Re: excited horses....comments on competion times

[Chris Paus <paus@micoks.net>]

It also helps to have good training buddies to ride with. If you ride with
people who don't have the time to slow down or help if you get in trouble,
you will get discouraged.

Betsy O'Shea and I both have horses that needed a lot of work and have been
discouraged by other riders blowing past us, even on training rides.
However, working together, we have brought our horses a long way. We try to
arrange group rides whenever possible and ride with people who also are
training. We look out for each other, know the trouble signal when we hear
it, know it is ok to ride apart and get the horses used to that. We
practice riding together, riding apart, taking turns who is in the lead,
and expsing the horses to different scary monsters.

It has worked well and the boys are really coming along.

chris paus & star - who had to be the calm one on the ice and snow today.






>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.
>
>
>
>