Around the Mountain & mental conditioning

["B. Miskimmin/J. Curtis" <limnos@bctel.ca>]

Thanks for a great story Cheryl.  You raised a point that I think is not
all too uncommon, the mental conditioning of a horse. Some horses seem to
be go go go, they don't care where they are, who's in front, who's behind,
where the trailer is, or how far they've gone.  That's a great attitude,
but many horses get the "Blues" as you describe and start to putz along
even though you know they are far from out of gas. As soon as another horse
comes along - presto - they are gung ho again.

The explanation for some may be as you state (and I agree), that once some
horses get used to the shorter distances, they think they should be done at
25 or 30 miles.

But how do people out there deal with perking up those horses that "don't
feel like it" right now? Is it possible to mentally condition a horse, or
do we just have to be lucky enough to have horses that have the gung ho
attitude in the first place? 

Brenda 
(& Rocco - damn the torpedos! & Norm - I'll go if everybody else is going!)