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Re: [RC] creating a "monster" ? - Heidi SmithI make sure to ride Solitaire at least once or twice a week on a NON-TRAINING ride! A nice, fun, relaxed, walking trail ride. Sometimes "over-conditioning" teaches the horses that to go out on trail is to go at the trot - and they will fight to do so. Scott, this is a good point. The WALK is the most overlooked gait in endurance, and it is a great one for building manners, calming the horse down, and continuing to do some LSD at the same time. We joined Back Country Horsemen last year, and although we don't make it to as many of their trail rides as we'd like, they are GREAT training rides for our horses. They go out ALL DAY (and sometimes for 2 or 3 days) and ride in difficult terrain, and never get past a walk. Because of the places they go, the rides are not boring, and the socialization of going out and doing that in a group is FABULOUS for our green horses. Plus, it is a nice, calm, relaxed camp-out atmosphere, which is good training for camping out at rides. If you don't have a group like this to reinforce your need to add this aspect to your training regimen, I'd highly advise going out with friends and camping out every now and again, just for the very reasons I've mentioned. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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