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At 07:27 PM 8/24/2006, Dyane Smith wrote:
> His mental focus is not great.  He finds everything around him so
> interesting, to some extent it's amazing he stays upright at all.

Chief still has moments where his mental focus is not great, or 
rather it is too great -- he is only focusing on "GO", and not any of 
the rest of the reality around him.  I'm not sure what to do with him 
(I tell myself that it would be dull to have a perfect horse, and 
there is never a dull moment around here that is for sure).  He 
thinks that a training ride is just as exciting as the start of any 
endurance ride, and wants to take off at a gallop headed away from 
home.  I don't know what drives his enthusiasm, I'm sure he is going 
to be a huge handful next week at Bryce.

> Did Chief have problems at the walk?  That is what amazes me about Akela.
> When he is out in pasture, a mine field of it's own with ground squirrel and
> rabbit holes, he never takes a bad step, at least when he's unshod.
>
> Would you have used boots on Chief when he was starting out?

I don't remember any problems at a walk.  I had tried to use regular 
easyboots on him over metal shoes and that didn't work -- he was such 
a clod that he literally fell down on all fours trotting in a flat 
arena (we called him Easyboot Challenged, and my other horses laughed 
at him and called him names). ;-)  He got better, but for awhile I 
wasn't about to take him on any technical trail and with boots 
on.  He adapted very well to the boots with the gaiters over bare 
feet, not sure why.  Maybe the weight of a boot and a shoe together 
was too much for him, but the boot by itself was fine.

Keep working with Akela and be patient, every horse comes along at a 
different rate, and it may take a lot of different experimentation 
until you figure out what is right for him, and then keep trying new 
things until you finally find what really works.  Had the boots with 
gaiters been available when I started Chief, I think I would probably 
have started out trying those because we always knew or at least 
thought that he had really good feet.  Even tho he may have started 
out being a clod, he does go down the trail easily and without a lot 
of impact on his body, which is why I think he is able to do so many 
miles without it showing.  The main challenge with him has always 
been how to manage him mentally.  Lots of long slow miles definitely 
helped a lot.

Karen

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