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[RC] tailgating - sandy . l . holder


I've been working with Tally for 3 plus years now but continue to 'learn something new every day'.  A couple of months ago, we were riding with Patricia and Suhr Raj (yes, one of Julie Suhr's horses that Patricia 'talked her out of').  Anyway, she wanted to play a trail game, teaching the horses to rate their speed and keep it the same, even when other horses were passing them.  It cost a $1.00 (towards drinks afterward) if your horse tried to speed up into the horse in front of it while being passed.  Well, I basically told her that I'd probably be buying all the drinks that day as it was something I'd been working on a long time with my boy (and still working on).  Anyway, to make a long story short, she said she'd help "fix" the problem, promptly taking out her sponge.  She asked me to give her a hint when he started creeping up, and when he did, she'd swat at him with her sponge.  He learned in a short 10 mile leisurely ride not to 'crowd' the horse in front of him.  He started listening to my body instead of taking matters into his own mind when being passed.  

Oh, and the other part of the game was to call up riders from the rear and when they were in front, their horse had to stay at the same speed.  Tally loves to be in front but he also likes to hesitate sometimes when he sees a rock or some other thing that's going to instantly grow legs and eat him (or so he thinks).  So he also learned that he couldn't be first if he spooked at the wrong things.  Just a thought . . .

Thanks,
Sandy and Tally (who's going to try another 50 at Gold Country this weekend)
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