Thank you all for your great advice. I really loved seeing how everyone is considering their horses. There was a time when horses where not considered and that is the tradition we are trying to change. True horseman consider their horses.
When I started my horse program many of my long time horse friends were so excited to have a place to retire their good old faithfuls. I begin to get a reputation for the greatest retirement home for these horses.
I gave lessons to kids and adults at all different levels. I was able to take 17 head of horses and turn it into the greatest program around.
I soon realized that these old faithfuls had lived amazing lives and were performance horses till the end.
With all of those amazing qualities they all had their little corks too. Many of them came to me in their late teen or early 20s, I didn't always know their complete history and many where cinchy.
The perspective that I would like to bring to this discussion is to remember all of those techniques can be successful but the key is you have to know when, where and how to use them and read each individual horse. Also remember that years of bad saddling can leave a muscle memory mindset in the horse so be realistic in your expectations.
I still have a lesson horse name Jazz. When we first started working with her saddle issues she would try and turn around and bite us. We applied all of the positive options to her. In the end she would chew on the rope instead of biting us. We finally realized that was a fair compromise.
Take it slow, take a breath, and break it into small pieces. Take the time it takes so you don't have to take the time to do it over.
