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Re: [RC] [RC] I don't want BLIND obedience from a horse... - Laurie Durgin

Especially when riding alone. Rascal 'sees' and "hears' before me. A couple of times he has stopped and froze, I have learned to look where he was "pointing". He has noticed deer crossing 1/2 mile away, turkeys grazing, a wild boar in the undergrowth, and what I suspect were hunters in camo.
And since our 'trails' are a crisscross mix of easements, and 4 wheeler tracks and abandoned /hunting roads, he has learned when dirt bikes or 4 wheelers are coming to get off the road and back about 10-20 feet. He had suddendly gone off trail a couple times, and I thinking he was headed for tree bark snack i scolded him . About that time I heard the dirt bikes, they flew by within a minute doing maybe 50 something(jumping the hills). I learned he hears them before I do.Often it is hard to tell from which direction they are coming , with the hills and crisscrossing trails. So I always get off, I have seen many a startled biker/4 wheeler face flash by.
And once during a potty break , he suddenly looked the direction we'd come and did his freeze thing.. I 'recovered quickly'.About a 1/2 minute later here comes this neighbor and her boyfriend out 'hiking', very quietly.
Anyone who thinks horses are stupid and dull isn't paying enough attention to them and is unobservant themselves.
Course he no longer spooks at couches, water heaters, school desk,car bumpers, carpet rolls, pool filters dead deer, turkeys overhead, or trash bags normal trail obstacles. Just that lone beer bottle with a stick-arrow pointing the way for the teen beer party futher down the trail. He didn't want to go down any trail with an arrow and a beer bottle on it.
I finally convinced him with ,"ahhh, come on, it's just another ol' rock". Laurie/Rascal/Scout/Honey who watches the neighbors when they are out target practicing, and when they are done, she immediately goes back out to the easement to the haybale, thank you.

From: <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <walkergirl@xxxxxxxxxx>
CC: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [RC]   I don't want BLIND obedience from a horse...
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 17:28:27 -0700 (MST)

> To which the judge replied: "If I'm riding, and there's a
> mountail lion in the vicinity, I WANT my horse to tell me about
> it!"

How refreshing, from a judge!

I agree--while I want an obedient horse, I also want him to feel that he
can tell ME stuff, too.  And having had some pretty observant horses over
the years, I've learned to listen when they "talk."

Heidi


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When you ask a Quarter horse for something he says - Sure -  and when you
ask an Arab for something he says  - Why? -
~  Heidi Smith

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They're athletes! This is a partnership between horse and rider - we don't
have any jockeys out there, just pals and partners. We'd allow a rider with
a broken foot, a sore back and a nasty cold to compete - but we would never
let a horse in a similiar condition hit the trail.
~ Dr. Barney Flemming DVM

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