In a message dated 11/09/2008 9:21:53 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
nutzo4horses@xxxxxxxxx writes:
think
even the best trained horses are subject to "losing their marbles" with that
level of excitement. Don't forget, they often mirror their riders and
I'm sure they were all extremely excited as well, and I'm sure the tension was
pretty thick.
I wasn't going to even comment on the training issue but after reading some
of the posts I am going to give my perspective because I ride a horse that has
major control issues at the start. He is a really successful horse (9 out
of 11 100 mile completions, 2007 National 100 mile award winner, 5th in the
2007 National BC championship, and 2007 AHA High Point 100 mile pure
bred). I am not mentioning his accomplishments to brag but to
emphasize he has been very successful at a competitive
level AND he has issues that I would never put up with if he
were a less talented horse.
First, I think it is wrong to make the assumption that you can "train" each
and every horse to be perfect at the start. I don't believe that. I
think some horses are hard wired a certain way and in certain circumstances they
are going to fall back on that default behavior regardless of how much training
they have had. In my situation with Ben, the key is finding ways to manage
this particular weakness. With most training and conditioning situations,
you try to simulate "race" conditions in training. Unfortunately, it is
difficult to simulate the energy/stress levels that would or could be present at
the start of a ride at this level.
Before going down the road and making the blanket statement that "all
horses should or could be trained to be perfect at a start", I would want to
know if these horses displayed any of the behavior/recovery patterns before or
was this just out of the blue. If the riders and coaches knew that
particular horses had issues, what was done to mitigate or manage these issues
so they would not be as much of an issue on race day? Even with the best
management techniques and coping skill behaviors in place sometimes *hit just
happens.
In my situation with my horse, I have found ways to be very
successful in competition without letting him run at a full gallop in the front
or be a danger to others. Yet, there have been times when absolutely no
management or coping skill would have made a difference. Does this mean I
should not be competing with this horse? I certainly don't think so.
But I would love to know if this kind of start is typical at the WEC level and
if the horses having problems had a history of this. If they did, what
types of management techniques were used to mitigate this weakness? Some
horses are so talented that you do try to find ways to manage excitement/stress
issues. The question is, if management strategies were put in place, why
they did not work, and how can you make improvements or adjustments to minimize
in the future.
Just the opinion of someone who has huge starting line issues.
