group riding-exposure/starting the young horse

[CSimmons99 <CSimmons99@aol.com>]

FYI Comment:  The start of a ride is usually one of the most harrowing worries
most 1st time riders have or riding the 'new' or 'green' horse at his first
ride.

A friend suggested a FREE training aid.  Take your horse to your local horse
show.  No, you don't have to show him but the warm-up/practice arena is an
excellent place to practice riding with a group of horses doing all kinds of
'other' stuff.  

It may take him awhile to start ignoring the other horses and start paying
attention to you but take your lunch and work on quiet transitions, starts &
STOPS or...  (John Lyons says he's never seen it take longer than two
days....)  
(He probably made that comment in correlation to horses loading in the
trailer.  They're usually a bigger problem when you 'have' to be somewhere.  

Your choice whether you wear your colorful garb & tack or attempt to blend in.
(In otherwords the local 'C' show with english/western/trail maybe less
obvious than at a Hunter/Jumper or Dressage show.  

The only two 'rules I know is schooling in the direction of the rail flow and
speed (reining/jumping/frequent stops etc) moves are kept in the center of the
ring. CS