Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

This thread originated with a question about picking up the desired canter
lead from an uncertain posting diagonal. My response, admittedly the blind
leading the blind, as I am fairly new, was that it was easier for -me- to
get my communication w/ the horse *down* in a place of relatively few
distractions, variables, and uncertainties--i.e. a ring or a field, rather
than the trail. YMMV.

On one hand I have a 23-yo exquisitely trained Arab mare, who does not do
endurance, with whom my m.o. is to do as above. This worked especially well
for her jigging.

On the other hand, wrt endurance training, I feel like a one-woman
Young-Arab-of-the-Week Club. I have to jump on other people's horses whose
training I have no clue about, on trails I have never been on, with 3-5
other people who are focused on conditioning and making time. It is -very-
difficult for me, at my level of experience, and under these circumstances,
to develop remedial communication w/ the horse in the course of the ride.  I
find myself lamenting, "If only I could have 1 hour in a ring w/ this guy!"

Back to jigging--I perceive a couple of descriptions here: One seems to be
high energy, but not frightened. The other seems to be frightened and spooky
+/- barn sour.  Either way, what worked for me was working w/ my trainer,
doing clinics, and reading, and finding an eclectic mix of natural
horsemanship techniques that have in common working from the ground -->
working in saddle in a controlled situation --> trail.  All these methods
ential the notion of getting the horse from emotional mode into thinking
mode by paying attention to the rider. This in turn is done by perfecting
some variation of a hips-over, 1-rein stop or half-halt type maneuver in a
calm, familiar place. Mostly what worked for me was getting my own emotional
--> reflex muscular responses to chill out w/ tincture of time.

Beverley


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