Re: RC: Re: alone?

[Bette Lamore <woa@stormnet.com>]

Hi Marlene
Great minds....<BG> I was about to suggest the same thing!
Bette

Marlene Moss wrote:
> 
> <<OK, so can anyone tell me what to do with an increasingly fit youngster
> (read: can back up a very long way before deciding that forward is
> better) upon whom this tactic has been used? My too smart little mare
> had this game all figured out after the first two times I used this
> trick and now is all too happy to go backwards when she won't go
> forwards.>>
> 
> If backing up is too easy by itself, make her back up a hill or on rocks
> where she has to really worry about where she puts her feet.  Be careful to
> do either of the above in a safe manner as you don't want to hurt her or
> make her afraid of hills or rocks - but make it so it is more difficult.
> 
> I don't have any rocks (ok, we dug up one in our arena) but I do have small
> hills.  I put in a track around our big pasture that goes over all the
> bigger hills.  I have a gelding that my husband now rides and he is quite
> capable of trotting down hills that are too steep for me, so we had to teach
> him that he couldn't trot down hills except on command.  What I did was make
> him back up the distance he trotted down each hill.  It didn't take long for
> him to figure it out - but we have to re-teach him every time he goes for a
> week w/o being ridden - selective memory!
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Marlene
> 
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-- 
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians, Home of 16.2hh TLA Halynov
(yes, REALLY!)
http://www.arabiansporthorse.com