Horses and horse activities are dangerous and carry with them the risk of being hurt. You are never 100% safe. That is why it is very important to do your ground work to the extent that the horse trusts you as leader. If you are not safe on the ground with this horse, you are most certainly not safe in the saddle. You are not safe unless he sees you as leader and trusts you to keep him safe.
I have only started about 6 colts, so I certainly don’t profess to have umpteen years experience. But, save the first colt I started, none of them have attempted to jump on me while using this protocol. I attribute that to not doing near enough ground work with the first one (basically just got on and started riding him) and doing thorough ground work with the others to the point that they were mostly unflappable with any situation thrown to them (including firecrackers going off right under their nose).
I recently acquired a youngster who was extremely nervous about some things, but pretty good under saddle. I did some ground work after I received him (he had been under saddle and already done a LD). But, *things* started manifesting. Then, at a ride he spooked at something I was doing on his back, bolted and then bucked me off. I had several months of recovery. Got him to the next ride the following spring and he became really scared of something, bolted through the trees at a dead run and I fell off when he dodged one at the last minute. So, I took this horse back to ground training and didn’t ride for several months. He is now like a seasoned veteran. Never gets upset. He stands in place with me on him or on the ground when he’s frightened out of his skin. He looks to me to “save” him and if I say it’s ok, he believes me. That is what was missing before. If I say the water is ok, he looks and studies it and then walks through it without jumping and without incident. He does that for tricky trail situations also. That was not the case before I took him back through ground training.
In my opinion, it’s all about trusting you as the leader. That makes a horse as safe possible.
Karen
Referenced Post:
>>>>>>Then, if they're just too scared (and especially with water because they
have poor depth perception) do it on the ground with them, then remount and
ask them to go across with you on board. <<<<
I have seen more people about trampled doing this. If you try to lead a
horse across water, and it decided to leap, they usually head for where they
think it might be safe, which is on TOP of the rider. if you do ground work
with water, please use caution that you do not set yourself up to be jumped
on by the horse. Work with them going forward into the water ahead of you,
or beside you, but don't let out a long lead rope, and ask them to follow
you..... they often will take the same path you did, and you can get run
