excited horses....comments on competion times

[PLOUGH1@ix.netcom.com (KIMBERLY PRICE)]

the less intimidating the excited horse has become to me, the better 
able I am to control him.  I gained my confidence by: starting the 
horse in an arena, graduating to lots of slow trail and with other, 
strange horses, and finally to  LD controlled races.  This is a 
logincal good route to follow.  It all takes time, patience and an open 
mind to learning.  Preparing a green horse to take the trail and an 
excitable situation under control is nothing that can be or should be 
rushed.
   One of the best things I've done was find other ridecampers to go 
out with.  Moving my horse to easily accessable trails was also 
required.  I am a boarder, so I had to move him further from my home, 
but having private and public trails right near his ranch helped 
tremendously.  Having knowledgeable and patient, plus kind, people on 
the ranch and as riding partners has been a Godsend.
   You want to teach the youngster it is ok to move out, and not 
reprimand it for moving out, at the same time balance it with going 
back down to the walk when asked.  The arena is always a good place to 
start this.  It will be on trail rides with other horses that the 
younster will reveal its excitment level when it sees groups going out, 
or disappearing around corners.  An endurance race is not the place to 
judge this.  I know, I couldn't control Mystery at our first ride.  
There was a spot where the trail went down a steep slope and turned a 
corner.  He saw those horses racing around the corner out of sight, 
took control and ran down that hill, slightly spraining a leg.  This 
taught me immediately to rethink just what I was doing, why I couldn't 
control him and allowed him to run down that hill, etc...you'all get 
the picture.  That was 3 years ago and I'm glad I woke up and slowed 
down with OUR training.
   One step at a time.  Enjoy the journey, not just the journey's 
end...

   BTW, if you ride your horse hard because you think the holds are too 
long and the completion time too short, you are responsible, not ride 
management or the rules.  If it takes 15 hours to do a 12 hour ride but 
you completed it with a healthy horse, then that should be all that 
matters..not points or prizes.  But if you choose to ride hard to make 
up where you are at toward the end of a ride, thats your responsibility 
and poor judgement.  I took 13 hours walking him into Mendocino 3 years 
ago,  but he wasn't lame when he was rechecked and I completed that 
ride in my mind period.  If it takes 50% of riders 15 hours to do a 12 
hour ride, so be it.  Those riders were responsible enough to their 
horses to slow down because of unforeseen conditions.  To me, they all 
know they did a good job inside.

  
Kimberly (&Mystery the Morab)
Black Mountain Ranch, Pt.Reyes, CA
 +++previously,


Lucy Chaplin Trumbull wrote:
> How d'you train your horse not zoom, when he never does normally...
> *until* that first endurance ride...?

From: "Glenda R. Snodgrass" <grs@theneteffect.com>
To: Lucy Chaplin Trumbull <elsie@calweb.com>
Subject: Re: Bits to Hackamores (reply)

Good question!  One I don't really know the answer to, and would love 
to hear from others.