Rick Pelicano - Better Than Bombproof: New Ways to Make Your Horse a Solid Citizen and Keep You Safe on the Ground, in the Arena, and on the Trail

BETTER THAN BOMBPROOF

BETTER THAN BOMBPROOF

New Ways to Make Your Horse a Solid Citizen and Keep You Safe

On the Ground In the Arena On the Trail

Sergeant Rick Pelicano

with Eliza McGraw

First published in 2010 by
Trafalgar Square Books
North Pomfret, Vermont 05053

Printed in China

Copyright 2010 Rick Pelicano

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any means, without written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer quoting brief excerpts for a review in a magazine, newspaper, or Web site.

Disclaimer of Liability

The authors and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. While the book is as accurate as the authors can make it, there may be errors, omissions, and inaccuracies.

The authors have made every effort to obtain a release from all persons appearing in the photographs used in this book, and from all photographers. In some cases, however, the persons or photographers may not have been known and therefore could not be contacted.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pelicano, Rick.

Better than bombproof : new ways to make your horse a solid citizen and keep you safe on the ground, in the arena, and on the trail / Rick Pelicano ; with Eliza McGraw.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-57076-436-3

1. Horses--Training. I. McGraw, Eliza R. L. II. Title.

SF287.P449 2010

636.10835--dc22

2010004266

Book design by Carrie Fradkin

Front cover design by RM Didier

Typefaces: Frontpage, ITC Century Condensed, RubinoSansICG

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

dedication

To Anne and Elliott

contents

Preface

Better than Bombproof expands on the information from my first book Bombproof Your Horse. I felt a second book was necessary because most of us are not lucky enough to have a 100-percent-bombproof horseone that never flinches, spooks, spins, or bolts. A solid foundation in basic schooling will give you the tools needed to build confidence and to manage your horse under stress, so in these pages I emphasize the importance of schooling your horse and how it relates to bombproofing.

I show you how schooling exercises improve your ability to negotiate obstacles, multitask in the saddle, and manage your horse. The main equine model used in this book is our horse Elliott, an 18-year-old Danish Warmblood, and a very good example of the point Im trying to make in this book. He was a police horse at one time, but he can still be hot. This is just his personality. However, his high level of schooling gives his rider the tools to manage him when he gets excited or anxious.

With this in mind, Better than Bombproof starts with a review of basic schooling principleson the ground and in the saddle. Of course you dont have to stay in a traditional riding ring to school your horse properly. This can be done anywhere and anytime. I also discuss how schooling fits into the bombproofing process: There is a chapter on common problems that I frequently run into with my students that can lead to much bigger issues; and a section detailing compound bombproofing describes situations where you must multitask in the saddle.