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[RC] Starting young horses on the trail - shermanTitle: MessagePaloma was started
as a long 3 yr old when my daughter decided to hop on her bareback while I was
out riding. Hmmm, no problems, so I saddled her and did a few short rides around
our backyard, but she kept "pulling" towards the road and wanting to go
out there. Since she had a good stop, gave to light pressure and did what I
asked, even though it was all new, after about 3 days of backyard riding, I let
her go out on the road. Our roads are very quiet 95% of the time, 25mph limit
and mostly have wide shoulders, so it wasn't dangerous, and she'd been ponied
and walked "around the loop" many times. She was calm and curious about
everything, sticking her nose in a garbage can lid to get a drink of rainwater,
ignoring barking dogs and saying hi to people out walking. She didn't get much
riding after the initial training because I was always conditioning older horses
for 50 & 100 miles. She doesn't "backtrack" on her training either, I can
leave her for 6 mos, go saddle her up and do a nice little ride, no lounging
necessary. She's 6 now, only 13.2H, but maybe when I can't do 50s anymore I'll
do some LDs with her. I did notice this year that in a big group she is a little
better behaved than last year, with about 6 mos. of no riding in between. I
think she's just more mature and secure with herself and her place amongst other
horses.
Kathy
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