>>>> The only time Blessi took off on me was in the early days (although we had a lot of discussion early on about stopping from a walk). I had a brilliant idea to hook a water bottle off those neat eyelets on the Icelandic saddle. As I was half mounted in my typical klutzy manner, I knocked the water bottle which thumped against his side, he took off, the water started thumping harder, I started yelling, he started going faster, and about 30 feet down the road, I fell off. He started grazing about 10 feet away from my landing site. I am not sure that counted as "bolting" or "owner stupidity."
Pamela...may I ask something, and if you don't want to answer, that's fine. Have some people told you that incident was your fault? The reason I ask, is that of all the years I've been involved with horses, I've NEVER seen such a strong tendency to "blame the owner" or "blame the rider" as I've seen within the "traditional" Icelandic community. At this point, I'm not really talking to you literally, but for all the other inexperienced owners who have been "blamed and shamed." I see what you described totally differently - that's NOT an "owner stupidity" situation if you ask me. We were ALL beginner riders at one point, and even when we're past our rank-beginner phases, "sh*t happens" sometimes. Any horse who's had a decent start under saddle should have had a gradual exposure to things flopping about above him, below him, between his legs, whatever. That's no reason for a horse to take off. A well-trained horse SHOULD expect an occasional klutzy episode from his rider, even if the rider isn't green. A horse shouldn't just run off when a water bottle flops from the saddle - not unless the horse has HUGE holes in his basic training. And...beginner riders WILL overreact. That's almost inevitable - no reason to point fingers. That's not your fault - really, it's not. And, to be perfectly fair, and I suspect you'll agree, it most likely wasn't Blessi's fault either. After all, a horse can't elect his options as he's being started with humans. A horse doesn't exactly know to go get all the potential human paraphernalia out of the tack room and test it out in every way a human might use it - correctly, or in a less-than-graceful moment. >>> When I had him a little longer, he got used to my klutzy ways and my desire to only walk. I rode him over to a fence one time to pick up a riding crop, lost my balance, and accidently whacked him in the butt with the crop. He started to gather himself up for a leap forward but paused, almost as if to ask do you really want this, which gave me the opportunity to say "Easy, easy, whoa, who." He never moved. Good for you and for Blessi! It's not easy to have a horse with holes in his basic training. And it's not easy to be a novice owner/beginner rider. And it's certainly not easy to deal with both disadvantages at once. I admire your courage for sticking it out. I'm glad you're on the list...and glad you'll talk about these things! Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.2/1142 - Release Date: 11/20/2007 5:44 PM
