> We are just back from the fifth Expo this month and I am sorry to say that > some of what I see as being taught as good horsemanship is IMO very high > stress training methods.
I'm sure that's what is shown at the exhibitions because who wants to watch paint dry? I think really good horsemanship training is too subtle and takes much too long to be shown at an exhibition. Good horsemanship training is probably not good show-manship (as in creating excitement from the audience). As an aside, I went out to weed-eat the back pasture, and Charm had to follow me down there, check out the weedeater, the can of gasoline, etc. I tried to shoo her away before I started it so that she wouldn't get scared when she heard the noise. She moved off a few feet, then stood there while it started up, coughing and choking (the weed-eater, not Charm), and winding into it's loud engine sound, not caring, then tried to follow along. Judy http://iceryder.net http://clickryder.com