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Darling little
Ronan, yes, seems too young to be at TGC. His misfortunes revolve around a terrible handicap
in the horse industry, simple inexperience. Ronan was rescued as a wild 2 year old, by a
woman who has a deep love of horses in theory, but no real experience with them. She trusted
three trainers in a row, who fumbled seriously the training of this spooky young horse.
Terri, his former
owner, did some great ground work with Ronan, and he continues to be a sweetheart to handle at
least partly due to that. She sent him to the first trainer for training to be ridden. This trainer
probably accomplished some work with Ronan before an injury to Ronan's right knee. X-rays showed a
bone chip. It's not usually a problem, but too much hard work definitely causes swelling. The
second trainer simply warehoused him, I think hoping sometime off might re-boot him to the earlier
good work. But when he began to ride Ronan, he thought using an oversized western saddle with a
broken tree was a good idea. Of course, it was not and Ronan learned to buck. Dang. Not like
Mustangs aren't hard to train anyway - it's hard for them to trust to begin with and then you hurt
him. Well, the second trainer was hurt when he was bucked off and refused to work with him
further. A third trainer out of state took him on, but in the second week Ronan was with him,
he placed a saddle on Ronan's back and alleges that he watched Ronan buck for 30 minutes. He
refused also to work further with him. When Ronan came to me, he looked great and acted like
a love on the ground, but his flinchiness when I threw a blanket over his back tells the
tale. I told Terri I would be working with Ronan, slowly, over months, to see if I could
overcome his fears and get him rideable again. He will never be a beginner's ride, which is
sad considering his small stature, but hopefully, I can provide him with some sort of life.
I've heard, though, that one problem with Mustangs is that if you train them, gaining their trust
in the process, they will then be a good horse for YOU; building that same trust will be required
for every person who rides them. I guess we'll see.
Please check out the photos under Jill Rides, and Stacy Kaplan's visit to see these
young ladies riding Ronan on leadline. Ronan never tried to buck either girl - having a
proper saddle on his back - that is, NOT hurting him - made all the difference. This summer, 2008,
I'm going to start serious ground work with him again to get some fat off his barrel, and then I'll
be starting to ride him. This young man needs a job!
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