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Race Brain Training



I too have been following this with interest.

My horse is fine at home (push push push on the 
way out and just sit on the way back <g>) when 
out alone.

In company he is mostly fine too (depending on 
which horse we are with) although he 'feels' out 
of control if cantering behind. It seems that all 
he wants to do is be 'on' the horse in front. Not 
overtake, because he 'dies' on me once he gets a 
bit in front. He just wants to be right on top 
of the horse in front (dangerous - we can't see 
the ground and are in a prime position to get a 
kick in the chops). What I am trying to do is 
to get him to canter nicely on a loose rein a 
safe distance behind. Instead, what we are really 
doing is cantering a safe distance behind, but 
both of us pulling against each other in order to 
achieve that. Sometimes (not very often) he'll 
get frustrated with the restraint and throw in a 
buck. After the buck, he invariably goes 
disunited and it takes ages to sort him out again 
because he does NOT want to trot and fall behind 
- he'd rather roll strangely about in the 
disunited canter. But we manage eventually. I'd 
rather he could be more 'cool' about cantering 
behind another horse though. 

He can also be like that in trot sometimes, 
depending on which horse we are with. Some horses 
he wants to be 'on top of' but others he couldn't 
give a stuff about. I haven't figured why he is 
like that with some and not others - there's no 
set pattern when we're at home. At rides, he will 
form an attachment to the horse he travels with 
to the event with or the first horse we team up 
with along the way on the actual ride. I can't 
just insist on going alone on the ride as I share 
crews (haven't got my own crew - or transport) 
and they are mandatory here in the UK at the 
distances I will be competing at.

A prime candidate for race brain training I 
should think. Except for one small thing. There 
is very very rarely any room to do the circling 
thing where we ride. When we are trotting we are 
usually on the road and doing a circle would get 
us run over. When we are off road we are usually 
on very narrow, twisty tracks. A few places are 
open, but these are usually rugby/football fields 
and we can only go on the very edge...doing a 
circle would take us onto the actual pitch and 
there'd be hell to pay if hoofprints were found 
on the pitch! Another small problem is that I 
can't easily arrange to ride out with others from 
home. We go too far/trot too much/ride for 
too long, etc, etc....

If I was to do it during a competitive ride I 
imagine the person behind would have a few choice 
words for me!! <g> Is there a hand signal for 
'I'm going to circle!' ??? <g>

So <argh> it is tricky for me to do this race 
brain training because my horse is kept close to 
a city and there just isn't the room to be 
circling.

Any tips on what to do in such a situation? One 
rein stop variations? He is ridden in a 
hackamore both in the arena and out riding.

I'll tell you what I *am* doing to try to fix it. 
Schooling in the arena (he always behaves like a 
star in there though) and focussing on teaching a 
quick whoa (verbal)...not as effective, but I am 
hoping it'll work.....(oh, when he gets into one 
of those 'I'm gonna canter RIGHT UP to that 
there horse' moods he will not listen to delicate 
dressage type aids which are fine in the arena. 
He's really thickskinned and he needs quite a 
strong aid for most things)...

Am I the only one without great plains to be 
circling in??


Liz and Basil The Nag
-- 


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Dr E Carpenter
Institute for Cardiovascular Research
The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
+ 44 (0113) 2334169/2334803 (voice/fax)
+ 44 (0498) 783129 (mobile)
e.carpenter@leeds.ac.uk
http://www.netlink.co.uk/~snaffle/rogues/scun1.gif
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