I have been retaining OTTB and and other breeds of horses since i was a teen ager. I learned the hard way with getting the discarding ones for free an making into decent , ridable well mannered beasties. It was the process i loved and still do although I have modified my requirements over the years. Now only taking horses I enjoy riding or see something that lights me up to work with. Lately I have found riders are less and less bold. Not older ammy riders they are expected to be a bit more about self preservation. but young athletic riders. I am talking about kids who want a upper level prospect. They are just way to timid to ride the type of horse that has the scope of a upper level horse. In fact most kids I come across are riding like they expect the horse to be a machine. Not to spook or jig or buck. God i grew up riding all that and was grateful for it. Now I have students who say they have been riding for years and are terrified to ride in my ring that has no fence around it. I was shocked like why would you need a fence to keep horse in? This seems to be the majority, even with my own kids i worry that we are creating way to soft kids that lack grit.
