just feeling "blah"

I guess I just wanted some opinions from my trusty fellow EE'rs. I've had Smokey out at the cutter trainer's for 2 months now. I've been having a blast out there, taking lessons twice a week. we found out fairly quickly that smokey wasn't going to be a pro cutter, but the trainer was still going to help me through some of my issues with him and work on getting him going more on the sorting/penning end. all was well.
we are paying a very pretty penny for this trainer, but I thought progress was happening so it was worth it. well we took smokey and jazzy (my paint mare) to a team sorting practice last night. I was ready for the rodeo on jazzy because she had 1. hardly been on a trailer, 2. never been in an indoor arena, 3. never been remotely close to a cow. we picked up smokey from the trainer's and took him along for the hubby to ride. well it was pretty much the opposite of what I expected. jazzy was a puppy dog and actually had fun chasing some cows around. smokey was like a time bomb. yes. he was able to cut a cow out and he was tracking nicely. not to mention his roll backs and turns were much slicker. but he was giving the hubby troubles so I hopped on to work him out a bit. midway while chasing a cow, he went into a crow hopping tangent. nearly dismounted me, but I hung on and twisted the heck out of my ankle that was left in the stirrup (owwwww). he called out half the time, was pawing the ground constantly, and when I would just try to lope him around to burn off some energy he would run around like a maniac.
the hubby says this is just a sign that he is not the horse for me, and it might be time to sell. I love this guy, and when I look at him, he's everything that I want in a horse. but since he's been away at the trainer's, I've been debating on selling. I guess I'm a little upset that he's not further along in training and also a little sad that he's turning out not to be "the horse" for me. just looking for some input from horsey type folks, hubby doesn't have any sentimental attachment to the horses. I just LOVE them all

Several years ago I bought a horse off lease. He was so smart and we had already bonded, I always got a lot of compliments on how he framed up for me- I was smitten! I was riding him 5 days a week, jumping him 2 days over low fences. Shortly after purchasing him the bucking began, but I could feel it coming so I could usually ride through it. Then it got to the point where there was no warning, and man could he buck! He launched me a few times but luckily I never got seriously hurt. I tried everything from the chiropractor to acupuncture to holistic calming remedies. He was a doll on the ground and I was going to make this work! But it was now frequent and then he came out one day and started bucking and rearing I finally called it a day. As much as I love him it wasn't worth it. I wasn't getting any joy out of riding him, and I was putting myself at risk. I ended up retiring him, which is a sore point with my hubby because of the bills for a horse we can't ride.

I guess my advice is take a step back and look at the situation as if it weren't you in it. I realized if it were one of my friends I would be telling them to get out of the saddle, so what was I doing? There are always risks but some you can manage. You probably already know whether more training will fix the problems or not. If you don't, then give yourself a date to reevaluate him or have another trainer evaluate him (I found that helpful since the current trainer is invested in the horse).

I now have a mare who can have a hot day here and there, but I feel so confident on her and she loves her job...and I finally got rid of that defensive "which end of of my mount will be going into the air" seat that I had developed!

I also had a QH I had for about 6 weeks until he started rearing so high I thought he was going over backwards. I'm too old to play those games - and it costs as much to keep a bad horse as it does to keep a good one. I did find the perfect home for him and they love him - we just didn't mesh together. And I ended up with Spike, who is perfect for me. Hard decision to make but so glad I did it.

Jen, just remember that having him trained at the training barn will not necessarily make him better when he travels.....only more traveling will help that. I have some horses here, like Cookie, who do very well, because she has been hauled.....but then I have others, who when they are hauled spend all their time calling for their buddies.....Bertha is like that....she's fine on trail rides - even if I ride her away from her buddies, which I do regularly - because we had done LOTS of those, but at the show, she was a screaming fool.

The other thing is, he is changing and learning at the trainers, and although you are taking lessons, you haven't been his main rider lately....it takes time to "mesh" together again. I would say, if you are reluctant at this time to make the commitment to sell, then don't, give it more time and see how/if things change when he comes home. He may not be the horse for you in the end, but make sure you really feel that way before you do something you might regret.

thanks guys, I really needed an outside opinion from the situation. I really love my big guy, and sometimes we have moments together that is almost like we were meant for each other. and then other times, it's like he hates working and wants nothing to do with me. another thing with this trainer, he keeps his horses up in a stall all the time. I don't know exactly how many times a week smokey was being worked over there, so I don't know how much pent up energy he has had. I let him out today and he was running all over the place, just happy to be out again. We sent a couple of horses out to some friends of ours that are just starting up their training clients. we are debating on sending smokey to them as well. we are just about sending 2 horses to them for the same price as 1 to the other trainer. while they are not as well recognized, they are good horse trainers and super nice people.
my last trainer said I really have some nice potential in cutting, but I will need the horse to take me there. but then were are looking at a horse that there is not way we can afford right now. the hubby said we would have to sell off 3 or 4 of ours before we could start looking at another horse. *sigh* it's just a really frustrating