Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

My situation is much the same with my mare....She does not like horses riding her butt or flank on the trail.  She's a dominant mare who also tends to be very much race-brained and reacts very strongly to horses close in beside her.  Especailly near the start I let people know to keep a polite distance between their horse and mine. 

 

I don't care where you are with your horse, it is NOT polite to invade my/my horses personal space.  I view "tailgating" and the consequences on the trail in the same way as the DMV does.  If you rear-ended me, then you were following too close/were not in control etc.  I've only had this issue once.  2nd day of Wild west, single track near the beginning, up a hill.  A long string of riders and we were stop starting.  I was leaving plenty of room between me and the next horse.  The rider behind me continually was in my space.  I warned her several times.  The 5th time she slammed into the back of my mare, the mare kicked her horse in the chest. 

 

I guess that is the biggest mood breaker at the beginning of a ride for me - me asking (very politely, with a smile) for a little more room and getting that nasty look.... *sigh* however I'll do it for the sanity of my mare.

 

Melinda

------------------------------------------------------------
From: "sherman" <sherman@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [RC]   Permission not to pass...

Portion of quoted text:

I try to pay attention to what's going on all around, just like driving. =
So
if I feel someone gaining steadily, I'll ask if they want to pass, and =
look
for a safe place to pull over. If they don't want to pass but their =
presence
is annoying my horse (my mare is particularly bothered by boys behind =
her)
then I'll announce "I'm going to pull over so you can pass because my =
horse
is bothered, blah, blah, blah. If they want to stay together, then I ask
them to stay at least 3-4 horse lengths behind (or whatever is required =
for
my horse to stop her "I'm really annoyed" behavior), and explain that my
horse doesn't like unknown horses close behind. I've never had anyone =
not
cooperate when I was the one in front that needed some rear end cushion. =
I
wouldn't tolerate someone riding our tail that didn't want to pass and =
have
never had anyone continue to ride close when I've explained my =
situation.



Kathy