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[RC] List of things our horses are "trained" for. - Melissa Margetts Ms. Kitty - Kitley, Carrie E Civ USAF AFSPC 30 MDSS/SGSLFMelissa - Please don't let that experience sour your opinion of Arabs. I do not believe that it is simply an "Arab thing." It seems to me he just wasn't patiently taught ground manners as you do with your animals. My Arab mare can get spooky, jumpy, cranky, silly, exuberant, etc. but she has incredible ground manners and is extremely sensitive in knowing what I want from her and where I want her to be. I agreed that Arabs for the most part have a heightened sense of awareness about them, which can create an appearance of hotheadedness, but I've also seen Quarter Horses that were that way as well . . . some with crappy ground manners and major stubbornness as well. Training can definitely go a long way towards having the horse of your dreams, but I still believe that in some cases (not all), you can't train the fight or flight out of them. As spooky as my mare can be at times, she's usually aware that she has a person on her back and reacts with as little ado as possible, depending on the "spook" source. lol She can lose her marbles and gain them back within 10 seconds. :) My list of things my horses and yours too, have had to be "trained" to get over their fear of, and circumstances for which they have learned that idiot behavior is unacceptable: Being haltered, lead, horse blankets, girth straps, me on their back, leg presure, being tied, barking dogs, cars, asphalt, farriers lifting their feet, vets lifting their lips, stethascopes, rain, an ever popular anal tone check,wind, blowing bags & tarps & sagebrush, hats and flapping jackets,electric clippers, tractors, llamas, cows, deer scattered on the trail, breaking branches, crossing bridges, crossing puddles, streams and swimming in lakes, crossing fallen logs, water hoses and baths, fireworks and walking in parades, water being dumped on them from buckets, narrow trails, riding at night, and yes even riding in lightening (as Carla said, Colorado in the high country in August is a real light and sound show.) And let's not forget the ever popular and infamous horse-eating trailer. Now for some of the more unusual ones that many of you already know about my horses, Up close and regular work with mountain lions, bears, coyotes, bobcats, lynx and other natural predators including Pat Parelli using my lion on top of a truck at a clinic and a horse and rider below to teach how a horse can be trained to overcome his fears. (featured in Western Horseman August 1993, see this link with a slide show of it all http://www.myspace.com/sweetmayleesa) sharing the pasture with the buffalo, pulling a sleigh, walking calmly into and out of western bars with me in the saddle for pictures, flash cameras, gunfire from their backs, riding calmly with me on their back and a red-tailed hawk landing and flying from my gauntlet for falconry, playful otters underfoot, anltered bull elk jumping the fence and sharing their hay, packing out deer carcasses from the high-country, muddy bogs, playing horse soccer with a giant ball bouncing into and off of them, swinging polo mallets and polo-cross nets, and of course, riding with that skunk-humping wienie dog sitting in a feed bag hanging from the saddle horn during rides. I'm not tooting a horn, I have just never bought the idea that a horses natural fear can not be overcome or at least made to become more manageable. Before now, I guess nobody ever told me that it wasn't possible. Remember, one of these horses was so skittish he was almost unrideable when he was first given to me. I don't own spurs and don't need to kick them or pull on their faces. I'm no horse trainer, but have had 30 years experience training and handleing wild animals so getting the horses to be brave and manageable was done just out of patience, consistency, repeated exposure. I am learning more all of the time, especially since adding the tougher endurance rides to our "bucket list". In June I rode someone else's Arab into an easy 3rd at the Cooley Ranch ride. A horse and owner that I had only met in person a few hours earlier. I don't ride Arabs. The horse had speed and stamina but at every vet check he beat the livin $#!^ outa me, running over the top of me and into the vet, knocking me to the ground with his head. I wanted to kill him. My thought was not that he was untrainable, it was that he had been allowed to get away with unacceptable behavior for too long and too often and it had been forgiven because he was a good racer. I was convinced that he needed some damn good ground manners training that was focused on long and hard before he did a single other race. The guy was "conditioned" as all hell and was not an idiot, he just needed some MANNERS. I thought...But everyone here has been saying that this behavior is an "Arab thing". I keep thinking of the remarkable BLM wild mustang makeover challenge and that anything is do-able. But maybe Arabs ARE the exception.....guess I'd rather continue to be a "black-sheep" in this Arab sport. Watch, today I'll mount up and get thrown off, trampled on, and left in the snow.....never say never Melissa Margetts Telluride Colorado " If you don't get your horse to do what you want him to do, maybe you're asking the wrong question, or maybe you're not asking the question right." Parelli =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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