Tip 41: Runaways. What does circling have to do with “lions, and tigers and….butterflies?..oh my”
Circling is also a great way to calm a nervous horse. You let them trot or canter in a circle. They will begin to settle as they realize they are not really going anywhere, but there are at least able to move. If you are heading across an open field….it is a whole different story, as the horse sees the option of taking off. Rarely, a horse will break into runaway mode. This is not normally applicable to a school horse, but under the right conditions, any horse is capable. Especially when a horse or group of horses come flying by you. Why? They are herd bound. They…by their very nature….run with the pack. So it is not so much that they are willfully disobeying you, if they tend to run with others, it is they are obeying what is built into them instinctively. Their prehistoric mode is what has helped them to survive until this modern day. That mode is “fright and flight”. They are not fighters unless cornered. They run from their perception of danger.
I’m not so sure why their fear of danger for some horses may be something as terrifying as a monarch butterfly launching off a leaf on a nearby bush, but maybe to them, that may be a possible signal of more to follow. You know…like birds flushing out of the trees right before the lion attacks. Of course…I don’t think these horses have seen any lions in these parts…ever….but they say….. old habits die hard.
Another potential problem is heading back to the barn. Always a sound idea to go back at a controlled pace. If you are a weak rider and they are strong willed (and possibly really hungry) you may not want to gallop towards the barns…they may plot a new fight plan without any consideration to the passenger….you.
In any event, horses are very perceptive and some of them are very skittish and nervous. Those kind of horses are not considered good trail riding kind of horses. Good trail horses are those who are pretty indifferent to what dangerous creatures may be lurking on the other side of those fences and hedgerows. The kind of horse that makes you want to start whistling zippety do dah….you know….like in splash mountain at Disneyland…but without the 60 foot drop. One of the reasons that some places are not crazy about loose dogs out on the trails is when fido starts to dart in and out of the bushes. Those horses that are a tad skiddish with a monarch butterfly could have major heart failure with fido. We had a guy once who always took his trusted fido. One day, fido jumped out in front of his horse and he fell off and broke his arm. I know there is a lesson in there somewhere.
If your horse were to take off unexpectedly and you are not able to stop them, circling is a great way of gaining leverage and therefore re-establishing control by turning them into smaller and smaller circles until they stop. If you happen to be on one of those rare runaways, you want to separate into two hands and begin to pull the horse’s head into one direction. In my forty years, I have had only one horse that kept running straight with its head pulled all the way to the right. If that happens….do what I did….pray……..except Im not sure oh sh_t is amongst the verses of scripture….but it was going across the ticker tape of my mind on that day.
I wish you safe passage through the forests of dangerous butterflies !!!!!
