Re: training when conditioning - "mentally rushing"

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

I guess I'm making too big a deal about this, but if I've got 3 to 5
hours to condition, I think using the bore-the-horse-to-death method,
which I like a lot, and which might conceivably take 20% or more of my
available conditioning time, would be awfully hard for me to consider.
Especially if I'm towards the end of the ride, I've got a schedule to
keep (you know, if you're late by x number of minutes getting home,
people think you're out there dead on the trail - & to be fair, they
could be right!), I'm tired, whatever.  so, for those big training
issues (or rather, potentially time consuming ones) I personally need to
think "training" from the start, and not try to interject those into
conditioning rides.

I guess the reason I keep making this point is because it has taken me a
long time to train my mind and it doesn't seem to be such an
insignificant part of the horse/human relationship any more.  It doesn't
seem like all that many other people deal with it, but training horses'
minds (like to go through water) has been a lot easier job than dealing
with my own.  Maybe if I had someone nice to correct me when I got to my
own "water crossings"...? .  Lif

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