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Can;t help you there, but if anyone can give me a pointer on my mare,  
I'd love it. She is a doll on trail alone or with stable mate.  
Bombproof, my 9 year  old has been riding her for years with the two  
of us. When in a gruop, she has to be in front, NO MATTER WHAT or she  
will throw the biggest tizzy ever. I usually start as late as  
possible. Should I start her in the front and let her go? She even  
wants to race dogs, bikers, cars...Other than that, she is a  
dreamhorse, she'd babysit for you for free.
Tiffany, yes I am talking about MOSH
On Apr 8, 2009, at 1:38 PM, Michelle Aquilino wrote:

> I will bring up a problem I've been having, and see what people's  
> thoughts are =)
>
> My horse is amazing to ride alone.  We have always ridden alone in  
> the past, and even though some days are spookier than others, she's  
> a solid ride, and I don't worry about making it back to the  
> trailer.  Recently, I have become more involved in local trail  
> groups, and have even found some people to ride with occasionally  
> who ALMOST go fast enough for me, ha ha.  Some days I would ride  
> partially with these people, and then go off on my own.  I have  
> noticed that when I do this, she becomes a true royal pain (well,  
> not as bad as some, but bad enough for me to get frustrated, ha ha)  
> once we're alone.  She is a lot spookier than normal, which I can  
> mostly deal with, but she has become incredibly stubborn about not  
> passing other horses when she's in this mode of thinking (last  
> weekend, she even refused to pass a couple and their dog, would  
> follow willingly when they started walking down the trail, but I  
> had to get off and lead her in order to physically pass them).  It  
> wasn't fear, just stubborness.  When we're alone, she moves out  
> just fine (in these modes), but she sticks like glue when we  
> finally reach (and I want to pass) other horses (or apparently even  
> people/dogs).  I am hoping that she will be fine at an endurance  
> ride, since she will know that other horses are in front of her  
> (whereas in the conditioning ride situations, she's passing  
> everyone, and doesn't know if others are ahead), but I am slightly  
> concerned about getting "stuck" behind a horse/group, because she  
> gets into this mode in the middle of an endurance ride =P
>
> The other side of this problem, is that when she gets in this mode,  
> she tries to manipulate her way into following, and out of the  
> leading position.  She is a dominant horse, generally relatively  
> independent of other horses on the trail, will hold back if I ask  
> her to, and willingly drinks from a stream even if horses are  
> leaving and disappearing from the trail (if she's thirsty, she  
> drinks), so the behavior has me somewhat stumped.  The only thing I  
> can figure is that, yeah, it's easier for her to follow (and be  
> with other horses), and her being an incredibly intelligent mare, I  
> have accidentally shown her that she can do these things to get out  
> of the lead, and she's simply doing what she "knows" works.  I know  
> that I probably need to do some exercises with someone to teach her  
> that this is NOT ok, but am not sure how to go about it, since she  
> won't move, unless I get off and lead her past the other horses  
> (and knowing that this won't work at an endurance ride, ha ha,  
> since no one will be stopped as I WALK past them, ha ha).  I just  
> really want to nip this in the bud before it gets REALLY bad  
> (worse?  ha ha).
>
> Also to note, she passes FINE before she gets into this  
> "group"/"following" mentality (I'm baffled by all of it, ha ha,  
> truly).
>
> --
> "Don't breed or buy while shelter animals die"


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