when i say “beat him” i don’t mean I’m beating him, i mean asking firmly, maybe using a crop, maybe i’m using my leg intensly, i should not have used the term BEATING him, bc i would never do that. Just trying to get the point across.
I was told by the lady that sold him to me, he does understand leg bumping. he understand squeezing with your legs and so i will do that. I also will tap him with the crop, on the butt. He seems to shut down with added pressure. it makes the situation worse.
Palm Beach provided a perfect description of an effective technique that got the desired result without upsetting the horse. I’d bet that the next time she encounters a similar obstacle, she’ll get the result a little quicker with a little less effort on her part. That’s training.
[QUOTE=Nezzy;8759795]
i get what you are saying, but whenever i ask him to move forward he is still doing it in places where he is not nervous. He is not being ‘bad’ but is scared. if i beat him when he is scared, i am afraid he’ll learn that the issue is much worse than it really is. So i am trying to get him to trust me.[/QUOTE]
I should clarify I don’t ride with spurs or carry a crop and I have a single rope rein and I am not one to hit my horses. I just urge her forward with legs & seat and keep her facing forward as best I can as we move toward whatever is bothering her.
As with your horse it isn’t a rebellion issue and thankfully I have the room and time when we trail ride to not worry about falling off a ledge or hill but can either get her going or get off and lead her past ( not a fan of that , but under certain circumstances…)
Might be in your best interests to leave the other green bean horses at home and stick with one seasoned rider/ horse pair for now? They do feed off others insecurities and it is no wonder he is insecure if fellow horses are having issues too.
As Palm Beach mentioned it is important to reward forward movement by releasing your pressure. Let him relax a few seconds when he moves toward the issue before you resume .
[QUOTE=candyappy;8760868]
I should clarify I don’t ride with spurs or carry a crop and I have a single rope rein and I am not one to hit my horses. I just urge her forward with legs & seat and keep her facing forward as best I can as we move toward whatever is bothering her.
As with your horse it isn’t a rebellion issue and thankfully I have the room and time when we trail ride to not worry about falling off a ledge or hill but can either get her going or get off and lead her past ( not a fan of that , but under certain circumstances…)
Might be in your best interests to leave the other green bean horses at home and stick with one seasoned rider/ horse pair for now? They do feed off others insecurities and it is no wonder he is insecure if fellow horses are having issues too.
As Palm Beach mentioned it is important to reward forward movement by releasing your pressure. Let him relax a few seconds when he moves toward the issue before you resume .[/QUOTE]
i don’t get to tell the other riders they can’t come bc they have a green horse. Whoever comes riding is who comes riding. I have decided to try to give him a little more patience and hoping he figures out he can trust me when i ask him forward.
I have a very willing horse that gets anxious at the drop of a hat. Using any kind of force when he is worried only escalates the situation in his mind. I have to allow him the time to bring his brain back to earth!
Keep doing what you’re doing, it sounds like you know what he needs. Time and patience!
I have a very good trainer with a very good husband who teaches very good techniques. He really gets into the horse’s mind. My mare (doesn’t have too much of a spooking problem, but there are some scary things out there, eh?) and I were galloping out of the trails and there was this black drain pipe that scared the you know what out of her! She dodged to the side and almost made me fall off.
Like a reasonable, smart person I dismounted so her and I could face the “monster” together. But my mare wasn’t having any of that. She REFUSED to go close to that pipe, even when I smacked her with my crop on her hind. She pulled me off the ground when she yanked her head up (!) and I fell down on my butt. Long story short, my mare spooked and I tried to get her to face that stupid pipe quite emotionally.
What I mean by that is I was frustrated, scared, and unsympathetic. To me, this pipe is just another normal thing. To my horse, this looks like a snake. She doesn’t know any better than to run!
What I’m trying to say here, is that horses are fight or flight animals, no matter how stupid/frustrating it can be. Learn from my mistake: make the moment as positive as it can be. Be kind to the horse while introducing the object. Give him frequent pats and if he absolutely refuses to face the object, leave it be. Come back to it the next day.
My trainer’s husband says don’t put the horse in a situation where it feels like it can’t run. Yes, I know it’s not a good thing for your horse to run away from its fears, but don’t trap your horse with the object, like I did with my crop. Hope this helped. 
[QUOTE=Nezzy;8760977]
i don’t get to tell the other riders they can’t come bc they have a green horse. Whoever comes riding is who comes riding. I have decided to try to give him a little more patience and hoping he figures out he can trust me when i ask him forward.[/QUOTE]
Can you not explain that you are wanting a calmer atmosphere while working through some issues and have them ride out well before you do? I would think they would understand. Even when boarding it doesn’t usually mean people HAVE to ride together.
I think patience will make all the difference in your horse and he will come around. Good luck.
[QUOTE=candyappy;8761908]
Can you not explain that you are wanting a calmer atmosphere while working through some issues and have them ride out well before you do? I would think they would understand. Even when boarding it doesn’t usually mean people HAVE to ride together.
I think patience will make all the difference in your horse and he will come around. Good luck.[/QUOTE]
No, they are my friends and i want them there. Their horses are not dangerous, just a bit on the green side. Every ride is a learning experience, be it good or bad. Their horses are trying to learn, just like mine is. I refuse to go around telling people who can ride with me and who cannot. Unless someone is a jerk, or dangerous, i will ride with them.
Nezzy, here are a couple videos that illustrate my method. This guy does a much better job of explaining it than I do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRQNZb1EeY&feature=em-subs_digest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG5DhgEbiDk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KczBxYJLSSw
You can see how working in a safe, open level space allows the horse to make the mistake and the rider to make the correction in a relaxed and unhurried manner. In the 3rd video, he’s taken the horse out of the arena, but it’s still a flat open space that seems safe to ride in. I had a horse a while back that was super good, but every once in a while he had a big spook. I’d ride him in a small paddock, then go get a plastic bag full of trash and toss it in a corner to add something unusual to the session. I also had a decorative scare crow that you see in stores in the fall, and I’d prop that up against the rail. This really helped the horse get over the big spook. He still saw something he didn’t like every once in a while, but instead of spooking, he’d simply stop and look. After a few seconds of looking, he was over it and off we went.
i mentioned that he is not afraid of anything he can see. he is very good about most things. It’s the stuff he can’t see that spooks him. I know it sounds weird, but that is the problem. i can’t desentize him to stuff he is already desensitized to and expect that he’ll get over the scary looking spot in the forest.
It would appear that the only thing you believe you can do is continue as you were when you started the thread. For me at least, and maybe others, that makes this a disappointing thread.
You probably will be fine because it sounds like your horse is basically a good guy and you are willing to accommodate him as needed, which is okay.
You have received lots of support and also good ideas of ways to train that build a solid relationship of trust with your horse, as Warwick Schiller discusses in the first video that Palm Beach linked above. Some of us are trying to describe the mindset that allows us to cultivate this relationship with our horses in virtually all circumstances, while progressing with training.
When you say “hoping he figures out he can trust me” it seems that we have not succeeded in this attempt because you could help him more positively.
That makes me a little sad, but I do believe as I said above that your horse will work with you in whatever way you want. Sincere best wishes to you and him.
[QUOTE=Huntin’ Pony;8762601]
It would appear that the only thing you believe you can do is continue as you were when you started the thread. For me at least, and maybe others, that makes this a disappointing thread.
You probably will be fine because it sounds like your horse is basically a good guy and you are willing to accommodate him as needed, which is okay.
You have received lots of support and also good ideas of ways to train that build a solid relationship of trust with your horse, as Warwick Schiller discusses in the first video that Palm Beach linked above. Some of us are trying to describe the mindset that allows us to cultivate this relationship with our horses in virtually all circumstances, while progressing with training.
When you say “hoping he figures out he can trust me” it seems that we have not succeeded in this attempt because you could help him more positively.
That makes me a little sad, but I do believe as I said above that your horse will work with you in whatever way you want. Sincere best wishes to you and him.[/QUOTE]
Well for the most part he does trust me. It’s those weird moments i don’t get 100% of his confidence. And i know i can trust him, he is a good horse. I just thought ( when i started the thread) that someone might have some kind of similar situation with a similar type of horse.
Sometimes it works to turn around and then ask the horse to back up in the original direction. If they back up maybe 10 feet and then get turned around they forget the issue and go forward. Of course you could only do this where it is safe to do so. Best of luck with your new horse!
When I read this thread a couple of things stand out - first, I get the feeling the OP doesn’t really want advice (not trying to be snarky but she/he has a negative response to almost all advice given, some of which is very good). I find myself wondering if the OP may be rushing the horse when he is unsure not giving him time to process the spooky noise/thing resulting in the horse backing. I had a friend who would get embarrassed riding with others when her horse stopped at a scary place and she would get very tough on her horse to “save face” - did not work well for building confidence for her horse. On my horse, basically a good guy and good trail/dressage horse, I would just sit there, wait to feel a slight relaxation, then ask him gently to move forward, allowing him to take wide berth around the scary spot (if possible). This gave him room to feel safe and to trust me. Also, it could be that the OP is leaning slightly forward with her upper body while applying the legs and or crop which is (especially if the reins are not loose) almost classic dressage rein back cues (horse does not need to be trained in dressage to react to these cues). She may not recognize that she is leaning forward since it is a human instinct when things go wrong (fetal position, protection of your innards!) and it can be just a slight tilt with the upper body that redirects the energy created by your legs to send the horse back. JMHO. Hope the OP works this out - the horse sounds like a good fellow.
i was not giving a negative response- i was trying to answer questions bc this horse is unusual, he’s not just being ‘Bad’ and no, i was not rushing him anywhere. I know how to sit on a horse. I have been riding since 1978.
There’s nothing unusual about the horse, just the rider’s refusal to do anything other than what she is already doing.
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