"I can hold her to a walk, but she will power-walk until she is right on
the other horse's tail again. Since this is a habit that is universally
disliked, can I get some pointers on how to fix this before it becomes
permanent? Thanks.
Lani
First of all, I think it
is wonderful that you can hold her to a walk, and that she doesn't jig when
behind. On some horses just getting from the jig when behind to the power
walk when behind is a struggle.
I really wonder over the horses desire to stay so
close to the horse ahead of them. It must be a predator/prey/herd thing,
since it is so prevalent. How close do they follow each other on single
track trails in the wild - anybody know?
If they can walk slower when directly behind
the lead horse, they can walk at that speed when they are a couple of
horse-lengths behind the lead horse, where we riders are safer.
I like to play leap frog when working on this
problem, and use drill team like tactics.
Friend and I go riding. We agree to take
turns leading for a set number of minutes, say 10. When leading, you can
call for maneuvers. For example, call for the follower to pass you at a
trot on the left then slow to a walk. Then you pass them at a trot on
the left and pull in and slow to a walk. Or as the leader, turn back and
circle the follower. When you have more riders, you can space out and
zig-zag from front to back or from back to front. I think this has helped
all the horses in our group(s) learn to put up with horses passing,
in learning to maintain a safe distance when on the trails, and keeping
more focused on their rider, rather than the other horses. When the
group is larger, we also mix up the order of the line up at regular
intervals. It is a lot of fun.
