# Almendra and her progress!



## Agheera (8 mo ago)

Omg my pictures are so bad 🤣😪 I thought I took amazing pictures  lol.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

What a story! Thanks for sharing. Is your mare a criollo? Does your boyfriend know that it is bad etiquette to gallop off in front of other people? He should not do that to you. Did your mare really scream as her buddy left her? That must have been super unnerving. It is a super accomplishment to be an inexperienced rider and teach a difficult horse to go well. My hat is off to you!

@gottatrot has written 3 excellent books about training difficult horses. Two are stories about her two difficult horses and one is like a manual. I think you two are kindred spirits and you would really like reading her books.

Evelyn May Round Pen Square Horse, Horse on Fire, Training Problem Horses

Horse On Fire: May, Evelyn: 9798406904312: Amazon.com: Books

I guarantee you will not be able to put them down!


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## Agheera (8 mo ago)

knightrider said:


> What a story! Thanks for sharing. Is your mare a criollo? Does your boyfriend know that it is bad etiquette to gallop off in front of other people? He should not do that to you. Did your mare really scream as her buddy left her? That must have been super unnerving. It is a super accomplishment to be an inexperienced rider and teach a difficult horse to go well. My hat is off to you!
> 
> @gottatrot has written 3 excellent books about training difficult horses. Two are stories about her two difficult horses and one is like a manual. I think you two are kindred spirits and you would really like reading her books.
> 
> ...


They are criollos, in more simple words they are mutts haha. But have a lot of chilean horse (not registered of course, we do all wrong haha).

My boyfriend though it was a good idea to do so, but after that one time he never did it again (as we both learnt it was a bad idea haha) and today I asked him to go faster with Alfajor so I could test Almendra's reaction after all our training (so I can trust her further to situations maybe I won't be able to handle or not prepared to in the future). 

Besides that, Alfajor today spook and tried running away several times to a ladder because a feral horse reacted badly and Almendra just waited for my reaction and stayed tune to me waiting for instructions instead of loosing her mind (meanwhile my bf controlled Alfajor).

Thanks for the book recommendations and encouragment!

She is a difficult horse but I think she only needed patience, trust and lots of training! But riding her is like being on a cloud, so soft and nice (unless she's bucking lol). Giving her out was killing her (here people eat horse meat and is a common destination to "older" horses that are not perfectly broken or have bad manners).


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## My Salty Pony (Jan 1, 2022)

Your Pictures are so BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love reading about you and the animals that you love and KEEP the pictures coming, love seeing how other horsey people live in a different country.


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## Agheera (8 mo ago)

My Salty Pony said:


> Your Pictures are so BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love reading about you and the animals that you love and KEEP the pictures coming, love seeing how other horsey people live in a different country.


Thaaaanks!! I love watching and reading about other people's experiencies ❤❤. I though the pictures were focused but most of them look kind of blurry haha


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## Agheera (8 mo ago)

I think I should update this journal!

So after my last entry, Almendra keeps making good progress but some days she drives me crazy.

For example, I can take her to the trail alone, but if we are alone in a place she doesn't know (or previously went alongside my gelding) she will start to be paranoic about random stuff.

Yesterday we went trail riding with 2 friends, one rode my gelding and my other friend a gelding from my neighbour Almendra hated.

Almendra hates almost every other horse. Idk if that's normal but she's the most selective horse I have ever seen.

Well, my gelding was leading, the other gelding was in the middle and I was at the end. Almendra LOST it. Started trying to gallop to the front and I didn't let her.

I asked for turns, stops but she prefered to buck like a crazy horse. So there I was, almost laughing because I just asked something so simple that we already practiced so many times.

I couldn't hold her more and at that moment I think I needed to give a firm correction, but I'm so weak and she doesn't care about me using my legs to correct. So sad.

We ended up in the front so she could be relaxed. As soon as we reached the front she instantly relaxed and listened well to my directions.

So sometimes Idk what else to do. She is a great horse for so many things, but also has so many thing I don't like that I don't really know if with training that will go away at some point or if she will be always like that.

Of course I know she's and individual and can have good and bad days. Her comfort zone is reduced and she gets so anxious about some stuff.

I'm thinking that maybe I should send her to a place that teaches and break horses for a month. A professional trainer would work her and correct her "firmly" (he's fear free based), but I know there's a posibility that she will behave with that person from moment one and as soon as she comes back with me she will test me hahaha.

I own a spicy mare and I regret having a mare hahaha. She is as hormonal as me. I just can laugh when she starts with her classic Almendra stuff and try to do my best to respect her limits.

I don't know were we will end here!

Sometimes I just want my colt to be 3 years so I can start taking him to make short rides.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

I love the pictures! I can’t believe I missed your journal. It surprises me how much I miss on here sometimes.

Sometimes I have to remind myself we all have bad days. So, if I go through a day that seems a set back or really frustrating, I try to let it go and move past it. If that bad day is a general bad overall, then I try and really think about what I want long term. I have gotten rid of two horses that I have absolutely zero regrets about. It simply wasn’t going to work for those two and myself. I let them go and felt such relief and it was a good thing.

Yet, those days that are bad? Those days happen at times and I am very glad that I don’t let them get too strong in my mind. I think there is a quote that says “A bad day doesn’t make a bad life.”


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## Agheera (8 mo ago)

Knave said:


> I love the pictures! I can’t believe I missed your journal. It surprises me how much I miss on here sometimes.
> 
> Sometimes I have to remind myself we all have bad days. So, if I go through a day that seems a set back or really frustrating, I try to let it go and move past it. If that bad day is a general bad overall, then I try and really think about what I want long term. I have gotten rid of two horses that I have absolutely zero regrets about. It simply wasn’t going to work for those two and myself. I let them go and felt such relief and it was a good thing.
> 
> Yet, those days that are bad? Those days happen at times and I am very glad that I don’t let them get too strong in my mind. I think there is a quote that says “A bad day doesn’t make a bad life.”


That's a really nice way of seeing things! I actually thought about selling Almendra but I'm so scared for her of being mistreated again, or someone sees she's 'a difficult' horse and sells her for meat. I really do love her and love how much progress she has made, but still I think she is what she is.

I have a reactive/aggressive dog that I trained daily for his 2 first years to make his life easier and happier and we had some ugly days I arrived home crying and thinking I was the worst owner ever. Those days my life with him seemed horrible. And then other days he was perfect and all the training reflected and was amazing.

Since then my patience for training all my animals grew to a point I can't describe and I learnt we all have really bad days and others we just deal with life (I aplied that to myself too). There's no such thing as "perfect" and no one should aim to be perfect.

So, I understand Almendra, I support her and will do my best for her. But I really miss/want to own an animal that's not difficult and just enjoy them haha. Is that too much to ask?

I'm thinking of just keeping Almendra for her to be happy and free as soon as I'm able to ride her colt.

I learnt she's more than 10 years old, 10 years of being a spicy mare, in a small place all her life with no rules or manners. That must affect her in everything we do together too... starting fresh sounds so good to me...


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## Agheera (8 mo ago)

Well so today Almendra begins her new training with a professional trainer. I'm not having enough time or patience for teaching her (plus she can be a risk sometimes) so I decided the best for her is going with a trainer.

Initially she will be 2 weeks to see what she needs to improve and after that we will see if she stays for 4 or 6 weeks.










I know she will be treated well and will arrive soon with much more experiencie! ❤🥰


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