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Re: [RC] blind horses - heidiI remember reading this on your website. I can understand riding a blind horse in an arena where the footing is consistent, but wow - on an endurance ride!! With all the variations in terrain, the little dips, rocks, uneven ground.....I find that amazing! You say you would pick up on the reins for downed logs. How would you alert him to rough trail, rocks, dips, etc.? If I were blind, it would freak me out to have to navigate 50 miles of trail.....not knowing where my next step would land. Cueing him was to a large extent a matter of conforming one's own body subtly to what was coming up. It wasn't a "thinking" sort of system--it was something that just reflexly evolved over time as his eyesight became poorer. I never realized the extent to which we had built up such a communication until I began riding sighted horses again--I almost drove them nuts! <g> The fact that it didn't freak him out really underscored the degree to which he trusts us... He had never been hurt doing something he was asked to do, so he had no reason to think it would be otherwise when he couldn't see. (This is also the same horse on which we could pack wild game, run a chainsaw while mounted, trot down the trail pulling ribbons with flopping garbage bags hanging down his shoulders, etc. Very unflappable boy!) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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