Our adult daughter returned to riding about three years ago after not having ridden since childhood. She's an excellent elementary school teacher and a rather passive and thoughtful rider. The second horse she bought had a reputation, at age 14, of being a terrific endurance horse (Tevis cup ride), having been laid up for two years with two consecutive pasture injuries, and being hard to catch and bucking the first time you got on him - every ride
He became easy to catch and never bucked once from the first time she rode him. After Smoke got hurt again (another story), she bought a Seattle Slew grandaughter. This is a very athletic volatile mare. We have been there when she ran backward off an embankment, threw herself over backward when being ridden, knocked her owner silly when trying to get a syringe in her mouth. I did try to suggest this was not the horse she should be buying. Abby has ridden her for about six months. She hasn't done one dangerous thing. She drops her head and takes her electrolytes in happy little sips, and she stands around with a goofy contented look on her face. We say these two horses have responded to essential Abbyness - a sort of fairness and consistancy applied with very little pressure, either emotionally or phsysically. Nancy
