Wet Saddle Blankets Make Better Horses, Riders

*First off, it's bloomin' hot here so I'm in the house trying to cool off!*

Boy, if nothing else, the title will get some people going. I've met so many people in the last few years who really think/believe that it's only training sessions that will 'fix' a horse.

Not so, and I'll tell you why.

When you get out on the trail or even the arena, your horse is working off energy (hopefully you aren't intimidated enough to keep him from working off energy). He goes forward, using his engine (his buns) to propel him and you. After a while, you should see a little bit of sweat in the triangle of his neck (the part of his neck in front of his shoulder where it dips inward a little bit, sort of looks triangular) and then he's close to starting to listen to you.

Even if you aren't a good rider and do things 'wrong', the longer you stay in the saddle, even going down the road, eventually you ARE going to HAVE to straighten up your back and get your legs into the correct position. If you go up and down hills, you'll figger out ON YOUR OWN that going downhill is better if you sit back but not so hard as to feel like you're pushing his middle down. If you go uphill, you'll soon realize (your horse may even tell you forcefully) that sitting forward and grabbing a bit of mane is the way to go, not just sit there like a lump on a log in the saddle.

It's better if you do have an instructor to show you the way but if you don't, if you have any sense of horsesense, then you should be able to follow and figger it out that some things don't work. Books that show the correct way are better than nothing and you can figger out the correct way.

So, by extension, if you start doing better in the saddle, your horse is happier too. If he's not and would rather be back at the barn, he'll get over it, you're the pilot. But if he's barn sour and insists forcefully on turning back to the barn, you'll have to become a rider (not a passenger) and show him the error of his ways. If he's a jigger, you'll have to figger out how to sit in the saddle and use your center of gravity and a little bit of rein (soft hands) to show him that walk is what you want. It won't come easy but you'll learn it can be done without an expensive trainer.

Even a horse that wants to pitch and have a hissy fit can be ridden and shown that he can have all the fits in the world, might as well get down to work and to knock off the shenanigans.

My old fashioned ways aren't popular right now but miles and wet saddle blankets are the way to go for fixing most major problems. Now, you might ask, are there any horse problems that CAN'T be fixed by doing so? Yep, there are in my book. Rearing is one that I do not deal with. A horse that rears to evade is gone from my barn on the next hot horse trailer out of my property. I'm talking about the real rear that Roy Rogers used to do only the horse means it to scare you...which it does me. I'm not real fond of runaway horses either. I now have plenty of fields that if a horse wants to runaway, he's going to run till he can't stand BUT I'm not strong enough, nor brave enough anymore to deal with this. He'd be gone too. (As an aside, I once had a mare who would take off without notice and she ran for a good mile before slowing, when she started to slow, I made her go and go and go till she couldn't go anymore. She never ran away again however, I was 35 years younger and had lots of cotton fields to do so.)

So for the basic horse and rider combos, just getting out and riding the trails over anything you can find, is the way to really learn to ride and be a part of the horse...and the horse is part of you. You have to come together in situations like this. No two ways around it.

Now, get out and ride!!