starting at a ride

["Tina Hicks" <hickst@nichols.com>]

You know, when you think about it, it's a wonder we can
control these animals at all starting a ride.

You are starting with a naturally herd-bound animal -the
horse, then you add the fact that most of us are riding
Arabs - who have that extra spark <g> to begin with, add
conditioning so he can go 50 or 100 miles, and a dose of
insanity with 100 excited other beasts milling in the
pre-dawn cool all feeding off each other, a dose of rider
excitement, coupled with the fact that it's darn hard to
train for this situation (and let's face it, these animals
will do most anything we *train* them for) and voila - you
have a bunch of horses going nutso...

In all seriousness, it's no surprise to me to have folks
posting that their horses go bezerk at the start - ride
starts really do have all the makings of a perfect disaster
<g>. But sane starts can happen (it's only taken 4 years
with my horse - 2 solid years of dressage, 2 more years of
just plain wet saddle blankets, and some education on my
part - and I thought I knew how to ride when I did those
weenie events <vbg>) - it takes training, time, and starting
at the back for while. 

Just FYI, if riding competitively is your goal, you do not
have to start with the front to end in the front - don't let
that hurry you into starting with the pack too soon. 

Tina
Tony - who is 13, has been at this for 3 years, has yet to
start with the pack and probably never will but who is now
sane at the start