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Re: [RC] Ground Control - Dream Weaver

At 07:27 PM 8/24/2006, Dyane Smith wrote:
His mental focus is not great.  He finds everything around him so
interesting, to some extent it's amazing he stays upright at all.

Chief still has moments where his mental focus is not great, or rather it is too great -- he is only focusing on "GO", and not any of the rest of the reality around him. I'm not sure what to do with him (I tell myself that it would be dull to have a perfect horse, and there is never a dull moment around here that is for sure). He thinks that a training ride is just as exciting as the start of any endurance ride, and wants to take off at a gallop headed away from home. I don't know what drives his enthusiasm, I'm sure he is going to be a huge handful next week at Bryce.


Did Chief have problems at the walk?  That is what amazes me about Akela.
When he is out in pasture, a mine field of it's own with ground squirrel and
rabbit holes, he never takes a bad step, at least when he's unshod.

Would you have used boots on Chief when he was starting out?

I don't remember any problems at a walk. I had tried to use regular easyboots on him over metal shoes and that didn't work -- he was such a clod that he literally fell down on all fours trotting in a flat arena (we called him Easyboot Challenged, and my other horses laughed at him and called him names). ;-) He got better, but for awhile I wasn't about to take him on any technical trail and with boots on. He adapted very well to the boots with the gaiters over bare feet, not sure why. Maybe the weight of a boot and a shoe together was too much for him, but the boot by itself was fine.


Keep working with Akela and be patient, every horse comes along at a different rate, and it may take a lot of different experimentation until you figure out what is right for him, and then keep trying new things until you finally find what really works. Had the boots with gaiters been available when I started Chief, I think I would probably have started out trying those because we always knew or at least thought that he had really good feet. Even tho he may have started out being a clod, he does go down the trail easily and without a lot of impact on his body, which is why I think he is able to do so many miles without it showing. The main challenge with him has always been how to manage him mentally. Lots of long slow miles definitely helped a lot.

Karen

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Replies
[RC] Ground Control, Dream Weaver
Re: [RC] Ground Control, Dyane Smith