I have trained Misty since she was 17 months old. She's 7 years old now. I had to hire professional help along the way when she became too difficult. She went through a "buck you" phase. When she was 4 years old, I hired a professional polo player (PPP) to "teach Misty her job" after she bucked off The Girl With The Velcro Butt (never, ever been bucked off before in her life). After PPP rode Misty a couple times, she decided she didn't like him. He would chase her around her pen. She would kick him when he got close. He showed me his technicolor ribs. Ouch!
I gave a container with Berry Good Treats, Nicker Makers, and Pasture Cookies to him. As a Professional Polo Player, he did not believe in using treats. I shrugged and said it was his choice. If he's ruining my horse by bribing/rewarding her, it's my horse and I bribe/reward her with treats.
The next time I saw him, he said, "She prefers Berry Good Treats." I laughed. I asked, "Any more difficulty catching her?" He said, "No. I shake the treat container and she comes galloping to me."
The gross parts of the story included the torn ligaments in her pelvis that The Girl With The Velcro Butt suffered when Misty threw her, the multicolored ribs of the PPP, and the hematoma the size of a half grapefruit above my left knee I acquired when we had a "mounting mishap." The hematoma leaked, streaking my leg from the knee to the ankle in purple, red, black and blue. I had to take 2 weeks off work to lay in bed with my knee elevated. Three years later, the hematoma is still there. Smaller, but still there. It's leaking fluid into my knee joint and causing all kinds of problems. For the first time in almost 20 years, my doctor and I do not agree. I want him (or a surgeon) to operate, drain the hematoma and fluid in the knee. Soft tissue injuries are such a pain. In those 3 years, I detached my left shoulder supraspinatus tendon from the bone, had rotator cuff surgery, and achieved 100% recovery.
