start lines

[Lucy C Trumbull <elsie@calweb.com>]

Heidi wrote:
> >Thirdly, when actually at rides with a young horse, I will mount 
> >BEFORE the start, and ride the other direction, so that 
> >my horse does not get caught up in the hullabaloo at the 
> >start....  I will do everything in my power to never let 
> >the horse think that there is anything here to be overly 
> >excited about.
 
> and Dave B writes:
> So, we stayed well away from the
> starting line confusion and waited 10 minutes before beginning 
> our ride. Then we were able to treat it much like a ride back home... 
> No stupid stuff at all ...

This is the tack I'm working on with my young mare, Mouse.

We're going on the basis that everything we are doing
is actually "very dull". So far, she's falling for it and
has been unimpressed by all she has come across (although
she did discover that when she was allowed to sniff some
passing bicycles, that she could get her face closer to
the grass...)

For our three trail rides (so far)(this is called "working 
up to endurance riding") I've hand walked her out the first 
portion of the trail and was debating that that might be a 
good way to start any ride. 

She limbers up. I limber up.

She stays calm. I stay calm.

Works for us...

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Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@calweb.com
Displaced English person in Sacramento, CA
http://www.calweb.com/~elsie

and Mouse, who learnt this weekend how to drink
out of muddy puddles (mmm, tasty)
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