I have been holding a whip when riding my horse for the past 4 months. Even with holding the whip he got so much more fast and listens to the aids more. In the past month I have noticed that he is not performing the same quality as before and he is just basically getting used to me holding the whip.My trainer always tells me to tap him with the whip and when I do, he either pins his ears and pops his butt up or he lets out a full on buck. I dont know why he does this as I have lightly tapped him with the whip so many times by now and he shouldnt be so mad! On the lunge line with a lunge whip he is an absolute lunatic, but on the ground when i touch him with a whip hes fine. Anyone have an idea why he does this?
Your pony isn’t mad… You have inadvertently trained your pony to behave like this under saddle. In other words, by doing these naughty things your pony is getting out of work. Try not to feel bad, I have definitely been there.
If these behaviors scare you and/or you haven’t had a lot of training experience yet, then you will need to have your trainer re-school your pony to the whip. If you touch him with the whip when you are riding him and he does one of these naughty things, the next step is a firm tap, then an extremely firm tap, then a whack, then a WHACK, increasingly applying pressure until pony shoots forward. Yes, you may end up flat out galloping before pony hops forward after a whack with the whip and there is more than a good chance there will be some bucking. However at the same time, you need to be 100% sure you are not catching pony in the face when you are asking him to go forward. This is a great way to then teach pony to rear.
I don’t know how advanced you are and this may not be something you should try. Your pony will up the ante too, they like the status quo as much as humans do. I had taught my mare to ignore my aids inadvertently, and retraining her to light aids (and that a tap of the whip meant get you hinny under you and GO!) was a bit too exciting at times. My trainer did the first session of this but warned me to expect some naughty behavior as my mare learned that this was in fact how things were going to be from now on. Yeah, my trainer was spot on like usual…
The next thing is that your pony needs to re-schooled on the ground too. He doesn’t understand what the lunge whip is and is afraid of it as a result. I would ask your trainer for help learning how to lunge your horse properly and how to teach him what a lunge whip is actually used for. Right now, he doesn’t understand why the lunge whip is being used for a correction, all he knows is that that scary thing is chasing him and sometimes makes noise.
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It sounds like he doesn’t really understand why he’s being touched by the whip–he doesn’t see it as an aid or a cue, but rather as a random annoyance unconnected to anything he does or doesn’t do.
The other (flip) version of this is the horse that becomes “dead” to the whip–they don’t respond at all.
It might be worthwhile going back to not using the whip and not even carrying it. It may be that you’re accidentally using it when you don’t mean to, or that your timing is off slightly, enough so that the pony doesn’t really get why you’re using it all.
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This was my story a year ago (minus the lunge whip part).
It was exactly as TheHotSensitiveType says and it took exactly that to solve. My coach called it the Cowboy Session. But it was necessary and now my horse respects the whip.
interestingly, he still holds back on my leaser as she still has not convinced him she means business.
Its funny that you say to go harder on him until he goes forward because that is what my trainer tells me to do every time he throws a fit and he ends up shooting forward and stop bucking. He doesnt understand the whip because his old trainer only carried one. I agree that increasingly adding pressure until he goes is a great fix.
I agree with TheHotSensitiveType. But also check how your pony responds if you just touch him with the whip. As in gently lay it against his side. My horse just simply doesn’t need much from a whip, and I think “tickle” rather than “tap,” otherwise I get a pissed off horse. However if he backs off when you use the whip, then he totally needs you to cowboy up and make your point known. It does get better!
I basically touch him as lightly as I can every time before I tap him and he gets mad. I never have given him a big whack.
You may want to do some basic ground work in hand to establish dominance.
That does not mean that you beat him, scream at him abuse him.
It means that he is to submit to you when you require it.
Use consistent fair aids.
This requires timing and good reflexes. Ask your trainer about this.
If the trainer blows you off , see if you can find a good colt starter or someone who is used to riding green horses.
Your pony is quite aware of your passivity and is taking full advantage.
The whip should not be used as punishment.
The whip is used to reinforce the leg aide.
I also suggest looking into TTouch.
Or go to you tube and look up Warwick Schiller. He has several videos which I think may be of great benefit to you.
Hope this helps.
Good luck to you.
And, you may want to check how you are holding the whip. If you are gripping the whip, you can not use it for even a tiny tap, with out hitting him in the mouth.
The whip should lie loosely across your palm with the cap protruding between your thumb and forefinger securely holding the reins. That way it take just a slight rotation of the wrist, rather than moving the whole arm to deliver said, “tiny tap”
You need a new trainer.
Seriously.
You haven’t been correctly taught that the whip is an extension of the leg, the correct cue is “leg, whack”. You apply leg as much as you want the pony to respond to , and if the response is not an immediate forward, the pony gets about a half second before the whip comes down. If the pony bolts forward, great! DO NOT CATCH HIM IN THE MOUTH! let him shoot forward. a couple times and you will have a pony that responds to the leg.
Between this post and the “strap pony’s mouth shut to compensate for my awful hands” post, you really do need a new trainer. One that will put you on the lunge until your hands are soft, and take the time to explain to you how to ride and develop the skill set you need to train a horse.
Your pony is sour, miserable, and stressed out, and your trainer isn’t doing anything to help the horse.
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I wonder if it is because there is something else going on. perhaps something in your position or your hands is telling him to slow, so when he gets the tap he doesn’t understand why. It could even be something as simple as your pony needs his teeth done, or your saddle doesn’t fit.
I would forget the whip and go back to even more basic basics to re-establish the go aid like you would a green horse. Consider studying learning theory as it relates to horses, and look up “conflict behaviour” to understand why he is bucking.
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Yesterday I tried a whip on the shoulder and I found that it worked exactly how the dressage whip on the bum SHOULD work. I think that this works better as he was a cross country pony for a few months (with a teen) a few years ago and had a crop.
DewiPony my horse worked well with a shoulder tap but then as I had no real backbone he began to ignore it as well. By the time I got good help he didn’t respond well to either bum or shoulder tap.
Just make sure he always reacts to it, and if he begins to take it less seriously, be sure to back it up by getting him to shoot forward.
Yes to this - be careful you are no simply transferring one issue for another 
A really good read, which makes it clear why all the advice you have received above is correct, is Andrew McLean’s “Academic Horse Training”. It’s an easy read, and breaks it down to basics.
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