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[RC] eating on the trail - Pvan19

I used to event and hacked out my horses out a lot - never let them eat on the trail because I found it very annoying and distracting from work and I was taught this was bad manners anyway
 
now that I do endurance - I do let my horses eat - I actually discovered this was a great motivator, especially say on the last phase of a longer ride where the horse is tired - and also because I want them to eat as much as they can of nice green juicy stuff while being ridden
 
it also keeps the overgrowth down on our forest tracks -so less ducking for me!
 
the deal is that they can eat when walking, but they cannot stop to do so - so they learn how to snatch branches and long grass without stopping and pondering on it  - no eating when we are trotting or galopping ( ever been whipped by a branch in full trot that your horse let go off at the last moment hihi?) - unless I pick a branch and give it to them - had a nice canter yesterday with horse swinging big clod of grass with roots attached I had pulled out and given to him - he did manage to eat the grass and drop the rest while cantering along
 
also no eating when stopped, being saddled etc  or when I'm getting off because of the way eating can bump up the HR when arriving at the vetgate - unless I tell them they can ( I lower their heads by a cue on the withers so they know it's ok)
 
takes a couple of weeks to teach this - works fine for me but you do need to be strict about the 'contract' ... all the time (dare I add especially with (my) arabs)
 
cheers
 
Pauline
===================================================
From: "Jennifer Adam" <jatatahoe1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [RC]   eating on the trail


Well, a while back I said I would take a break from asking dumb newbie
questions, but I can't - there's just too much I want to know! Sorry - and
thanks for your patience. Here's another stupid question -
I had a discussion with some horse people in my neighborhood last night
about eating on the trail. Now, their main interest is western pleasure and
halter - they don't see the big deal about endurance because they think any
horse that can do a 10 mile trail can also do 100 - just takes more time
(:-/. Two of them never ever let their horses snatch a bite once they have a
halter on. The other two let them graze in halter, but once they saddle up
the horses aren't allowed to eat at all. They were arguing that letting a
horse snatch bites takes away his focus and keeps him from concentrating on
his rider. I will admit - I've been on trail horses (those dude ranch kinds)
that were so busy grabbing mouthfuls they hardly wanted to move down the
trail. It can be an annoying habit, but I want my mare to learn how to eat
on the go, how to eat quick when she needs to. So, my question is - how do I
keep her concentration and let her eat when she needs to? How do you all
handle it? Do you give a cue (lengthen the reins, whatever) to let your
horses know it's okay to eat? Or do they just like to go so much that they
automatically eat on the run? What is the right way to teach a horse when
it's appropriate to eat and when they need to concentrate on moving out? I
don't want to screw up my mare by doing something wrong. Thanks -
Clueless and Curious,
Jen