Installing a "go" button?

[lecoeurtriste]

Hi all.

I’ve always had horses on the hotter/reactive end of the spectrum, and am struggling to install a “go” button on my new-ish gelding. He is a coming 6yo 1/2 belgian draft, 1/4 TB, and 1/4 paint (and 100% lazy!). He was bred to be a hunt horse, and is a steady-eddie ride with lovable personality. If we are schooling alone or in a group lesson, he is 100% focused on the job and a BLAST to ride…BUT, when there are random people wandering around the course and jump judges in interesting locations in relation to fences, he gets distracted and will literally come to a stop, pivot 90deg, and whinny at the people or horses in the distance. When I notice him starting to lose focus, I have tried every trick in my bag to get him back to me and the job at hand, but he just isn’t impressed with kicks, swats, growls, etc. When I first got him, he was really dead to the leg and hand, so we’ve worked quite a bit on becoming more reactive to lighter aids, and he’s getting it 99% of the time–it’s only when I lose his attention does he lapse. So, short of spending $$$ going to shows and stopping to waive hello at everyone, what exercises/suggestions does anyone have to help keep the focus on the aids and job at hand? TIA.

[EventerAJ]

I started a baby 4yo WB who had a tendency to get wide-eyed and distracted by everything. And he would just stop, and stare. Not a time bomb, not quivering, just planted feet, grew roots, transfixed by ? whatever. Sometimes a whinny…at cows, inanimate objects, horse statues, etc. Quite the character, and amusing, but not acceptable in “grown up” situations. I had to give him a big hard smack on the butt with a crop, he’d blink, focus back on me, and back to whatever we were doing. It was like pushing the reset button, or turning your frozen screen off and back on. I’m sure the big wallop looked a little harsh to bystanders, but pony-club kicking and tappy-tapping didn’t work. One good smack got the engine started again.

With time and experience off the farm he grew out of it and became a really nice horse. Never a “hot” ride, but not a dead-head either.

[Hawks_Nest]

Given that the stop and “spin” is out of anxiety, be careful about disciplining the behavior directly as it can feed the anxiety.

From the sound of it, he is behind your leg still in the stranger situations. When you expect the be in a situation where he might back off, really focus in your warm up on getting him in front of you and keeping him there. When out galloping on XC make sure you have him out and to the bit at the gallop. It might make for a few courses that are more work for the both of you but it sounds like he just isn’t confident in that show setting and the best way to make him feel confident is to ride him in a way that he is most familiar and comfortable with (so in balance and with support from you and in front of the leg). Be super vigilant and make sure to ask him questions BEFORE you get to a thing that could distract him. In SJ that might mean a bit of a counter flex around a turn or even a transition to trot or something. On XC you can ride transitions, leg yield, lateral work. Once he learns his job better and gains more strength he will get less anxious and you can let him do his job more on his own.

[lecoeurtriste]

Hi all. He is a social butterfly, and was a bit herd-bound when I first got him. He’s doing much better, but even an arm-over-the-head with the crop upside down doesn’t phase him! (My mare would have planted me in the dirt if I even thought about hitting her that hard!) I’ve started all my horses and others, and I don’t get the vibe that he’s anxious/afraid, but rather thinks other things are more interesting than whatever I’m asking him to do. We can literally go to a new place alone, and he’s sleepy solid…but throw shiny things into the mix, and his focus is gone.

[findeight]

Think that there are some things you can’t really “ install” in every horse but also, reading your description, not so sure it’s a “go button” issue. Sounds more like lack of focus on you and respect for you. And he sounds really, really Green here. He may be perfect at times but if he’s getting distracted and losing focus, he’s not really understanding . And he’s not “lazy”, he just doesn’t know or does but thinks obedience is optional.

Some learn faster and earlier the others and he was pretty clueless when you got him so you are starting behind the curve here anyway. Time, flatwork, flatwork, flatwork with the object being getting and keeping his complete attention. and get him out more. Hack out, Haul to shows of all kinds but don’t compete. Just ride around, work in the schooling ring, hack around the competition rings. Most of the cost for that is your time. Hauling out for lessons is also a good way to expose him to working in different places with unfamiliar distractions.

Try ear plugs too. Youngsters are easily distracted. Help him keep his attention on you.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Totally normal…dressage whip is your friend. NOT to punish but reinforce your leg aid. He loses focus…that is normal. So make sure you do SHORT exercises to keep his focus…transitions, turns, circles, lateral work. But give him BREAKS where he is allowed to look around at the new things…then pick him back up and do a SHORT set where he focuses. Teach him the difference between his time and work time and that you will give him time to look around too. He is just still mentally immature…and you need to give it some time and work on training his focus. It will NOT change quickly…these things take time.

[SuzieQNutter]

Little and often doesn’t just refer to feed.

[Janet]

Practice lots of walk to handgallop transition.

First in an environment where he is relaxed and comfortable.

Then in an environment where there are small distraction.

Then in an environment with more distractions.

And so on.

[Jeannette_formerly_ponygyrl]

When it seems like horses are ignoring or not understanding an aid, I’ve had a really interesting time watching the ear flicks and attention before the aid.
. Basically, if they’re going along w their ears totally focused on something else, odds are good they will seem dead to the leg or unable to steer . If I notice I’ve lost their attention, and give a half halt, a growl, a circle, or whatever it takes to get an ear flick and their brain back in me, then life is good.

. Sometimes it does takes letting them stand and study a scene a little while. Rather than beating them through it, waiting until they bcc take a breath and then making ny request can make a huge difference.

[cedarlake]

I actually chuckled a little bit. I’m sorry! I’m also in the boat of, he may be a bit more anxious then he’s letting on. I’ve noticed with my mare that her anxiety will show with ears forward and trying to plow forward while your guy is stop and holler. Regardless of what it feels, it’s still a way for him to soothe himself. Being dead to your leg tells me he has checked out completely. At that point you’re sitting there holding on, not actually in control.

If it’s such an issue that he actually dead stops while you’re cantering along you don’t actually have control of him at all. He doesn’t see you as a leader but someone who just happens to be around when he’s become anxious. Rather than pushing him through it, just wait it out. Once he’s done his holler ask him to disengage his hind quarters, circle, figure 8, and get him back in your hand. Steady eddies don’t always mean you’ve got the brain of the animal that’s under you.

Pushing a horse through anything is not always your best bet. You have to sometimes ignore what he’s given you and gently guide to a better answer. I have a feeling once he can trust you to understand his need to be friendly and soothe himself with others, he will be more apt to offer you a little more. My mare is a dragon, but when she learned that I wouldn’t be bothered if she offered me speed or anxious behaviors, then she was more willing to try and let me help soothe her when she reached her anxiety limit. Since your way of pushing isn’t working, maybe try an alternative method. Never hurts and it’ll certainly give you more answers! Good luck!

[stargzng386]

I have a very similar situation and wanted my keyboard this morning to type it out in case it helps you. I have a 3 1/2 yr old QH gelding I bought because he’s super calm. He was broke this summer, had 3 months of training and was really pushed by that trainer. I rode every week in a lesson through his training then brought him home. To start he was super responsive but very shut down mentally, even on the ground his personality was different. He did what I asked but wasn’t “happy” about his job and was stressed. I took it back a few steps allowed him to settle and think a bit more. I taught him some new skills and exercises and he was great.

I trailered him off property for the first time to my trainer’s barn to take a lesson just to make sure he was ok, wasn’t going to be spooky etc. There was a lot going on that day, mare galloping around hollering, atv being driven by the neighbor, another neighbor was mowing the lawn all within sight. The whole lesson I had a really really hard time getting him to move at all even with a crop. I finally stopped and asked my trainer what the heck is going on??? So we had a really long talk and she explained to me that in her experience there are two kinds of horses, those that outwardly react to new/scary thing who might spook, whinny, jig etc and those who process and need to process when something is outside of their comfort zone and my gelding is that. I’ve honestly never owned a horse like that.

She pointed out that his ears were constantly flicking around and one was consistently back on me like…what do I do. So we actually let him chill out halted while we talked to let him take it all in. Wouldn’t you know then when I asked him to move forward he did and we had a better second half of the ride.

Back home I then really paid attention to when he would try or succeed in stopping and I really watched his behavior more. He’s not a horse to dramatically show you he’s scared but now I can tell. At my barn I was riding for the first time with a kid on a pony in a lesson and all he wanted to do was stop and stare so in the beginning I went to the middle and let him. We stood for awhile watching half of the lesson. He may have outwardly looked like he was half asleep just standing there calm but he was really paying attention with his ears to where that pony was. His “tell” when he’s more comfortable is to take a really big deep sigh. Every time he does that I know that I can then move off and he’s able to focus on me and what I’m asking.

My horse isn’t openly disrespecting me, the prior trainer and I’m sure other riders could use a crop or spurs to “make” him respond and listen. He’s not not moving forward because he’s being an ass or doesn’t want to work he’s doing it because he’s unsure or scared. Each and every time we work through something “new” by letting him process then fairly pushing him forward (he never gets out of the task at hand he just gets a bit more time) his confidence builds and he gets better and better. A few months ago I could not keep the trot if another horse was trotting in the ring, now we can trot past, be passed or trot away from another horse.

A few weeks after my off property lesson I took him camping/trail riding and he was a SAINT. We led, he helped another young horse get over their fears of water. He trucked me up and down steep mountain hills, through mud and water. I don’t think it would have been as calm and successful of a weekend if I continued to just make him listen to me without me listening to him. I’m sure in the future we’ll have some embarrassing moments at shows or out riding with friends where he stops or wants to stare and not move but that’s ok because I know on the other side of that we’ll have a great partnership and the more I can expose him too the better he’ll get.

[Jackie_Cochran]

One mare I rode, well at first anything new, anything in a different place, anything, anything, anything, she would check out and stand there.

So I set up a system with her. At every incident I would relax and slowly count to ten, give the leg aids, if she was still checked out I would count to ten again. It took me months, but eventually she stopped freezing in place and checking stuff out because she knew I would give her time to process everything.

I knew I had succeeded when the ring was all rearranged for a show and she ignored all the changes, and kept on moving to my leg aids. Yes it took months, but I think that nobody had ever given this 25 year old mare time to process stuff, and after months of being able to stand there and process stuff she learned how to “unstick” herself when the whole world changed around her. Since then I had no other problems with this.

[Willesdon]

He is 1/2 Belgium Draft. No one wants a draft horse that is hot and spooky: a stop and look response fits the job they were designed to do. Also, drafts will mature slower than a TB, both physically and mentally. Good ideas already about giving him time to work things out for himself. I hope he develops into a solid citizen for you.