My Motivation

So, I should be studying for my finals right now, but I have decided to share the reasoning behind why I wanted to work with Onyx and improve his life.

1. I wanted to help him be happy again. He had been sitting in a tiny stall for about two years when I started to work with him and he looked miserable except for when I took him out to play with him or ride him and such.
2. While at the barn in Illinois, a lot of owners and riders would approach me and make remarks about how they doubted Onyx and his abilities in every way. They would tell me things like; "He's dangerous." "He can't be trusted with people." "He's afraid of everything." "He's a menace." He's stupid." "I would never trust him." These words hurt me because I could see that Onyx was none of these things and in order to help him improve, all I would have to do was consistently work with him  and show him that people could be trusted. Which is exactly what I've been doing since September. In addition, I wanted to show all of those people that they were wrong and get them to admit that I am a half decent rider who can help horses and train them, despite my relatively young age of 16 and the fact that I haven't been riding for very long.
3. The main reason that Onyx had stopped being used was that my trainer got bucked off of him years ago and broke her leg. This was not Onyx's fault: she dropped her reins on accident and he was spooked and started to buck, and she fell off. However, many naysayers use this incident to show that he is what they call "dangerous" or "menacing". These assumptions are extremely false. This occurrence led to my trainer and her family riding him less and less, which led to the sale of him to this other girl who neglected him.
4. I wanted to prove myself. Use the skills I have learned throughout my short horses career to help Onyx and show that I am capable of training (or at least improving) a horse and make him usable and happy.

I am proud of the fact that I chose to work with Onyx because I fear that if I didn't, nobody would have and he would still be sitting in his stall. Or worse, dead.

Now, after our work and persistence, I can do many things that everyone from my old barn thought impossible. I am so proud of Onyx for his hard work and ability to improve.