I promised you my reaction to his solution (video below), that I find unrealistic. So unrealistic I want to personally tell him.
Hey, WS, do you know trail horse behavior? Do you spend a lot of time trail riding in groups? I don't want to be rude but his solution seems naive to the ways of horses out in the real world.
His solution would fail because:
1. It requires that the last horse in the group turn around and leave the group, back the way they came. Some expertly trained horses can do this...
2. It requires that the first horse in the group realize that the entire group has turned around and is leaving the way they came, but he must continue forward until requested to turn around too. Some expertly trained horses can do this...
3. It requires that all 4 horses continually backtrack trail. Horses enjoy trails, I believe, cuz it means going somewhere, and in a group, it's the most natural thing on earth to a horse. But turning around constantly and going back the way they came, and then turning around again and again, and again....Some horses can do this....(Baasha, but not most, and I should add that horses who prepare endurance trails are pretty good at this!)
I don't need to mention how difficult it would be to find 4 riding friends who would sacrifice their fun to play "turn around and backtrack" long enough that it would start to have an effect. That's obvious - it's even already in the comments for that video.
Then I realized that those exact 3 skills are required by every horse at every CMO ride. Your horse must be able to leave the team (if you ride in a team) and have the team leave your horse. You will always overshoot and have to backtrack, several times in a day. It is very frustrating to horses, and they have to learn these skills, they just have to deal with it. CMO is very difficult, but not just for the people, the horses must have extremely good trail skills to manage the sport. The good ones get it eventually and can backtrack all day and run and then stand completely still, and leave and be left, it really pushes the limits. As I've said a million times, it makes endurance seem easy.
Anyway, WS, you have a cute, funny solution that made me LOL (for real) but I doubt its effectiveness in the real world. Unless we all ride experienced CMO horses!
In the really real world, the solution is to play leap frog as much as possible. Yes it's frustrating for some horses, and requires a wide, safe trail, but it is the most reasonable way to teach horses to lead and follow. You need a group, but it's not as frustrating as WS's solution, it's even fun. I saw it work in Wuppertal this Winter with the kiddies on their trail rides - they loved the game of last becomes first repeatedly.....and taught the kids and horses valuable skills. Respekt!
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4 comments:
It will be interesting to see what drivers do When out with a group, when/if we get out with the club this summer. I imagine we'll always be last due to size!
Interesting, sounds like he expects what ranch horses do all the time lol. ride with friends, away from friends back and forth wherever the cattle seem to be. Fast, slow whatever is asked of them.
Crystal, I think horses have fun with ranch work and moving cows because they see the sense in that. Backtracking/leaving to get a cow makes sense to the horse, but repeatedly back tracking on trail is challenging because the horses don't always see the reason. I suppose even a ranch horse could have the issue of needing to be in the lead, even if you're not following a trail.
It would require some well trained horses and committed friends for sure. I suspect it wouldn't last. However, the horse she was describing was bolting which is a different thing. I used to laugh at Irish. He always wanted to be in front. Until he got there. Because he didn't want to be behind but didn't want to lead either. We used to play leap frog and it worked.
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