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Genoka Thomassy, cont.
Belle is my 5 year old Andalusian mare. She’s of ¾ Veiga
(bullfighting) lines which are often slow to physically
mature. When Michael started with her last year, she was
somewhat delicate in appearance and particularly narrow in
front. We got off to a rocky start when some trailering
issues caused intermittent "off-ness" but Michael was great
in diagnosing what was wrong and pointing me to great people
to resolve the problem. By mid-December, Belle was going
well enough to head off to training with Eclipse. Michael
worked her in hand and lunging for about a month to build up
her body before starting her under saddle. I had climbed on
to walk and trot her a very few times nearly a year prior
but then I had surgery and you can guess how rarely she’d
been even lunged since. She took to Michael and her training
immediately and loved it so much that I left her with him
until the end of March. Belle’s progress has been
remarkable. Her body has changed dramatically. Her topline
is muscled, there is twice as much space between her front
legs and she has muscle on both chest and hindquarters. My
baby looks like a grown up mare! Belle moves with lift in
the front and cadence. She’s relaxed—and Veiga blood is
pretty hot—you don’t want to face a bull on a dull
horse--and willing and very happy to work. She is far from
dull but her reactions are controlled. Ground birds flushed
near us on her first trail ride recently and she stayed
perfectly responsive to leg and rein and just barely
startled in place. After less than 3 months under saddle,
she came home quietly cantering and doing basic lateral
work.
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Michael is not rigid in his approach—she was ready so
that’s what they did even though he did mention that with
most horses you wouldn’t demand lateral work and canter so
soon. I think the key is that he didn’t demand. He saw she
was ready, asked and got it. Belle's been home 10 days and
I’ve already taken her on a trail ride at a busy park,
cantered her in the unfenced arena while my husband was at
work and frankly found her even more steady than the horses
I’ve ridden for years. That’s remarkable when you consider
that our other horses are essentially packers who will tote
novices down trails. It tells me that my money was well
spent. I could have "started" Belle myself but I believe the
results not only at this stage but years down the road would
never have been quite as good as what I’m seeing now.
I would describe our horses as pleasure horses. They’re part
of the family and we "play" together. That might mean
foxhunting but more often somewhat aggressive trail riding
with lot of speed and popping logs. At home I (sorta)
practice some lower level dressage with a goal towards
keeping the horses and me fit rather than aiming for a show.
And I love the jumping now that I have a horse that knows
how and good instruction to help me improve. But we also do
tricks and team sorting and run some barrels or poles or
whatever else comes up that seems fun at the time.
Michael is one of the few professional horsemen I’ve met who
rides a bigger game than he talks. He doesn’t need to tell
you the many impressive things he’s done. He gets on the
horse that you’re having trouble with and shows you what he
can do by quietly and effectively resolving the problem.
Then he puts you back up and, now that both you and the
horse have been shown rather than merely told what to do,
the problem is generally on its way to fixed. Seeing this at
the first clinic is why I wanted him to work with my horses.
cont
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