So basically with my previous instructions, the trainers were just looking for money and didn’t really know what they were doing. Plus it didn’t really help that I moved around a lot so as soon as I started progressing, I had to leave and find a new barn. However, I am at a very good barn right now and they have me on very good school horses and I have been working a lot on cantering. Like I said before, my grandmas horse is very well mannered and sweet. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. BUT ever since she moved to this farm, he wants to run run run. I feel bad for him because he is a thoroughbred and was bred to run. I would like to someday be able to give him that opportunity without the danger of hurting both of us like there is now. Many of you misunderstood my question. I am not looking to canter him until I get much better in my seat. For now, I am looking to work on his obedience and having control over him so he doesn’t just take off when he pleases. I have been riding this horse for years so I know him very well and I feel comfortable with him. I am not that stupid to try to purposely canter him when I know I am not ready for that.
Okay. Except that your first post stated you wanted to be able to canter him next time you visited and you asked for tips on how to stop him/slow him down because you are “dying to canter him” but want more control of his brakes before you do.
Older, more experienced riders are responding to the total picture you presented: a (probably) younger rider who does not have the skills to be riding this horse. It is unsafe for you and unsafe for the horse.
Invest in some training for the horse with a good professional. Invest in consistent riding lessons for you. Everyone will be safer and the experiences will be much more positive if you do.
Sheilah
OP, how old are you? I’m guessing a younger teen. Yes?
If you can, take some lessons on this horse. This horse may be very different from the schoolies you’re riding at the lesson barn, and so it may not be easy to transfer what you know from your riding lessons to this particular horse.
In addition, this horse probably just needs to be ridden more often and more consistently. TBs typically thrive on work–consistent work. This isn’t a question of tiring them out, it’s question of giving them a job and getting them focused on the job.
In the meantime, the advice to take it slowly with the horse is good advice. You really don’t want the horse to just run off with you, even if you feel that you can sit it out. Every time he runs away and there’s nothing you can do to stop him is another time when you are essentially training him to run away.
I am assuming that you don’t want him to learn that running away is a good thing, so you want to not put yourself in a position where it’s possible that he’ll run away.
If you feel that he needs more exercise, you could ask your grandmother about possibly extending the area of his paddock. But don’t let him run away with you if you can at all help it in the belief that he just needs to run.
I’m glad he’s a nice horse, and it really sounds as though you want to do well by him. Try taking some lessons on him, and doing it consistently, and you may be amazed at how quickly you can work together.
Good luck.
Hey OP!! Welcome to COTH! From what I have gathered reading this thread is that perhaps the hose isn’t totally suitable for you right now… but you have been riding him and will continue to do so regardless of the internets opinion so…
My suggestions are:
Can you take him for lessons somewhere? Can your trainer/ a trainer come out to give you lessons for an extra $5 or whatever to cover their gas?
Also I’m assuming that when you ride him you are riding away from the other horses/ his animal heard mates? he could be nervous about this and it’s not helping your situation something to keep in mind.
I would work on taking him on short walks away from the other animals until he is quiet and relaxed and enjoy’s going to your riding spot.
is there anyway that you and your family could put up a fence surrounding your riding area? It doesn’t have to be huge. In fact in his case a smaller area would be beneficial… small arenas for long horses and long arenas for short horses. Ultimately you don’t want to need a small space to keep your horse from building up speed but it can really help when working with him initially.
Buy a lounge line. Lunging horses is NOT to tire them out… I repeat it is not to make him tired. Work with your trainer and a school horse to make sure you correctly learn a lunging technique. It’s easy to put a horse on a lunge and “chase” them until they’re tired but it takes much more practice to keep a horse moving nicely at a walk. Work on lots of walk to trot to walk transitions before adding in canter and teach him verbal commands… use them even when leading.
Also keep in mind that for him to pull you have to be using both reins and pulling too. At a stop teach him to flex his neck and give to the bit then work on stopping using only one rein at a walk… this is your emergency brake. Also work on lots of stopping at the walk and trot. Ask in stages to teach him to be light. Sit deep close your fingers then “pull” back. When he does stop ask for a few steps of back and then sit around a bit before asking for anything else.
As other posters have said ideally he needs a trainer and you need more lessons on more suitable horses as well as him. Good luck and be safe!
Keep in mind that Grandma lives 3 hours away. So she would need to find someone suitable to that area for any help.
If she only goes a few times a yr to ride this horse then training this horse is not a viable financial option. Some complexities here and some holes in the rider’s education.
If (and the world needs more of these kind of people) she could find a local person where she lives to help teach her how to be an effective rider then she could learn to ride safer. Someone who can teach her a one rein stop, to be a proactive thinking rider, to learn schooling figures and to be a better independent seat rider. I am hoping, it sounds like she’s figuring that out here and becoming more aware of the nuances involved that she needs to learn. A tough place for her to be in right now.
(esp on here :rolleyes:)
Hey OP even if you go ride Western you can learn a lot. Easier to learn to sit (they definitely don’t lean on their hands!) and the good working western is fun - not a pleasure trainer. So if that’s something where you live you can explore finding the right person there also.
Yes, i am dying to canter him. In my post, I was explaining how he will go extremely fast in the trot and then break into a canter, sometimes a gallop. I wanted some tips on how to control him incase this does happen. Just because I want to canter him, does not mean I’m planning on doing it. I want to be able to SOMEDAY do that with him. Also, as I said before, I know how to canter, I am just working on getting a better seat. I’m sure you aren’t a perfect rider either. No one is. But just because Im working on a skill, does not make me any less of an experienced rider than you.
Thank you to all the other people who are giving useful tips instead of coming off as a jerk.
I am 15 1/2 
Walk to canter transitions on a lunge… no trotting need be involved. When riding give the correct canter cue and if he speeds up before breaking into a canter… slow him right back down. Allowing him to run into the canter is a big no no.
I also feel the need to add that it does make you a less experienced rider. She has already done the training involved in acquiring that skill and thus has more experience… People may be snobby or rude or however you choose to negatively view them but keep in mind that everyone here hates to hear about someone getting hurt or having an accident and try to create a knowledge pool of ways to avoid/ achieve a variety of things, on a whole it may not sound pleasant but COTHers really are looking out for you’r own good… take the good, ignore the negative and move on…
Do you know how to do an effective half-halt? Do you know how to do a pulley-rein (aka a one rein stop)? In your regular lessons ask to work on these, as well as circles. The half-halt is your brake pedal, and the pulley-rein is your emergency brake. If a horse isn’t responding to your brakes, increasingly smaller circles will help to regain control. Better yet, as has been mentioned, use circles, figures-8’s etc. to establish and maintain control. Avoid straight lines!
Also, see if you can section off a smaller area to ride in. You can do this with inexpensive temporary fence stakes and tape. TB’s see open fields as an irresistible temptation to run!
Thank you! And i really really do appreciate everyone looking out for me, I just wish some of the people (not all) would come off a little nicer about it.
[QUOTE=aldena2;7503718]
Just because I want to canter him, does not mean I’m planning on doing it. I want to be able to SOMEDAY do that with him.[/QUOTE]
Are you sure about that? In your original post you wrote:
You have been given a lot of really great advice here, so please be patient as you work through this because unless this horse has someone knowledgeable riding him in between your visits, your progress will probably be super slow. :yes:
[QUOTE=aldena2;7502542]
So my grandma has a thoroughbred that I ride whenever I visit. She lives 3 hours away so I don’t get to visit often. She is also older so the horse doesn’t get ridden much. The farm they live on is a big, open, 15 acre field. I am an intermediate rider and i am currently polishing up my canter seat. However, when I ride this horse, once I trot him, he will start going into a canter trot. EXTREMELY fast. It usually takes me a few minutes just to get him back to a walk. Once I get him back to a walk, he will look for any excuse to go back into a canter and one time he even started galloping when we went down a small hill. Once he goes, he is very hard to stop. I want to be able to canter him next time I visit but I’m afraid that where He hasn’t been ridden in a while, he won’t listen and will get out of control. My grandma doesn’t own a lunge line so that’s not really an option, plus I’ve tried it before and he’s still stubborn lol. Any tips on getting him under control or being able to stop/slow him down? I’m dying to canter him but I don’t want to do it unless I feel 100% like I can control him and he won’t take off with me. Thank you![/QUOTE]
OP, again not being rude, but we have everything from beginners to professionals on this board. Nobody cares how “experienced” you are so no need to keep throwing it out there. You need to be honest in your abilities and I don’t care if you’ve been riding 60 years, it sounds like you are out-horsed with this TB. Nobody wants to see you or the horse get hurt. It’s not people not being nice, it’s people that see this as a red-flag situation and are concerned.
When you next work with an instructor tell them you want to really work on strengthening your seat. I’ve had this problem, everyone has a learning curve and some people still have problems with their canter seat after 20 and 30 years of riding, not just 10! (http://www.horsetackreview.com/article-display/1151.html)
I was raised doing a ton of trotting without stirrups, both sitting and posting with my instructor constantly telling me to steady my lower leg and sink my weight into my heels (always heels down, heels down!) Getting rid of my short hunt-seat stirrups really helps. Honestly, I took my stirrup leathers down two holes and found I could sit much better (short stirrups will be practically ejecting you from the saddle!)
Head up, heels down and really work on your control. Get trotting in big 20 meter circles circles, trot some figure eights. Get thinking beyond straight lines, get your horse to bend and listen and soften up under your seat and hands. Ground poles will also give him something to think about as would western-style barrels you can practice doing figure 8s around.
It’s amazing how much talking to a horse helps, too. They listen and pick up consistent voice commands quite quickly.
A great phrase for riding and life is …
“Steady on!”
BTW, this horse needs a regular and good exercise program which your grandma could sort out.
Thinking out loud…
I found this thread only because you posted asking if it could be deleted, well now you have found two things, no it can’t be deleted, and by drawing attention to it you have more people who are reading it.
I was actually surprised reading through it, I was expecting something far far worse, and believe me it could be a lot worse, from what I have read/skimmed through, everyone was trying to help and give advice, nothing nasty…
Last, LISTEN to what they are saying, if I had listened to good advice I would not have ended up posting this thread http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?410149-LEARNING-THE-HARD-WAY-Why-you-don-t-want-to
Being told you are over horsed, under ‘talented’ (for want of a better word) hurts, but it hurts a lot less than being carted of in an ambulance for a month in hospital, believe me.
I know that people are trying to help and that people are just concerned. And I’m not trying to draw attention to how “skilled” of a rider I am because I know that I’m not and I know that I need a lot of work. It means a lot to me that people care about my safety. I am trying to reassure people that I’m not going to do anything stupid or unsafe because I know that would put me and my horse in danger and thats the last thing i want. I simply worded something wrong and people started thinking I was going to do something because of the way it was worded. I know people aren’t being nasty but like KBC said, it does hurt when people throw out words to me like “inexperienced” or tell me that I am a beginner. Maybe your definition of a beginner is different than mine, i don’t know. But i don’t want people to think that I’m an irresponsible rider because i would NEVER do something to put me or especially my horse in danger. All I was looking for was some advice on how to regain control IF he got out of control or bolted. And like I said, it does mean a ton to me that people care about my safety. I didn’t mean to sound like a snobby teen which I’m sure thats what people think, it just hurts when people call me inexperienced or over horsed when they don’t even know me or the horse, other than the small amount of information I’ve given them. Again, I’m sorry if i came off sounding snobby or to self defensive, I do appreciate the advice that has been given so far. Thank you all
[QUOTE=aldena2;7503902]
, it does hurt when people throw out words to me like “inexperienced” or tell me that I am a beginner.[/QUOTE]
Nice post, just to pick up on that thought, I have ridden for 40 years on and off, and guess what, I am now calling myself inexperienced, the training I originally had was HORRIBLE, it instilled a lifetime of bad habits, which I didn’t know about until I got decent training later in life.
[QUOTE=aldena2;7503902]
I know that people are trying to help and that people are just concerned. And I’m not trying to draw attention to how “skilled” of a rider I am because I know that I’m not and I know that I need a lot of work. It means a lot to me that people care about my safety. I am trying to reassure people that I’m not going to do anything stupid or unsafe because I know that would put me and my horse in danger and thats the last thing i want. I simply worded something wrong and people started thinking I was going to do something because of the way it was worded. I know people aren’t being nasty but like KBC said, it does hurt when people throw out words to me like “inexperienced” or tell me that I am a beginner. Maybe your definition of a beginner is different than mine, i don’t know. But i don’t want people to think that I’m an irresponsible rider because i would NEVER do something to put me or especially my horse in danger. All I was looking for was some advice on how to regain control IF he got out of control or bolted. And like I said, it does mean a ton to me that people care about my safety. I didn’t mean to sound like a snobby teen which I’m sure thats what people think, it just hurts when people call me inexperienced or over horsed when they don’t even know me or the horse, other than the small amount of information I’ve given them. Again, I’m sorry if i came off sounding snobby or to self defensive, I do appreciate the advice that has been given so far. Thank you all[/QUOTE]
Maybe I misunderstood because of the way you wrote the post, but you made it sound like you can’t even trot the horse without him taking off with you, not that it’s a sometime occurrence that may happen when you try to canter him. In the situation as I understood it from how you described it, you riding the horse without professional help seemed quite unsafe.
If possible, I think it would be helpful for you to have professional help with this particular horse, who is obviously different from the school horses that you’re accustomed to riding. If that’s not possible, can you ask your instructor for tips, even if she can’t help you with the horse since he’s far away? Your instructor who watches you ride every week can give you better advice because she sees you every week and knows what you’re capable of. On COTH, we have to guess based on a paragraph description and things can get taken the wrong way.
It also sounds like this horse could benefit from a regular, consistent work schedule rather than just a ride every couple of weeks or so when you go to visit Grandma, but that’s something that you would have to take up with her.
