Here's a quick post script for anyone who rides my lesson horses...hopefully it applies to other lesson horses, too. Even though they are prey animals with big reactions, there are horses whose life experiences have taught them that not everything is scary and that they can relax and trust the right humans. Now, they are still prey animals and they can still revert to their base nature, but there are horses that are more solid and less flighty than others.
Shadow, Milagro, Speakeasy, and Big Mac are these horses on my farm. Sure they can spook, but it's just fairly unlikely. Life has treated them pretty well on this farm and they are willing to trust me that the mountain lion isn't going to eat them for lunch. So, they don't have the big spooky reactions very often. I just wanted to put your minds at ease before everyone called their riding instructors and said, "We're never coming back!"
Finally, notice I didn't mention all of my horses. When someone asks to ride Merry, Tar, or Chief I usually say, "That's a more advanced horse." This translates into, that horse has more and bigger prey animal reactions more often. Now, I love to ride Merry. She's fun. Another advanced equestrian said to me one day, "She makes you remember you're riding." Yes, she does and I love it. Cowgirl Slim has had enough of Merry in about 15 very tense minutes. She's not ready for her yet, but she is ready for Chief. Tar, well, that's a whole other story.
Ok, go have a good day.
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