by Nanci Arvizu

Created on: October 20, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

My daughter had been riding her POA in Hunter Jumper competitions for a little over a year when they began having trouble. Up until then they had been an unstoppable team, winning at events even when competing against larger horses and more experienced riders. They were in-sync and seemed to be attached at the soul.

Then all of a sudden, things changed. The pony was no longer cooperating during training, and at one event bucked my daughter causing her to fall. It was the first event where they did not place in the top 3.

We couldn't figure out what had happened. As far as we knew, nothing had changed; his feed, his schedule, his living arrangements, all the same. He went from being an easy going and happy pony to moody and mean.

We tried so many different things, trying to make him happy again, but nothing worked. And when the trainer suggested that we buy another horse that was when we knew bigger steps had to be taken. There was no way we were going to give up on that horse.

So, we brought in a horse whisperer. Everyone thought we were crazy had too much time and money on our hands. If we had too much money, we probably would have gotten another horse. But after the financial and emotional investment that we had put into this guy, we just couldn't do that.

Just before the whisperer arrived I had been walking the pony around, talking to him about all the changes that were in store. We had decided to take him out of training, and that from them on he would just be a trail horse for my daughter. We were also going to be moving him out of the training barn and into a different area of the stable, closer to where our other horses lived, and into a larger stall.

When the whisperer started "talking" with the pony, she laughed. She had to ask him to slow down, he was so excited and was talking so fast she couldn't keep up!

She told me that he was telling her that I had just told him about leaving the barn, getting a bigger stall and getting to go "out with his girl". That he wasn't going to have to "do that" anymore and that made him happy.

The biggest surprise was how unhappy he had become at the training barn. The groom that had been working with him had left and the new guy they hired didn't take as good of care of him as he liked. He felt that this new guy didn't like him and was mean to him. He also didn't like that other people were riding him when "his girl" wasn't there.

They pony was also afraid that he would be going away to live somewhere else. One of the other people at the training barn had told him that his family would find a better horse for his girl, and that he was no good anymore. This made him sad and made him not want to perform as he had been doing for so long.

When the whisperer explained to him that all that wasn't going to happen, that instead he was going to retire from the show world and get to trail ride and live where we would be the only people taking care of him, his eyes lit up. I saw a physical change take place. He lifted his lip at me, as if smiling, and stood closer to me, like he was hugging me. I put my arms around my neck and told him that he would never have to worry about living with anyone else. That he would always be a part of my family and that my daughter would always be "his girl".

Since that day we have never had a problem with this pony. He is easy going, loving and gentle. He loves to go for rides and is excited to get "dressed up" to go out for a ride. We talk to him now more, knowing that he understands, and I know that he knows what I'm thinking.

Bringing the horse whisperer to talk with him was the best money I've spent when it comes to my horses. It saved the special relationship between my daughter and her pony.

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