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FW: [RC] Teaching Rearing - Mike SherrellKat, I only queried RideCamp because it's the biggest list I'm aware of and therefore most likely to include individuals with esoteric horselore (you popped up, after all). Is there another group to query about teaching horse tricks? Regards, Mike Sherrell Grizzly Analytical 707 887 2919; fax 707 887 9834 www.grizzlyanalytical.com -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of k s swigart Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 10:59 AM To: Ridecamp Subject: [RC] Teaching Rearing April said: Actually , a horse who already has a rearing issue is one of the few good reasons to teach rearing on cue. One of the fastest, surest, ways to get control of a bad habit is to teach it with a cue. If it is a "taught trick" that gets a reward for doing it right and you are not asking for it, it loses its appeal as an avoidance measure. This is not consistent with my own experience with horses and "bad habits." In fact, in most instances, bad habits become instilled because the horse has (usually inadvertently) been rewarded for peforming it so they volunteer it all the time in hopes of being rewarded for it. And if they don't get the expected reward, they will persist with the behaviour incessantly hoping for the reward (one of the reasons slot machines are so addictive is that the rewards are intermittant so individuals will continually pump money into them getting no reward in the hopes that if they persist eventually they will). And one of the reasons that teaching rearing can so easily lead to volunteering it as an avoidance is that the cue for rear up is almost the same as the cue for go forward (in fact, some people inadvertently teach their horses to rear up because they THINK they are asking them to go forward). Here is what Podhajsky (director of the Spanish Riding School for many years) has said about teaching the "Exercises above the Ground" (he doesn't include rearing up as an exercise above the ground, but the first exercise above the ground is the levade, which, and many people, in their attempts to teach the levade teach the horse simply to rear up instead). "Today only Lipizzaner stallions, because of their physical abilities which combine power with suppleness, are used for exercises above the ground. But even with this breed few have the necessary talent combined with proficiency and intelligence. Only after completing all the states of training, including that of the High School, will the stallions be ready for these exercises. If taught too soon, they would make use of them as evasions to defeat their riders." So...here is my take on teaching a horse to rear up. Don't do it unless the following conditions are met: 1. The horse must be fully and completely trained in everything else you want it to do. 2. The horse must have the physical strength to do it with balance so as not to scare itself and its rider. 3. The person doing the teaching and everybody else who will ever ride the horse has to know what they are doing (i.e. if you teach your horse to rear up, you may be creating a horse that only you can ride). And this one I learned from a wrangler for the movies.... 4. It is best if the horse you are teaching it do DOESN'T like to rear up. So don't teach it to horses that you have seen do it during play at liberty or those that you have seen pull back and rear up when tied. I am personally of the opinion that if you have to ask an internet mailing list of endurance riders (endurance riders are not reknowned for their highly schooled horses) how to do it, then you shouldn't be doing it; not only because you do not know enough to be teaching it to your horse, but you also don't even know enough who to ask :). Because if you do, you may not just be creating a horse that only you can ride, but also a horse that nobody can ride. None of my horses are sufficiently highly trained enough that I would teach them to rear up (actually, I wouldn't teach rear up at all, but I might be inclined to teach the levade...evenutaly); and I have one that I wouldn't teach it to EVER, because rear up and spin around is what he does at play, and what he did the first day I ever rode him. Nope, won't be teaching that horse, that trick. kat Orange County, Calif. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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