I did a 110 mile trail ride (6 days, so not endurance) in January/February
of this year with 'friends' using my horse and my sisters horse as a bumper pad
for their out of control horses. I had my red ribbon in Holly's tail as
she had kicked at a horse on a previous ride and as they were 'friends' we had
told her that she does mean business, therefore the red flag. One of the
tailgaiters horses jigged the entire 6 days, 8 hours a day without ever
stopping. In congested areas - in cities, etc where police escorts
required close situations - this was the only way of containing his horse.
Holly got the lesson of a lifetime as we no longer have kicking at the neighbor
issues anymore, she just walks on and ignores it.
Early on in this same trail ride she got a little excited... : ) when she
thought the group and her buddy were leaving without her from a break and we had
a little rodeo. One person took it upon himself (red ribbon and all) to
use his horse as a bumper from the rear to 'help' us...all this did was create a
wilder horse (mine) who thought this other horse was coming after her or
?? Lesson learned.
No, I did not want to do 110 miles with another horse parked on my butt,
but these were valuable lessons for what had been a problem child in a group
when another horse would approach from the rear.
At 07:52 PM 7/5/2004, Mary Abbott wrote: >Yes, "you might
have to ride a bit." That was my point earlier. The
rider >you suggested let the person pass from behind might not have been
given that >option. People have to hold their horses back and wait
for you to get to >right place.
Yup, true. And that's why
training at home is so valuable - because your horse might have to
tolerate being tailgated for a few hundred feet or a few hundred yards or
even more. And also the rider has to be centered enough and present
enough to realize that pulling off the trail might be way better than
fighting a horse that doesn't like being tailgated. I am not saying
that happened at this year's WS 50 - I just know that it can be an issue
for some riders: Being so focused on getting down the trail that
they don't realize that pulling over and stopping might, in the end, be
the fastest way to the finish line. How do I know this?
Because I had to learn it the hard
way!
________________________________ Lif
Strand
fasterhorses.com
Quemado NM
USA
