Green horse, Green rider!

Question
I was given a 2 year old TB filly. I am not an experienced horsewoman but I am eagre to learn, have participated in relevant e-courses and I've picked the brain of experienced horse owners, owners of riding schools and a lovely old man who was trained by Monty Robertson himself who offered to break her. The thing is that I'd love to keep my filly, rather than flog her for a much older gelding for example,that would be safer for a novice rider.  I've started teaching her ground manners. She follows little kids around like a puppy dog, is very curious and has a good temperament thus far : no bits or kicks. People in the know say that TB's are very fast learners of both good and bad habits and that it's not wise for me to keep her as they are such high spirited horses. She has never been ill treated and has had a peaceful but rather untrained existence on a stud farm where I will continue to stable her.  Should I bring a professional trainer in now or first do the ground manners myself and then only bring in a professional for breaking purposes, etc?

Answer
First thing is to get your filly trained as soon as possible before she gets to comfortable in being undisciplined. You are correct in that bad habits are just as easily learned. She pretty much has developed her personality at this point and from what you are telling me, she has a good relationship with people and she trust them. That's great and will make things easier. Teaching her ground manners is something you need to make sure you will do with great consistency. Horses tend to learn, if they can get away with something once, then they'll try it again and again. Don't let the horse break you. You absolutely can not spoil her and you must always follow through with your training. I say all this because I find that people who train their own horses without the experience, will act more like a friend to the horse and not a parent or take a dominate roll. An experienced trainer is less emotionally attached and will keep a structured training program in place for best results. Training requires negative as well as positive reenforcement. Every experience must end with a positive completion of the lesson or task being requested.

I do recommend that an experienced trainer break your filly. When your filly is sent to a trainer, the ground manners will come with the breaking. A trainer will enforce ground manners in the process of everything else. It's just part of the process. You don't teach the horse to take a rider without first making sure the horse will lead or stand still. Safety is the first concern and you two will have a great relationship if you both have a great experience together from the first time you ride her. Let your trainer get her to where he feels she is ready and then you can go from there. You can also be counter productive and confusing to your filly if you teach her something and the trainer expects something different. You should ask your trainer ,when he returns your filly, to tell you what your filly has learned so you can follow through with the techniques at home. Always remain confident in your lessons and your riding. If your young filly senses any hesitation and nervousness from you, then she will hesitate or become nervous as well. So what I am getting at is make sure you are 100% confident in what you are asking your filly so she will be confident in performing with confidence. I also suggest getting more riding experience on another horse so when your trainer gets your filly going well, you'll have that confidence in your riding. My advice would be to send your filly to a trainer and at the same time, you take classes as well. You are not in an ideal situation, but I know if you are as passionate as you sound about making this work, it will. I hope my response was helpful and I will be very interested in knowing how it turns out.

Sincerely,

Christopher Crocker