Horse 7 - Riders 0

[Marv Walker <Marv@MarvWalker.com>]

> Hello Marv!
> I've been listening with great interest to your RP discussions.  I really
> like your logic.  Where are you located?  Do you ever do anything near Ohio?
> We've got a major problem boy who is about 7 & 0 for bucking off riders.
> Arabian powerhouse, and what I refer to as a fear bucker.  Major potential
> in our sport if you can stay on the first 50 miles.  Very frustrating. Has
> absolutely no trust in anyone on his back (or on the ground for that
> matter). We never abused him, but somebody did!

How do you know "somebody" abused him?  How do you know this 
horse is not in great pain?

If you saw 100 horses with a particular characteristic, oh, I 
don't know off-hand, let's say axis-atlas twisting, 95% of whom 
spooked at orange Asplundh tree trucks, and someone brought a 
horse to you that spooked at orange Asplundh tree trucks, what 
would be the first thing you would look at?

It's kinda like that with horses who display the characteristics 
you describe.  Many Arabs have a HIGH degree of physical tension 
that earns them the "Crazy arab" label.  This tension very often 
makes them extremely sensitive to touch AND also creates physical 
stresses that can traumatize muscles and pull skeletal structures 
out of alignment.

Traditional vets almost always fail to diagnose these situations.  
Nothing against the vets.  It is just that we tend to diagnose what 
we see and few horse owners take their horses to the vet for anything 
that isn't oozing, bleeding, swollen, bruised, over-heated, dead 
lame or infested.

I have not been on this list every long and I have no idea if this is 
true, but I have seen a line or two that suggests chiropractic does 
not have the favor here that it has in other places.  A good equine 
chiro may be able to give you some strong insights.  The value of
regular chiropractic care for your horses cannot be over stated.

If you could send me some .jpgs of the horse I may be able to pick 
something out that will give you a place to start looking for the 
problem.

Now then, what about the fear factor?

That may very well be part of it but I don't think it's the root 
cause because of how you described him - fear *bucker*.  You didn't 
mention other manifestations of debilitating fear - jerking away, 
blind fleeing, etc.  The fear aspect in horses is very easily dealt 
with.  The bonder (I know, even I get tired of hearing it because it 
is so elementary) makes a dramatic difference in that as well by 
giving the horse a sense of place where it knows exactly what is 
expected of it and it knows that it can supply that.

The closest I'll be to Ohio is 12/11-12/2000 and Murfeesboro TN
http://MarvWalker.com/clinic.htm (course I'll go anywhere in NA
someone wants to bring me to).  Endurance riders travel some
distances to race, if you want to bring him there I may be able
to help.

Don't ride this horse until you have discovered the cause of this 
behavior AND taken concrete steps to correct it AND you are reasonably 
sure the correctiion has lessened the danger.

Marv "There are somethings you can count on.  There are some things 
you can't.  The trick is finding out which are which." Walker
-- 
Upcoming 2000 Clinics 
Madison (Atlanta) GA Oct 14-15, 2000
Murfeesboro (Near Nashville) TN, Nov 11-12, 2000
http://MarvWalker.com/clinic.htm