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With the smell of crisp fall air, it is hard to imagine a weekend without a leisurely ride on your favorite horse. But.....sometimes what seems like a good time turns into a nightmare. Your horse is jigging on the trail, wants to be in front of all the horses, kicks at the horses behind. Suddenly everyone's horse is acting up and it is no longer fun.
Sound familiar? Follow our "P" Plan below to have a better ride.
PREPARE:
Prepare your horse and yourself before you go out on a trail ride. Below, Jill rides Avan in the arena and makes sure he is in tune with her before she ventures out on the trail. She helps him learn to trust her direction so he knows to rely on her if he gets confused or excited.
 prepare your horse for the trail ride. Taking him over the bridge, through the carwash, over the highway and giving him treats at the mailbox will remind your horse that you are a leader he can trust.  If you don't have many obstacles, just find something you can direct him to, go around, walk over, back him up to, or move his front end or hind end towards the object. Use your imagination to prepare your horse for the ride ahead.
If you have a horse that is insecure and thinks he needs to kick the horse behind him, guess what? It is up to you to stop it. If the horse behind you keeps creeping up on your horse, it is also your job to keep him away.
 Cindy is using a branch with leaves to keep Doc out of her & Lucy's space. Use your progress string or crop and wave it in the horses face (be sure to discuss this with his rider first). You are protecting your herd and your horse will appreciate that his leader is taking the alpha role and protecting him. It will also teach the horse behind you to keep some distance from your horse without his rider constantly having to hold him back. After only a few protection lessons it is amazing to see how quickly the horse behind you learns just how far is far enough.
Games on the trail are fun. Remember those little 2' pieces of 1 1/2" PVC pipe you had after making your carwash? Well....cut them in half, drill a hole in the end and add a small piece of rope. You can paint them a bright color if you haven't already. You now have a baton. You can also use our Catch Jack for this game.
On your next trail ride, play a game of pass the baton. The lead rider has the baton and turns and rides all the way to the back of the pack, but before passing the horse behind him, he passes the baton to that rider. The lead rider will then do the same. This game keeps you focused on riding, gives every horse a chance to be in the front, in the middle and in the back, PLUS next to different horses. After about 3 cycles of this little game, no matter how many horses you have in a line, they will all settle down. We have lots more games on the trail - watch for them in our next DVD.
PICK:
Remember to choose your riding partners carefully! If they aren't willing to help everyone enjoy their ride and be patient with a horse that is having problems, then its best not to ride with them.
Trail riding is supposed to be fun for everyone. If you ride with people that do not care about their safety or their horses, they are not going to care about you.
A little story - Cindy was at a natural horsemanship clinic and her horse was deathly afraid of the cows in the pasture. Two of the more advanced ladies offered to put her and her horse between them and they rode three abreast through the cows until she was no longer afraid. Worked perfectly and Cindy will never forget their kindness and caring, both for her and her horse. Those are the kind of people you want to trail ride with.
Always remember that you are the driver and your horse is expecting you to navigate the way. You need to make sure you are in control of the destination, the accelerator, the brakes, the turn signals and safety. If you forget to be the driver on your trail ride your horse will assume you are just a passenger and he may choose to take you for a ride that you may not enjoy!
Following our "P" Plan is a great way for you to lead the way.
Happy Trails!
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