The background on this mare: she is 8, and was ridden extensively
for 2-3 years as a State park patrol horse, both in groups and
alone. Then she was sold and re-trained arena English for about 6
months. I talked to the first owner who gave her a glowing
reccomendation, said she was steady, surefooted, not spooky, etc.The
last place she was at had various people dealing with her, and when
I got her she was really mouthy and would walk all over you.
I did a lot of ground work with her and insisted she respect me; all
that sort of stuff. I have ridden her about 10 times, and usually
take her out on hills, which I feel gives me the advantage since she
is out of condition. I have tried to be very assertive and
consistent-this a a very strong willed horse.
In riding out with a friend, I have found she is very tentative and
somewhat spooky out in front-I cannot get her to stay at a
consistent gait-she is always speeding up/slowing down/ spooking at
something. If you get within a certian distance away from the other
horse she really slows down. My solution: keep her going at the
same gait, using leg and crop until we are out of sight and insist
she go on. this sort of works, but is not getting any better.
If she is behind the other horse she wants to ignore me, chose the
gait she wants, speed up, get excited, etc. So my solution: insist
she stay at the gait I chose, stop her and back her at random, get
the other horse get out of sight and make her walk, etc.
Usually every ride there is a bad spook. So we go back and
investigate, either walk back and forth many times or circle the
scary object until it is really boring.
This mare has a trailer magnet-knows when we are headed back. I
have found three times heading in the direction back towards the
trailer (we still may be pretty far away) at the canter, if I slow
her down she will buck in defiance. Today when she did this I
immediately made her stop and circle and slapped her with the crop.
The bucking just seems to be willfull.
What I can't tell ( meaning losing my perspective) is if this mare
is greener than I thought, or has my number! She does not seem like
she has ever been worked consistently at any speed. Today she was
very spooky and jumpy; I had ridden her yesterday and about 4 times
in the last week and really expected her to be a little more
relaxed.
So I am asking for help on this, and especially how folks start
green horses on the trail.
Should I keep working at all gaits, or not even let her canter until
we are steady and forward at the trot? I am a big believer that
many trail/pleasure horses are idiots at the canter because they
rarely do it and it is a novelty. My other mare "knows" that we
will move out and canter and it just isn't a big deal. What do you
folks think?
How do you folks deal with young horses that want to go?! I see
folks riding endurance horses with halters and my mind just boggles!
What do you do if they want to go (horses passing) or get all
excited?
This may not be presented well-I am tired and probably sound like a
really green rider. I have been riding about 30 years-like I said,
just can't get a fix on this horse.
As comparison, my friend with the 5 year old Arab/Appy, has had her
out on the trail 4 months, conpleted her first 25 (congrats Leslie
and Cherokee) and that little mare just goes along, doesn't spook,
doesn't get excited or want to take off.
As I said, I have an advantage in that this mare was out of shape.
Right now I can ride her until she is tired (but I am not) I feel I
really need to get rules established and control before she REALLY
gets in shape and I can't tire her out to make a point.
It may sound like I have a lot of espectations for this horse-I do,
based on talking to the original owner. I know she should be able
to deal with scary stuff/people/bikes/vehicles out on the trail.
But she acts like a really green horse.
Any imput appreciated!
Karen
To: ENDURANCE@MOSCOW.COM