> So, what do you do to hold back the horse to get him to calm down
> without him going totally ballistic? Do you dismount and walk him or
> lunge him around? What are some of your techniques.
can you teach your horse to flex his head around to your leg, and leave
it there for some serious petting and calming? it is somethign you will
have to teach at home, but you should be able to get him to associate
that position with safety and relief and peace and all those nice warm fuzzy
feelings. it is a position which triggers the submission and relaxation
type responses in the horse, and it also happens to be a position that
the horse can't do too much from! once you have taught your horse that
that position means time to stand and relax and be petted by you, and
forget about the world around him, you can use it whenever he gets uppity
on the trail. even if he doesn't totally calm down out there, at least
you'll have him in a position where he can't offer much resistance.
nik