I was accused of not respecting my horses, having a poor relationship
with them. Then one post went way out by talking about riding in the
dark, where a horse places his feet, etc. What does all that have to
do with letting a horse choose his own gait?
Furthermore I do not think that endurance people are uneducated
backyard horsemen (like I was accused), In fact I have alot of respect
for anyone who can ride a horse 100 miles in one day! That takes a love
and dedication for horses and the sport of endurance that alot of us
don't have.
What I was trying to say was that the rider needs to develop a
feel for what the horse wants and then make a decision for the
team. That is communication with the horse.
Besides a few posts, or would you call them hate mail, most of
the post were good and informative. These are the things that I
learned from them.
First of all I liked Dave Bennett's post when he said "I think
that most of us are not as far apart on this thing as it might appear.
I agree with Dave. I also like the rest of his post. He had some good
ideas. As did most of the posts. After reading and rereading a good deal of the
posts, I think it is just a problem with miscommunication. This is
what I learned from all of the post that I received, and there was
alot of them.
When I think back in my younger days, when I got into long distance riding,
I spent alot of time with my horse. I rode everyday. The only time I
didn't ride was when it got -10 degree C or lower because I was concerned
about my horses lungs. But otherwise I was in the saddle. Me and my horse
were both in top shape. We use to trot the first 10 miles as just a warm up.
The time I did ride 100 miles in two days my horse and I were totally in
sync with each other. We had to be or we never would have made it.
I knew what he wanted and he knew what I wanted. We were a total
team. I think that is were some of the more experienced riders are coming
from. The horse know through experience what to expect from the rider and
visa versa.
But remember that it takes alot of time and good training to get a horse and
rider to that position. That horse has to have good disipline in the gaits
BEFORE there is any new training on what the rider expects once they get
into intense competition. I think Dave best stated this when he said " My
personal experience is that with a green or previously spoiled horse
the rider must teach the horse to respond to commands. That is where I
am coming from.
So it takes a good experinced rider and a good experienced horse who
have spent alot of time in good training and are totally in tune to each other
to be able to establish a set of cues and rules where the horse sometimes
choose the gait and sometimes the rider does.
BUT, this takes the right horse and the right rider and lots of experience and
time. PLEASE for you riders that have worked and have that established with
your horse remember that not every one was the ability, experience or horse
to do that.
So when you post statements like "choose the speed, let the horse choose the gait,"
someone just starting out will think that is the was to go and will
let a horse start choosing gaits that does not have the ground work that
Dave talks about in his post.
In other words, "choosing the speed, let the horse choose the gait" does
not work for everyone or everyhorse. So it should not be a general rule
and statement made in endurance. I would have to say by looking at
all of the posts that I received that this statement and attitude does
more harm then good. In other words if one person takes this statement
to heart and tries this with their horse before the horse or rider is ready
for it and someone gets hurt, then it has done more harm then good.
Lynette
(be gentle, please)
helgeson@lansford.ndak.net