Training Mickey

At the stables that I work at, I give horseback riding lessons to children of all ages.  We are constantly getting new horses to try and improve the programs.  However, not all of the horses are always trained perfectly for kids.  Because of the economy, a majority of the horses that we get are green(inexperienced) when we first get them.  One example is a gelding we got, Mickey.  He was fairly young, and while kids could ride him, he was not very responsive and did not know how to jump.  I know this sounds dumb, obviously he could get over obstacles if he needed to, but he needed to be trained to make it "pretty".  In my spare time(haha) I took up this challenge.  I worked with him for hours to make him more responsive.  Along the way, I learned ways in which training him worked, and ways in which they did not.  I think that my knowledge of horse training was greatly improved by learning from my mistakes and finding the ways in which Mickey responded best.  There were many times along the way where I wanted to scream and give up, working with a 1,5000 lb animal with a mind of his own can be frustrating and painful at times.  However, along the road, I was able to see a vast improvement in Mickey and myself.  I am very proud of the progress that he has made and he is now a much better horse for the kids.