Re: RC: mare won't take care of herself

[Trailrite@aol.com]

    A little about Trail-Rite is this is what we do for a living.  We break, 
train and condition endurance horses.  (all types & ages)  We then offer them 
for sale after they are ready to perform.  We have large breeders from all 
over the US & Canada send us their horses for just this purpose.  Trail-Rite 
has in the last  3-4 years sold about 40 horses that are in competition right 
now.  So...

What we have done in the past with horses that are like your mare is;
    Practice working with other horses around your area.  Trailer to other 
places to ride.  Even trailer, ride, tie, and water just like you were at a 
ride.  Even if it's just down the road.  Sort of a pretend ride.  Practice a 
pit stop at your practice rides.  Find other riders to do this with you.  You 
should always try and pulse down at these stops to 60 bpm or lower.  Your 
working to have your mare be calm.  Bring carrots or bran or just a little 
bit of oats to these places.  Practice working your horse in front and in 
back.  Have someone work with you along with this leap frog training.  Never 
ride with someone that will just go off and leave you.  Your mare needs to 
know that she will be all right and not left during this time period of 
training.  That will come later.  After you have worked on this then at a 
ride:

1.  Start about 10 minutes after everyone is gone.
2.  Try and find someone that will stick with you and have them be in the 
back or just in front to slow the mare down.  What ever will work.  Your 
looking for a person that will sort of baby-sit you.  We find this works 
well.  Some horses like yours will work well when alone on the trail but in 
big groups they sort of loose their brains.
3.  Do 1 and 2 but try and find a multiday and do this every day of the ride. 
 Use these days for training and conditioning, not competing.  
4.  Walk, or try to walk the first 5 - 7 miles then a little trotting and a 
little walking until she gets the idea.  Stop and give her a carrot or some 
sort of treat every once in a while.  If she has a buddy along this should 
keep her calm.  She might be to upset at first but keep trying.  Make this a 
fun, calm and pleasant ride.
5.  If you have to get off so the heart rates come down, then do.  Some 
horses will calm down when you get off.  All you need to do is try and keep 
the heart rates down for the first half of your ride.  Offer more treats when 
off while she is calmed down.
These things aren't easy, but if you really want to calm your horse down then 
this should work.
    After your mare finds out what is expected of her, she will perform.  
This is a good way to even them out.  About the 3rd day of a ride the horse 
will perform better and she will start to take care of herself.  Don't worry 
about trying to condition forever to be ready for a mulitday ride.  These 
rides are run in a different type of competition.  The horses that compete in 
multidays are calm and level headed and that is what your looking for.
    When your mare gets the idea of what is expected then you can do what 
ever type of riding later with her and she won't know how many days she will 
be out there, so ... she will want to take care of herself.
    If you (for some reason, money, location, etc.) can't ever plan to go to 
a multiday ride, then do the above at each and every ride that you go to 
until she gets the idea.  This will work, but it will take longer because the 
exposure is spaced out in time, and most one day 50 milers are ran faster 
with the excitement of just winning that day.  Believe it or not the horses 
feel this.
Good luck and keep us in touch on your progress.

Tammy Robinson
Trail-Rite Ranch & Products
661/513-9269