| 469-682-4405 |
| A sad email... We received this email the other day and it is just another reminder of what happens to so many people when they try to get into horses on their own. I have a 5 yr old paint mare (due to foal) in late may. She sounds just like Sadie when you first bought her, She will not let us near her except for when she is eating she will let us touch her . We sent her to Waco to be broke and that was a mistake because she came back pregnant. She has never had her hoofs worked on because she freaks out when anything gets near her feet. I am deeply concerned for this baby she is going to have in a few months. We are selling her because we are green with horses and we have spent enough money the first time we sent her to training. If you would be interested in buying her and helping her and her baby please e-mail me back... Thank you! This person has spent a lot of wasted money, time and emotion and she will probably get out of horses all together. It will be nearly impossible to find this horse a good home because of its problems. Because a horse like this would take at least four months of training to rehabilitate most experienced horse people won't purchase her. And hopefully another beginner won't try to buy her and end up in the same boat. We suggested donating her to an equine rescue group. Her and her foal would get the care they need by experienced people who do a much needed service for the horse community. Plus it is a merciful alternative to auctions or abandonment. If you would like to learn more about a local service or to make a donation go to Lone Star Equine Rescue for more information. |
M-Bar-K Farms
| We decided to make this page as a record. Most of these horses ended up in their situations because to many people refuse to further their education when it comes to horses. "Where education ends, abuse begins." |
| Sadie - Severely abused and neglected when she came to M-Bar-K Farms |
Rescued and Rehabilitated Horses
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Hemi - Severely abused when we bought him. Tricia spent many months rehabilitating this horse and kept him for several years. She decided to sell him to another trainer who had been interested in Hemi for a long time and now shows him in cross country. |
| Jett - Gorgeous Gray dun. Badly mishandled and abused when he came to us. After we rehabilitated him we turned down three buyers before we found the perfect one for him. He now has a new home near Austin, TX Jett is a playday horse now. |
| Skye - Abandoned, Abused and Severely neglected. Tricia saw the diamond in the rough on this horse. She was sold and is now being trained as a hunter/Jumper. |
| Not all of the horses that we rescue are physically abused: A 15 year old Arab that had been left out in a pasture without care for at least five years. Feet grown out in a curl so bad that he could barely walk. No muscle tone, a tumor on his back and a tail so matted it took three people three hours to comb it out. (NEVER cut a horses tail because it is badly matted!!!! It is better to spend several hours combing a badly matted tail out then for the horse to have to spend SEVERAL YEARS growing his tail back). This is what happens when someone buys a horse and then loses interest in it, but refuses to sell it for whatever reason. Horses are not cattle and can't be thrown out into a pasture and forgotten about. They will lose their conditioning, training and eventually their health, which makes them practically worthless to a potential good new home. A 16 year old quarter horse that had been extremely well trained as a young horse, but was purchased by some people that did not take lessons to learn how to properly discipline and correct a horse that misbehaved. When they sold this horse ten years later he was unbelievably spoiled. He would lunge and try to bite, try to buck and rear if he was told to do something that he did not want to do and he would throw a full temper tantrum if he did not get his way. This horse had become dangerous to it's owners and they had no choice but to sell it. Of course no one wanted to buy a horse like this. We could see the underlying training that this horse possessed and it only took us about thirty days to correct his behavior and he became one of the best lesson horses that we had. If his previous owners had taken just a few lessons with a qualified trainer they could have had ten years of enjoyment with this fine horse. Horses are not supposed to act like this. Even if you are a non-beginner, you need professional help when a horse starts to misbehave this badly. A six year old Palomino that could buck you to the moon! This is what happens when a young horse is only sent to a trainer for 30 days. That is not long enough to train a young horse properly! If someone does not have the skills or resources to train a horse for at least 3 to 6 months, then they should consider buying an older finished horse. 30 days is enough to teach a horse a few basics, but he doesn't get it set in his mind and he will easily pick up very bad habits like bolting, bucking, rearing etc. because the training was not set and practiced. We have seen so many horses ruined because of this. People buy a young horse and think they can read a book, or watch a video or seminar and then train the horse themselves. Would you let someone cut your hair if they told you that all they had done was read a book or watched a video on how to do it? If not why not? Cutting hair is simple compared to training a thousand pound animal. All of us have seen people get their hair cut a bunch of times, but no one thinks that they could put up a shingle and start cutting peoples hair because of this. WHY people think that they can do just this type of thing when it comes to training young horses just amazes and baffles professional trainers all over the country. We were able to rehabilitate this horse and find him a good home, but unfortunately he will never be able to reach the potential that he had because of his mishandling as a young horse. A five year old arab that was purchased by a non-beginner to train. This girl had been showing and winning ribbons and trophies, so her parents thought it was time to allow her to train her own horse. This would have been fine if she had been working with a trainer, but winning ribbons or even world championships at horse shows does not mean that someone is qualified to train a horse to be put under saddle. This horse had not even been halter broke and after six months she could only brush him, pick up his front feet and sit on him while he stood there. We have had a lot of people tell us that they have wasted money sending their horses to people who had wonderful show records but were unable to help them with their horses. You wouldn't get brain surgery by a foot doctor for good reason. If you have a horse that has problems, send them to someone that specializes in fixing problems. If you need a young horse started then send them to someone that starts horses. Only send horses that are finished with the basics to show trainers to learn the discipline that that trainer specializes in. And ALWAYS ALWAYS get SEVERAL references before sending your horse to a trainer! You could end up spending a lot of money and getting a horse back that was worse then when you sent him there. Luckily this girl did not do any damage to this horse which is rare. We did about 30 days of training on him and noticed the potential he had to do dressage so we sold him to a dressage home in Florida where he will finish getting the extensive training that he needs. |
| Trivia Is it easier to train a horse that has never been touched by a person it's whole life or one that has been handled a lot? Most trainers will tell you that the untouched horse is easier to train. This is one of the biggest gimmicks that trainers are marketing to beginners. Professional trainers can usually put an unhandled young horse under saddle in under a few hours. Of course that is the easy part. Setting the patterns in, over the next several months of training to produce a quiet, docile well behaved saddle horse is where the real challenge comes in. Unfortunately most novices over handle young horses too much, so they learn that they are bigger then people, that they can push them around. Horses like that are ten times harder to train and will never reach the level of training that they could have. Remember, if you have a young horse, have a professional help you halter break it, teach it to stand quietly when it is tied and maybe to stand being brushed a little. Also learn how to set boundaries with the horse. Then leave him alone until after he comes back from being put under saddle. Treating it like it is a pet dog will only produce an obnoxious, dangerous animal that no one will want to own (or take in for training). Go to a weekly auction and you will see plenty of these ruined horses there. |
| Kahlua - This horse had not been trained enough as a young horse and showed signs of past abuse. Luckily the lady we bought her from had treated her very well and taken good care of her, but she could not provide the additional training that she needed. |
| So you want to start training horses? Please don't experiment on a young horse that had a shot at being good. We have yet to see anybody learn this way without ruining what could have been a great horse. Instead consider trying to retrain a young horse that was incorrectly started by someone trying to be a trainer. Or take in an abused or spoiled horse that has no hope of finding a good home. These horses are usually very cheap and if you can fix the problems that these horses have you will learn a lot in trying to prevent them when you are ready to start young horses. If it turns out that you weren't cut out to be a trainer at least the horse is no worse off then it was before, and if you are successful that horse will have taught you valuable skills that you can take with you as you continue your long path to becoming a trainer. |
| What should I do if I really want to start training horses? 1. Get your own horse - You need to have experience with the daily ins and outs of having your own horse. Start with a horse that is at least eight years old, but preferably in their teens. Go to a horse show and start asking people how old their horses are. Don't be surprised if many of them are in their late teens or early twenties, but look and act much younger. You will make a lot of mistakes with this horse, but that is O.K. It will teach you what not to do if you end up becoming a horse trainer. 2. Learn How To Ride - Not just an occasional hour or two on a friends horse or on a trail ride. Ride every single day, on your own horse and in all kinds of different situations. Horse shows, trail rides, by yourself, with other horses, in riding lessons, in clinics, around the barn. We think this is the biggest part of training that people want to skip. If you wanted to get a job as a piano teacher but you could not play the piano how far do you think you would get? You need to be extremely balanced when training young horses. They will not tolerate an unbalanced rider because they think it will make them lose their balance and that instinctively makes them want to remove you from their back. You should have at least 2,000 hours of riding experience before you attempt to try to train a young horse. 3. Be prepared to come off, a lot - It will happen. There is no training method that will work 100% of the time. Mainly because horses are very unpredictable. All it takes is a tack malfunction, something that startles the horse and the rodeo is on. You can do all the ground work in the world and it can still happen. Most young horses, once they get started will not stop until you are off. Here are a few injuries that we have personally seen happen to people who were trying to train their own horses before coming to us for help: Hat blew off - Broken pelvis Saddle slid to side - Broken ribs, punctured lung Ran back to the barn - Broken leg Tack adjusted to tight - Dislocated shoulder We have seen many horses just start bucking like crazy, just out of the blue. It is hard to be ready for that. "But what if I don't want to train young horses? What if I just train horses to show?" Then be prepared to have a very extensive show record and a long list of accomplishments and a long list of other trainers that you have worked with. Training can be very expensive and people want to see a good track record before they send their horses to you. 4. You still want to do this? Then you have two choices. We are assuming that you have already read every book and seen every video there is to see, you still really need help, hands on experience. If you can find a trainer who teaches people how to train then you can take lessons to learn how to train. Remember, this is a very long process. You need to have experience with skittish horses, bold horses, stubborn horses, shy horses, willing horses and you need to be able to tell the difference and then properly handle each type of personality as it is presented. You need to be able to carefully read their body language so that you don't make disastrous mistakes that may be very difficult to fix. Ignorance of these things leads to some of the most abused cases we have seen. The other alternative is to get a job working for a trainer. This can be very difficult. If you have no experience at all with horses then expect to start at the very bottom, or you will need to work for very little or even volunteer your time. Trainers constantly have people calling or coming by saying they are willing to "do anything" to learn how to be a trainer and then most people disappear after a few days or weeks because it just wasn't what they expected. 5. Expect it to take many years and be very costly - Hopefully you have already figured this one out. One of our students was very aggressive about wanting to become a horse trainer. He worked extremely hard and is doing very well now. See his website by clicking here. He acquired a bachelors degree in Agricultural Science, took many lessons from us and other trainers. We are very proud of Josh and his wife Gillian! You did it! |
| "Because not everybody is in it for the horse" Mike Aldridge, July 6, 2008 This comment was made after we saw the awful underweight condition of a horse that came to us from a well known big name barn in the DFW area. The horse's trainer had been unable to pay board so the horse was stuck in a filthy stall with barely enough food to eat and was not let out for weeks. |