Maine, Just Bought a 5 year old Tennessee Walker with Professional
Training for
1 year. She is ridden in a Western Saddle with a Short shanked
walking bit w/ curb by an Intermediate rider.
Question: This horse has been a show mare for most of her life, she
has a great diposition but I wantto know how to acclimate her to trails,
and help her along to go out on trail without other horses. She has
only been on trails twice with other horses without
incident, but i want to be sure to do things right and not cause myself
problems that i may have to fix later. I can have other horses go out with
me to begin with, but I am looking for professional advice. Thanks
From Panelists Christine
I would take her on the trails more often with other horses to get her
really comfortable about being out there. Ask her to be in the lead, ask
her to be behind and ask your friend with the other horse to get ahead
while you ask her to stay back, maybe go into a different direction for
a few hundred feet and then join up again with your friend. On the way
home you might want to ask her to stay back and ride home alone or get
well ahead of your
friend, so you have half the ride with another horse and half of the
ride alone.
I always make sure someone knows where I am going and when I will be back when I ride out alone. I always like to take young horses for walks on the trail alone, which is not only fun, but also very educational for them.
Good luck with her,
Christine
From Panelists Laura
It's so nice to see someone wanting to take the time to acclimate a
horse to a new activity. Good for you. I would suggest you
keep riding with other horses until she is extremely comfortable and then
take her out on short rides on the same trails you covered with the other
horses. Gradually build her up to longer rides alone until it becomes
old hat. If she gets really nervous by herself, go back to riding
with others for a while and then work
on taking her alone on very short rides close to the barn and each
day ask her to go just a little farther until she realizes it isn't as
scary as she thought.
Enjoy your horse.
Laura
