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Re: [RC] spooking - Sky RanchSounds like classic, typical Arabian horse behavior to me. Good job, Maryanne! I know that Arabians have some reputation as spookers. I have only owned two in my life, and still have them both, so don't have the experience of many others on this list. But, I feel very fortunate that neither of these horses are spookers. The most either has ever done is take a side-step and a long look, if something 'really' scares or startles them. On the other hand, the worst spook of a horse I ever owned was a 'foundation bred' AQHA gelding. I know, I know, they're supposed to be the calm and steady ones, and I have owned QH's all my life. Some are calm, some aren't. Just like all breeds of horses, each is an individual. At any rate, my Arabians are the least spooky horses I've ever had. And thank goodness. At my age, and with no health insurance (!) I sure don't want to hit the ground unexpectedly. Carla Richardson Cortez, Colorado ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maryanne Gabbani" <msgabbani@xxxxxxx> To: "Ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 9:22 AM Subject: Re: [RC] spooking I figure that with all the crazy things my horses have to work around (camels, water pumps, all sorts of livestock, enormous dump trucks and bulldozers, village weddings...you name it), I'm approaching expert on de-spooking horses. When one of my geldings was just starting under saddle, he was afraid of ducks. Yes, little quacky ducks. He lived with donkeys and a water buffalo so those weren't scary, but ducks were terrifying. We walked up and down a lane with a canal along one side that was just filled with ducks until he got over it. He never actually leapt into the air or anything when encountering a duck, just sort of side-stepped and snorted. None of my horses have ever spooked much more than a sidestep. Yesterday I went out riding with two friends, one of whom is a runner training for marathons. Since she has to do long runs, Cristina and I insisted on accompanying her with two of my horses while ponying a third in case of emergency. We set out to do 20 km or about 14 miles through the countryside of Egypt along dirt trails running along canals. Everything was going quite well at first. The farmers looked rather quizzical at seeing three women with three horses but only two being ridden. I'd explain that she was training for a running race and there would be dubious nods..okay, crazy but okay. At one point the navigator, yours truly here, made a miscalculation on the trail and we ended up in the middle of a village where a pack of bored children decided that their afternoon would be much more interesting if they ran along the track behind us shouting, waving sticks, and generally making a horrible racket. We put Tracy in front with her horse in hand, Cristina rode behind her on Nayzak, the former duckophobe, while I took the last place between the children and the horses on my 8 yr old gelding Nazeer. If any of you have ever seen the last scene of the old black and white movie of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer, you can imagine the situation. There was a mob of about 30 or 40 very aggressive kids chasing us down the dirt road, more than any of the adults available in the village could handle, and one of my main concerns was that if they annoyed the horses enough, someone would get kicked. This was a spooking situation if ever I saw one and not one of my boys so much as sidestepped. I even cranked Nazeer up into warhorse mode with extreme collection and would spin him around to face the crowd if they got too close. Nayzak and Nazeer took a couple of stones from the kids...no comment from them...and eventually we got out of the village, over the bridge to MY side of the main road and MY farmers who ran the little brats off in no uncertain terms. This was a truly terrifying situation, although at the time none of us would let ourselves be fazed by it. When it was all over there was a lot of nervous laughter and MUCH, MUCH, MUCH appreciation of these horses who had every possible reason to spook but didn't. Wonderful bloody horses. Today I set out with another friend for a ride in some of the same area, but we made a serious point of avoiding that particular village. Today's ride went much better, no kids and we found the way to a 26th dynasty palace that sits on a hill in the middle of the fields around Memphis. Took different horses today. The others had earned a break. Maryanne Egypt =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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