In a message dated 5/19/2005 6:29:00 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time,
catfishdaniels@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Some of
them said that it was the fastest lesson they could have given their horse
and had great results after that. I guess the trick would be to
control your horse until it's legged up enough to safely let him go in the
front at the endurance rides.
I'd venture to say that (often) the "fastest" lesson isn't always the
better lesson for the horse.
For me, I have found that increasing the DISTANCE a horse goes BEFORE
increasing the SPEED works well for teaching a horse to heed the rider cues and
the trail clues he finds at endurance rides...
...particularly since cardio-vascular fitness is easier to attain than soft
tissue, metabolic efficiency and bone density readiness.
As for "FIGHTING" with horses at the start of endurance rides or in the
company of other horses, I believe the more cogent of the horse/rider team needs
to figure that out for the horse's sake and not abrogate that responsibility to
the trail and speed some horses face.
There's "fighting" and there's
"teamwork" between the horse and rider. I'd find a way to do the
teamwork-thing, myself. There are answers to be found in actually doing
the preparation and work to participate in this sport.
There are safety and longevity issues to consider and allowing the
distance/trail to help teach a horse about ENDURANCE is not a bad way to
go.
