Steele Makes me Look Good

Last week my farrier came to do the horses. This time I was able to be there rather than Ed. I always enjoy talking with my farrier- I pick up some harmless horse gossip (who has a new horse, who's sold a horse) and he's just a genuine nice guy who can hold a conversation.

Steele was getting his pedicure when Paul said to me "you know when you told me that you were buying a baby to raise and train I wasn't sure what to think"
I looked at him curiously.
"well I knew Irish was a nice horse but I didn't really know the role that you played with that. I was concerned that I would end up with a horse that would be a problem to shoe"

That made sense. Why should he have faith in my ability to install ground manners in a horse? Anyone can talk it's results that truly count.

"but you have a really nice horse who's easy to work with and a real pleasure to be around" 

I was thrilled at what he said. He works with all sorts of horses and does not throw compliments around freely.

Now I'm not a fool. I know that Steele came with a sensible character to begin with. That was why I bought him (well one of the reasons, love is not completely logical). But he could have been a real brat. He certainly has tried on occasion. But if there's one thing I hate it's rudeness- in animals or people. So I did my best to install ground manners in Steele. As a result I have a horse that will stand still in cross ties, single tie and ground tied. In fact up in the ring he will stand with no tie at all as I fix the stirrups and made adjustments.

So all the work on insisting on manners has paid off in all sorts of ways.

Most importantly  I still have my farrier.

I'm smart enough to know that bouncing is for the paddock and not the barn