Tiarella
Well-Known Member
*sorry for spelling mistake in title.
Hey I've had my sharers now for a month and a half, November was a trial period and we are now nearly at the end of December. All going super well, mother and child very happy with him, he has won everything for the child so far and they really get on well. They are novice to a point but can handle and ride him well and correctly. They had been using their flexee tree saddle on him which I thought from day one never looked right, tipping forward far too much and just not sitting right. Their instructor (nothing to do with me) altered it and put the panels that close together there was a 1cm gap. My saddle fitter came the week after had heart failure at the saddle and how it just is never going to be suitable for his round shape and told me not to use it on him. I have now bought a new saddle that is custom fitted to him so should have no further problems with my saddle or not being able to use theirs. They are not happy with this and insisted my very expensive brand new saddle would not be suitable for him and reeled off excuse after excuse. I have now put my foot down and said I am more than happy for you to get this dressage flexee saddle fitted to him by heather moffett herself but until then I dont want it on his back with the panels that close. created a hoo harr saying "my daughter needs to ride in a dressage saddle as its good for her position, its the only saddle he goes nicely in."(which isnt true! I've never had an issue) But i'm going with my own gut instinct and what a professional saddle fitter thinks, and its not "just because saddle fitters dont like them saddles."
On saturday apparently he was bucking, which isnt like him at all. They blamed my old saddle (bought new one yday) which did fit him fine but I was looking at getting a new one anyway. I then politely told the mum that I think its actually the horse/instructor combination that wasnt working, he is a very typical native, has a heart of gold but you have to work as a team, you can no way 'tell' him what to do, he will just tell you to do one and that is usually when he starts bucking out of temper and frustration. I have an international dr rider school him once a week to keep all the buttons there and make sure he is bending and suppling well and never ever had a problem with her schooling him or teaching me on him, she is very very perfect for him and keeps him very sweet. This current instructor sharers have is very fierce and hard on the horses, which may work for some but certainly not for all so I suggested they could try someone else, but no, her daughter is happy with instructor, and then stated "well, im not being funny but he is only a horse."
Anyway, had a chat last night and basically she was dictating to me what I can/cant do with my pony, didnt realise that I would still be competing him myself and even riding him myself (no idea where she got that from), saying that she doesnt want the dr rider to school him(she schools him on a day I have him, and I should be able to do what ever I want with MY horse on My day!) as wants it all to be her daughters work (which also makes no sense as he is pretty established at elem level), they only wanted to ride him if they could use their saddle and have their instructor, and then proceeded to slag off his conformation, and how he is built downhill and "never worked over his back" - not sure how anyone can say that either when we do very well in dressage and very rarely get below 65% in nov/elem tests. They also said that dr rider is "far too big on him, she looks ridiculous!" - she is about 5ft7 on a 14hh pony but she only weighs 8 1/2 stone!!
The only reason i'm not telling them the sling their hook is because they do pay me a lot of money for him (half of what he costs a month) and the daughter does ride him lovely and they do look after him well. If it was just the daughter involved without the 'pony club mother' it would all be perfect.
Dont currently have a contract but if they want to proceed with the share then I will be writing one asap!
Hey I've had my sharers now for a month and a half, November was a trial period and we are now nearly at the end of December. All going super well, mother and child very happy with him, he has won everything for the child so far and they really get on well. They are novice to a point but can handle and ride him well and correctly. They had been using their flexee tree saddle on him which I thought from day one never looked right, tipping forward far too much and just not sitting right. Their instructor (nothing to do with me) altered it and put the panels that close together there was a 1cm gap. My saddle fitter came the week after had heart failure at the saddle and how it just is never going to be suitable for his round shape and told me not to use it on him. I have now bought a new saddle that is custom fitted to him so should have no further problems with my saddle or not being able to use theirs. They are not happy with this and insisted my very expensive brand new saddle would not be suitable for him and reeled off excuse after excuse. I have now put my foot down and said I am more than happy for you to get this dressage flexee saddle fitted to him by heather moffett herself but until then I dont want it on his back with the panels that close. created a hoo harr saying "my daughter needs to ride in a dressage saddle as its good for her position, its the only saddle he goes nicely in."(which isnt true! I've never had an issue) But i'm going with my own gut instinct and what a professional saddle fitter thinks, and its not "just because saddle fitters dont like them saddles."
On saturday apparently he was bucking, which isnt like him at all. They blamed my old saddle (bought new one yday) which did fit him fine but I was looking at getting a new one anyway. I then politely told the mum that I think its actually the horse/instructor combination that wasnt working, he is a very typical native, has a heart of gold but you have to work as a team, you can no way 'tell' him what to do, he will just tell you to do one and that is usually when he starts bucking out of temper and frustration. I have an international dr rider school him once a week to keep all the buttons there and make sure he is bending and suppling well and never ever had a problem with her schooling him or teaching me on him, she is very very perfect for him and keeps him very sweet. This current instructor sharers have is very fierce and hard on the horses, which may work for some but certainly not for all so I suggested they could try someone else, but no, her daughter is happy with instructor, and then stated "well, im not being funny but he is only a horse."
Anyway, had a chat last night and basically she was dictating to me what I can/cant do with my pony, didnt realise that I would still be competing him myself and even riding him myself (no idea where she got that from), saying that she doesnt want the dr rider to school him(she schools him on a day I have him, and I should be able to do what ever I want with MY horse on My day!) as wants it all to be her daughters work (which also makes no sense as he is pretty established at elem level), they only wanted to ride him if they could use their saddle and have their instructor, and then proceeded to slag off his conformation, and how he is built downhill and "never worked over his back" - not sure how anyone can say that either when we do very well in dressage and very rarely get below 65% in nov/elem tests. They also said that dr rider is "far too big on him, she looks ridiculous!" - she is about 5ft7 on a 14hh pony but she only weighs 8 1/2 stone!!
The only reason i'm not telling them the sling their hook is because they do pay me a lot of money for him (half of what he costs a month) and the daughter does ride him lovely and they do look after him well. If it was just the daughter involved without the 'pony club mother' it would all be perfect.
Dont currently have a contract but if they want to proceed with the share then I will be writing one asap!
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