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Re: [RC] affecting the horse - Barbara McCraryYour story is fascinating, Steph. How would you apply this telepathy to my "new" horse (had him 13 months). He is timid and it took me 9 months to win him over. One day I went out to talk to him and stroke his face and he looked at me with a kind, soft eye instead of a wary one. Wonderful day! Anyway, I find it difficult to keep him in a forward trot, as he is sure there is something out there that will attack him. He is a prairie-bred horse and forests worry him....patches of light and shadow, limbs, downed trees, etc. He's not afraid of limbs over his head or brush around his feet. He's just anticipating something. So if I'm trying to trot along and he's got his brakes on all the time, how do I relax so I can get him to relax. So far, in order to save myself, I've been holding on to his mane for balance. When he's looking for trouble, his trot is stiff-legged and upward, rather than relaxed and forward. I've had a few moments when I could tell he has a nice relaxed trot in him, but those moments are rare and short-lived. I'm beginning to think I need one of the Aussie saddles with the knee panels that would hold me into the saddle in almost any circumstance. But since I don't have one, and don't plan on buying one, I'm using my beloved Arabian Saddle Co. Sylvan GP. This horse is really smart, kind, trail-savvy and a lot of good things. But I don't seem to make a lot of speed forward. We do a lot of walking and he's developed a very fast walk. I want to begin trotting a lot. He's past 7 and it's time to do an endurance ride. Do you, or anyone out there in Ridecamp world have any positive ideas how to deal with this? He's not mean, nor treacherous, it's just that my balance isn't as great as it used to be and I'm a bit worried about falling off him. And, if I'm trotting along, he might very well slam on the brakes. He spooks in place, doesn't bolt, spin, run away, rear or any really hard-core bad stuff. But he doesn't relax at a trot. Barbara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steph Teeter" <steph@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 6:25 PM Subject: [RC] affecting the horse I was reading the posts on how to 'make a scared horse braver' - and my first reaction was that it often becomes a cascade of rider/horse fear and behavior. A tiny bit of nervousness on the part of the rider can have a profound effect on the horse, and the horse effects the rider, and on it goes... I had an experience with one of my horses (Jaziret) this morning that totally floored me. He's an extremely sensitive horse to begin with - very much affected by people and environment. We were doing one of our regular loops - a fast loop with lots of cow trails and washes and a few good gallops but I was sleepy (early morning ride trying to beat the heat) and it was already hot and we just poked along rather than making it a real workout. We were headed down a section of single track trail close to home, just walking, only half awake. I was day dreaming about Khruschev (my Orlov horse) and how he would always veer off the trail at this point and take the side hill, avoiding the steep downhill part - and before I knew it Rhett started veering of the trail exactly the way Khruschev used to. I've ridden that trail a hundred times with Rhett and other horses before, and no other horse ever thought it was something to avoid - it was totally unexpected. He must have sensed something in my body, or my mind, giving him the idea to veer off. And I was too deep in my day dreaming to even notice it until we were well off the trail (I can be a bit spacey sometimes :) It was very powerful - and really gave me a sense of how 'telepathic' these horses can be, especially when we just let things happen. They can pick up on our mood, our fears, our excitement so easily! Whenever I'm taking a green or scared horse out I try to make a game out of something - either chasing rabbits, or trying not to step on a rock - something to take my mind off my worries - and it effectively takes the horse's mind off his worries (as well as mine). Try it sometime - whoop and holler and go chase that gopher - your horse will forget about missing his buddys, or being afraid of those cows. Or focus all your energy on something - anything - and your horse will too. Steph =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://www.endurance.net/ads/seabiscuit.html Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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