Re: [RC] competitive vs herd bound - Elizabeth Walker
Hmm. I don't think a horse can be both herd bound and competitive.
If he is herd bound, then he won't want to keep going after he has joined up with the other horses. He will freak if left behind, and set off the rocket thrusters to catch up, but once up with the others, he will settle down. My old horse, Shadow, was like that. He was a born follower, and didn't like to lead until he got to be 22 or so - late bloomer... :) He was *not* competitive.
The competitive part is what you said: going fast to catch up, and *pass*, and keep going. That is Caisson. He has no trouble leaving other horses, in any situation.
However, I do think you have identified a third component that can apply to either herd bound or competitive. It is the "loses his brains" part, and I think it is slightly different between the herd bound horse and the competitive horse.
It boils down to 'who is in charge', though. In the herd bound horse, the driver is fear and anxiousness. They don't have sufficient trust in the rider (a different form of "in charge") to be comfortable alone, so they fight to catch up to the herd. I think that once the herd-bound horse can gain confidence - in himself and/or the rider, the problem goes away.
In the competitive/bold horse, the fight is "I want to do *this* - stop interfering!" Caisson has let out a buck simply because I demanded he move on before he was finished sniffing a pile of manure. (Boy - did he get corrected !) No question - that was a 'who is in charge' moment.
What I haven't figured out is how to permanently correct that underlying attitude so that it is no longer an issue.
On Sep 15, 2009, at 8:03 AM, Donna DeYoung wrote:
Oh. My horse is BOTH herd bound AND competitive. I don't mind the competitive part - the desire to go faster to catch up and pass other horses, and keep going fast even after we've passed them. I can handle that and it's only slightly irritating. What I don't like is when a horse "loses" his brains and ignores the fact that a rider is on his back or is on purpose fighting the rider to get them off their back so they can go about their business and bolt off at a full gallop to join the other horses.
