If you have a sponsor, then you must do what they want. You should
discuss this with the sponsor long before the ride. If you don't
like what the sponsor wants to do, find another sponsor. Don't
critize your sponsor for the way your horse acted.
Mystery needs to learn to do what you want.
> So I am "checking" him and making him stay back, this is upsetting him
> until he is starting to go in the "I'm gonna buck mode". People in
> front of me didn't like him there so I had permission to pass. We did
> so, next horse butt in front of us was a mule in full tack....
Unfortunately, what you taught him was that if he acts up enough,
he'll get to pass.
>
> To make a long story short, I had to finally pull him from the ride.
> We couldn't "argue" in a string of 30 horses on a steep fire trail.
When you are in a dangerous area, you have to think safety first.
> Once they went their way my sponsor wanted to ride far far behind them
> with me but at this point Mystery was so upset he didn't even want to
> go the same direction as "all those strange horses". We ended up going
> our own way and he soon became the trail horse I've know & loved,
> although acted very nervous whenever we ran into a strange horse or
> two, something he's never done before.
Yep. He taught you all right.
What you taught him was to act up and then he'll get his own way.
It will be worse next time.
>
> I plan on taking things slower... getting small groups together to ride
> or joining groups I run into if they will have me and getting him use
> to strange horses and the excitment of it all. But, any other
> suggestions on how you'all overcame this with your youngsters is
> appreciated....
>
My first endurance ride with Drake went something like this.
All horses at start line. Drake perfectly calm. Horses start
out. Drake acts like an idiot. For the first 100 yards, we
fought. It took more than half an hour to get past that point.
As soon as he settled down, he got to go forward. As soon as
he acted up, he had to settle down. I felt like a fool. But,
after that 100 yards, we had a pretty decent ride. The next
ride was better. The next was worse.
You can't give up or give in. Ride your ride, not the one your
horse wants.
Try this exercise at home. Ride with one person who has nothing
else to do that day. Ride together. Let other person go ahead.
If your horse settles down, slowly catch up. You ride ahead.
Other person ahead. etc. Do this at the WALK!
Leap frog with one horse a few yards ahead until your horse accepts
it as ok. Then increase the distance a few more yards. Continue
till you are several hundred yards apart. You'll need to do
this over a period of weeks. Do not give in to the horse.
Once you can do this, do it at the trot.
Do a lot of walk halt transitions. Try to do your halt without
using the reins at all - just your seat. When you can do this,
do trot walk transitions, using just your seat, and maybe a little
(an ounce or two) of reins. Do these in the ring till you are sick
of them and the horse does them consistently. Then do it out on
the trail. (BTW, after a year, Drake and I are still working on
this. It takes time and consistency.)
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Training Development Engineer HP-UX: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop 46 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-4292