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Spooky endurance prospect

From: Lynne

Hi,

I have enjoyed all of your answers and am now looking for one for my own situation. I am working out a horse (an Arabian gelding) for a friend. I have been working in the arena riding English and have developed a good working relationship with "Boo- Boo" . The owner had been working him on trails for endurance riding however he has been crowhopping at "horse-killer" bushes and birds and has piled her a few times, once pretty badly and he ran off on her. I have been getting kind of tired of just working the arena and am itching to get on the trail however the owner is uncertain about how we two will fair on the trail. Do you think I should try this first by getting off of him and walking for a few times on the trail so I can get him used to me and calmed down with the "bush and bird" events? I am thinking that she was pushing him too hard to adapt to areas he was scared of and he has responded by becoming a total jelly bean. Perhaps some short and sweet fun walks with an apple or carrot to munch as we walk?

I was thinking I could work this out if I take it real slow. He has never piled me, but I don't think a goofy trail horse would be fun either.

Thanks for any advice,

Lynne


Hi Lynne! When I hear stories like this, I think of three things. First, I consider the possibility that the horse might be overfed. Arabians tend to be easy keepers, and overfeeding them can make them bounce off the walls.

Second, I wonder whether the horse's owner may be a little timid. And third, I wonder whether the horse simply doesn't have enough to do. ;-)

One of my endurance rider friends has an Arabian that spooked at everything and spent as much time dancing as trotting until he took the horse on its first 100-mile ride. The horse had danced and spooked on the 25-mile rides, on the 50-mile rides, and on the 75-mile rides -- but finally, when the ride was 100 miles, that horse began to settle in and pace himself a little.

After that, he was a different animal -- he'd still spook now and then, but he had finally figured out that dancing around for 75 miles and then having another 25 miles to go was TIRING. ;-)

You don't say how old this horse is, or what his training has been, or whether he's used to the trails, or the terrain, or to working alone. These are all things I would think about. A young horse or a green horse of any age may need more time to develop good riding-horse habits close to home before venturing very far out into the big world. A horse that isn't used to the trails or terrain can become very nervous -- I've seen horses from dry, flat, treelesss areas become VERY spooky when moved to rocky, hilly, forested areas. They have to learn a new way to balance themselves and their riders, and they have to learn about trees.

From the rider's point of view, trees are trees -- they just stand there.

But from a horse's point of view, trees MOVE. The branches are always shifting, the leaves are moving, the light comes through them in different ways at different times of day. Trees also make rustling sounds whenever there's a breeze. These things can frighten horses that doesn't have any experience with trees and forests -- to these horses, the movement and rustling sounds mean that something is about to leap out at them! They learn differently, but the process takes time. It's easier to teach them about the harmlessness of trees by going on a group ride with calm horses and putting the nervous horse in the middle where it can clearly see how unperturbed the other horses are.

I'd rather go out with a group than handwalk a horse down the trail, but perhaps that's just me being lazy. ;-)

When you do go out, be sure to give the horse lots of things to do. If you go down the trail and you're tense and worried, the horse will probably panic. If you go down the trail and you're so unconcerned that you're just using the horse as a sort of four-footed ATV, and not talking to him or asking him to do anything, he'll have plenty of free (mental) time to notice and spook at anything that moves or rustles. So take him down the trail and keep asking him to do things -- bend right, bend left, leg-yield from one side of the path to the other, lengthen the walk, shorten the walk, etc.

Keep asking, and keep praising him when he does what you ask -- keep the communication lines FULLY open, ALL the time. You'll probably find that the first few times you go out should be walk-only sessions. For horses, speed = agitation, and you want a calm horse, which means that at least for now, you'll want a slow, BUSY horse. Let him know that you're still in charge, and that you have a long list of things for him to do. Then let him know that he's a very good boy for doing each one. ;-)

Your "take it slow and make it pleasant" plan is a very good one -- just add "keep him busy" to that list! Don't forget to file a flight plan -- let someone know when you're going, where you're going, and when you'll be back -- and ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET. ;-)

Jessica

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