gmk_08-18-2012_edition

2 - VT State Gymkhana Championships 2012

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Turnaround,Stop andRollback withTim McquayBy Charlene Strickland Green Grass Syndicated Features

In reining, a light touch leads to immediate reaction. Tim McQuay -- the first $2 million winner in the National Reining Horse Association(NRHA) -- is a master of teaching his horses to wait for the rider.McQuay coaches riders in how to achieve the standard of performanceset by the NRHA, focusing on helping riders to dictate every movementto the horse. In this article, McQuay instructs non-pro riders in thesteps of the maneuvers that can earn plus marks in competition: theturnaround and the stop and rollback.

STEPPING INTO THE TURNAROUNDThe guide builds toward the turnaround. In this maneuver, you

also rely more on the rein than your leg. McQuay coaches, “Useyour rein, not your leg, to tell him to steer.”

When you practice the turnaround, envision what you expect.McQuay emphasizes correct form first. The horse shouldcrossover with his outside front foot, stepping over his insidefoot.

McQuay looks for the horse to step around, to “step over thetop,” so he establishes the habit. “It’s just repetition. The horsewill get into a rhythm.

“I just lay my outside rein on the neck. I want the horse to getwhere his head is, get his body correct, and go around all by him-self. I want to feel the front end first.”

With your neck rein, you tell the horse to start the turnaround.“But after the horse gets going, he should go on his own, not withme pushing him around with the neck rein,” says McQuay.

He advises to signal the horse without pressure, with your out-side hand low. Some horses have been reined too hard, and theyrespond by whirling too fast, losing form in the turnaround.“Slow down -- step, step, step. I don’t push the horse. If he quitsgoing, I’m going to kick him. I don’t care if I go faster, as long asI get a nice step, a nice rhythm.”

McQuay uses his leg only to keep the horse going. A finishedhorse should need only calf pressure. He cautions against theneck overbending, or the horse raising the neck. The amount ofrein depends on the softness of the horse’s response.

“When he doesn’t give to me, I pick up,” says McQuay. “I wanthim to give his face to me.” He helps a horse stay relaxed throughrein and leg corrections. If the horse pulls against his hand, heuses his boot-heel and rein pressure to ask the horse to yield.

“Soften the jaw so you can put the nose where you want it. Getyour horse to trust you, so you get him soft in the face, soft andlow. Don’t hold his head to the inside, but with your neck rein,work on keeping the head and neck where you want them.”

VT State Gymkhana Championships 2012 - 3

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What about the pivot foot? McQuay advises not to worry aboutit -- just think about the horse turning inside an imaginary box.Horses tend to find the pivot foot during training, and judgesdon’t necessarily concentrate on only a hind foot.

If the horse tries to spin too fast with a tense neck, slow your-self down. Don’t get going faster than your horse. McQuay says,“Spread your hands out and tell him to slow down. He shouldn’tbe afraid.”

He sees riders trying to bend the neck with the inside rein,which can “bind up the shoulders. I spread my hands out quite abit.”

Keeping your hands wide helps free the shoulders when you’reschooling the turnaround. You’ll want to move your hands closertogether as the horse learns to turn freely.

With a confident turnaround, you’re ready for reining’s mostexciting maneuver: the stop. McQuay says, “You need to havethe horse guiding and steering well before you let him stop.”

WHOA FOR THE STOPMcQuay aims for his horses to learn to like to stop. He empha-

sizes stopping at different places in the pen, such as the middleof the pen rather than at the fence. “I want horses to like the mid-dle. They have to do a lot in the middle of the pen, so I want themto like standing in the middle.” By “a lot,” he means picking upa lead, lead changes, halts, and turnarounds.

He coaches riders in stopping on the circle, first asking forwhoa and allowing the horse to stop on his own. “Just say whoa.Put your hand down and see if you can stop him without pickingup. Remember that the whoa has to get to his ears, to his brain,to his body. The more he starts believing in whoa, the quicker ithappens.”

To practice the sliding stop, he instructs riders to lope to thearena fence to stop. Stopping at the fence, called fencing, helpsthe horse to concentrate on the rider ’s signal. McQuay advisesriders to start fencing at a lope. “I take the lead so I can push himaway from the barn. When I say whoa, I expect him to try to stop.


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Whoa means stop, period.”He varies fencing by riding the horse right to the fence, stop-

ping and turning around, or stopping a few strides before thefence. When loping straight to the fence, he tells the horse towhoa at the fence. “Your horse will stop if you say whoa,” hesays. “You’ve got to make sure he understands it.”

Maintain a consistent speed as you start for the fence. You wantto build your speed early, and lope or gallop at the same rate.When you say whoa, sit back and let the horse stop. Riding two-handed, hold the reins slightly above the saddle horn, and avoidbalancing on your hands.

McQuay points out errors in the sequence. “Your hands goquicker than your whoa. You don’t give the horse a chance tostop before you pull on him. Don’t pick up on him. Let him learnwhat whoa is--leave your hands alone. Sit back and let him stop.Let him learn what whoa is.”

He reminds riders, “Slow yourself down. If you run down andsay whoa and start to pull on him, he’ll start to brace on you.”Realize that the horse may not be ready to stop instantly, andgive him a stride to let him find the stop.

RESPONDING WITH THE ROLLBACKLearning whoa and the stop leads to the sequence of the roll-

back. McQuay demonstrates loping, stopping, a slight hesitation,and then the 180 degree turn. When he stops, he lets the horsestep back a step. The horse is sitting on his haunches, ready forthe next signal.

He explains, “Get the whoa really installed. My horses, when Isay whoa to them, they stop and back off the bridle. I want thehorse to stop and say, ‘What should I do next?’ Not, ‘Here’s whatI’m going to do next.’

“I want him to say, ‘Okay, I’m ready. I’ll wait for you. Tell mewhat to do next.’ I like that feeling. I want him to stop and juststep back. That’s all I’m asking for, to drop that head a little andget off the bridle.”

In the rollback, the horse readily makes the 180 degree half-turn, waits for you, then instantly lopes off when you signal.McQuay waits to use his leg when the horse has completed thehalf turn. He stops, sits back slightly more to rein the horse backover the hocks, and then picks up to rein the horse into the turnand lope.

He explains how the rollback signal contrasts with how youask for the turnaround. “Try to make a definite difference. Whenyou stop, you say whoa, pick up, go toward the shoulder, andthen you’re out of there.”

Let your horse stop, count two beats, and then turn. Wait to cuewith your leg when you’re going the other direction, and don’t betoo quick with your leg. Slowing your cues gives your horse timeto get his feet under him, so he’s not sliding to a stop but is ready


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Photos by Charlene Strickland


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for you.McQuay explains, “I don’t work with my hand down low on

the neck. I always try to keep my hand above the saddle horn. Imight be leaning into the turn, but I’m not standing up.”

The horse must steer effortlessly in the rollback. As in circlesand the turnaround, you move the neck rein in one motion, andthe horse moves away from it.

“Make him go someplace,” he coaches. “Make him run off, andthen let him relax. Make it crisp.”

McQuay counters any resistance he feels from the horse in therollback: “Don’t give your horse a second chance. Reining is nota second chance event. When you lay the rein there, he’d bettersteer.”

You may have to “help” your horse with the inside rein, so helearns to turn crisply. “Bump him so he sucks his nose back overhis hocks,” says McQuay. “Then put your hand down when he’sbeing good, so you tell him, ‘I’ll get out of your way.’ After youfix him, then you turn him loose.”

In this maneuver, you still want your horse to be soft. Heshouldn’t pull on your hand.

“If you keep him soft in your hand, he’ll roll back better. If heleans or pulls on you, pull on the face until you feel him give toyou.”

McQuay expects a quick response to the leg. “I cluck when I gothe other direction. Cluck when you spur. I want him to roll overhis hocks and then go.”

In his coaching, McQuay communicates how you need to bal-ance that “crisp” response in maneuvers with not rushing thehorse before he understands what you want. He repeats, “Slowyourself down. Give your horse time to figure it out.

“Your horse will start to relax when you stop picking andpulling on him. Slow down and make sure everything is correct.Then I think your horses will improve.”

Charlene Strickland is a member of the International Alliance ofEquestrian Journalists and an award-winning author of numerous arti-cles and books.


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Last Chance Training:

Retraining theSour, Rank andDangerousBy Marcia King,Green Grass Syndicated Features

A neat wooden sign hangs from a fence, not far from the road."Quarry Hill Stables," it proclaims. But for the owners of manyhorses, that sign would be more accurate if it read, "Last ChanceTraining," for here, among the rolling hills of easternPennsylvania, lies the last hope for horses too difficult or toodangerous to handle -- the biters and balkers, the rearers andrunaways. If they can't be straightened out here, they can't bestraightened out, period.

Re-schooling rank horses is a rewarding but frustrating chal-lenge that falls squarely on the shoulders ... or rather, into thesensitive hands … of Bruce Lachiusa. Rewarding, because if notfor Lachiusa's success in transforming the rank into the rideable,the majority of these misfits would end up euthanized or sent toauction. Frustrating, because most "last chance" horses are made,not born.

In a voice hinting at controlled anger, Lachiusa, an eventingcompetitor and veteran trainer in several English and westerndisciplines, says, "I've had very, very few rank horses that wereborn that way. About 90 per cent of the problems are caused bytheir owners. The sweetest, kindest animals turn rank because ofhandling." He's seen it happen in all breeds, all disciplines.

CAUSESMost problem horses are caused by riders who don't know how

to ride, like the tough guys (and gals) who grab the saddle hornwith one hand, the reins with the other hand, then kick the horse,and jerk and haul its head around. "They say they know how toride from watching tv," says Lachiusa. "They pull back on themouth, long and hard. The mouth goes dead, the horse getsscared. Then they say it's a mean horse."

Then there are the butt bangers, the stiff riders with locked legswho bang up and down on top of the horse's back. Says Lachiusa,"This gets the horse sore in the back and kidneys, so he hollowsup his back to get away from the pressure, which brings his headup into the air, which shortens the stride, and then he gets soremuscles all over. It's a very unpleasant experience, so he'll doanything not to have this experience again. That might be rear-ing, refusing to move forward, balking, that sort of stuff."

Some problems are caused by ill-fitting tack which can createan uncomfortable situation that a horse will want to escape from-- saddles, bridles, and, especially, increasingly severe bits, usedby ignorant riders as quick training fixes. Lachiusa illustrates, "Ifthe horse doesn't stop on a dime, they get a bigger bit. If he does-n't stop with that bit, they get an even bigger bit. Well, soon yourun out of bigger bits.

"In the grand prix showjumping and gymkhana circuits, I'veseen where some horses get more and more wired every year theycompete, until they finally show up wearing double twisted wire,gag, mechanical hackamores. Not only are you taking that bitand shoving it far into their mouth and cutting their lips and


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their tongues, but you're crunching down on their noses and theirchins at the same time. Anybody that rides a horse in that kindof rig is looking to get killed, because once a horse runs throughthat, there's nothing in the world left to go to. And a horse WILLrun through it; they panic and don't care."

Short-cuts in training methods can also create problem horses."I get a lot of horses that have been to high school but have neverbeen to kindergarten," Lachiusa says. "They don't know groundmanners, they run all over you, you get on their backs and they'realready moving." Without proper foundation and the slow bring-ing along of a horse that allows it to develop both mentally andphysically, horses may become fearful or resistant to advancedwork. "You start slamming a horse into a frame, and they getsour on you. This happens when owners want results and theywant them now."

RE-SCHOOLINGFor most problems, rehabilitation consists of re-schooling both

horse and rider. Explains Lachiusa, "Owners have to take les-sons, too, because there's no sense fixing the problem unless I cantell them how the problem occurred and how they're going tohave to change their riding style. If a person knows nothingabout horses, if they have terrible hands or a horrible seat, weusually send them to other instructors to develop their seat andhands while I have the horse, so by the time I get back to the rid-ers, they're pretty far along."

Generally, Lachiusa schools riders for about four or five ses-sions. Horses require far more time; the minimum is 60 days,with the most severe cases taking up to a year or more.

Re-schooling usually involves gentle handling, returning to thebasics, occasionally re-establishing respect from the horse, oftena change of tack, and nearly always determining the cause of aproblem.

For example, Lachiusa recently retrained a six-year-oldThoroughbred mare who exploded when ridden. "She had beento three different trainers trying to get broke," he says. "Theycould get on her back, but she would ride around all tense, stiffand totally unhappy, and then explode when she couldn't take itanymore."

Lachiusa discovered that her tenseness derived from beingpushed really hard in her early training. "She was just a marethat needed a very long time to break, and nobody really wantedto do that," he says. "Rushing her caused her brain to go intooverload and she acted out anyway she could."

To defuse her, Lachiusa took her back to beginning training,with longeing under tack to get her used to the saddle and sack-ing out to get her less nervous about her surroundings. "Wespent a lot of time just doing quiet walks and hacking aroundfields," Lachiusa says. "When I finally asked her to work, tocome up underneath herself and go forward on the bit, it wasn'tthis huge shock. Once she established that riding wasn't that ter-rible and everything was going to be okay, she settled down andtrained really nicely."

With runaways, Lachiusa also starts from "ground zero, justlike they were never broke -- halter breaking, all of it."


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He spends a lot of time riding runaways in circles. "The onething you don't want to do with a horse that runs away or is bitshy is to pull back on the reins, because that's what makes theirbrains go into overload. You use the circle. I put a big fat, soft,full-cheek snaffle in the horse's mouth so I can't pull it throughthe horse's mouth, and a set of draw reins, and just go out andride circles. The horse may be nervous, or go as fast as he wants;I don't care. He's going to get bored, so I wait until he settlesdown, give him a pat, and keep going."

Horses that rear usually do so because they are evading orblocking, are carrying severe, painful bits, are subjected to badhands, or had been taught to rear as a game that later got out ofhand. There are several ways of rectifying this, depending uponthe cause and the individual horse, but usually correctioninvolves going back to classical work -- circling, softening, andgroundwork.

Horses that throw themselves to the ground when mounted arerelatively easy to correct -- for those who know what they'redoing. "I put a set of hobbles on them, and as soon as they throwthemselves to the ground, I pull the legs out from underneaththem and leave them there," Lachiusa says. "A horse's twoinstincts are fight or flight, and his hurling himself to the groundis a fight response: 'You're not going to ride me.' I take both theseinstincts away from him, and he's helpless."

Lachiusa leaves the horse on the ground for several hours. Heplaces a blanket under the head to keep dirt from the eye, andprovides shade. He maintains this technique is not cruel. "If Ididn't fix horses like that, what is their next option? A captive-bolt stun-gun between the eyes and being shipped to France? Idon't use cattle prods, or whip them into submission, or beatthem over the head with a baseball bat. I don't hurt them. I usehorse psychology: I assert my herd dominance by taking theirflight characteristic away and showing them the fight option isnot going to work. When they get up, they're ready to pay atten-tion because they do not want to be down again."

Asserting dominance over a horse is also instrumental in

checking aggressive horses, including biters. "With your attitudehorses," Lachiusa says, "it can get really down and dirty. Therunaways and the rearers and situations like that are all gentle-ness training and re-schooling through classical dressage. Butwhen you get a horse that has an aggressive attitude, they haveto be met head on: Their pecking order is all messed up.

"I've seen a lot of that with orphans raised by humans thathave never learned their pecking order in herd surroundings.They almost invariably try to establish their herd dominanceupon their human owners (which they don't consider as theirowners). Horses play rough: When you watch them out in thefield establishing their dominance on another horse, you seekicking and biting. So when you have to teach a horse that youare higher than them in the pecking order, you have to go in therewith the attitude that this is the way it has to be. Although someof the methods I have to employ are rather severe, I don't usebilly clubs or baseball bats. I just get in there and explain to themwhat's not tolerated."

THE PROS AND YOUAlthough it may be tempting for riders to emulate Lachiusa's

re-schooling techniques, he warns that it's best to leave this spe-cialized training to the experts. "If a horse runs away with you,you obviously do not know how to handle it. If the horse is rear-ing and you can't stop it, you need help. If the problems are man-ifesting themselves, you've already lost the game."

What a rider can do, though, is avoid creating a rank horse inthe first place by not rushing a horse's training or skipping steps,and learning how to sit a horse. Build a good training foundationfor both yourself and your horse. Doing so will help ensure thatyour horse will never have to make the journey to a "last chance"farm.

Marcia King is an award winning author who writes extensively forequine, pet, and veterinary publications.


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Despookingyour HorseBy Audrey PaviaGreen Grass Syndicated Features

We've all been there. You are riding on the trail, relaxed andenjoying yourself, when your horse spies something "deadly." Itcould be a stray plastic bag, an approaching mountain biker or acreek you are about to cross. Whatever it is, your horse is deter-mined that this terrifying object is going to eat him, and that hehad better get the heck out of there, and fast.

Of course the result of this encounter usually goes one of threeways: You end up holding on for dear life while your horse high-tails it back to the barn; you stand up and brush the dust off yourjeans as you watch your horse gallop riderless down the trail; oryou stay on, but fight your horse for half an hour as you try to gethim past the object.

Many riders resign themselves to this mode of equine behaviorevery time they go out on a trail ride or take their horse to a newshow venue. They think it's all just a part of riding. But the real-ity is that you can teach your horse how to overcome his fears tothe point that you will rarely have to deal with a spook. Andwhen you do, you won't find yourself in a potentially life-threat-ening situation.

REPETITIVE EXPOSUREThe key to making your horse virtually spookless lies in under-

standing why he spooks in the first place. Marc Hedgpeth, a retiredmounted police officer with the city of Anaheim, Calif., specializingin teaches horses and riders how to cope with spooking.

"Consider the behavior characteristics of a horse," he says. "Thehorse is a flight animal and a natural sprinter. It has the fastestresponse time of any domestic animal. It is extremely perceptiveand has highly developed senses. It is a fast learner, and has goodmemory." Add all this together, and you have an animal that hasthe propensity to spook and react in a very physical way.

But Hedgpeth has good news too. "The horse is more quicklydesensitized to frightening stimuli than any other animal," hesays.

And the best way to take advantage of this aspect of the horse'spersonality is to provide frequent, repetitive exposure to fright-ening obstacles.

Through his business, Equestrian Services in Lake Forest,California, Hedgpeth offers despooking clinics where horses andriders are asked to negotiate a variety of potentially scary objects.In the sessions, horses frequently become afraid and spook, butriders learn to safely control the horse's actions.

Hedgpeth begins the sessions by exposing the horses and rid-ers to obstacles set up in an arena. Four types of stimuli areincluded in the session: audio, in the form of music, unusualsounds, rattling cans, gunshots and firecrackers; visual, usingtarps, bright lights, reflections, flags and other obstacles; scent,with flares, fumes and smoke; and touch, with silly string, bub-bles, and streamers.

Next, he focuses on teaching riders to control the horse's move-ment while the horse is negotiating the course. "Keys to negotiat-


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ing the course include proceeding at a slow pace, allowing thehorse to take the time to look and smell each obstacle," saysHedgpeth. "If the horse appears to be nervous, let him stand still,pat and reassure him. Do not proceed to an obstacle until you aresure that you can control your horse."

According to Hedgpeth, truly "bombproof" horses are rare."There are, however, horses that effectively respond to theirrider's cues and deal with scary things in a calm and safe man-ner," he says. "If we can train a horse to safely negotiate scaryobstacles and respond to stimuli in a safe manner, and if we cantrain the rider to properly cue his mount, we will develop a muchsafer rider/horse team."

SLOW AND STEADYKaleigh Arbuckle, a Canadian Equestrian Federation Level 1

Coach and trainer in Ontario, Canada, incorporates despookingsessions into her students' regular lessons. "I teach many firsttime horse owners and riders that have either lost their confi-dence due to a fall or some other riding accident," she says. "Ourlessons usually consist of a warm-up, lesson body and cool down.I noticed that many of the owners enjoyed their lessons but wereunable to be challenged further because their horses would spookin the corners or act up windy days and be inconsistent at the jogand lope. I decided it was time to incorporate despooking meth-ods into all of my lessons in order to give the riders a more enjoy-able lesson and give them tools to keep their horses concentrat-ing when I wasn't there to help."

According to Arbuckle, beginning work in despooking shouldbe done in the round pen. "I always start training in a round penin order to have control over the horse, where he will travel, andat what speed," she says. "The pen keeps both of us confined in asafe environment."

Her approach to training is considerate of the horse andinvolves reading each animal as an individual. "Patience is key

when despooking horses," she says. "I need to know how far topush the horse and when to back off and give him rest. Eachhorse must be treated as an individual and care taken not to rushthe training session. Basically, any horse can become more toler-ant of scary obstacles."

When teaching horses to cope with fear, Arbuckle starts withobjects horses typically see when being worked with from boththe ground and under saddle. Brushes, brooms, plastic bags,paper, and saddle pads are used for starters. "After the horse iscomfortable with the first items, I despook with other objectssuch as beach balls, flags, kites, and noisemakers," she says.

Arbuckle's process is very gradual. "I stand about 10 feet awayfrom the horse, holding the object," she says. "I walk two to threefeet towards the horse and stop. If the horse doesn't try to moveaway, I will turn around and walk away from him. If the horsedoes run away, I know that the item is very frightening to himand I must start by walking one foot toward him and then turn-ing around. Every time I walk toward him with the item, I amraising his emotions. If the horse keeps his emotions in check andstands, I walk away. This allows the horse to relax."

Arbuckle gradually gets closer and closer to the horse in thismanner until she is eventually able to walk up to the horse withthe object and have the horse stand. "At this time, the horse maysmell the item," she says. "Some horses will keep standing whileothers might run away. If the horse runs away, I ask him to con-tinue trotting or loping around the pen for a few minutes. Whenthe horse brings his attention back to me, I ask him to stop andstart the process over again by walking to him and away fromhim until I can stand in front of him with the object and he does-n't move."

Eventually, Arbuckle is able to rub the item over the horse'sneck area and then entire body. "Once I can rub the horse all overwith the item, I will start fresh with a new object," she says. "Istart with easy items and work my way up to brighter, scarier


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things."Arbuckle's round pen despooking sessions can last from half

an hour to several hours. "It all depends on how many items Iwant to work with and how the horse is handling the trainingsession," she says.

TURN AND LOOKWhen it comes to despooking horses, Cumberland, Virginia,

trainer Kenny Harlow subscribes to the philosophy that a horseshould turn and face whatever frightens it. "I want the rider tohave a tool he or she can use all the time when a horse spooks,"he says. "You want the horse to turn and face a car or a snake, andthen move on. The last thing you want is the horse's hindquartersin the direction of whatever is spooking it."

Harlow, who studied under John Lyons and conducts clinics indespooking, also starts his desensitizing work in the round pen.

"I start with an object that is small enough that the horse mightaccept it but will also have some fear," he says. "I get the horse toturn and look at the object, and then reward him by petting him.I keep exposing him to things that are worse and worse, from hisperspective. I don't move on until the horse is okay with anobstacle. The horse eventually learns that if he turns and facesthe scary object, it will go away instantly. This way, when a horseis out on the trail and a deer spooks him, he will stop and look atit. If a car spooks him, by the time he turns to look at it, the carwill be gone. Most times, horses spook at things that are moving."

For stationary objects, Harlow uses distraction to take thehorse's focus off his fear. "If a horse spooks at a still object, I willturn the situation into an exercise," he says. "I will start turninghim in a circle and make it bigger and bigger until we can ridepast the object. After a while, the horse will realize that everytime he lets me know he is scared, he has to work. So he will tryto hide it. He will tilt his head and walk past the object. After acouple of times, the horse catches on that he may as well quitbeing scared."


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DESPOOKING AT HOMEBy using some of the methods employed by these trainers at

home, you can help your horse cope with his fear and learn howto ride him through a spook.

"In every day riding, we can practice sensory training tech-niques," says Hedgpeth. "If your horse appears to be nervousabout something new, slowly expose him to it using the progres-sive desensitizing technique described above."

"Horse owners can work at despooking their horses using theround pen or a small enclosed area," says Arbuckle. "Rememberto be patient and use common sense whenworking the horse. When despooking from theground, wear proper footwear, protect yourhorse's legs with boots, and keep your trainingarea clear of any obstacles. When introducingeach spooky item, go slowly to ensure that thehorse has time to figure out what you want himto do.

"Under saddle, I have my students ride allover the arena, and there is usually one spookyplace," she says. "I teach riders to 'ground' theirhorses by deepening their seat and lookingdown at the ground along the path they want totravel. Spooking horses can sense this shift inweight and they start to respond by slowingtheir speed. The rider then has the horse'sattention. When the horse passes the spookysection again, the rider deepens her seat andlooks down at the path she wants to take. Thehorse responds by not spooking or bolting.Think about a boat's anchor. When you sitdeep, you are anchoring the horse betweenyour legs. Looking down helps avert your eyesfrom staring at the spooky corner, and the horse

responds by also not looking at the corner. "Reward your horse for effort, not for perfection," says

Arbuckle. "When your horse becomes more responsive to youraids while you circle and practice transitions away from the scaryplace or have him stand quietly while being rubbed with a scaryobject, he will become a more trustworthy mount, your confi-dence level will increase, and you will be able to ride anywhere."

AUDREY PAVIA is a consulting editor for Dog Fancy and HorseIllustrated magazines, and freelances for numerous animal-related pub-lications. She lives in southern California with her horse, Snickers.


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