Handling a young horse at the start of a ride.

[Jennifer Hixson Layman <jlayman@leland.Stanford.EDU>]

Delerking...  thought this might be a new fun subject for all.  I certainly
know many of you that have been through it.

I have a young horse (6) that is very fiesty at the start of a ride... to
say the least.  We have done two previous rides, one 25 & one 50, and I am
on my way to my third at the end of this month.  The first ride was
horrible... yes, I may have been the yelling and cussing idiot someone on
the list mentioned they were proud not to be ;).  This guy is normally
pretty darn lazy and ho-hum, and lets just say I was greatly taken by
surprise.  I was much more prepared for the second ride and it went a bit
better, but still not as I would desire.  It takes this guy 18 - 30 miles
to calm down, literally.  I had a non horsey friend ask me how my first
ride went...  and I told her to squeeze her butt cheeks together for 5
hours and she'd know how I felt.

Now, I know that the best thing I can do is work on my riding skills and my
relationship with him to get through this (doing all that), but lets face
it the start of a ride is a whole new ball park then the
conditioning/training grounds.  He and I have actually come a very long way
in a years time and we have a great relationship.  It was a true honor for
him to allow me to stay in the saddle during his first couple rides.  ;)

What do you guys do to get through this phase (and god help me it better be
a phase)?

Thanks,

Jennifer Layman & Goose (but mom, they went that way and they went fast!)
Palo Alto, CA.

P.S.  I use a three piece french snaffle (a very kind bit).  I don't have a
lot of options in this area since Goose has a odd bone chip in an area of
his mouth that many other bits can cause irritation to.  I don't have
problems with this set up at all except at a ride.  This guy is also a
master at evading the bit... he will throw the head up, or tuck under it.
Whatever works, he figured it out in the first ten miles of the first ride.
Any suggestions in this area are welcome as well.