I used to event and hacked out my horses out a lot - never let them eat on
the trail because I found it very annoying and distracting from work and I was
taught this was bad manners anyway
now that I do endurance - I do let my horses eat - I actually discovered
this was a great motivator, especially say on the last phase of a longer ride
where the horse is tired - and also because I want them to eat as much as they
can of nice green juicy stuff while being ridden
it also keeps the overgrowth down on our forest tracks -so less ducking for
me!
the deal is that they can eat when walking, but they cannot stop to do so -
so they learn how to snatch branches and long grass without stopping and
pondering on it - no
eating when we are trotting or galopping ( ever been whipped by a branch in full
trot that your horse let go off at the last moment hihi?) - unless I pick a
branch and give it to them - had a nice canter yesterday with horse swinging big
clod of grass with roots attached I had pulled out and given to him - he
did manage to eat the grass and drop the rest while cantering along
also no eating when stopped, being saddled etc or when I'm getting
off because of the way eating can bump up the HR when arriving at the vetgate -
unless I tell them they can ( I lower their heads by a cue on the withers so
they know it's ok)
takes a couple of weeks to teach this - works fine for me but you do need
to be strict about the 'contract' ... all the time (dare I add especially with
(my) arabs)
From: "Jennifer Adam" <jatatahoe1@xxxxxxxxxxx> Subject:
[RC] eating on the trail
Well, a while back I said I
would take a break from asking dumb newbie questions, but I can't - there's
just too much I want to know! Sorry - and thanks for your patience. Here's
another stupid question - I had a discussion with some horse people in my
neighborhood last night about eating on the trail. Now, their main interest
is western pleasure and halter - they don't see the big deal about endurance
because they think any horse that can do a 10 mile trail can also do 100 -
just takes more time (:-/. Two of them never ever let their horses snatch a
bite once they have a halter on. The other two let them graze in halter, but
once they saddle up the horses aren't allowed to eat at all. They were
arguing that letting a horse snatch bites takes away his focus and keeps him
from concentrating on his rider. I will admit - I've been on trail horses
(those dude ranch kinds) that were so busy grabbing mouthfuls they hardly
wanted to move down the trail. It can be an annoying habit, but I want my
mare to learn how to eat on the go, how to eat quick when she needs to. So,
my question is - how do I keep her concentration and let her eat when she
needs to? How do you all handle it? Do you give a cue (lengthen the reins,
whatever) to let your horses know it's okay to eat? Or do they just like to
go so much that they automatically eat on the run? What is the right way to
teach a horse when it's appropriate to eat and when they need to concentrate
on moving out? I don't want to screw up my mare by doing something wrong.
Thanks - Clueless and Curious, Jen
