ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: starting a young horse

Re: starting a young horse

tetervin@bms.com
Wed, 10 Dec 1997 09:09:32 -0500 (EST)

Since I'm
I'm coming at this from a basic dressage background, where the first thing you
do is groundwork. For the first 3 months we did lungeing under saddle witha
bridle on but not lungeing off the bit until well into the 3rd month. we used
a halter on top of the bridle. Also during this time I took my filly out for
walks in the woods, fields, etc and I got here trained to go forward when I
'cluck'- not matter where we are. We crossed creeks where she had to go done
the bank first and I did lots of things to get her used to various terrains
and 'things' out there. The ridden work began in the ring but within a few
weeks I t ook her out riding in the fields- with an extra lead shank attached
to her incae we parted company but she never never did a thing crazy or
dangerous. So the basic dressage training continues in the ring. It's
absolutely imperative that your horse learn to listen to you and in our case,
my filly can be quite opinionated so it is extra important that she become
obedient to my aids. We went on two 12 mile CTR clinics between july and
September and she did great. The dressage work in the ring really builds
muscle and even stamina. The longest ride I have done is 12 miles but recently
I took her on a flat 10 mile ride and she was not phased at all-when we got
home she went running around like a nut with her buddies the rest of the
afternoon. The basics are- get the foundation built with ring work and the
start constructing the structure of the endurance horse-LSD and still work on
the education-leg yields, haunches-in. all those exercises sure come in handy
on the trail. Also, you must be relaxed and patient when your horse sees
something new and is not sure about going by it or over it. Give them a few
minutes to look and keep reassuring them and above -relax! They will fell from
you that it;s no big deal and they will get past it. Enjoy !

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