Reply #49

and many of us train our own. I rescued an arab from neglect and starvation, started him under saddle myself and trained him to schooling all the FEI movements. I currently have a young arabian mare -- this time I rescued her backyard owner/breeder who had more horses than stalls headed into winter -- that I will be starting this spring. She has shown signs of piaffe and passage while out playing, and I expect her to be capable of most if not all the FEI movements.

I'm saving now to hopefully get a warmblood foal to raise and start all over, since they are temperamentally easier (and I'm older, so bones more breakable).

It is only if you are planning on competing on the "A" circuit at the upper levels that you need to spend a lot of money. Otherwise, it is all about hard work, discipline, passion, love for the horse.

It is not cheap,, but it is doable. And here is something else; it is *far* more rewarding to bring along your own prospect, in your own back yard, caring for every detail, then it is to pay out a zillion dollars for a horse that somebody else trained. It took Anne 10 years to learn to sit correctly and ride a GP test. Big fucking deal. I had one fucking year of lessons and had Fritz Stecken, at the time considered the top dressage trainer in the world, tell an entire clinic that I had an "excellent seat on a horse." I was allowed to ride other people's Grand Prix horses after only 2 years of lessons. I was one of 4 students chose to ride in a lesson in front of the Director of the Spanish Riding School. I was not rich. Anne might be able to buy those experiences will her millions, but they would be simulations.