Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Leah:  Thank you very much for your input on points to think about when ponying.  Your warning that it is easy to begin dragging a young horse about to its detriment is well taken.  It is definitely something I will guard against.  I envision riding flat, wide trails initially with her at a walk and slow trot.  Once I see she’s engaged with the ride and is actively watching her step, we’ll move to more ambitious outings.  I’m really intrigued by the suggestion by some that once she is ready, to allow her to run free along side Hermano.  The neat thing about this website is that I can ask a question about something I know very little about and get dozens of informed responses.  Yours certainly is one I will take to heart.  --Dave

 

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From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Karen Sullivan
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 4:33 PM
To: Leah McGregor; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] horse/ponying

 

Wow, great conditions, that goes a long way...!

----- Original Message -----

From: Leah McGregor

To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 4:07 PM

Subject: [RC] horse/ponying

 

 *Hi Leah, what are the conditions that your raise the babies, then?  I =
tend to slightly disagree in that I have raised some youngsters on =
basically 10, flat acres. They have turnout, but to me, that is not =
Karen we have 30 acres of a rolling pasture complete with pond (for swimming, splashing water fights, creeks for jumping, some rocks and a good rise to the back side. My horse are always on the move, they run with a herd of goats and guardian dogs that will take the goats in for anything from crows to cougars. The horses usually feel the urge to go with them, although they do seem to  be getting wise to the Crow Alert and not think it is absolutely nec. to run full speed in. It is a nice natual conditioning arrangement I really appreciate now. I totally agree the youngsters need all the conditioning they can get, I just hate to hear about or see people dragging young horses along behind up hill and dale willy/nilly thinking...they follow, drag or come and they will but not at added risks as if they did it on their own. And I am in no way suggesting Dave would have done that, just others reading that may not have ponied and think what a good idea...just think it all through. It's easy for the horse being ponied to just get into the follow blindly role, the rider has to be aware of where they are asking  that youngster to travel.
Leah
www.hungarianhorse.com