This message is from: "Cindy Vallecillo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hello Everyone, My name is Cindy Vallecillo. I am 45 years old. I live in San Bruno California (about 10 miles south of San Francisco). I have a 13 year-old Fjord by the name of Mik. I have had Mik for about a year now and what a year it has been!!! I decided to buy a horse after being away from them for close to 20 years. I went to the closest stable to look for a place to put a horse, when I found one, and ran into the manager of the stables. I explained to her that I was looking for a horse and that I had been away from horses for sometime and she said to me, let me show you this horse. That was the beginning of my life with Mik. Mik had been neglected for over a year. His owner paid someone to feed, clean and turn him out, maybe once a week. He was a mess; over weight, bad habits, etc. Jan, the barn manager, suggested until I found a horse why not work with Mik to get back in the groove. O M G, after the first week I was saying to myself what kind of horse is this!!! Well to make a long story short, I fell in love with the big lug and here we are a year later and we have come a long way baby!!! He tests my love every single day, but I would not have it any other way. I have been lurking for several months now and what brought me out of the shadows is the response to the post regarding professional trainers from Mary Jo Hannah. Mary Jo wrote about CW (a John Lyons certified trainer) and I just wanted to say that I have taken Mik to two of his clinics; one on ground manners and another on responsive riding. I went to a free demo CW put on and he talked about Mary Jos Fjord!!! He said he had come across a horse that he just could not get through to and he was about to give up when he tried tweaking what he was doing and it worked, then he said it was a Fjord and I raised my hand saying I have a Fjord. I thought he was going to drop his teeth!!!! His clinics have really helped me with Mik and I believe he really did learn from his experience with Mary Jos Fjord because he told me several times not to push Mik and to be careful with repeating an exercise too much. He said that Mik would shut down on me or get upset and that is so true. I have discovered through trial and error that Mik will do anything for me in his own time. Well, this is my leap into the fray!!! I have truly enjoyed all the posts. I am so glad you guys are out there. It has been really frustrating for me trying to talk to other horse people about Mik, because he is a horse of a different color. Whew, Im done (for now)!!! Cindy Vallecillo The Cove, Millbrae California
