38/ JANUARY 2012 THE RIDER Stopping a Runaway Horse
stride whether they are leading the horse from the barn to the arena, loading him on a trailer, riding him outdoors or competing at a show.
By Ron Meredith
President, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre
WAVERLY, WV—Most people think you control a horse by controlling its head. That does not work. You control a horse by controlling its mind. And you control a horse’s mind by controlling your own mind first. Mind control is what the training program we call heeding teaches our riders. They learn to keep their mind in the game stride by stride by stride by
If a horse starts to run away, the first thing the rider should think about is riding the horse, not stop- ping the horse. Most of the methods proposed for stop- ping a runaway horse put you in more danger than you will be in if you just ride the horse until he tires or figures he’s far enough away from whatever fright- ened him in the first place to think about stopping on his own.
slam into a fence, or run into a tree long before he stops. Second, pulling his head around to one side and locking it there creates real balance problems for the horse. The horse may stop but only because he has gone to his knees or has fallen sideways. The first thing you should do when a horse runs away is to allow the horse to see where he is going and keep his feet underneath him so he has the ability to carry you safely.
If you try to stop a runaway horse by pulling hard on one rein to “double back” in a tight circle, you handicap a frightened horse two ways. First, you take away his ability to see where he is going. He is likely to tip into a ditch,
Trying to stop the horse with both reins does not work very well, either. A “cavalry stop” involves bracing the reins against the horse’s neck with one hand to get some leverage while pulling both reins through the braced hand and up. Or some people bridge the reins with both hands about halfway up on the horse’s neck then slide
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the bridge down toward the withers to crank the horse’s jaw in. The prob- lem here is that pressure by itself has no real meaning until you and the horse have agreed to its meaning. With a leverage bit plus all this brac- ing you might be able to exert sever- al hundred pounds of pressure against the horse’s jaw. But to a horse, that specific pressure has no specific association with stopping. To a frightened horse, the extreme pressure simply becomes something else to escape.
To make things worse, if you hang on the reins or tighten your arms or lock your back or clamp your legs, any move the horse makes uses your own braced muscles to bounce you loose. The horse can also pull you forward over his head easi- ly.
he drops his head.
Rhythm is the basic skill on both the riding tree and the training tree. And rhythm creates relaxation. So after balance you should focus on rhythm so that you can relax and get back in time with the horse. You can start by focusing on the rhythm of your breathing, then on the rhythm of the horse’s surges.
So the first thing to think about when a horse runs away—always—is riding him, not stopping him. You need to have a mental picture of rid- ing, of moving, with the horse. You need to control your mind and focus on problem-solving thoughts rather than allowing panic-driven thoughts to run away with your mind. The first thing you want to focus on is maintaining your balance. If the saddle has a horn or grab strap, it is OK to take a hold of it to help with balance but be sure to do it with a loose arm. Tight muscles will mag- nify the horse’s bounce and put you out of the saddle. When the horse first accelerates, you may need to lean forward a bit to stay in balance. But you should recenter yourself as soon as possible. If you keep your upper body upright, you will not go off over the horse’s shoulder if he makes a sharp turn or over his neck if
When you are in rhythm with the horse, you can begin squeezing a little each time the horse surges then relaxing to allow the stride. This squeeze and release puts you in time with the horse and begins to put the horse’s attention back on you. If the horse has not already stopped of his own accord, you are now in a posi- tion to begin using the rhythmic motion of your aids to help the horse relax. Gradually you can take back control and begin shaping the horse’s strides instead of just riding them. And now you can safely stop the horse with the full corridor of aids he understands as “stop.”
If someone is swatting a bee around their head with one hand and someone accidentally crushes their other hand in a car door, that person is going to forget about the bee. The pain in their fingers will quickly override any anxiety they had about a bee sting.
to become the safest, most comfort- able place to be in the horse’s mind, the place he can always trust to be the same the same the same. So when things fall apart, your goal is to get back to being the safest place to be for the horse so he can forget about whatever panicked him in the first place. You do that by control- ling your mind. It is not up to the horse to take care of you, it is up to you to take care of the horse. Lack of confidence contributes to panic thoughts so if you are not confident around your horse, you need to work on that. Heeding groundwork helps riders learn how to use rhythm to relax their horse, to show the horse that this relaxed state is a place that is really nice to be, and then keeps that feeling going between them as they progress up the training and riding trees.
If you do not feel confident that you can ride a runaway horse, you should back up on the riding tree to the place where your own rhythm or relaxation or balance or whatever starts to fall apart. As you master each of the riding tree skills in order, you will gain the confidence to stay in control of your mind whenever the horse goes out of his. ____________________________
When a horse panics about some real or imagined threat and starts running away from it, a rider that panics and clamps and puts hun- dreds of pounds of pressure on his jaw quickly becomes the car door instead of the bee. You become a bigger problem than the one the horse was worrying about in the first place.
Heeding is about learning how
Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his “horse logical” meth- ods for communicating with equines over 30 years as president of Mered- ith Manor International Equestrian Centre (Route 1, Box 66, Waverly, WV 26184; 1-304-679-3128;
http://www.meredithmanor.com), an ACCET accredited equestrian educa- tional institution.
Helmets Required for all Levels of Equine Canada Dressage Competition in 2012
December 27, 2011—Equine Canada and Dressage Canada are taking an industry-wide leadership role by requiring all dressage riders to wear helmets in competi- tion. Commencing in 2012, a national rule change will require all riders to wear helmets for all levels of Equine Canada sanctioned dressage competition. The rule for January 1, 2012 is:
SAFETY HEADGEAR
All riders, regardless of age or level or competition, must wear ASTM/SEI or BSI/BS EN approved protec- tive headgear at all times when mounted at any EC-sanc- tioned Dressage competition at the event location. “I am very proud of our Dressage Committee for taking this step,” said Equine Canada president Michael Gallagher. “I believe we are the first national federation in the world to introduce this rule across all levels, and I can guarantee we will not be the last.”
This change for 2012 is a modification to the rule that was put in place in May 2011 where all riders com- peting in Fourth Level and below, FEI Young Horse Tests, Material and equitation classes at Bronze, Silver and Gold shows had to wear helmets. This rule also included non-competing riders as well.
“Helmet use is an important step and component in the safety for all our members,” said John Harris, chair of Equine Canada Board’s Task Force on Safety. “In 2012 Equine Canada will launch a safety audit across the entire organization to examine and identify best prac- tices for safety. The well-being of our members needs to always be the primary concern of the organization.” “I am thrilled that Canada is promoting the use of helmets,” said Canadian Olympian Ashley Holzer, who routinely wears helmets during competition. “Helmets prevent head injuries, and I feel a rule that promotes the safety of its riders is a great rule.”
“Riders4Helmets is delighted that Equine Canada is demonstrating that riders safety comes before tradition by implementing helmet rule changes in dressage shows at all level,” said Lyndsey White, co-founder www.rid-
ers4helmets.com. “Courtney King-Dye’s accident showed that safety has nothing to do with level of skill. Any rider can suffer a traumatic brain injury—even an Olympian. Equine Canada should be congratulated on taking this monumental step.”
Most of the feedback received by the Dressage Canada Rules Committee on the subject of helmet safety was in favour of riders wearing approved helmets in competition. This rule change came after an open, demo- cratic process, in which all Canadian dressage riders had a chance to express their views to the proposal. For the complete Equine Canada Dressage rules for 2012, please visit the rules section of the Equine Canada website at
http://bit.ly/sr00gv.
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