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[RC] [Guest] bad behavior - Ridecamp GuestJon Linderman Jon.Linderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I by no means claim to be an expert, but I correspond somewhat regularly with friends in the endurance world, who like me have arab/saddlebred crosses whom may or may not have had previous show careers, and who seem to have some generalizable traits. My story pales in comparison to the tales Annie George has told me about her arab/asb cross, and I have other freinds with cetain degrees of similarity in their arab/asb crosses that you describe. My first advice would be to stick with it if the horse shows as much promise as you seem to indicate. If anyone rode my horse at home they would conclude he is a high strung idiot who spooks at his own shadow & wasn't worth the time or effort. Those that know him from his short endurance career know hes moved from a weak-backed horse who struggled to complete a 25 in 5 hours, to a horse who can go 25 in under 3 hours and has completed his first two 50's. Hes mellowed enuf over his 3 years on trail that I rode him, out of necessity, in a halter for 12 miles ( lost the bit at the vet check) with no problems. I personally enjoy the journey with him more than I could ever enjoy any moments of glory like trophies, ribbons, etc. Its fun and its by no means "over" in terms of us both learning from each other. I try to take my guy to different places all the time. Hes quick to pick up the homeward route and gets pretty head strong when he thinks hes going back. I try to change up loops and add or subtract things to keep him guessing as long as I can. I threw him a curve last week by heading out on a fairly moderate trail, adding a steep hill loop before turning around which was new to him, and then when he thought we were nearly home I took him up a very steep 3 mile loop in a reverse direction than he was used to. Contrast that to one of his regular ride spots where he knows where he is at ll times, and at all times we are usually struggling w/each other to decide where we are going to go I've found that former show horses are sometimes calmer on trail than in the ring. In the ring my guy will show you why his daddy and 1/2 brother were 3-gaited eng. pleasure national champions: bridled up, snorting, blowing, tons of vertical movement.....its a sight. But out on trail he is reasonably calm & has really taken to travelling, camping, competing. I've seen another former halter horse who was the same 3/4-1/4 you have, who was a nut job in camp and now hes doing simply awesome in comp. trail & looks like a seaoned pro in camp: eating drinking, hanging out under a canopy in the rain. I've come to enjoy my guys little quirks so stick w/it. Jon =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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