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Michelle, as a competitor and horsemanship judge, here is what I do,
and it has earned me a plus each time from the horsemanship judge.....although
my horse did lose manners points. The times have been few and
far between, but occasionally even my seasoned trail mare will misbehave.
I say to the vet judge, quickly and firmly,
"Excuse me, Dr......and even as I say that, I am correcting my horse.
You have only 3-10 seconds to do the correction before the horse forgets
what she/he did. However, I will add that sometimes it is not safe
to administer appropriate discipline, in which case a sharp jerk and vocal
uh-huh or no! will have to suffice....something to let the horse know right
now that he just screwed up.
A horse that offers to kick can be backed up a few steps with several
"no" or "uh-huh" commands and then walked back into place and asked to
present a foot or whatever the vet judge wanted. Remember to warn
the vet judge, as this person is in close contact with the horse.
Again, common sense should prevail, be safe first, and then let the horse
know you are not happy with its rude behavior.
Young or green distance horses are not always prepared for vet checks,
especially if the rider is new to either the endurance or competitive sport.
As a judge, I will talk with the rider and explain what is expected and
that the horse must always be corrected, even in the presence of a judge.
A well behaved horse only gets that way because he is consistently trained
to be "well-behaved."
Hope this helps.
Gretchen Patterson, R4
http://www.horsemassage.com
tpranch@internetwork.net
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