It’s always a joy for me when I get to share my personal horses, or those I’ve started myself, with students. It’s the whole package of what teaching and training is all about for me.

While Wallace is very green in this training, and this last month really stalled our progress with the freezing cold temps, frozen ground, and snow/ice, he has started helping out in some of my lessons. He’s been such a good pony, and is really starting to develop some patience — I couldn’t be a more proud pony mama!

One of the unique parts about my program, is I get a lot of beginner drivers who come to me wanting to drive their own green or unstarted horses. While this can be extremely difficult, and sometimes outright dangerous, I’m always upfront about those expectations. It’s just going to take much longer, require more patience, and going to come with some challenges doing it that way (rather than having a professional start your horse). In truth, I’m just thankful these drivers are seeking help and have found me!

One of the ways I like to help these students, is to work both with my experienced horses and my horses in training, while relating things back to how to work with their horses. This way we can work on developing the driver without the difficulties presented by a green horse, and simultaneously work through some of those challenges of the green horse with a horse that I know and have already laid out some of the foundation work for.

It’s also so beneficial to my horses in training to develop their patience. It’s a great way to help the horse understand they can have a connection with many people, not just myself. It helps them gain confidence in themselves and an understanding for the green driver. They learn that humans make mistakes (many of them!!) but that they can help us navigate and resolve them by remaining calm while working through those challenges.

After a recent lesson with Wallace and one of my students, she told me working with him was so helpful, and that she gained a lot of tools to help her with her own horse at home! I just LOVE getting that feedback after a lesson. 🫶🏼