If you are riding an independent gelding who is high in the pecking order at home, he will deal with separation well, especially if he is bonded to you. If you are riding an alpha mare, you may find that she protects the other horse and is fine as long as its just the two of them, but becomes nervous and nasty when other horses come close to "her Herd". If your horse is on the low end of the social hierarchy, he may become frantic anytime he hasn't got his nose on the other horses tail, but doesn't want to pass. He may shy constantly, and walk very slow if you make him go in front of the other horse.

Now you may be thinking that you pleasure ride in groups all the time, and haven't had this problem at all. Well, don't think you're out of the woods yet! Have you ever stopped your horse at the back of the group and asked him to stand quietly while the rest of the horses go down a bank, across a creek, up the other bank and disappear into the woods, and then asked him to follow, carefully paying attention to where he puts his feet, not rushing or worrying about what happened to the other horses? You'll probably have to do this on your first trail ride, (and the 2nd, 3rd, etc.). Throw in a group of strange people (judges and their secretaries) lounging around on the opposite bank, watching your every move, talking and writing God-knows-what on those little note pads!

Now I'll give you two scenarios:

First, what you want to happen: You smile at the judges, urge your horse quietly down the bank carefully picking the best path, while you stay perfectly centered, the picture of equitation. As you approach the creek, you stop your horse and offer him a drink. He politely puts his head down and takes a sip, then you walk him quietly through the water and up the opposite bank, while you stay in balance, rising slightly out of the saddle as you go uphill, and walk placidly into the woods, and begin humming a little ditty as you go merrily down the trail. (Don't you just love it!)

Now, what really happens: As the horse in front of you vanishes into the woods, Your horse lets out a loud whinny and half rears. You circle him to get control before you start down the hill. Once you get him headed down, its all you can do to keep him from bolting. You circle again at the bottom and stop him at the water. Against your better judgement, you give him some rein to see if he will drink. He nervously shoves his head down toward the water only to bring it up sharply as he leaps across the creek.

Having thrown you off balance, he takes the most direct route up the other bank, right through the little band of people, scattering them everywhere, and scraping your knee on a tree trunk, pushing you off to one side, so that all you can do is scramble to stay on long enough to get a little control with one rein and circle him again. After you get him stopped, (well, at least trotting/ cantering in place) All you can think of to say is "do you want me to go back and try it again?" The judge declines the offer and turns back to the secretary who starts writing God-knows-what on that little note pad. Of course, at this point you don't really have time to worry about that, because your horse has started that little half rearing thing again, and requires your full attention. You fight your way on down the trail. You may be saying a few things under your breath, but you are probably not humming a little ditty!

Now, that I've got your attention on the buddying problem, and given you new comers fair warning about what to expect, I'll get to the second part of the subject: Following too close. Just how close is too close? Well, that depends on the terrain and whether or not that group of strange people with the notepads are camped out nearby. For safety, on a flat trail at a walk, you should keep one horse length between you and the next horse all the times. Like in driving, the faster you are going, the more space you need. so make it two horse lengths at a trot and three or more at a canter. Sounds simple - now try to convince your horse! I bet he never took defensive driving!

Going downhill, uphill, through water, mud or any kind of obstacle you should keep at least three horse lengths between horses for safety. (you might want to print this out and staple it up in your horse's stall - he'll have a good laugh over it). Now for the real test - THE JUDGED OBSTACLE. Sometimes, you won't have to worry about spacing, because there will be some fool standing in the trail right in front of your half rearing horse telling you when you can go.

Sometimes there will be a line of stopped horses in front of you and you just stop behind the last horse and move down the line until you get to the front. At that point, your horse, who has been sleeping and grazing alternately, while all those other horses were there, is suddenly going to see the horse in front of him leave, and immediately become a different animal. Now timing is everything. You've got to have him ready to proceed quietly as soon as the horse in front of you clears the obstacle. If you are lucky, and the judges allow it, the rider in front of you will stop in plain view and wait until you get through - or not. You can turn your horse and face the other way, walk a small circle if there is space, or just make him stand there quietly because you said so (good luck).

Now the judges want to have time to look at each rider individually, but they don't want to hold up the horses any longer than necessary, so you better be moving when the last horse gets clear.

My favorite scenario for the JUDGED OBSTACLE is to come upon it when you are by yourself. You and your horse have completely forgotten about that last horse that passed you. You just had a nice controlled trot down a clear trail and have come down to a walk to relax. You're humming that little ditty and life is good. You don't have to stop, you just mosey right through the obstacle, exchange pleasantries with the judges and ride on down the trail.

And that, newcomers, is why you may find it hard to find an experienced rider to ride with. It's not because we don't like your company, its because we are riding a horse - and horses are herd animals that have herd instincts that make riding in a group a real pain sometimes. Learning to deal with that instinct is the hardest part of CTR.

By Jean Green