pace control

[LBHBHNCK <LBHBHNCK@FTC-I.NET>]

The problem of your horse wanting to keep up with the pack is common to
most horses at some point in their early career. Every horse I have
started in endurance has had to overcome that problem. I have started
four mares. What worked best for me began at home, with schooling
figures. We worked on small circles, both left and right, and made a
game of circling a small bush or tall weed, working to keep the mare
soft and supple, and develop the "habit" of circling with a light
request. We graduated to riding trail near home with one or two friends
who helped me. We practiced separation in small stages, with short
distances, and quickly getting them back together, circling away from
and back to the other horses. That helped my mares understand that there
was nothing to fear in that separation. My first several endurance rides
on each "new" horse concentrated on trail manners and obedience. If
necessary we would do small circles, or go around small bushes or tall
weeds beside the trail, until attention is focused back on me, and the
horse is moving at the pace I ask for. It takes a lot of repetition, and
a lot of patience, but over time, it works. Now my ten year old
granddaughter can ride either horse safely on the trail, and has
competed here in the southeast on both of the mares I currently have.
	I hope you have success. It's a matter of giving the horse cues at
home, developing a habit of obedience, and gradually transferring that
to the rides. 

God Bless you.     Lucie and Tamar Starofdavid; Christi and Bukkura