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Re: [RC] Bucking - Barbara McCraryI agree that generally Arabs are very patient in putting up with everything we throw their way. Mine that bucked doesn't have quite the disposition that one could want, anyway. He was always hysterical at an endurance ride start, would come unglued if separated from his stablemate on the trail, and a few other little things that were thoroughly annoying. But he's a good pleasure trail horse and we keep him for guest riders. Besides, I've had him for 15 years.....I couldn't let him go now. We've been through too much together, including the two broken ribs! He's also comfortable to ride and the fastest and most powerful uphill walker (with a running walk) that I've ever ridden. However, on Monday my current endurance horse and I went up the steepest couple of mountain trails I've ever ridden on a competition (Day 1 on the Cold Springs XP ride), and I wouldn't have taken the other horse I mentioned up that. He was great on moderately steep hills, but was not great on REALLY steep mountains. Barbara ----- Original Message ----- From: <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <Dbeverly4@xxxxxxx>; <GarnerT@xxxxxxx>; <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 9:55 AM Subject: Re: [RC] Bucking Don't fool yourself that Arabs don't buck!Some sure do. But my experience has been that fewer of them do, and when they do, fewer of them get really serious about it. And with the Arabs that I've seen that DO buck, there is almost always an instigating cause--such as bees, thorns between the cheeks, etc. Most don't buck just to get rid of the rider. I've also seen Arabs put up with torturous amounts of discomfort from back pain, etc. without the slightest inclination to buck, trying their best just to do their work--pain that would have sent many other horses sky high. My own shame-faced incident had to do with a broken saddle tree--the one and only time that my old "Junior" ever had a sore back. And I'm tellin' ya, it was a REAAALLLLY sore back. I was doing a VERY tough 100-miler--and he would just grimace when I got back on and "warm back into it" out on the trail. Had no clue what agony he must have been in until afterward--and it was then that I went hunting for the cause and found the broken saddle tree. He should have pitched me up into the clouds to get rid of the pain--but instead, he doggedly completed 100 miles... THAT's an Arab for ya. Heidi ============================================================ If you treat an Arab like a Thoroughbred, it will behave like a Quarter horse. ~ Libby Llop ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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