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wow Mike while I applaud your discipline in handling this I must say that if
I followed your regime I would get about 100 feet down the trail on any
given day :-)
I have adopted the attitude of "if it doesn't get me off then I ignore it"
(mostly) which means at a trot or canter and Tony does his teleport business
or pogo-stick legs I give no reaction and we keep going. For him to stop and
make him "face his fear" turns into an all day affair. Whether he's truly
scared or just being a dip I dunno - I do know that he just continues to
escalate tho if I make an issue out of it so I don't.
(Let me preface some of this by saying that Tony is dependable on the road
around traffic and that is one of his saving graces - most of what he does
is on the trail.)
I've also incorporated some ground work into his routine (tho not very
consistently I must admit) and that has helped a great deal.
To some degree this philosophy has worked - he is 1000 times better than he
was 3 years ago but he still does it and the bottom line is I put up with it
- I like to ride him, he enjoys going down the trail and I've developed
some pretty good stick-um :-).
Everyone has certain "triggers" - for me it is rearing. If he reared he
woulda gone down the road long ago - spooking is not one of my triggers so
he gets to stay - at least for a while :-))
Not the way for everyone but works for us.
To the original poster I wonder how much experience your horse has with
going out, how much you ride her, and if you've tried any ground work with
her to gain her respect (Parelli, Lyons, etc....)?
Tina - who rides in a deep seated DeSoto because of this horse
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