 |
Re: [RC] Magnesium for spooky horse? Heidi or Dr. Garlinghouse? - Dyane SmithGreat post, Maryanne. Made me laugh and laugh. Dyane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maryanne Gabbani" <msgabbani@xxxxxxx> To: "Diane Trefethen" <tref@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 6:29 AM Subject: Re: [RC] Magnesium for spooky horse? Heidi or Dr. Garlinghouse? I'd agree here. My horses don't do endurance, they do trail riding lessons with people who can't ride. I can't afford for them to be spooking at things with novices on board. I'd be out of business in a week. They may decide that they are not going over a ditch (once) but then I come back over the ditch with Mama Dory and tell them "Look PAST the ditch, stick his nose in her butt and kick the hell out of him"....voila, over the ditch. Once in a while an obstacle will be big enough that I will decide that we skip it BEFORE anyone gets the chance to refuse or spook....something like a dredge working on a canal bank where we will have only two feet in which to pass. That's not unreasonable. But to my gang's credit, their idea of a spook is a look and snort or maybe a sidestep of less than 18 in at a walk. I leave that behaviour in the repertoire because someday my student is going to ride someone else's horse and that horse might really spook. If they learn to deal with sane, polite little spooks, the students have a better chance of dealing with someone else's bigger crazy spooks...maybe. I also make a point of riding each and every one of my horses in rotation during the week to remind them of the cardinal rule of the herd: "I am a carnivore. You are lunch." And I have each of my students repeat the mantra as they get on. Maryanne and her herd of really sweet horses who can't possibly be Arabs because they don't spook On Sep 1, 2005, at 2:27 AM, Diane Trefethen wrote:Do you empathize with your horse when he worries or gets nervous, even if there is nothing there that is a real threat to him? Do you try to calm him with a gentle, loving tone of voice? Do you offer him a carrot or other goody to relax him in a "tense" situation? If so, then you ARE rewarding him for his behavior and there is no way on God's green earth that a smart Arabian isn't going to continue a behavior that gets him rewards. T'aint rocket science.=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|