February 4, 2010

Just a reminder to get references before you hire a trainer



This was taken day five when I went to check on her, and had to bring her home. She has injuries on both legs, and behind her ears. I was unable to touch her for five days, she was just frantic if you attempted to handle her. This is the root of her "people" issues. Phebes is very frightened if a stranger just zooms in on her. She had a bad vet handling as a yearling, and she hasn't forgot that either. Just be careful who you hire to train your babies. ~E.G.

11 comments:

  1. Oh my that is horrific! How do people become so cruel in this business? What a sad affair!

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  2. That is soooo true.. Had a TB years ago that went to trainer and within a weeks time, he wasn't the same horse. Needless to say, I hauled him out of there that same day I saw him. I have never sent my horse to another trainer since and decided from that day forward, I never would again.

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  3. WHAT!?! That is AWFUL! Poor little Phebes!

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  4. This incident happened when it was time to get her under saddle. I was afraid I couldn't do it, so hired a trainer to do it. All he accomplished was the injuries, and a horse so traumatized it was a couple of weeks before she acted anything like herself. She had dumped so much in that five days I could hardly say it was the same horse. The guy's explanation was "she tripped". Other than that he had no other explanation as to what she tripped on, and I just do not believe it. She was skinned up in so many places, had knocked out a baby tooth. It was a mess. I brought her home, and DID THE TRAINING MYSELF, which was likely much harder than it would have been if I'd have just done it in the first place. But I learned a valuable lesson that I'll never forget :(

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  5. Oh, poor Phoebe. :( You've done an amazing job getting her trust back. She's a lucky mare!

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  6. Before I bought our new horse. Albert and I spent a half day looking at Amish ponies. (it was all his and my husband's idea) They thought we could get a good pony for a cheap price and not have to drive very far. Some of them had sores just like this and they did nothing for them. Just makes me furious. One Amish man had three ponies in the same stall with no hay or water. He said they'd been there a couple days or so he couldn't remember. But he couldn't turn them out or they would get too fat. He said he gave them a drink once a day, when I asked him about why they couldn't have water? Somebody had given them to him and he needed to sell them but of course they were all $300 to $500 ponies firm. Of course, they never vaccinate either. So after looking at three or four places Albert knew of, I think he was finally convinced we didn't need an Amish pony.

    I, stupidly, took a friend's TWH to him. She was only there two weeks. She was crazy before I took her and came back just about as crazy. She had some saddle sores. But nothing like this. I watched him do his "method" one day and wasn't very impressed. He was trying to teach her rollbacks. I asked why she needed to know that, she just wanted her to be a trail horse.

    He's a friend of Albert's, my father-in-law. They went to HS together.

    I believe he mentioned you. Obviously I didn't know you at the time. I think we were talking about me having arabians. He said he just had a half arabian for training not too long ago. He said that he never did finish with her because the owner came and took her back.

    Maybe after Phebes he felt guilty and wasn't so cruel to Nikki (the TWH). But I do know I will never take another horse to him. I'm like you, I will be training my own horses from now on. I just got frustrated with Nikki because she was bucking really bad. I didn't want to get hurt so I told my friend to either take her back or pay for training. (I thought she'd take her back) But instead she said she'd pay for training. She had wanted me to keep her horse over the summer and ride her so that she would get rode. Because she had bought her as a broke 4 year old and only rode her 3 times then quit riding her for 3 years. So she wanted her to get a refresher and I thought she'd be a decent horse. But those 3 years off weren't so good for her and she didn't want to be a riding horse. (BTW, My friend wasn't paying me or anything, and she lived in IL)By the time she picked her up in September, Nikki was a better horse but it was mostly because of all the trail riding Laura and I did with her after she came back from "him".

    M

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  7. Poor Phebes... those stories just break my heart because it's just not necessary. Look how far you have come with her now though!!

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  8. I actually believe that "he" is the root of Phebes inclination to buck. He was running her around in the pen with a rope around her flanks, making her buck. In theory yes this is how it is done, but he wasn't releasing when she stopped, he was releasing when she was still bucking. The whole encounter just went BAD altogether. Before she went I said I wanted her splint boots on for training in the round pen to support her tendons and sent hers with her. I brought what she eats, and left instructions of how much, and how often. He wasn't giving her any of her chow because he decided she was too fat. The hay looked like he picked it off the floor of the barn. I also gave them instructions that if for any reason she got sick or injured, to call the vet first, and call second. They didn't call the vet and left a message on my machine. She was so traumatized that morning that she had her nose in the corner of her "pen", her eyes were just dead, and she bloody with mud caked into the wounds. She was unresponsive to me, to food, just trembling in a corner. I was so angry I didn't think I could control myself. I had to depend on him to haul her as I didn't have a trailer at the time. So I felt like I couldn't say what I was feeling for her sake to get her home. He wouldn't load her, I had to do it and almost got injured in the process, then he drove the trailer on that curvy road fast, with it almost hopping hills (enter her terror of the trailer) to home. I unloaded her and that was like a horse EXPLODING out of the trailer. He just stood there looking at me. I told him, "you just need to leave." But to tell you the truth I wanted to kick the crap out of him.

    Oh...he was an endurance rider back in the day, or so he told me. That and he was involved in a breeding operation producing Anglo's.

    I'm going to go take deep breaths now. ~E.G.

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  9. This makes me mad as well. I can understand why your still upset. Those kinds of scars will last her her lifetime. Bad training is so much harder to overcome then no training or no bad experiences at all.

    I am impressed with how well you have done with her, so much the more now to hear the whole back story.

    While we are still on it. What did the male vet do?

    I bet she's still somewhat afraid of strangers and especially men.

    M

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  10. She had an eye infection which I'd been treating, but kept coming back. I had a vet come in because I wanted to make sure she didn't have a corneal scratch or some other underlying issue causing the infection to come back. I could tell the guy was not happy to have made the farm call when he got out of his truck. He just zoomed in on her and reached for the eye. The eye was all swollen and very painful so she started skittering backwards (she was a yearling), and the more she tried to avoid him the rougher he got slamming her up against the round pen panels. It was a rodeo from that point on. She had to be sedated, and it turned out that her tear duct was blocked in that eye, which I was happy to have got sorted out. But would have rather had some calm handling instead of a man screaming at her, slamming her around, and calling her foul names. Phebes was never the same with strangers (yes men inparticular) again. She can spot a vet from a mile off. I presume by the odors they have on them.

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  11. Oh and Michelle, he never started Phebes under saddle. I did. She went to him to begin trail work, which she never did. To my knowledge he never climbed on but it is just as well, that would have probably ended up in a train wreck with her somewhere lost in the hills out there.

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