Baythoven obviously needed more than just a couple of rides a week under a novice rider. We had to figure something out fast before the DH ended up with his face planted in the arena dirt. Up to this point he had been doing an admirable job hanging in there. He didn't say much about what was going on. He just kept getting on and riding. After talking to our trainer we decided that finding a more than competent young rider to help school Bay and keep him excercised would be in all of our favor.

We were fortunate to ride in a barn where many competent young women rode. We were even more fortunate when we found that one of the senior girls was interested in riding Baythoven and in showing him if possible. Her goal would be to show him in dressage and to take him to regionals before she left for college the next year. Between this young woman, the DH, and our trainer, Baythoven would be in good hands.

Over time Baythoven settled in and he and the DH developed a deep bond with one another. I, however, kept my distance paying attention to my own horse. I wasn't particularly attached. I watched our young rider ride through bucks, I watched the DH ride through bucks, and I had no doubt that if I crawled up on his back he would try to buck me off too. There seemed to be a couple of reasons for this behavior. I believed it was due to Baythoven being confused by and having no patience with the DH's inexperience, and in our young riders case, I believed the charge of "lazy" was coming back to haunt us. Any time she asked for something that made him work hard he tried resistence. Luckily, over time, as Bay built up strength and was required to follow through on what was asked of him he began to resist less and less. Bay did well when shown in dressage and qualified for regionals just as our young rider had hoped, but unfortunately due to an unexplained injury just 2 weeks before the show he had to be scratched, effectively killing the dream she had of competing at regionals before she left for college in the fall.

After our young rider left for school Bay and the DH cemented their bond even further. From late September until February it was just the two of them. Just before the next years show season began another young woman ended up needing a horse to compete on. She had won reserve champion the year before at the Arabian Youth Nationals, but the horse she had been riding was getting up in years and was demonstrating in no uncertain terms that she was done. The DH and I discussed it and decided to offer her Bay to compete on. She had a few short months to get to know him and to help him get back into show shape. We were confident they were up to the task. Unfortunately, she and her family were here on a work visa from Germany and were scheduled to go back to Germany before regionals in our area, so once again Baythoven would not compete there. He did, however, travel to Washington to compete there and managed to qualify for their regionals.