I suspect that if the typical ride we attended had only
horses that were there to be number one rather than “to finish is to win”,
we’d be seeing a lot more of this behavior. The attitude that makes them always
want to be out front sometimes also makes them uncontrollable at the start. It’s
part of the package. One of my riding friends has a horse like that, no
longer campaigning, but the will and attitude is still there. The rider is very
talented and never goes off, but even after several years the behavior is still
not gone, the horse just wants to race and win. Maybe these big races should
have a quarter or half mile pre-start where the horses that need it are ponied
(:>)
