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Re: [RC] re: Spooky Horse: Daisy - Ericka Nelsonhi daisy, i've been in your shoes. i advise doing as much arena work with your mare as you can. get lessons on her and when the both of you are comfortable, i mean, she responds to your legs and voice 95% of the time, then go out on the trail. i especially like what erin does, and that is walk and hike with your horse until you really get to know each other and trust each other. the other thing that is very helpful is to acquire a network of riding friends, ones that will ride with you when ever you can get together. for me, it works like this...one friend can ride on saturday, one on sunday and another on monday; not every one can ride every day and not every one wants to ride the same trails. i would say that one of the biggest helps has been having lessons out on the trail. i've had a trainer take my unruley horse from me and put him back in line. then, the next time he was an idiot, i did what she did and it worked! he is a better horse for it and i am a better horsewoman.. arena work, horse hiking, a riding network of friends and trail lessons, that's what has helped me. i don't like to ride alone, and horses don't either, they are herd animals. good luck and safe riding, ericka ----- Original Message ----- From: "A. Perez" <walkergirl@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 8:31 AM Subject: [RC] re: Spooky Horse: Daisy Daisy, It's hard to give advise without knowing you and your horse, but I'll take a stab at it anyway. First, I'd try leading the mare around the cross-country course. Notice what sets her off or concerns her: is the the obstacles? The open space? Where does she seem the least upset? You are trying to determne the boundaries of her comfort-zone, so you can work within it. Do ground-work in the cc-course: lunging, ground-driving etc, until she settles down, before riding her there. If you can borrow a horse to pony her from, even better. As with any training exercise, start off with short easy sessions, and GRADUALLY increase the time/intensity, and praise her to the skies as long as she isn't blowing up. Your goal is to keep her within her comfort zone while SLOWLY, incrementally pushing the envelope and expanding it. The next step, ideally, is to ride her in the cc-course with a calmer companion under saddle, assuming you have a friend with a quiet horse who will ride with you. Again, start of with brief sessions, within her comfort zone. Now notice how YOU react to her: are you tensing up? Holding your breath? Gripping with the legs or hanging on her mouth? Horses are very sensitive to the rider and get nervous if the rider seems nervous. When my Idiot Boy gets wierded out by things, I say, matter-of-factly, "Cyclone, don't be an idiot". I try to convey that I am in control and I don't care about the monster, so he shouldn't either. I do my best to stay physically relaxed, not gripping my legs or getting into his mouth too much. If I can relax, he usually does too. It usually works. Of course, if you are not confident in your ability to keep her under control, you might work on your rdining skills as well. dressage lessons, riding bare-back (in the ring of course), whatever you think will help improve your ability to stay on and handle her. Good luck. ========================================================== Hi, I have been having some problems conditioning my horse, because I don't want to ride her on the trail alone, because she has a tendency to go nuts. I can pretty much handle the spooks, but I don't think it's a good idea to go on long rides alone on a unpredictable horse. The ranch I am at has a cross-country course, which I would like to use, but my mare blows up so often in the big open fields, that it seems even more dangerous than riding farther away. Does anybody have any advice? Thanks! Daisy ________________________________________________ Get your own "800" number Voicemail, fax, email, and a lot more http://www.ureach.com/reg/tag =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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