Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I'd agree here. My horses don't do endurance, they do trail riding  
lessons with people who can't ride. I can't afford for them to be  
spooking at things with novices on board. I'd be out of business in a  
week.  They may decide that they are not going over a ditch (once)  
but then I come back over the ditch with Mama Dory and tell them  
"Look PAST the ditch, stick his nose in her butt and kick the hell  
out of him"....voila, over the ditch. Once in a while an obstacle  
will be big enough that I will decide that we skip it BEFORE anyone  
gets the chance to refuse or spook....something like a dredge working  
on a canal bank where we will have only two feet in which to pass.   
That's not unreasonable. But to my gang's credit, their idea of a  
spook is a look and snort or maybe a sidestep of less than 18 in at a  
walk.  I leave that behaviour in the repertoire because someday my  
student is going to ride someone else's horse and that horse might  
really spook.  If they learn to deal with sane, polite little spooks,  
the students have a better chance of dealing with someone else's  
bigger crazy spooks...maybe.

I also make a point of riding each and every one of my horses in  
rotation during the week to remind them of the cardinal rule of the  
herd: "I am a carnivore. You are lunch."  And I have each of my  
students repeat the mantra as they get on.

Maryanne
and her herd of really sweet horses who can't possibly be Arabs  
because they don't spook

On Sep 1, 2005, at 2:27 AM, Diane Trefethen wrote:
> Do you empathize with your horse when he worries or gets nervous,  
> even if there is nothing there that is a real threat to him?  Do  
> you try to calm him with a gentle, loving tone of voice?  Do you  
> offer him a carrot or other goody to relax him in a "tense"  
> situation?  If so, then you ARE rewarding him for his behavior and  
> there is no way on God's green earth that a smart Arabian isn't  
> going to continue a behavior that gets him rewards.  T'aint rocket  
> science.

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