Ridecamp: Re: [RC] No Go Solo LONG... sorry..

Let's see... where do I start...
    A couple weeks ago we were at a local TWH barn and they were working
some of their "show" horses.  A month before the man had been thrown in the
ring because the horse spooked.  The horse had very limited exposure to
anything outside his barn, so we weren't suprised.  But the "local" horseman
thought the best way to de-spook the horse was to have two people hold lead
ropes while he threw firecrackers at the horse!  Needless to say... we left.
    Well, we knew how we handled spooky horses (just keep riding confidently
and expose to alot of situations) but knew that our advice to these "expert
horse people" would fall on deaf ears.   They wanted the problem solved with
some miracle, not work.
    So we went in search of a clinic to back us up on our argument that this
was NOT the way to handle this horse.   I came right home and looked online
for a clinic I had seen advertised in Trailblazer (I think), anyway what I
found was a clinic for mounted police horses and civilians by Tek Marciniak.
It just so happened that he was going to have a clinic that weekend in SC,
we called and there were openings.  Yea!!!
    I won't go into detail about the clinic... but if you look up the
website and the comments.. It's all true!  It was probably the best 2 days
I've spent on my horse in a long time, I think I gained a years worth of
experience in those two days... and it was FUN!!!   But at the end of the
two days we were firing pistols (blanks) from the backs of our horses
without so much as a step being taken!
    His methods involve working the horses in drill manuvers until they feel
comfortable in tight situations with each other, and then adding obstacles.
The more confident horses will draw the less confident ones through.  The
rider learns to stay focused way ahead of the obstacle and "drive" the horse
with their hips.  In the end my horse had total trust in me and would walk
through anything I asked.
    Anyway... we liked it so much that we are having Tek come to Harriman
Tennessee at the end of September (he is from Florida) to do a clinic here.
We think that there are alot of the "local experts" that could learn
something from this.   Oh.. and for the record.. we won't be making a penny
on this, but hope it will stop the "fireworks throwing" mentality.

Linda

PS...   April... Your close enough to come!

>
> I'm really hoping you experienced riders can help me here.  My 9 year old
> Arab gelding does not like to go out by himself.  He's just fine with
> others, but when I take him out here at home by ourselves, he tries to
turn
> around (AKA spook and spin) every couple of minutes.  He spooks at clumps
of
> grass, gates we've seen 50 times- anything.  He can be very stubborn.  I
had
> a similar battle with him loading into a 2 horse trailer (I won that one).
> It's getting very frustrating.  Any ideas?
>
> Dede
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.377 / Virus Database: 211 - Release Date: 7/15/2002
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>  Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
>  Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
>  Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>
>



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=