I have a 23 year old Arab gelding that was very hot to
start any endurance ride. He is a peach on the trail by himself or with
2-3 of his ranch-mates, but if I were to ride him with a group of strange
horses, he immediately goes into "race" mode and he's a fright.
He always hated to be left behind. Actually,
should I ride him with his ranch-mates, if he is behind, he can still be a
fright.
I don't think they outgrow it. It's just
there....
Thanks Kim. I agree with both you and Laney. I
really don't think his race brain is a physical thing. I did the Tejon
Fandango ride with him (days 1 & 2 .. the 25). The first day, he was
pulled at Vet check 1 simply because he was too excited ( I know him well
enough to know there was nothing wrong with him ). So -- Day 2, we
started out 20 minutes behind everyone. He was fine until we overtook
the last-place people, then got progressively stronger until we came to Vet
Check 1. This time, he calmed right down - probably thought he was done
:) Coming out of the vet check, we were all by ourselves, and I had my
horse back: nice and quiet, went on a loose rein, slowed down on voice
commands. We stayed that way until some folks passed us about 5 miles
from the finish, and then the "race brain" kicked in again...
So with him, it is pure competitiveness. I hope that he will get
better with time, but I hear you - there is a chance that he won't. I
guess time will tell.
I agree with what Laney writes and will add only
one comment. I believe that some horses never figure it out. I
have been riding a horse that I have owned for 7 years and he still wants to
just flat out run at rides. Over the years, I have
tried many suggestions with him (other then to let him flat out
run) and he really is not all that much different from when I first started
riding him. But, I like the horse, feel he is very talented, so I
have found ways to manage him so it is safe for both me and the horse.
Two years ago, I decided that I would only enter him in 100 mile rides and
perhaps he would "learn" not to waste so much energy. Most of the
rides I take him in I start on foot because I don't want him to be a danger
to me or other riders. Over the past couple years with this kind
of management, I see a little improvement here and there. But
overall he has just gotten more fit so he can pull on me longer then when he
was just fit for 25s or 50s :) I have come to the conclusion he is
who he is. The last 100 I took him in I rode by myself for almost 65
miles and saw very few horses on the trail. even alone, I had to
ride him on a very tight rein because he just wanted to gallop. This
went on for most of that 65 miles and he even broke his martingale at around
50 miles. I know he wasted a ton of energy. The way I
felt at about that point is I would have paid someone to take him off my
hands. But, for the last 35 miles of the ride he settled
in and I had a great ride on a forward moving horse that wasn't the
least bit tired or stressed. So in the end, for me, it is all worth it.
Although, I now realize after all these years he probably will never become
the horse I know he could be if he didn't waste so much energy and have a
race brain, I like him. I like the challenge of trying to find the best ways
to manage him in endurance.
So my advice is to keep trying to
eliminate all the physical problems that the horse might be experiencing
like teeth and back problems. Once those are eliminated, try
all/many of the suggestions riders give you to teach the horse that it is
not in his best interest to waste so much energy. Those techniques
work for 95% of the horses out there. Just realize, there is the
possibility that this is who your horse is and instead of eliminating those
behaviors you may have to find ways to manage them. Endurance
riding is suppose to be fun and the "fun factor" has to come close to
equaling the effort, conditioning, money, etc. that you put into this
sport. Some horses are just not suited for this sport and it does you
and the horse no good trying to make something work if you are not enjoying
the process.
