Horses that behave a bit differently on the trail

[acoustic]

Hi all, just wanted to see if anyone else runs into this kind of horse.

I’ve had my horse for 13 years. I was the first person on him and he has always been a wonderful boy, always eager to please and willing to work. He has excellent manners under saddle and when at home, either in the pasture or arena, I can ride him bareback and bridleless. He is a been there, done that kind of horse and has been trailered to events from rodeos every weekend, to hunter jumper shows, to team penning, and trail rides (group and solo).

The problem is that when I get him out on the trails, he is an energizer bunny. His walk becomes a speed walk (thank goodness he is not a jigger), and if I pick up the pace at all, he always tries to go one faster. I ask him to slow down, and he will drive against the bit and try to fight before actually slowing down. This is the same horse that I can ride with NOTHING at home (and as a side note there, he has called multiple different barns “home” because of us moving around).

He trail rides about once a week. Some days we only walk, other days, we do 3 paces, and once in a while, we will have a gallop. he is not at all barn sour or buddy sour. The higher energy starts the moment we leave the property. I can do speed work at home with no issue at all with slowing him down (a slight change in my seat depth and a quiet ‘whoa’ suffices. Even at a rodeo, with all the distraction and speed work required, he is incredibly responsive).

So, has anyone else run into this? If so, what have you done to remedy it? Is there anything to do? I feel like I’ve done everything in the book to get him to be the same horse under any circumstances, but I just can’t get him to relax on a trail ride. He’s not nervous, it’s similar to the energy a kid has when you take them to the park. They listen, it just takes longer to get their attention, even the best behaved ones. It’s a happy energy, in other words.

[katarine]

Ride faster

enjoy that energy, he is who he is.

[Emilia]

Our horse is like that and, in our case, the remedy is riding trails more and schooling on trails.

He is much more forward on trails, because he seems to enjoy to be out and about, traveling, exploring, and discovering little meadows with yummy grass.

With practice, I can rate him much better, though his gaits are always more lively outdoors, because, that’s where he lets his spirits shine.

He does not like riding in arena or pasture at all. He will do it, performs all required movements at required gait and pace, but puts no heart in it. He even looks mighty fine doing it.

A lot of people comment on him to me, how wonderful and obedient he is in arena and I just wonder, why they cannot see that he checks his spirit at arena door, especially, if it is just flat schooling.

So, similarly to us, I would recommend to trail ride more often than once a week, if you can, and school, while out. I would let him move out initially to get the first wave of enthusiasm out, then start experimenting with reining him in through half-halts and various exercises. Later on, you should be able to rate him and curb his spirits from beginning.

This is relatively easy to do, if you ride alone. When you pick up riding partners, choose carefully and find the ones, who will help you with your program.

I would still expect more life from him on trails and adjust to that, because, it seems that’s where his heart is. Perhaps, similarly to me, what you get in an arena, is just a lovely shell. Cooperative, but just a shell of the horse.

[DJohn]

Enjoy!

My horse is exactly the same. I swear, he hopes to go on trail. If I ride him down the path which splits from arena to the left and trails to the right, he speeds up to the right.
Trail riding for him means long, loose reins, cool things to look at and the odd mouthful of alfalfa.
He walks with a fast pace and his head swings left to right- it’s the cutest thing! If we trot, he powers along and if we canter, off he goes. Try not to trot/canter in the same place everytime, they know exactly where the “spot” is. Other than that, if it is a genuine control thing, and the horse picks the wrong gait (ex. he canters when you want to trot) break his forward movement by circling. As soon as he trots, loose rein and carry on.

But, with my horse I’m just happy he’s happy!

[katyb]

[QUOTE=emilia;7807599]
Our horse is like that and, in our case, the remedy is riding trails more and schooling on trails.

He is much more forward on trails, because he seems to enjoy to be out and about, traveling, exploring, and discovering little meadows with yummy grass.

With practice, I can rate him much better, though his gaits are always more lively outdoors, because, that’s where he lets his spirits shine.

He does not like riding in arena or pasture at all. He will do it, performs all required movements at required gait and pace, but puts no heart in it. He even looks mighty fine doing it.

A lot of people comment on him to me, how wonderful and obedient he is in arena and I just wonder, why they cannot see that he checks his spirit at arena door, especially, if it is just flat schooling.

So, similarly to us, I would recommend to trail ride more often than once a week, if you can, and school, while out. I would let him move out initially to get the first wave of enthusiasm out, then start experimenting with reining him in through half-halts and various exercises. Later on, you should be able to rate him and curb his spirits from beginning.

This is relatively easy to do, if you ride alone. When you pick up riding partners, choose carefully and find the ones, who will help you with your program.

I would still expect more life from him on trails and adjust to that, because, it seems that’s where his heart is. Perhaps, similarly to me, what you get in an arena, is just a lovely shell. Cooperative, but just a shell of the horse.[/QUOTE]

I love this description. Horses that love riding are the greatest, and if you find their joy, along with your own, it’s the best of experiences.

[acoustic]

Haha, you guys are a bunch of enablers! I like going fast too, so I can’t fault him for that. I am always careful to change up the places on the trail that I up the speed so that he doesn’t start anticipating.

I wish that I could ride him more than once or twice a week in trails, but I’m lucky to get to ride him period right now with my schedule (which will improve greatly after December). The trails are quite flooded right now and stay that way probably 1/3 of the year (south florida has a pretty solid rainy season) so I’m limited in that respect as well.

Still, I’m glad to see that other horses are like him and experience the same excitement when hitting the trail. Thank you all for your responses. Let’s go enjoy our energetic horses.

[gingerbread]

Agree with all the previous posters. A lot of horses really enjoy the trail and are full of enthusiasm and high spirits. It isn’t “bad behavior” at all. My mare is like that. Ears always up, curious and happy. She listens to me, but does power it up!
Horses in the wild are always on the move to new places, so this is what’s natural for them.

[stb]

My horse is another one that absolutely lights up on the trail. His ears stay forward and his head swings back and forth - not in alarm but just seeing the sights. I’m not sure which one of us is having more fun.

[Guilherme]

This is not uncommon. The problem is to effectively manage the energy. Every horse will be different in how this is done.

G.

[Mukluk]

I have an OTTB. She believes in the “no horsey left behind act.” It is just easier to let her be in the front on a trail ride as she is faster than most horses and she gets pretty excited if everyone is out front- (not that I haven’t made her go in the back and made her behave herself sometimes- just to remind her that I’m the boss and she’s the horsey." I much prefer one with go than a kick along ride. I think she’s just the horsey equivalent of a sports car.

[riderank_makebank]

My barrel horse is the same way sometimes, just happy to be out and about doing something different. He is a speedwalker, I just go with it. Then there’s my TB who dawdles and falls asleep both in the roping arena and on the trail. They’re just happy! Sometimes its a pain always having to circle or stop and wait for my friends haha but that’s ok. At least they’re enjoying themselves. Arena work gets so old.

[Diamontaire]

My new horse HATES the arena- good thing he’s slated to become an endurance horse! He will choose to stop- repeatedly- in an arena, to the point of an argument. But put him on the trail and it’s ears up, movin out, what’s around the next bend?

[riderank_makebank]

[QUOTE=Diamontaire;7815285]
My new horse HATES the arena- good thing he’s slated to become an endurance horse! He will choose to stop- repeatedly- in an arena, to the point of an argument. But put him on the trail and it’s ears up, movin out, what’s around the next bend?[/QUOTE]

My pony is the same way in indoors, but I’m pretty sure before I owned her children made her sour Outside she’s like WHEEEE lets go find stuff to jump and water to splash in!

[Simbalism]

My older TB mare is very funny. She is fine in the ring and will do whatever is asked of her. When we ride around the farm, we usually have the dogs with us, so she knows that we are moseying. However, head down the road to get to some other larger fields and several other farms and she starts snorting at me. Sometimes if she is really in a mood will grind her teeth. This past Sunday, barn buddy and I headed down the road, thru a large field, crossed main road, another large field. Did some trotting, and I swear she was trying to pull my arms out of the sockets. She rides in a hackamore and is controllable with it, but sometimes she lets me know that she wants to go. We went thru a ravine and into some woods of another farm and got out into some large fields again. We headed up this long hill and we let the horses go. My friend was in front and my mare hopped into a canter and then dug in for a gallop. Her ears were flat back and she was going to wipe my friend off the map as we sped past her. As soon as she passed, she broke to a trot and then into a walk with minimal request from me. All the way back to the barn if I loosened the reins at all, she started to trot on. We probably rode 4 miles and were only out about 35 minutes. As long as my mare pays attention she gets to do what she wants. Some days I can tell she is feeling way too frisky and she only gets to do the gaits I request. Frequent trail riding thru all kinds of terrain and conditions is what will help your horse learn to settle some.

[wildlifer]

[QUOTE=DJohn;7810623]
Enjoy!

He walks with a fast pace and his head swings left to right- it’s the cutest thing! If we trot, he powers along and if we canter, off he goes.

But, with my horse I’m just happy he’s happy![/QUOTE]

My philosophy exactly. I do a LOT of trail work for conditioning (eventer) and just plain good riding. If he’s using a big, back-lifting gait and pushing from behind, fabulous! He loves it, he’s happy, and as long as he listens when I say, ok, you really do need to take it easy & walk through this giant boulder field, we’re good.

[SharonA]

Just one other perspective on energizer horses – appreciate it! FWIW, my horse is slowing way down on the trail (she’s coming up on 25). She is the perfect horse no matter what, but, part of me misses the years when given the opportunity, she would drop her head, hit the afterburners, and fly.

Thanks to our having discovered Previcoxx, she is moving beautifully – strong and flowy (wish I’d started it five years ago!) but she just isn’t interested in speed or distance anymore. At least her ears are still jumping off her head in the beginning of a ride. It’s cute.

[ChocoMare]

Have the same in my Clyde-X. She’s UP when we trail ride and, like G said, I channel it. I ride on the buckle sometimes and let her pick the pace she wants, or if we’re headed back to the trailer and she wants to hurry, I’ll collect her, sit deep and let her do her impersonation of a 4th level dressage horsie.

[oliverreed]

My gelding is exactly the same. Love it! The only problem is that, at this time of the year, he is a sweaty mess after even a short trail ride, with the winter coat and all.

[Horse_with_No_Name]

My gelding (Arab/Clyde) is the same as well. He kind of dials up or down according to rider capability but for the most part when he’s out and about on the trails he is forward, very forward sometimes, but safe He absolutely loves getting out and seeing what’s going on, what’s new, will throw the odd where the heck did that come from spook if he thinks you can handle it and just loves to jump.

Certainly he isn’t the sort of horse that would tolerate going round and round in an arena and can be a bit of a slug in the arena, so lucky for him he’s a trekker. One day he had a complete novice passenger on board and horse was taking him for a slow mooch around the big arena. Passenger managed to steer horse in the general direction of the gate and was surprised/pleased when horse picked the pace up somewhat, not realising that horse intended taking the 4’6" upright that was between them and the gate! Luckily we had an outrider in the ring who rode interference before the jump and brought horse and passenger back to the gate.

[KIloBright]

I don’t know a horse that is arena ridden , who does not enjoy riding out, and becomes more energetic as arena work does become boring.
However, there is a big difference between riding out, and truly trail riding
Riding out to me is riding across open fields, through some local woods or along the road.
Trail riding, on the other hand, for me is riding in wilderness, often and steep and long climbs with drop offs.
It is a no no to let your horse learn to rush up those climbs or down. I thus expect my horse to to negotiate those long and tricky climbs on a loose rein, watching his footing
I also hate group rides where a half a dozen or so people pipe up that their horse ‘has to be in the lead’, or he jigs , etc. Only one horse on a narrow trail can be in the lead!
My horses also have to leave and return home, on a loose rein, at the speed I ask for-no compromise
I prefer to ride a green horse out by himself, or am very particular as to who I ride with. Horses feed off of each other, esp at that stage, and the last thing i want is to be a’ passenger’, as many people on trail rides are, with the horse ahead of them being their true leader.
Why is your horse more responsive at home? Because you are riding him in his comfort zone
A good horseman once told me that you can always speed ahorse up, but pretty hard to slow one down that has learned to be ``òn the muscle
To me, a horse than leans on the bit, trial ridden, is not truly broke