Gunner, The Evil Pony.

Hello there,

I'm Jordyn. I've been riding and training horses since I was 7 years old. I started out on an old arab, and moved up to a crazy barrel horse. At the time I had no guidance in the horse world, and the horse needed alot of work. I was too young to know how to train it, all I know is that it wanted to buck me off and run. We ended up selling the horse and I began lesson on school horses with a fantastic trainer in Twinsburg, Ohio. She taught me amazing things about horses. I learned so much from her. I then began dressage training in Hastings, Minnesota. My dressage trainer could do anything on any horse, and I began to idolize her. I've been through many trainers, disciplines and horses, and it all led me to where I am now.

I'm leasing a horse at a privately owned farm in Webster, Minnesota. I'm looking for my own horse to buy, whom I think I found last week (he'll have his own blog too). The barn manager is one of the most amazing people I know. She grew up with no lessons or training, and started out breaking her own horse. I'm watching her train a yearling and a two year old (both German Riding Ponies) right now, and it's so awesome.

I've been interested in Pat Parelli and natural horsemanship since I saw the Parelli show at Equine Affair in Ohio a few years ago. Finally, I found someone to watch do it. The barn manager has such a good relationship with her horses, especially for how young they are.

Many of the techniques I'll be using with Gunner I've learned from watching her with her ponies. Gunner was previously broke to ride, but was obviously beaten pretty bad - but not by anyone at our barn OR his owner. His owner is a very nice lady who just doesn't aspire to train him. So I'm doing it.

I've broken horses before, when I worked at a farm animal rescue in Ohio. Building a relationship with a wild prey animal takes time, patience and understanding. Some of those horses were so scared, you could see it in their eyes. They don't want to hurt you, they think you'll hurt them.

This blog, as well as my youtube channel, will follow the journey of turning Gunner into a fantastic little pony, so his owner's kids will be able to ride him again.

Gunner is an 8 (I think) year old Shetland Pony, Dun in color. He's very headshy, stubborn, disrespectful and FAT. I'd like to ride him eventually as well.

I'll post every few days on this blog, as well as my youtube channel to keep records on how Gunner is doing.

Thank you for reading.

Gunner and Me. Day 3