Meet Dixie

The inspiration for this blog

How We Got Her

One hot afternoon, in August 2019, we drove to look at a horse. It was a sooty palomino mare, said to be 12 or 13 years old. Her owners said she had been used as a lesson horse, and gave us the website for the farm where she had been foaled. She was not trained to the bit and was ridden in a hackamore. I was 12 at the time and so excited to finally be going to look at a horse. I was thrilled when we bought her.

Issues

I quickly began working with Dixie, and after a couple days to let her adjust i rode her. Everything was going great, but as Dixie got used to me and i rode her more, she began to act up. She would rear up while i was lunging her and was very pushy, sometimes ignoring me completely. We were worried that we might have to sell my horse.

The Fix

I started to watch some of Clinton Anderson’s problem horse videos on YouTube. That helped me hugely. I learned that horses need a leader to look up to and they will test you to find out if you are someone they should look up to. I started being Dixie’s leader and making her do what i wanted to do, instead of going along with whatever she wanted. Everything started to improve rapidly after that. I highly recommend watching his vids if you are having behavior issues with your horse.

Further Growth

I learned to ride western but i started to be interested in jumping so i began trying to train Dixie to accept a bit, which would be helpful for english riding. After a couple months i was riding her regularly with a snaffle bit. I am continuing to train her to do hunter jumper, as well as teaching her to neck rein.

In June 2022 i bred Dixie to a morgan stallion, and she is due May 24. I am so excited for her foal! I will probably train him/her myself, and i will continue to post about her story.