I was riding my horse through a local park/trail area today and this guy semi yells at me, "how tall is your horse? 17 or 18 hands?" I accidentally start laughing out loud and say, "no, 15.2".... to which he replies, "oh, I have a Tennessee Walker." I think he meant an Icelandic pony.
Throwaway. I'm upset and I just wanted to vent to other horse people.
This horse has been my main project at work for the better part of the last year. I've ridden a lot of horses while working on this farm, but this one I fell in love with. He came to us with a lot of anxiety issues and he has come a long way under my care. Boss has decided he can't keep the horse anymore, which I understand as he is unsuitable for the high-stress sports we do. Sadly, I can't keep the horse myself. Boss has a bit of a soft spot for this horse and really wants to do right by him. We're trying to find a new home for him very soon, otherwise he goes back to his breeder and will likely continue being passed around in the sport he can't mentally handle. Boss and I are afraid this horse will eventually end up in a kill pen if he goes that route.
The horse is mellow 99% of the time, on the ground and during regular pleasure riding type work. He loads/trailers with zero fuss, practically falls asleep while the farrier works on him, stands quietly at the mounting block, he ticks off a lot of the boxes for a desirable horse. However, he's a nightmare when he's nervous, and he's very prone to spooking. When he's on edge about something, he'll spook at anything, and it's not always just a little hop sideways. He has caused some destruction in the barn with his spooks. One particularly explosive spook during a training sessions was the sign that he'll never fit in at this farm (no one was seriously injured but easily could have been - both horse and all people involved were very very lucky). He has tons of potential, I think he would love to do low level dressage, maybe even some light jumping, and he's surprisingly good during trail rides (with some gentle encouragement and staying away from busy roads). He would be a fun project horse for someone, but definitely nowhere near bomb-proof and may never be.
Not having the time or desire to do a proper sale ad and all that, we've been reaching out to our various equestrian contacts to see if anyone we know could take him. Our mutual friends Y and Z have also been reaching out to their contacts, and posting some demo ride videos on their social media - describing him as a "steady Eddie" and claiming the horse is a new project of Y's. Y has ridden the horse a handful of times, but most of it was last year when he was still pretty new to us. I know this horse better than anyone, yet I find myself being excluded from their efforts completely. I didn't even know they were coming out to ride him for videos, it happened while I was taking a few days off and no one contacted me about it. I don't expect anyone to ask my permission or anything, but as this horse's primary (and for the last several months, his only) rider, I could at least talk to them about what we've been working on, where he has improved, and what I think his potential is. I left a quick comment on their social media postings, identifying myself as the horse's usual rider (so people who don't know me wouldn't wonder who the Hell I am or why I'm talking about this horse) and giving a very brief summary of his current training successes as well as offering to answer any questions about him. I thought I was being helpful. I, just like Boss and Y and Z, want to see this horse go to a good home where he will thrive and flourish and be the horse we know he can be.
Tonight I received a message from Boss saying Y and Z have someone interested in the horse (side note: yay!). He also acknowledged everything I've done with the horse in the last year, but said we need to let Y ad Z handle it from now on and we need to focus on potential instead of the past. I didn't argue with him, but that message stung a little. Was I crazy out of line to add my two cents and try to talk him up? I didn't say anything publicly about his past or problems. My comment was positive and made absolutely no mention of his not-so-awesome qualities. I'm starting to get the feeling everyone else is actively trying to hide the not-so-awesome qualities. I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt somewhere along the line, and this horse is going to have the same fate we're all trying to prevent.
I'm sad that this horse can't stay in my life. I'm a little hurt that I'm apparently not a respectable enough rider to be the one doing demo rides and telling potential buyers about the horse. I'm worried that the best case scenario is the horse will be returned to us when his next owner can't deal with his anxiety, which is much worse in a new environment. I'm worried that someone, human or horse, will be seriously injured during one of his freak-outs, because the humans involved weren't prepared for it or skilled enough to handle it.
I don't really know where I'm going with all this. I just needed to get it off my chest. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong and I should shut up and stay out of it, since that seems to be what other people think. :/
So I have been riding horses for many years now and I showed a ton as a kid and teen. I have not shown in several years and I miss them. I am also into photography I have a decent camera Nikon D5100 and a couple lenses.
I was thinking about offering some local show/clinic photography, but was wonder on price and package points.
I was thinking doing a digital package $50 for me to go to the show and shoot the horse and rider team and then they get digital copies for social media. These copies would not be edited save for zooming and cropping. I would also offer prints 4x6 for $5, 5x7 for $10 8x10 $15 which would be edited to correct lighting, colors etc.
Would this be something you as a rider or horse show parent would be interested? What do you think about the prices too low, too high?
It seems like a lot of show photographers charge a ton and it seems like half the time they get very few good pictures people since they are trying to shoot so many people and classes.
