Inspirational Teacher and Support System!

After receiving the really nice emails about Sylvia a week or two ago I wanted a chance to echo the sentiments of others who have worked with Sylvia and to share the experience I've had with my horse.

I bought Dancer from a woman in Tennessee (I live in Virginia) who had promised that the horse she was delivering to me was a well-trained trail horse. She had advertised the horse with a beautiful picture of her being ridden in the mountains by a novice rider. Well, as many discover after buying a horse based on the seller's claims, it was a stretch (and as Sylvia pointed out, the person riding her on the trails in the picture was surely being "taken for a ride").

The first time I rode Dancer after I bought her, she spooked at her own shadow, was terrified of water and finally reared as a last resort to get me off her back. I was lucky I didn't break my neck or worse on that trip. Her ground manners were as bad and included knocking me down, walking over and through me, spinning around and aiming her rear-end at me, and, again, rearing. Her mission was accomplished–she was lead mare and we both knew it! When I contacted Dancer's previous owner to find out if she would level with me about how serious the rearing problem was and how it may have been dealt with in the past, she told me that Dancer had in fact done it before but never under saddle. She gave me some very telling advice...she said to "hit her over the head with a bottle the next time she rears."

I met Sylvia at a clinic in Blacksburg at the end of April '04 a month after I got Dancer. Leading Dancer from the trailer at the clinic site the night before, Dancer dragged me around the stable until I could get her into her stall. At this point, after living with her for a month, I was truly afraid of her. The next morning, right before the clinic was going to start, I carefully approached her in her stall and brought her out. She had a wild, terrified look on her face and all I could think was thank God I'm here at the clinic–we need help! I brought her in with the other horses in the arena where she continued to get more and more out of control. After an hour of just attempting to keep her from trampling me or anyone else, it became clear that this clinic, which I realized was designed for riders with manageable horses, wasn't going to be the magic bullet I was looking for. However, I was able to quickly get a loaner horse  for the rest of the clinic so that at least I could go home with some skills to begin to make positive changes with Dancer. The clinic was incredible and I walked out of there being a huge fan.

The next day I was lucky enough get some much needed one-on-one time with Sylvia. Immediately she knew that Dancer's biggest problem was insecurity. Within five minutes she taught Dancer some ground manners and taught me how to begin to be her leader. I was blown away. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My horse immediately seemed calmer and more secure when Sylvia took charge. Considering myself an animal lover (read: pushover) I had always been afraid to be assertive. I didn't want to hurt my horse's feelings... which is ironic considering how Dancer treated the other horse in her field at home – no mercy. With Sylvia's guidance I feel like I got "permission" to get tough but directive with her and to become her leader. That's also when I realized that Natural Horsemanship isn't about being "soft" with horses necessarily, as much as it's about love, understanding and being a fair leader. Sylvia immediately knew that Dancer was the sort of horse that needs for things to be black and white clear. I knew that I had groundwork, and possibly months of it, ahead of me. When I took her home, I practiced leading her, backing her up and teaching her to move away from pressure. I was looking for respect from her and a desire to be with me. During this time our ups and downs were so extreme that I put her up for sale three times. I didn't think I could handle her. Fortunately, no one who saw my ads were jumping at the chance to buy a sassy, rearing and bucking green horse.

After establishing some respect I was able to start in earnest working with Dancer. Sylvia and I emailed and talked on the phone frequently about my frustrations, progress and everything in-between. I can say that there has NEVER been an instance that Sylvia wasn't immediately available to help me. And every word of her advice has been dead on. She could tell, from half a state away, exactly what was going on and what to do about it. In the meantime, I've really fallen in love with this horse. Her incredibly lovable personality and potential has come out with the fair leadership and bonding and Sylvia's ongoing advice and encouragement promotes.

Dancer and I got another opportunity to work with Sylvia at the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue a couple of months ago. Dancer was still having some issues that I couldn't figure out. What Sylvia immediately discovered was a serious eye-changing problem, apparent when she refused to drive to the left. Although she had come a long way, this issue was really standing in the way of her progress and her comfort working with me. On Sylvia's advice, when we got home I began doing everything possible from her left side (while she strained to bend her head around to get me in her right eye). It was really sad to see. I drove her back and fourth with the aid of a plastic bag on the end of a training wand to get something in her left eye to encourage her to turn. I stopped and asked her to drop her head and bonded with her every time I saw her become frustrated. Finally, she began to resist going to the left less and less. She was noticeably more comfortable in her own skin when she finally began to shed the eye-changing problem.

As they say, "the horse will invite you to ride" when they're ready, and Dancer did. I got my helmet on and slowly saddled her up. I worked with, stopping to bond often. Since then I've been riding her in the ring and in the field. She has taken care of me without fail and turns around to look at me on her back with a soft look in her eye. Without a doubt, my horse really likes me now – as a fair leader – because of these methods and all of Sylvia's encouragement and guidance. I was clueless when I started with her but Dancer has and continues to be an incredibly patient teacher to me. I shudder to think of all of the miscommunications and mistakes I've made with her over the past five months that she has forgiven me for. She really helped raise the bar for me. I was so ready to give up in the beginning but I realize now how huge the reward is for me. I have no doubt that natural horsemanship methods made Dancer a remarkably safer horse to not only ride but to be around in general.

I wanted to share my experience thus far and I wanted to thank Sylvia for being such an inspirational teacher and support system! I'm sure Dancer would thank her, too!

I've attached a couple of pictures of Dancer along the way.

Kerry Baldridge

Amelia Court House, Virginia

Pictures of Kerry with her horse Dancer below: