So, he had to go all by himself. This was unfortuante, as he spent
the entire 25 miles trying to race, and my SO spent the whole time
holding him back. Didn't matter if he was in company or on his own,
he wante to GO. He stayed in walk/trot most of the way, with
difficult, but at a walk he jogged, at a trot he kept trying to do
his long, extended trot. As he is only 5 we really don't want him
doing this and pushing himself too hard. Anyway, at 21 miles my SO
had to get off and walk the rest of the way in to avoid time
penalties for going to fast. He finished with a pulse of 43 (started
at 60), despite the horse next to him freaking out and backing into
him twice while his pulse was being taken.
But he had a small cut inside his mouth. What can we do to try and
calm him down? He is currently ridden in a fat snaffle, which we
checked and had no rough edges. We were
thinking of trying an English hackamore. We can ride him in a
scawbrig at home, but it simply doesn't have enough stopping power to
be safe (most UK rides involve a fair amount of road work, sometimes
on busy main roads).
Help!
Sue
sue.cunnigham@mcc.ac.uk (work)
sue@snaffle.demon.co.uk (home)