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Re: [RC] [RC-Digest] head tossing - Alice Yovich
My mare tosses her head at the beginning of rides and when
going down hills when I'm trying to get her off her forehand. Mostly when
she's excited. Once she has a few miles on her it stops. It's an
impatience thing and it irritates the snot out of me. I used a running
martingale on her once but I didn't like the way it limited my lateral
flexion control. I've had her almost 2 years and I keep waiting for
it to go away. yes, her teeth are fine and I have pretty good hands. In
fact, she actually head tosses more in the bitless bridle I ride in than
in her bit. I could use some very specific instructions to help with
this.
BTw, I should introduce myself. I'm Alice and I have a Shagya mare,
Delicato. I haven't ridden an endurance ride yet, but did my first
2 NATRC rides this summer.
At 07:28 PM 11/18/02 -0800, you wrote:
If she does it only occasionally,
then you can probably break her of the
habit without any additional 'aids'. It just takes a little
finesse, and
learning to read her. She needs to understand that the head tossing
while
you are on her is completely unacceptable behavior -- and you need to
make
that clear to her the *instant* she starts to toss her head. You
probably
know by how she feels that she is going to do it. Once you
discipline her
for it (if you need more info, I can email you details of what worked for
my horse), and if you stay consistent you can probably break her of the
habit forever.
Alice Yovich, MA, MT-BC
Mommy, Horse lover, Music Therapist
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