| I stated in another article that at some point the training | | | | not her best side. And the same applied to the horses |
| of a horse is finished and from then on we are talking | | | | - mine was not a reining horse and hers was not really |
| about managing the performance and behavior. Well, | | | | a dressage horse. |
| there is one exemption to this rule. This exemption is to | | | | Is there a point to that? |
| strive for excellence. | | | | Yes there is. You can train a horse to a certain level |
| Quite some years ago the AMHA had the annual | | | | and then just stop and use the horse at that level - |
| convention in Phoenix. A friend of mine gave a packing | | | | and be happy for the rest of your life. |
| clinic and when he was done another friend of mine | | | | Or you can go by the motto "there is always room for |
| and I wanted to move the horses a little before the big | | | | improvement" and keep working on it. I think this |
| dinner. My horse was still packed with about anything | | | | approach is were the real fun for you and the horse |
| you can hang on a horse while the other horse (and | | | | begins. You do not have to work on making something |
| rider) was tacked up English. We found an empty | | | | happen any more, you work on making it better - |
| arena and were just moving the horses when we | | | | maybe just a tiny bit, but better. |
| realized we had some spectators. | | | | For years I helped a friend working his ranch. I am sure |
| The girl rode a level two dressage along the rails and I | | | | that people camping out there sometimes must have |
| was honking down the center line to a sliding stop, turn | | | | thought that these two cowboys had a screw loose, |
| and go again - rifle, saws and all kinds of things | | | | when we were side passing down the road. But we |
| flopping. The horses had a ball - and we did, too. When | | | | had to spend the time in the saddle anyhow - might as |
| we quit after half an hour we had half the convention | | | | well use it. And there is always "room for |
| as spectators. The AMHA president mentioned this at | | | | improvement". If you side pass is pretty perfect - can |
| the dinner as a perfect example of the versatility of | | | | you do it with very little or without reins? |
| the breed. | | | | The real benefit of that is, that it keeps you and your |
| We talked about it later and realized that this was | | | | horse "on edge". It was always amazing to me when |
| probably the best performance ever - for horses and | | | | we started doing stuff like that with horses that had |
| riders. I never was much into reining but I got to sliding | | | | worked for hours - ears perked up, a little nicker and |
| stops with reins nearly dragging on the ground. The girl | | | | there we go. |
| was an excellent jumper, but dressage was normally | | | | Try it -it is fun! |