I could be wrong, but it sounds to me after all you’ve said and tried, that he might just not be ready and need some more time to mature.
Just my opinion! Good luck.
1 Like
He can do everything on the longe line or at liberty but not with a rider, yes?
It sounds like he’s just not balanced or strong enough to do it with a rider. Why not keep working at the walk and trot? Hills and poles. I’m sure it age and strength. He’s 4 right? He’s probably growing and everyday is different. He probably just needs time.
Thanks for your feedback stranger_cows! You maybe right! I just don’t know what else to try, and it could be he’s just a little slow to mature and I’m trying to rush him! He will be turning 5 this year now, and while we have made quite a bit of progress in retrospect, I feel like we could have made more. But maybe youre right! Thank you for your input!
Thanks for responding LilRanger! I got him last year as a 3 year old, have been working this whole year trying to figure out his buttons, so he will actually be 5 come 2021, but maybe he’s just a late bloomer? I just have never had an issue getting an ottb to ‘go’! It’s always been the woah that’s the hard part!
I bet he’s going to be a FANTASTIC 8 year old. I wouldn’t fret.
4 Likes
Get an exercise rider on him.
1 Like
After reading everything here, I agree with others that maybe he lacks strength. Now, I’m typically not a fan of longeing for training or strength, but I do wonder if a session per week in Pessoa rig (going long and low) would help. I’ve seen it work wonders when done well.
Do you sit on him at the trot and when you try to canter? Have you tried it from two point?
How about having someone lunge him with you up, if he’s very good at the lunging? Maybe that would help him make the connection.
It looks like the OP has already tried that.
From one of the posts above.
Have his feet been x rayed? I would do that as it seems like all other options have been exhausted. What about the teeth? Just floated or actually x rayed?
This is a huge clue. I know you have said all has been checked out but a horse who refuses to move is surely screaming something at the rider. Kissing spine?
I just saw this
He was noted to have some slight rotation of the hood capsule in one front off the track, but has been receiving corrective shoeing, has never tested lame, and is more than happy to take off running and kicking his heels up when turned out, so I don’t think he’s in pain at all
My bet is his feet are causing this. It is actually a very common response to foot pain.
3 Likes
Hi!
I read through most, but not all, of the replies, so forgive me if this has come up already.
I had the exact same horse. OTTB (who raced a decent amount). Always super quiet and unflappable. very hard to get in front of the leg. Came straight off the track that way. For Twizz, there ended up being a few (very fixable) things that were causing him to not want to go forward. One was his feet, which of course took a while to grow out. But he was MUCH more willing to go forward on nice footing. Has your farrier noticed any tenderness in the foot? The next thing that he struggled with was ulcers, he showed classic symptoms, but of course we know that not all horses do. His work ethic increased quite a bit when we finally treated him for ulcers. The biggest thing that helped him was putting him on a really good joint supplement. I work for a supplement company and I put him on our highest level of support “just because” because at that point I wasn’t sure that he needed it but figured it couldn’t hurt, The supplement I put him on has chondroitin/MSM/Glucosamine as well as Boswellia (which is a fast acting inflammatory support) and I am not kidding when I say the difference was noticeable from the start. He actually started volunteering to move when I asked lightly rather than making me beg. He remains to this day THE QUIETEST and most reliable horse, it’s just his nature, but he now has a great work ethic and is easy enough that beginners can ride him and get him to walk-trot-canter and jump quite easily.
So, in short, maybe throw him on a good joint supplement and ask the vet about the possibility of ulcers?
2 Likes
Ah, I missed that.
As long as you are certain it’s not anything physical…
I just started a horse like this. My trainer really had to get after me in the ground work/lunging to ask him to trot (or canter) quietly and if he didn’t go, touch him with the lunge whip. The circle had to be small enough and lunge whip long enough to reach him at all times. Then let him go around without making any clucking noise and just holding the whip level behind him, and when his pace died off, one word to go and the whip again.
Riding, we tried the round pen, lunging, and ground person following us around the indoor. What really worked was me getting off when he didn’t go forward, putting him on the lunge line again and reinforcing the forward, getting back on and trying again. I had to get off 3 times one ride just working on trotting.
Once I got braver, I also had to make the crop/whip mean the same thing as the lunge whip - ask quietly with my voice and leg to go, then crop/whip and he should jump forward. If I use the crop and he doesn’t go more forward, it get’s used again until there’s a big reaction.
The worst thing for these unmotivated horses is to baby the forward all the time. They need to learn to maintain the forward on their own or you will deadening them to nagging forward aids (voice, leg, spur, whip). I keep my rides really short, 15-25 minutes and we pretty much bomb around going forward and doing quick upward transitions and then are done.
Do you have a friend that you could ride with and play leapfrog with or have them pony you?? Some horses need to follow another horse to gain confidence. Does he have verbal cues down 100% for w/t/c/ whoa?? If not I would start there. Then transfer that to under saddle.
It really sounds like a pain thing if he doesn’t seem happy. Most horses want to go forward. Might be worth trying a wider saddle with a thicker pad in case anything is pinching when he gets going. I would treat for ulcers, see if any changes, and after try bute for a couple of days to see if a difference happens. If bute helps, I would have his feet and back checked.
2 Likes
I too love using the Pessoa once a week to give my horses back a break (and frankly to the let the chestnut dragon fight with herself and not me for a day).
I also would recommend Red Cell in his feed 
We had a GP jumper who was extremely lethargic and this really seemed to help him.
Good luck! Sounds like he may just need time. You seem educated & patient, I think he’s lucky to have you!
2 Likes
I would not add red cell to a horses feed without blood work and a vet stating that that’s what the horse needed. Most horses receive far too much iron from their feed and water alone and need it properly balanced with copper and zinc to not have crappy hooves and dull coat from too much iron.
3 Likes
I’ve worked with a couple ottbs, and a few have been reluctant to do more than walk with a rider sitting on their back. I think they’re used to jockeys/exercise riders standing in the irons. Have you tried trot or canter in a two point? I would get into two point with the cue to move forward and it would happen. After the transition I would start posting the trot, or sitting the canter and apply leg once followed by crop or spurs and two point again if they broke pace. It didn’t take long for them to figure out to keep going, but to get the initial gait, a rider off their back was what they had learned at the track, so that’s where I started from.
2 Likes
If it’s not a medical issue (and I’m not saying it isn’t) but IF he really is totally fine, then this horse just doesn’t sound broke. When you first back a horse they get kind of stiff and feel wiggly and backed off when a rider first gets on. We have to teach them how to be relaxed and go forward when we apply leg. He sounds like he may have skipped that day of school because he never got out of that phase. If I were you, I would just pretend he’s not broke. I think it’s more likely that he’s confused than he’s just that stubborn or lazy.
You mentioned that he’s hard to keep going. When you want him to trot, do you ask and apply leg and then leave him alone? Or do you have to keep leg on in order ton keep him going? My fear, is that it’s the later and that when you ask him to go, and he goes, you keep that leg on (because you just don’t want him to break), and then when you let him walk, you take your leg off. Then he learns going forward= pressure= not comfy. But walking= no pressure= much more comfy for baby horse. Same thing at the canter, if every time you canter your leg is on and your pushing just to keep him in the canter, he’ll just learn that cantering is not so fun because every time he canters it means more leg.
If I got on this horse tomorrow I’d pretend like I was teaching him to go forward for the first time. So to get a walk from a stand still, when he’s standing still your leg is on, your clucking, tapping lightly with the crop (No womping), or doing whatever it is to get that forward motion. The second he takes a step forward, you leave him alone even if you only get one forward step. When he stops, get your leg back on, cluck, apply pressure and get him moving forward until he starts going and then leave him alone. When he finally is getting the hang of it, you should be praising him and rubbing him and letting him walk on a loose rein relaxed as long as he is moving his feet forward (who cares what direction). Keep that up until he can go from a stand still to a walk without you having to keep asking to stay walking.
Then do the same thing from a walk to a trot. When he’s walking add leg until he trots and then the second he goes into a trot take your leg off. When he breaks, leg goes back on. Do that until you can ask him to move into a trot without you having to keep him in it. He should just go trot until you ask him to come down. Then same thing at a faster trot and eventually a canter.
Now obviously this is not how you’re going to ride him forever but this is how you teach him that going forward means there will be a release of pressure and not an increase of pressure.
6 Likes
Equkelly is on the same track as what I am thinking. There may be something physical to find yet. You could also try a bute trial to see anything changes. But I suspect this is behavioural.
Seriously, the horse is almost 5. He is strong and mature enough to wtc for a short time under a rider.
What you describe almost sounds like learned helplessness under saddle - he has given up on trying to find a release of pressure and has learned to just wait for it to stop.
My OTTB was angry and resentful of any kind of pressure rather than shut down, but definitely the fundamental issue was the pressure- answer- reward system had never been explained to him, and he thought people were persecuting him for no reason. It absolutely affected his very short racing career. I watched the videos of his races, he sulled up and quit dramatically at the beginning of the stretch drive at every distance they tried.
For now, focus not on schooling him in trot or canter or whatever. Focus on getting a response and then leaving him alone. Repeat over and over until he moves off freely. Start in halt-walk since this is a transition he already does. I too would do what you have to do to get him to move, but not punitively, and focus on immediate and effusive reward.
Train the reaction to strike off until he is completely confident, then see if you can use it to get a bigger gait, always remembering to take the aid off when he reacts. You will need to be very strict with yourself to have a neutral baseline- no nagging.
2 Likes
Did he ever make it to the races? Or was he just in training for awhile? I think it would be helpful to know whether he has always been like this (in which case he didn’t race or make it far in training) or if it’s something that happened after he had been galloping and racing on the track normally.
