter) or ride a challenging horse over challenging terrain. Anything to get the adrenaline pumping and I've gotten used to those types of horses and that type of riding. I need to at least run full galop once in my ride.

I like to canter and do turns, galop starts, chasing cows, jumping things... I need to get moving. Needless to say that the string horse ride I got was worthless to me, I was bored to death and couldn't get over it. I still had to pay the $50 at the end and got treated like I didn't know what I was doing for 2 hours. So it left a really sour, bad taste in my mouth.

I always thought that my horses were ok beginner horses. At least, I thought that they'd be okay once the beginners would know what to do and how to do it once on the horse... but no... I had full faith in Dandy, but she isn't at that level, and she never will be. She is too sensitive and gets pissed if you don't hold your posture or ride correctly. She tends to go faster if the rider is new, off balance or has too much leg on. It's like she was never trained! When I get on, she's such a charm, she does everything for me. Maybe Peg would've been a better bet, but Peg likes to go fast too and she tends to test her new riders a lot more than Dandy does... Pearl is completely out of the question and any new beginner would absolutely want out before even putting a foot in the stir up. Misty is not trained so that is out of the question. I never put a beginner on Peg and I don't really want to.

I don't want to talk bad about beginners, but they are not yet aware of their bodies and movements, once the horse starts moving, everything they've learned goes out the window and they are now sitting in a chair seat, heels way up, heels on the horse, hands up in the air and pulling, basically just as crisp as burnt bacon. So I don't want people like that on my horse because it confuses the horse, can make them stressed or angry and it just desorientates them.

I have trained my horses to be forward, not in front of me, but forward and eager to canter and do new things. Dandy loves new scenery and takes it all in. She is very sensitive to leg and it really, I mean really doesn't take much for her to go... if the leg goes on stronger, it means a canter start, so people that don't know that just might have Dandy start in a canter, which would be a disaster for newbies... but not to someone that wants a good responsive horse... and I will not desensitize her to the point of making her unhappy in her work. I will keep working on her sensitivity and commands so that she gets better and better.

The point is, if Dandy ever gets as sour as those string horses, I will have to sell her because my enjoyment is going to suffer greatly.

Do you have stories of people who rode string horses and thought they knew it all!? I've seen a few in my day, but not recently, so I would like some fresh stories!