>>>> That puts the other horse/rider combo at risk, tho, for a horse that is quick and agile and can double barrel quickly. I find ear pinning and ugly faces easy to deal with. It's the double barrel without warning, or a warning so quick as to not have the time to react.
My beloved old QH, Sundance, was a model citizen in many, many ways...but he was an insecure horse around other horses. When I trail rode on him, he was happy out in front, or lagging well behind, but very defensive - appearing pissy - when he had to ride with the pack. I wanted to use him in the drill team the kids did at the time, so Dave Seay helped me work him out of it. What Dave did was really quite simple. Dave got on him (I'd do it myself now, but what did I know way back then...? Not much!) in the middle of the arena, and had about 6-8 other rider/horse pairs line up at one end of the arena. On a chosen signal, they all trotted from their end of the arena to the other, and as soon as Dave felt Sundance tense up - before he had a chance to even pin his ears - he firmly asked him to disengage his rear end, praising him when his ears went back up. My heart broke for my old boy the first time I saw them ride past him, because I knew he was terrified that the herd was going to run him over...but after about 6-8 repetitions, he'd see them coming and immediately start turning himself around - and finally he stood very calmly, not turning and not pinning his ears at all. That was a great group - everyone was so cooperative and so supportive, and so happy when he was all-better. After that, I was able to keep my wits and focus in those situations, and it was quite simple to ask him to disengage - although the need to actually disengage his hindquarters became more and more rare with time. I never let a kid ride him in the drills for the liability risks, but I rode him many times myself after that - no problems. (I DID always finagle it such that his place in the drill pattern was such that he'd either ride with just one partner, or at the end of a line, but he was fine with the group.) Knowing what I know now, I think I'd do it a little differently than Dave did it - I'm certainly not a huge fan of repetitive hind-quarters-disengaging. But, it really was pretty easy to set him up to force that particular reaction and to teach MYSELF to be more on guard. A horse that is disengaging his rear can't fire off a kick - if you can catch onto the timing. If the horse is an insecure horse - and it sounds like Whisper is in many ways- maybe you could add in a click and a treat whenever she averts the kick or the threat of kicking. As long as Sundance lived, I continued to ride with a red ribbon in his tail for extra insurance, but honestly, he was able to learn that he wasn't going to get beat up by the herd as long as I was on his back. He never kicked out again after that day. I really think facing his problem made him a more secure and happy horse - even though I never pushed it as hard as I might have. He was what he was, he was one great horse... just in his own way. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.6/1193 - Release Date: 12/22/2007 2:02 PM
