kicking

[Katja Halfmeyer <halfmeyer@cc.ucsf.edu>]

Hi group:

I definitely like to hear different opinions on this topic, but we might
want to consider that some of us are talking about different situations.

I'm NOT a tailgater and I try as hard as I can to stay at least one
horse-length away from the horse in front of me <16 years of dressage work
should have taught me by now!>. By the way, you know that you are one
length away as long as you can see the front horse's hind feet between your
horse's ears....

Now we are talking about a situation at the start of a ride on a hot
horse....and still I never said that I was totally right, getting too close
to the guy in front of us, BUT if the crowd comes to a sliding stop
downhill with no for-warning after they had just taken off at some sort of
"trot-a-lopp" speed, which has some riders bouncing uncomfortably on their
horse's backs, ARE YOU SURE you were going to be able to stop your horse
one length away from the front horse??
I don't think so! 
This has nothing to do with how the horse is brought up or even further,
how the rider is brought up, it is pure physics!!

I'm around at least 10 endurance horse, living naturally in a herd with all
social life one can wish all horses had....how come none of these horses
kick whenever someone ACCIDENTLY bumps into them or gets too close?? I
don't think these horses are special, BUT they are trained!! As Linda said,
you CAN train your horse NOT to kick, but therefore you have to care about
fellow rider first! 

Did anyone ever experience that a young horse starts giving "meanies" to
other, strange horses while riding......then, if the rider did not pay
attention to this behavior, next time the "meanies" might be followed by a
little "let's-see-if-you-are-threatend-by-my buck-kick" behavior....if the
rider still does not pay attention to this and does not stop the horse's
misbehavior at that point, you can be sure that one of the next times the
horse will try to kick the other horse AND HIT, how should your horse know
that his behavior is not appreciated if you don't tell him/her?

I agree with Bob that we have to think in "horse-language", but since
riding horses has a lot to do with TRAINING, why should we stop at this
point and be a hazard for a whole group of people/horses. If your horse
does shatter one rider's kneecap one day, do you walk away and feel
alright, because it was her/his fault, not yours?????

As a conclusion of this discussion I had the idea that we might want to try
to educate people more about what they have to expect of their horses once
they do a ride, get crowded and feel the anxiety of a ride-morning. I have
the impression that there are rider on horses, who can hardly deal with a
situation like this and THIS CREATES A DANGER FOR EVERYBODY else, don't you
agree?!
How about some sort of lecture at the ride-meeting or an article in the
description of a ride....maybe a series of stories on ridecamp about
various events at starts of different rides.....just to give people an idea
about what to expect and how to prepare....some people might never have
been around anxious horses....it is an experience for sure!
Just my thoughts here, because I'm not a tailgater, I want to make the
horse-world a better place and I believe that education is the way to
go......and I sure will hang on to those reins for one more blister!!

Katja & Mario <on vacation with his buddies, leading the herd around>