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This past May we
bought a 6 year old unregistered Arab gelding from an
auction for $500. He's
got a nice temperment, seems affectionate and
personable on the
>
ground. . . He has a very hard mouth . . . I've been schooling him in
the
arena in a snaffle bit and it
> seems to be improving. He also has
'dead sides'.
Tamara, can't answer anything specific to endurance but I
can talk about
abused/difficult horses. First was your friend a he or
she? First you need
to eliminate pain from lameness, ill fitting shoes,
bad saddle fit and poor
riding. Some horses will get irritated if using
a flank girth. You'll also
need to rule out of back pain. Any
muscle spasms after unsaddling. Does he
respond/flinch when you massage
his back? How 'bout up by his poll?
OK, what would
I
do. I'd get off that horse's back and pretend he was 2. Start
with
ground work, ground work, ground work. Build your
foundation. Does he
stand, tie, lead, pick up feet, bridle, saddle
easily. Does he longe on a
line? Does he know voice
commands? A horse like this will need time, slow
work. You will
have to be more concerned about mental exhaustion and fear
instead of
physical tiredness. Start with 5-10 minute intervals and build.
Give
yourself plenty of time -- 1 to 2 years -- to turn him into a nice
riding
horse. Yes, if his confirmation is what you say and you build slowly
he
probably will make a good endurance horse. Can't remember what
article
it is on Ride-Camp that talks about slowing down the training in
order to
have a good horse. Build trust before riding and then when you
ride break
it into small increments. On and off. On for 5
mins. Don't worry about
quality of movement or speed. Just
establish that this is all I want from
you. Dead sides can recover but
it takes TIME. I'm assuming this horse has
been spurred to death.
You might get a better response by using leg in a
slightly different
location. If he responds to voice on the
leadline/longeline then he'll
respond to voice when you are on his back.
Being an Arab, he probably doesn't
need much leg.
To soften the mouth I would go with a 3 piece snaffle such
as a french-link
O ring. A roller in the middle will be fine.
Make sure it's a snaffle and
not a leverage bit even though folks call them
western snaffles, etc.
You already know this horse has
difficulties. I'm questioning the reason
for the trail ride, etc. by a
different rider. For the time being let this
horse bond with one
person. With time you can introduce him to others, but
let them start
out with grooming & leading before riding. A horse
that's
scared under saddle, not mean, doesn't need to be cowboyed or
disciplined.
Not saying you've done this. But we've all met those folks
who have "got to
teach that stupid horse a lesson." This won't work
with this horse. You
may have to pretend he's a mare for awhile.
Persuasion. Talk to him to
calm him down.
OK, one thing I do
with really scared horses under saddle is teach a graze
cue.
Controversial? Yes, some folks don't believe a horse should eat with
a
bit in their mouth. I disagree in this situation. Teach a command
to
graze and a separate command to tell the horse it's time to go back to
work.
I use "graze" and "heads up". Instead of focusing on moving
forward when on
this horse's back think about camping out. So what if
you sit there for 5
minutes without the horse moving. Learning to relax
and stand still has
merit.
This will not be a quick 100 day training
project but a long term
commitment. The question is not can he excel at
endurance so much as do I
have the time, skill, knowledge and patience to
spend with this horse?
Again, I reiterate this is not a quick fix
situation. Only you can answer
that. The price at auction
indicates that the previous owner either needed
cash fast or knew something
you didn't. You must realize that depending
upon this horse's treatment
he may never be fully dependable. If he gets
scared, he's likely to
fight for himself and not watch out for you. Only
time will
tell.
Best wishes,
Susan B.
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