[RC] Merlin's endurance career and other stuff - Juli Bechard
Merlin, my yearling Paso/Arab cross is going to make a GREAT
hundred mile horse! I can tell.? (and everyone should take my word as gospel
here, even though I’ve never trained a 100 mile horse before, much less
ridden in a 100 mile ride). I walked him to the mailbox tonight (about ½ mile
from the house).? Not only was he eager to go that ½ mile, but he snarfed grass
the whole way!? He can walk pretty quickly with his head on the ground eating
and not miss a step.? Tevis, here we come.? *grin*
I have recently been wishing I had the spare money to send
Alpine to a trainer for a month or so.? We are in the process of legging back
up after a tendon injury, followed by some pretty serious saddle fitting
problems. ?With the use of a good massage therapist for the horse, and a better
fitting saddle, he is MUCH better and ready to ride.? However, he is now
INSANE!? I took him into the ring for some simple dressage work, and spent 45
minutes getting him to walk up to the log I had put in the center of the arena
to teach Merlin to step over it.? Apparently, it really wasn’t a log, but
an alligator.? I tried riding him through it. Nope.? He can bend his body in
the strangest s-shapes I have ever seen, never taking his eyes off the thing.?
So I tried walking him up to it so he could see it wasn’t out to eat
little palomino paso fino’s.? Nope.? He can spin faster than a reining
horse.? I ended up on the ground, and after 20 more minutes, I finally got him
to walk up to it and step over it.?? This is a horse that has had thousands of
miles logged on the trails.? Sigh…??
Anyway, if you have any ideas on how to cure insane behavior
in a horse, please let me know.? Unfortunatly speed and distance are not our
friends currently.?? Oh, and the dressage lessons start Sunday….I figured
it can only help.? I’m going to remove the log from the arena for the
lesson…..
