> Began steadily riding again this past summer. She has always been a
>good steady mare, never spooky. Some time back, she started this
>business of leaping sideways at imaginary "things". She would only do
>it once in a while-- maybe once every 3-4 months or less. NOW she has
>gotten to the point where she does it just about every ride.
Charlene,
You may have already gotten some resposes - I'm a little behind on all
this reading.....
You could try round pen type work to get her attention focused on you
before the ride. Also, since her attention will be focused on you, you
will need to be relaxed as you head down the trail because she may be
anticipating your anticipation.
>I was thinking about carrying a small crop (BTW, I ride her in a
>vosal), and if she sees an imaginary thingie to the right and jumps
>left, let her have it
Letting her "have it" may make matters worse. If you are ready for her
to spook, (ie: tense) and she follows through with spooking, then one
second before you wack her, she will already be ready for you to whack
her (if you had done it the last time) then she'll be mad about the
whack, and you two will be in a viscious cycle.
Right after she spooks, try to "see" what she saw, and imediately,
calmly, make her face it (John Lyons stuff). If she turns her head away
to pretend to look at something else, make her turn to face it again.
Eventually she will get bored.
This actually works. I used this on a mare who was in the habit of
trying to kill anybody who tried to make her do anything. She is finally
a nice trail horse - it took *lots* of patience, but it sounds like your
mare, since she developed this after being fine, will do really well.
Bambi