Dear Friends,
Slowly we creep forward toward spring, although it’s hard to tell from the horizontal snow blowing by my window. It’s hard to believe that clinic season is almost here and I haven’t even had a chance to put away my ski gear and clean up my flower beds! This time of year is typically crazy-busy for most people in the horse business as mares are bred, foals are born, horses are prepared for the upcoming competition season and we re-tool and re-group for the upcoming season.
Last month we had excellent shows in both Denver and London, Ontario; and an awesome fundraiser in Longmont, CO, for the Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center. This month I transition from horse fairs to horsemanship clinics. My first clinic of the season is this weekend in Granger, Iowa; there’s room for both riders and auditors in this clinic. Hopefully the weather will not send us a bad April Fools joke!
April 6-9 is the big weekend this month; every body who’s anybody in the horse world will converge in Columbus, Ohio, for Equine Affaire. This event is one of the oldest and largest horse fairs in the country and I am pleased to be back this year as a featured clinician, along with many other outstanding trainers. I am doing some cool new presentations this year in OH, including horses with issues from the ground (bathing, clipping, fly spray, bitting, etc.), horses with issues from the saddle (too fast, too slow, spooky, disobedient), desensitizing cinchy and head-shy horses, handling feet safely, improving your riding skills plus everything you ever wanted to know about the canter from cueing to lead changes. Even if you don’t live in the area, it is worth a trip to this show and I look forward to seeing many old friends there.
At the end of April, I have another horsemanship clinic in southern California at Pierce College Equestrian Center, near Calabasas. This clinic is long filled to riders but there is plenty of room for spectators. Learn in comfort from the sidelines as an auditor and you get to observe all of the horse/rider teams from the same point of view as me. With plenty of opportunity to network and ask questions, auditing is a fun and affordable way to learn important horsemanship skills and theories.
Also this month I have a CHA Instructor Certification clinic in Wyoming and a CHA Equine Facility Manager Certification clinic in Colorado Springs. In May and June I have more horsemanship clinics in Colorado, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin and Maine. Then in July I am off to Hawaii for a few clinics on Kauai and Oahu. After some fun in the sun, I’ll be headed to Washington, Iowa, Colorado and Wisconsin for more horsemanship clinics.
Many of these clinics, particularly the later ones, still have openings for riders. So if you really want the ultimate clinic experience, bring your horse and we’ll work together toward new horizons in your riding and training. Many of my clinic sites offer school horses too, in case you are currently horse-less or cannot transport your horse; call the clinic site directly for more information. Please see my clinic schedule on my website for contact information to register for a clinic. Also, we’ll be putting together my 2007 clinic schedule in the next few months, so anyone that is interested in hosting one of my clinics in 07, please contact Brenda at my office at (800) 225-8827 or goodride2@salida.net .
This month’s special, only available to those receiving this newsletter, would make an excellent gift for someone in your horse life that is struggling with confidence issues. It is a motivational audio CD that will certainly help prepare you for the riding season; order before May 1st and receive free shipping (a savings of $6, or 25% off the total price with shipping). Order now by calling (800) 225-8827, M-F, 9-5 mtn.
Below is a very LOOONG installment of my Q&A column; it took me all day to write! I get too many great questions each month and I have a really hard time narrowing it down to the best ones and I am sorry that I cannot answer them all. This month’s issue has everything from dog-chasing geldings to trailering to bellowing and scary instructors. It was ten pages long when I finished it, so you may want to print it out for later reading. I hope you find something of interest to you and your horse.
Until next month, ride hard and ride safely.
Julie Goodnight
Questions from you, answers from Julie
Q: How do I keep my horse from attacking my dog?
I recently got a new QH gelding. He is very well trained to respect people. He is my third gelding and I keep them here at home. He is low man in the gelding pecking order (I don’t know if that matters) but.... the PROBLEM is he chases my dogs. I have never seen this kind of pasture behavior addressed. I see him start and I yell and go after him and show him my dominance... but that doesn’t seem to make him respect the dogs. I walk thru the pasture a lot with my dogs and I have to watch him very closely. He puts his head down and goes after them to bite them. He seems to think it is fun. Help!
ANSWER:
A horse that is aggressive to dogs is handy to have around. I know lots of people out here in the west that have a mule or burro, just for that reason (burros are far more aggressive to dogs). A horse that is aggressive to dogs will teach dogs to stay out of your pasture and keep horses from being chased through fences by feral or out-of-control dogs. A trail horse that will be aggressive to dogs can REALLY come in handy when you get attacked by the neighborhood pack and you can turn your horse toward the dog and chase them right back to their yard (and it is fun too!). So I wouldn’t discourage this behavior too much.
If you intend to walk dogs through the pasture, the dogs should stay close to you and behave themselves (as any dog should when in the horse pasture). You can train your horse to leave the dogs alone when they are with you in your command, by just chasing him away any time he comes near. Most dogs are perfectly capable of learning to respect the horse and keep himself out of trouble. Your horse can learn when it is appropriate to chase dogs and when it is not, but if the dogs are gallivanting around the horse’s pasture while he is loose, you are not going to be able to keep your horse in check, unless you use a shock collar. Frankly, I’d rather have the quality in a horse of being aggressive to dogs and keeping the dogs in line.
JG
Q: Can I use a rope halter in a trailer?
Dear Julie,
A few years ago I purchased a quality rope halter from a Pat Parelli presentation. I've been told by numerous friends with horses to never use the rope halter while trailering the horse - (and since I've trailered only occasionally, and always in someone else's trailer, I've respected their rules). The friends always told me it was dangerous to use the rope halter in the trailer. I knew how the rope halter corrected my horse from pulling back while tied (he might still test it, but quickly gives in to the pressure of the knots). The fit is adjusted well -- and, more importantly, I learned to tie the proper knot so it never comes loose (such a simple knot!). Is it unsafe to use the rope halter in the trailer?
Thanks for your advice!
Yvonne
Yvonne,
No, I do not advocate the use of a rope halter to trailer horses, for several reasons. First, a horse will most definitely lose his balance in the trailer (thanks to our less-than-perfect driving and due to circumstances outside our control) and I wouldn’t want him to be uncomfortable (punishing himself by hitting the halter) just because he lost his balance. I prefer a comfy, even padded halter for the trailer for that reason. Secondly, the rope halter is not likely to break and in the event of a problem (horse falls down, trailer wreck, horse pulls back or tries to unload before his is untied, etc.), when you probably want the halter to break. For both of these reasons, the preferred halter for hauling is a padded leather halter.
Also, just so you know, the diameter of the halter rope and the number of knots on the nose, dictate its harshness or mildness. A narrow diameter rope with extra knots on the noseband will create much more pressure and in my mind, these halters should be used only for training purposes, if that much pressure is needed (although I find 99% of horses don’t need that much pressure). My halters are a wider diameter, with no extra knots, and they give plenty of pressure for training when needed, but are comfortable enough for every day use and on trained horses too. However, I do not haul horses in a rope halter. Good question!
JG
Q: Please help with my leg position.
Dear Julie
I'm writing to you from Dublin, Ireland to get your advice. I can’t write all the questions I want answered as the list would be quite large (!) but if you could see what you can figure out with the ones below, I’d be very grateful. I began riding at the age of 8 and took a break at the age of 14/15. I returned to riding in August 05! I am at intermediate level and competent in trotting, cantering and jumping. However, I feel like I'm going backwards!
I’ve recently started to stiffen up when trotting without stirrups as I'm concentrating on keeping my feet pointing ahead (have developed tendency to stick feet out) and therefore become slightly unbalanced in the saddle which I know is due to me raising and gripping with my knee’s. I can't seem to encourage as much impulsion as I would like and as I NEVER blame the horse but rather my underdeveloped skills, it’s becoming increasingly frustrating.
I have weekly lessons in a local riding school that I enjoy very much. I suppose I just don’t feel I’m getting what I need out of it lately. Long gone are the days when your instructor would correct your seat and whatever else needed to be corrected by hand. The norm in my school is to bellow as loud as possible and if all else fails, embarrass the rider. Although the bellowing is rarely directed at me, I witness it first hand on every lesson. I’m afraid to put a foot wrong in case I incur the wrath!! Hilarious, given the fact I’m now 32 years of age!
I also try too hard I think (and have been told) but what’s the solution, try don’t try??!! After what I considered not to be a great performance on my part in my lesson yesterday, I was told that the horse I ride, has now become dead in herself and lacks the impulsion she once had. I took little solace in the comment as I feel I should be able to encourage her a bit more than I am. I do not wish to “kick”, “jab” or “hit/strike” a horse as I don’t believe it’s the way to learn to ride. I know the principles of riding, which I have done since I was 8. I just need to fix a few things but need help in doing so. Have you any suggestions on how I can “lengthen” my legs, keep my feet forward and stop griping with my knees (the old way)?
Many thanks for your guidance by way of Q&A’s on your site so far. Best of luck.
Regards
Sinead
Sinead,
No matter where I go in the world to work with riders and their horses, the problems are the same. It’s not important to me what country you are in. There are many great questions here that many people in this country share and I hope I can help.
Your equitation issue, pinched knees and weak lower legs, is quite common, especially among English riders, and it is probably causing all kinds of other issues but it is fairly easily resolved. The stiffness and bouncing is all an expression of this one issue and once you resolve your position, you’ll be able to relax and absorb, rather than tense and bounce. You need to open your pelvis, put all of your weight on your two seat bones—none on your crotch, and let your legs hang long, slightly open at the knee.
Yes, open the knee, turn your toes out a little, try to even lift your knees off the saddle, first as you walk, then as you trot. At the posting trot without stirrups, you need to use the lift from the horse’s back and not the grip with your knees to lift you from the saddle. Teaching riders to keep the toe in can be detrimental to their equitation and is a rather outdated method, since when you turn your toes in, your lower leg comes off the horse when what we want is a very close or “warm” lower leg. My videos, Goodnight’s Principles of Riding, Volumes 1&2, cover these issues in much more detail and may be a useful tool for you.
The lack of impulsion (effort) on the part of your horse is probably more of a mental issue than a physical one, although having a weak lower leg and seat may contribute. Your horse knows that you are not willing to follow through on your directives; therefore he doesn’t have to try harder. Once a horse becomes disobedient, it is like a crack in the damn that leads to a bigger and bigger leak; so you’d better get this fixed before the flood. There are many Q&As on my website that have to do with your leadership ability and enforcement of the aids. In particular, look for ‘ask, tell, command.’ Horses are unbelievably keen to your level of intention. Your horse knows better than you know yourself, that you are not willing to reinforce your command, therefore you are not in charge. Generally, I only have to spank a horse once before he listens to my aids; one strong spanking is far more humane than the constant irritation of thumping on his sides or tapping with a crop.
The other issues you inadvertently raise in your letter, being yelled-at, humiliated and embarrassed in a lesson, are ones I get asked about a lot. No one can learn in that kind of environment and life’s too short to waste time on that. If I were you, I’d fire your instructor for being a jerk and talk all of your co-students, who have been the brunt of your instructor’s abuse, into coming with you to a new instructor. I do not believe people should treat each other this way, no matter what arena of life you are in, and certainly it has no place in a riding lesson. You are doing this for fun; you probably don’t need more stress in your life. If it isn’t fun, don’t do it; go find an instructor that you enjoy. Life’s too short to waste time and money with people like that. It’s no wonder that you are struggling with tension issues in your equitation while you are riding in an environment of harassment. Start looking for a better instructor and find someone whose personality you can connect to, whose riding and horse handling skills you admire and who can communicate (teach) in a way you can understand. That is the kind of environment in which learning soars.
As for trying too hard, yes, that can certainly get in the way of good riding. Often, the more we think/concentrate, the more we tense; the more we think, the less we feel. Riding is very much about intuitive feel and sometimes if you over-think things, it leads to tension and blocks out intuition. Of course if you are over-thinking something because you are being berated by the instructor, all the more tension. Those who know me, know that I keep my lessons as simplistic as possible; I firmly believe that riding at any level, goes back to some very basic and simple concepts. Sometimes students think too hard, sometimes they try too hard physically and I often tell students not to think too hard or not to put so much physical effort into it (like over posting). Riding is so much about feel and both over-thinking and over-riding will get in the way of developing feel.
I think you will find many more answers in my Q&A section. I hope you find a new instructor and get back to making some positive strides in your riding. Most of all, make sure it is fun and safe.
JG
Q: How can we stop a horse from running through openings?
Hi Julie:
I attended your clinic at Can-Am in London Ontario March 2006. You were outstanding! I am a very patient person with my horses and have trained 2 of my own. I opened a boarding stable in 2005 as I wanted a more natural surrounding for horses. One of my boarders has purchased a 5 yr mare off the track. She was retrained to jump but she was allowed to run thru any opening she saw. She is uncontrollable. She would stand and dance in front of the opening and even with a chain on her she would just barge thru. Then stop on the other side and turn to look at you. She is generally a nice mare. How can we stop her from running thru the openings? I have worked with her in the arena and she does listen. If she oversteps her boundaries I make her walk backwards. She will stop beside me when being led. It is just when she sees an opening. I am afraid she will hurt someone one day. Your comments and advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Glenna
Glenna,
This is a common problem and not only irritating, but dangerous. The horse has essentially been trained to act this way and it is probably exacerbated by her fear caused by getting hurt. That way, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for the horse, because she is afraid of the gate hurting her and every time she goes through it she is either smacks against the gatepost or gets jerked and yelled at, or both.
In the right hands, a horse can be retrained to walk through a gate one step at a time and you should be able to accomplish this in one session. First, I’d have to school the horse to lead well and stop and stand on my command, stopping exactly when and where I say and not moving a foot unless I ask it to move, all of this with me standing some distance from the horse, like 2-3 yards. I’d also like to be able to back the horse up fairly easily from the ground. Although I can accomplish this pretty quickly with most horses, for some people it may take a lot of practice and reinforcement to achieve this level of response from the horse. There is a lot of information about training good ground manners on my video, Lead Line Leadership.
Once I have control over my horse, then it is simply a matter of approaching the gate and making her halt and stand. You may have to start yards away from the gate when you ask her to halt; don’t let her get into the run-through mode—stop her well before that and make her stand. Then I will ask her to take one step and halt and stand. I may make her stand for a long while; my goal is not to get her through the gate, it is to control each and every step she takes and to make her halt and stand with each step through the gate. The most difficult part will probably be when she is right in the middle of the gate. Let her stand there for some time and reward her for being there; try to get her as calm as possible in the gate. If every time you walk the horse through the gate, she has to go one step at a time, this problem will soon be resolved. If, on the other hand, she is allowed to sometimes run through the gate, this behavior will linger for a long, long time.
It would be best to invest the time and energy to resolve this problem in one concentrated session (make a day of it—plan a picnic) and make sure that everyone that handles her thereafter reinforces this each time she is led through the gate. We actually practice this skill with all horses in training, by making horses walk slowly between trees and other tight spaces; many horses are naturally claustrophobic and need to be taught to be comfortable and still in tight spaces. This is not only for the safety and convenience of the handler, but for the safety of the horse too.
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
JG
Q: How do I get my horse to stay in the trailer so I can close the door?
Julie, I need advise on two topics:
Background: I bought my first horse last September, QH, age 9, Handy Broke. A wonderful personality and a delight to ride. He had 6 or 7 owners before me, the only known use was working in a stockyard with Cows. He is very, very light in the mouth and knows lots more than I do in general. I have been learning how to cue him for side passes, backing etc. He moves off at the slightest touch. He longes very nicely and I do not need a stick or whip to have him move off, stop, trot. Does need encouragement to lope on the line but that is coming along.
Question #1. This horse (Jake) is well trained. I am not. From watching your clinic in November and others, I am confused as to what I should be doing with the horse in the way of training, maybe question 2 will help you answer this one also.
Question # 2. I have bought a Brenderup trailer so we can go to different trail systems. I trailered him twice last fall to a park about 15 miles away. This was in a trailer owned by someone else, and there were 2 horses making the trip. The first time, it was a big chore to get him in the trailer. Once in he was fine during the trip. On the return he was tough but not quite as tough. About 2 weeks later we did the same trip. Not as hard to get him on going out, and he almost walked in on the return. Then winter set in and travel stopped, and in January I got my trailer. This is what I did, mostly during February when it was not icy.
A. I dropped the tailgate and just walked him near the trailer, for a day or two.
B. I then put a little hay on the ramp and let him stop and pick some up. Did this for
A number of days and then starting moving the small amount of hay up the ramp.
C. As he got two feet on the ramp, I then pushed the hay into the trailer until he had all four feet on the ramp (it is a 5 ft ramp). Continued this until he had two in and two out.
D. Then I put some hay in a hay basket and he finally walked in the trailer, and ate. I asked him to back out and he did (too fast). We did this a number of times.
E. The problem started is that after I got him in, he would take a bite of hay and back right out on his own. I was afraid to hook him with a trailer tie that I might panic him, and had no time to get the butt bar raised. By the way, some times in order to get him in, I had to lead him in. On this trailer the chest bar is permanent, I have to duck under it and that started to be a problem. When I ducked he never completed his entry into the trailer but backed out. Also I have been able to encourage him to walk in when I am outside, which is what I prefer, but this is hit and miss. In either case he backs right out.
F. Since I have been having only moderate success in getting him on board I decided to have someone help me load him this weekend and thought I would take him on a short ride for 10 or 15 minutes, but then could not get him to stay in long enough to put butt bar up, close the door etc.
I don’t know how to proceed. I need advise on what should be done. I have tried avoiding any rear pressure on him, and have let him have his way with backing out so as not to give him the idea he is trapped, but now I am trapped or stalled in my progress.
Thanks for any advice you can pass along.
Alan
Alan,
The answer to your first question is easy. Your horse does not need training, you do. And that is actually easier to resolve, you just need to become a more educated rider. Take lessons and/or clinics that focus on the rider and not on the horse. Although I am a big fan of natural horsemanship, many NH clinicians may not be able to teach you to become a better rider for your horse. You may want to consider some cross training, like taking some Dressage lessons on a schoolmaster. Of course, my riding videos will help a lot with the fundamental principles of riding, cueing, and the horse’s movement and behavior.
The kind of horse you describe is not always a good horse for a beginner. A “ranch broke” horse is generally VERY responsive to the rider’s aids and sometimes that is a problem with beginner riders, since they are not always in control of the often mixed messages being transmitted to the horse and most ranch-broke horses respond to the slightest signal, whether it was intended or not. However, it sounds like you have been making pretty good progress on this horse, so it may be a suitable match for you.
One more word of caution: when a horse has had that many owners (6-7 in 9 years). You have to question why. It may be for perfectly innocent reasons, but it could be a warning sign (sort of like looking at a resume and seeing that someone has changed jobs frequently). It is not a deal-breaker for me, but just one more piece of information I’ll use when making a decision on whether or not to buy a horse (or hire an employee). I am not trying to make you suspicious of this horse, but this is an opportunity for me to educate many people who may be looking for a horse or evaluating the one they have.
Question #2: Although the methods you used to train your horse to load in the trailer were not without merit, as you now know, instead of training him to load, you trained him that he can escape the trailer whenever he wants, so why not get in? Essentially you have trained him not to stay in the trailer.
Exactly for this reason, when I trailer train, it is not about the getting in, it is about teaching horses not to back away or try to escape in any other fashion. I believe there are some Q&As on my website about how I would do that, but the bottom line is that the horse cannot back up, at any time during the loading process. If I got your horse in training to fix this loading problem, I would start completely over and use the same techniques I would use to train a horse that has never loaded. I use a flag and flag him hard any time he begins to back up, stopping as soon as he moves forward.
You may want to use a long rope if you are loading him by yourself, running through the front of the trailer so that you can hold him in your hand while you walk around to shut the door. This will only work if he respects the rope and is trained not to pull on it. Never tie a horse in a trailer unless the door is shut. In most trailers, I would not even put the butt bar up unless the door was shut, but sometimes you have to. Tying or putting the butt bar up while the horse can still get his hind legs out can lead to deadly problems, if the horse gets his legs up under the trailer but he is still confined in the trailer.
Also, just for the record, I never bribe a horse into a trailer with food. Once he is in, I don’t mind if he gets a reward, so he begins to think of the trailer as a happy place, but he loads because I am the boss of him and it is where I am asking him to go, not because I am bribing him. Horses just don’t do well with bribery because they tend to think that they are controlling you (and they are).
We load our young horses in the trailer regularly (well before we ever have a need to take them somewhere), usually for a meal; they may stand in there for some time. In short order, the colts nearly run to an open trailer. At no time, even the very first time it is loaded, is the colt allowed to take a single step back or unload when he wants. In fact, we teach them to back out one step at a time, very slowly and very intentionally, even if the trailer configuration allows him to turn around and walk out (if it has this option, I’ll allow the colt to walk out forward a few times so he can learn the ‘lay of the land,’ then teach him to back out).
Check out my website for trailer loading problems and how to train a horse to load, and hopefully you can retrain your horse from a new point of view. Good luck!
JG
Q: What do you think of my last lesson experience?
Hello,
Loved this Newsletter! We are so looking forward to auditing Julie's session in Woodland Hills CA in late April. My husband and I sat through her session Kindergarten for Horses at the Pomona CA Equine Event in February, chatted with her a bit, immediately purchased her CDs and have poured over them time and time again. Not even being horse owners yet, my husband and I respect her style and expertise very much and would love to have her thoughts on my experience below if she would have the time to answer. I am particularly charmed by the fact that Julie's husband's new horse has the same name as the horse I mention below. The stable's lesson horse that I rode is Tucker, a 10 year old Bay Gelding;
I took my second western riding lesson last week. I do not own a horse currently but it has been my life long dream (I am 50 years old). I rode recreationally at stables for several of my early teenage years and have not ridden since. The trainer I chose (and I visited several stables locally) starts her students with a bare back pad (for balance I was told which seemed to make sense). After having sat through Julie's session here in CA one of my first questions was about ground work. She indicated that the lesson horses were already trained and needed no ground work as they were already broke. She has 30 years of experience training horses, owns and runs a beautiful, large equestrian center and is well respected in this area. I am just wondering if maybe she has not had "beginners" as students in some time. She typically has one of her other trainers give the beginner lessons.
The first week, Tucker, a 10 year old former reining horse, did fine with the bare back pad. My instructor and one of her trainers, who typically give the beginner lessons, had a conversation about Tucker not having experience with a bare back pad. But they decided to proceed. I had a wonderful lesson, groomed him first, and walked the ring with my trainer leading and me "balancing" at a walk on the pad. It was so thoroughly enjoyable. I came home and watched Julies CDs (for the 3rd time) and so looked forward to my next lesson.
Last Saturday did not go so well. I groomed Tucker and went through the preliminary work with bridling, placing the bare back pad on etc. When I went to mount him he seemed a bit spooked over something but we proceeded anyway. As soon as I got on him, he started prancing around (perhaps I touched him in the wrong place when mounting?) and decided that he was not going to stand still. With nothing but me and the bare back pad sadly to say during the second lesson, Tucker threw me off twice. My trainer had him on a lead rope and actually said to "get off". Just how does one "get off" with no experience doing so with a horse that is prancing and spinning, no stirrup etc....? So I sort of threw myself off. We tried the mount again and the same thing happened. My trainer then saddled Tucker put him in the round pen and ran him, then brought him back in the training arena and rode him herself hard. I then mounted him and completed a shaken lesson with the saddle.
The result of the lesson was a trip to the ER and an x-ray of my shin to make sure there were no breaks (a large knot still exists and horrible bruising of course) and a very bruised and sore tail bone even with crutches. I am very active normally and work out a lot and also know that getting thrown is a hazard of riding. (By the way I didn't know how swollen my leg was until I came home and pulled off my Roper.) The good news is that nothing is broken but my ego and I am anxious, albeit a bit apprehensive, to resume my lessons this next Saturday, if I am healed to do so.
Tucker seems like he is too much horse for me, used to reining and now turned into a "lesson horse". Perhaps the trainer does not know him well yet.... I know they will place me on a different horse this next lesson. I guess I am just still shaken with the lesson and the casualness. My question is how to approach this 3rd lesson (I paid for a package of four) to turn it into a positive experience. I so understand if no response is possible. And this does seems like such a basic question. We will definitely look forward to seeing Julie in CA in April.
Warmly;
Denise
Denise,
Your experience certainly involved poor judgment and was entirely avoidable. Personally, I am not a big fan of having beginner ride bareback, not only for safety reasons (as you know now) but also because without careful supervision, bareback riders can develop very bad habits. Although I know some instructors who do start beginners bareback, with great success, it is done in a very controlled environment on bomb proof horses, with the greatest attention to safety. For me, bareback is an excellent tool for intermediate and above riders, but not good for beginners.
A beginner rider, by nature, is not balanced on the horse. Without the benefit of a saddle and stirrups to help with balance, the chance of falling off (and therefore the risk of injury) is greatly increased. Yes, falling off is part of the sport and anyone who rides for some time will fall off eventually, but it shouldn’t happen that quickly. Hopefully not until you are well along in your riding and doing something more advanced. There is some information on my website somewhere about the equitation problems that riding bareback can lead to (perched forward, gripping with lower leg), but with proper supervision, those bad habits will not develop.
As for the need of ground work, perhaps it is you who stand to benefit from the work and not the horse. I would look for an instructional program that includes a holistic teaching approach, because handling horses form the ground is a big part of what you do with horses. I would question the lack of need on the school horses if the horse could not be held still for mounting and prevented from spooking while being led.
The other issue, and the most alarming one, has to do with suitability of horse to rider. It is a fundamental responsibility of any instructor to match the student up to a suitable mount. Obviously, in this case, the horse was inappropriate for a beginner and for probably for bareback riding. The fact that the instructor would put a student on a horse bareback without assessing the horse’s response to a bareback rider (and one that may get off balance), in my mind, shows very poor judgment. And it turned out to be an expensive mistake, both in terms of hospital bills and your confidence, thankfully not in terms of injury. When you hire a professional, you have every right to expect them to make good judgments that you are not qualified to make; in this case, you knew intuitively that you should not get on the horse, but you listened to her anyway. So one lesson for you is to trust your intuition and do not allow someone to make you do something that does not appear safe.
I have gone on record many times as saying I do not believe in “getting right back on the horse that bucked you off,” and your case is exactly the reason why. It is quite possible that you are injured and don’t know it and getting back on may worsen an existing injury. Also, the chances of a second incident are greater because both horse and rider are now tense and upset. Furthermore, the secondary decision to put you on the same horse that had just caused a problem emphasizes either doubly poor judgment (inability to learn from mistakes and assess a problem) or that ego is involved (never a good mix with horses). Either way, my advice would be to walk away from this deal without looking back and consider the money lost on your last two lessons as a cheap lesson in horsemanship.
I guess I haven’t minced too many words in this response J I am not known for dancing around a subject, especially when it comes to safety. I think you knew these answers in your heart, so trust your own judgment and always err on the side of safety. This sport is dangerous enough when everything is done just right, we don’t need to add to the risk unnecessarily. I suggest you peruse the CHA websitethe Certified Horsemanship Association. It is a non-profit organization with the purpose of promoting safety and excellence in horsemanship. Since most of the members are instructors, the website is full of information on teaching, professionalism and risk reduction.
Also, I have just completed a book for CHA called Ready to Ride? and it is written for people like you, just getting into horses (or with a child getting into horses). It talks at length about finding an instructor, what to expect, what your riding options are, how to prepare, should you buy a horse, etc. I think you’ll enjoy it. It will be going to press this month and you can order an advance copy by calling CHA (800) 399-0138.
Good luck and I look forward to seeing you at the upcoming clinic. Hopefully enough people enjoyed my presentations at Equine Affaire and I will be asked back as a clinician. Until then, ride safely and always ride a good horse!
JG
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