Re: [RC] sane future for spooky arab?? - Chris PausOuch Heidi! Wow!... I agree that some horses prefer contact. Star does. I have another horse who prefers you to just stay out of his mouth, but he's a completely different animal, brave, quiet, and slow... chris> I have to add a "ditto" to the above statement. I have one of these "spooky ayrabs" he's 8 but has only been under saddle a little over 2 years. We've been taking dressage lessons about 4 months, twice per month. It has really helped us both. Ash has dumped me 7 times in 2+ years. The last one really was a doozy! (My MRI came back with no compression fracture BTW!! Just 3 broken vertebrae wings!!) I noticed at this last spook/dump that Ash really appreciates bit contact. The dressage lessons seem to give him more confidence and he is learning to rely on contact to communicate with me. Our last spook I had transferred both reins to my left hand, had loose reins and was cantering along, using my right hand/arm to push branches out of my way. I was enjoying the scenery and not giving him signals, not telling him that he had nothing to fear from the horse eating logs that we were coming up on, so a 6' jump to the right and I was laying on my back on a gravel road! I learned a good lesson with him over this and I really think keeping some contact calms him. I'm going to ask my instructor tomorrow about my theory, as we have another lesson! Ash is 8 and everyone says at 10 they start calming, I'm holding everyone who ever said that to it!!!!! Heidi-aerc#M20935 /\_/\~ http://www.synjinarts.com ~~/~~ \\~~~~ (Wildlife/Western & Equine / O> ) \~~~~~ Art) / __/ \~~~~~~ (_@_/ | \~~~~ | \~~~~~~ | \~~~~ --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! ===== "A good horse makes short miles," George Eliot Chris and Star BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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