Re: RC: Re: Re: Re: Stallions in endurance riding

["Kristene Smuts" <Ksmuts@sarcc.co.za>]

>>She had the stallion on about a 15-foot lead, and proceeded to
turn her back on him and give him most of that lead as she talked to me.>>

Exactly my point.  When I'm in a crowd, or even just with one other horse, I may be talking to somebody, but I always have Ibn in sight.  If I have him on a lead, he'll be close enough for me not to get into trouble should he decide to take off.  Also, the minute his head goes up, his ears prick and his neck gets a certain tenseness in it, I react immediately.  I don't wait for him to start talking or pull his stomach in and flex his biceps or elevate himself, by then it's too late.

Yesterday was a bit of a puzzler, I'm still trying to figure it out.  We're in the middle of summer so it can't be spring fever, but Ibn wanted to jump anything with 4 legs - Cindy and I had to keep a fair distance from each other - and that is after Ibn and Rasheed (a gelding) spent a night together once!  We came to the conclusion that Ibn hasn't been with a lady since invading my home so we're in the process of organising a night of sin for him.  BUT, for all that, we rode single file through some bush, with Ibn chatting Rasheed up who was right in front of us, but did nothing more than that.

I must say though, that riding a stallion teaches you to read a horse and to be ever attentive to their signals.  A good lesson most people should learn in their horsemanship skills.

Kristene