Prancing on the Trail Help

[K_Barron]

I’m at a loss on what to do to help what I assume is my horse’s anxiety, and make trail rides more enjoyable for the both of us. I have a 20 year old Arab (we’ve had him for several years now) and every time I take him on a trail ride, he prances the entire time. We only use him for trail/pleasure and that’s all he’s ever been used for. Just a few bullet points of things I’ve considered…

• When ridden with another horse, he has way better manners. Which is what primarily lead me to think it’s anxiety about being alone.

• Another thing that lead me to think it’s anxiety is the fact that if we stay on the property and do arena work (or even just walking around the property), he’s fine. So that also tells me it’s not a saddle issue, otherwise he’d be a pill all the time.

• When we start the ride, he’s calm. As soon as we can’t see the house anymore he starts prancing. I don’t think he’s anxious to get back home, because as soon as we can see the house again he doesn’t speed up, he calms down. Or am I thinking of it wrong? Maybe he calms down because he knows we’re going home?? Usually barn sour horses speed up when they know they’re going home, right?

• I’ve had periods of riding him consistently and periods of riding him with longer breaks in-between. There’s no difference in behavior.

• I’ve tried to consistently ride him on the exact same route so everything is familiar, just to calm him down and stop the prancing and then work up to small changes in the route. No change.

• I’ve tried calming supplements and saw absolutely zero difference.

• I have tried walking just off the trail and making him weave around bushes, or making him do circles to give him something to occupy his mind. It works in the moment and as soon as we’re going in a straight line again he prances.

• I have tried letting him run until he stops himself to see if he just needs to get rid of some energy. He only walks for a minute or two before we’re back to prancing.

• I can make him stay at a walk with constant pressure on the bit, but he doesn’t like that (who would) and will periodically pull against it. I’ve ridden him on a curb, and currently have him on a little s hack; he pulls less on the hack.

He’s a super sweet horse. He wants to please and he’s not difficult to direct. When we’re at home, I’ve let the kids ride him and he is great with them. I just would like to stop the prancing… it’s not enjoyable to ride the entire time like that. I’ve had people try to tell me it’s just the way it is because he’s an Arab, I don’t buy it. He is not the first Arab I’ve owned.

Suggestions? Ideas??

[Posting_Trot]

Honestly, you already seem to have tried virtually anything anyone is likely to suggest. He may just be that way, especially given that he’s 20, and this doesn’t seem to be a new behavior.

The only thing I can suggest is, since he’s better when he goes out with another horse, try only going out with another horse for multiple rides in a row, maybe even for several months in a row. See if that makes any long term difference.

Good luck!

[S1969]

@K_Barron

I’ve had people try to tell me it’s just the way it is because he’s an Arab, I don’t buy it. He is not the first Arab I’ve owned.

Suggestions? Ideas??

Not every horse can be a trail horse, just like not every horse is good at jumping or racing even though they might be a breed known for excellence in those sports.

If you were going to breed horses for trail riding - a laid back and independent temperament would be high on the list. But most horses aren’t bred for trail riding, so that may not have been a priority at the time of his breeding.

[16_Hands]

I had a mare that was the best trail horse I had ever been on. Forward down the trail, very sure footed, and extremely stoic. Had her bred hoping for the same qualities in her baby. The foal turned out to be a nervous wreck on the trails. Even though I ponied her a lot off the mare when young, she never got over the nervousness; she’d be wringing wet from anxiety in the first half hour and jigging the entire time. However, she shone in the arena and that’s what I sold her as, a nice pleasure prospect. So not every horse can be a trail horse. They are made, not born.

[anon38350891]

I saw a John Lyons column on this issue, years ago. The owner had tried everything you tried. Lyons gave this advice: “Just pretend your horse is prancin’ proud to have you riding him!”

I thought it was really stupid advice. Prancing is so uncomfortable to ride - gives me a stomachache.

As a desperate last resort: Have you tried making him walk backwards on the trail every time he prances? Walking backwards is tiring and not pleasant for the horse, and I’m not sure prancing backwards is even possible - but your guy might invent it! Anyway, just an idea.

[M_al]

I would build off some other suggestions - 1) consistently go out with another horse and ride the same route until it becomes boring. Don’t change it up with sometimes run, sometimes circle. Let this route become so part of “home” and “the routine” that it’s like being on the property. Keep the trail rides short to enhance the ability to make it mellow.

2. What happens if you don’t hold back when he jigs? Does he take off or does he stretch his neck and go forward at walk? Practice asking for a bigger walk in the arena so when on the trail and he starts to “shorten” you can push him on at walk. It takes a fair amount of energy to have that back swinging, really ‘through’ walk, so it can be a good exercise to re-focus his brain. If he and you both know and can picture the route and what comes next … walk ON!

Lots of rewards coming in from a trail ride, successful (or less so) so it becomes a very good thing to go out.

Have fun and keep us posted!

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

Assuming you are a balanced rider, this is simple to fix IF you are also PATIENT and CONSISTENT.

When your horse jigs, ask for a flat walk with your voice, a momentarily braced body and a restraining rein.
Reward him the moment he takes a flat walk step by lengthening the rein and softening your seat so he can relax his neck and back as he stretches into the 4-beat gait.
Repeat.

You might feel like you have to do it 50 million times in one ride (and you may actually Need to do it 50 million times in one ride), but that’s horse training. He equates the trail with jigging/prancing and your job is to teach him to walk.

If your timing is good, you should see a vast improvement in just a couple rides.
If you get frustrated, lose your temper, aren’t consistent, etc., etc., you’ll just have to be happy with prancing, because there’s no other way to communicate to him what you’d really like to do.

Ask, reward, ask again, reward again.
Repeat.

[jawa]

Are you riding on the trails after some arena work, or heading straight out from the barn hoping for a walking ride? It may help if he is rewarded with a good walk on the trails after he’s had a hard ride (mental and physical ) in the ring.

What would happen if you hand walk him in the new areas? Or ground drive him? Will he feel more confident with you beside him rather than on him?

If you are riding alone most of the time, can you pony him from another horse to give him experience on the sections of trail that are farther from the barn?

Can you take a pocket full of treats and use them to reward him when he comes to a walk? You will have to start with verbal, seat and rein aid cues. As soon as he walks, give him a pat, come to a stop and give him a cookie. This may be something to do in the ring first.

You could work on leg yield, side pass, should in, haunches in etc that will put his mind to work and make the jigging harder and the walking easier.

On the topic of saddle fit…It may be that the saddle fits him well enough for when he is relaxed, but causes a pressure point when he gets tense. Once he’s tense and feeling the pressure, it is hard for him to relax.

Do you have opportunities to ride trails that are away from home? Does he behave the same way when trailered away from home? He may be sour to being out of eyesight of the barn, so in a sense…barn sour.

It may also be that he’s not the type to take a lazy stroll… He may need to have some changes of pace… or he may just not enjoy the trail.

[BayBondGirl]

My 20 year old DraftX jigs on the trail; not all the time during the ride, but it definitely happens every trail ride, and mostly on the way back to the trailer. I have tried everything mentioned on this thread, and the only thing close to being successful is what @Melissa.Van Doren suggested with constantly asking for the flat walk. It can literally be almost constant because the moment I soften, she’ll go back to jigging. Some days are better than others!

It’s super frustrating (mine is a seasoned, confident eventer so it’s not like she’s never seen that type of terrain before!) but I’ve learned to accept that she will never be an excellent trail horse, especially at her age. All I can do is continue to reinforce the speed I’ve requested, and do my best to make our rides enjoyable enough that she doesn’t hate them.

[Showbizz]

We’ve had good luck teaching jiggy horses a version of the western pleasure world’s “spur brake”. In other words, we teach jiggy horses that steady leg means stop, and active leg means go. It’s taught and perfected in an arena, or neutral, setting. Then when we take the horse out on the trail and it gets jiggy, instead of taking ahold of the reins, which as you know generally makes it worse, we use variations of leg cues to bring the horse back to the speed of walk we prefer. It has worked very well for us. I have personally not had luck making Arabians work until they are tired enough to walk. They just get fitter, and they enjoy the work! I feel a different approach works better for them.

[Foxglove]

What worked for me was the backing method. At the first jig step, back ten paces. Go forward, Jig --back ten paces --but two things —some people have not taught the “back” as a command --the rider puts pressure on the bit and maintains it as the horse backs (some kicking or clucking at the same time). Those riders only release pressure when he/she want the horse to stop backing —not productive for what you want to do.

Go on the assumption that the horse wants a release of pressure (that’s his reward --no pressure).

Practice where you are both comfortable for a couple of weeks (or a month, or whatever it takes). Stop horse. Ask for back by moving your hips under you (at least that’s what I do), and applying slight pressure to the bit. If there is a step back at that point, reward by releasing the pressure on the reins. If there is no step back, add the leg -bump, bump, bump --until you get the step back. Release, relax. Walk forward. Repeat 50 times (well, do other stuff too, transitions and turns etc).

When the horse will back at the slightest cue from you (shifting your hips) until you ask him to stop --NOW you are ready to address the jigging issue.

Set an hour or so aside and put some extra patience in your pocket. Take horse out. The second the jig starts, calmly and quietly ask for the back you’ve practiced. Keep doing that. As someone above said, when you have a nice flat walk —reward it. You might only get one stop. After an hour --stop --go do something fun with horse.

Personally, I keep records (yeah, I’ve heard I’m weird). I record number of times I had to correct the jig in the hour --because I want to see if I am making progress.

And you will make progress.

William Tell --my hunt horse (former rodeo pick-up horse) jigged to the stable after every hunt his first season (20+ times). But I had a hunting buddy who had the same issue with his horse. Together we made a pact --no jigging even if it took us two-three hours to walk back to the hunt club. It never took that long. But we were consistently late. My problem was Will never jigged except on the way back to the hunt (huge group of horses ahead, all going faster than he was made him jig) so the only place I could work on the jig was at the hunt club.

But after that first year --jigging was pretty much over. Last hunt on the way in he took a couple of jig steps and I moved him to the back of the field. The second we were behind the last horse, he took a big breath and did a flat walk --maybe saying, “Oh, I know this game —if I jig then I back . …”

So teach a quiet “10 step back” response to a loose rein moving you seat --then use that to correct the jib. "Make the right thing easy (flat walk) and the wrong thing hard (jib step = back). [to see the kind of “back” response, look on YouTube and reining horses backing up --reins or loose, head is down, quiet steps back --that’s what I aspire for —not the mouth-yanking forcing horse backwards].

Like all training this will take time —if you work on it every day for 30 days, you’ll have the problem solved. If you work on it once a week for 30 weeks, it will take longer (6-8 months). I like to pretend I’m a “real” horse trainer and a client has given me the horse to improve for 30 days --so I keep records and try to make progress in 30 days . . .

Oh, and the back response is useful for other problems --for some reason Will started rooting in his bridle at a stand-still. Only at the hunt, again, probably trying to impress the red Arab mare he’s in love with. When he roots in his bridle --he gets to back 10 steps. He’s quit doing it. But he’ll think of something else --no perfect horses!

[tabula_rashah]

Does he do it when you haul out or just when you ride out from your house?

[Janet]

• I have tried letting him run until he stops himself to see if he just needs to get rid of some energy. He only walks for a minute or two before we’re back to prancing.

“A minute or two” sounds like good progress.

Try doing it again.

[SharonA]

Circling, weaving through trees, or backing just amped my Arab more up more. And, she never got tired. Ever. So, we got to play the “one rein stop” game. A good trainer showed me how to do this correctly – shutting down the horse, vs. pulling on her mouth inappropriately or pulling her off balance. I thought this was a very fun game. Every time horse jigged, I put her into a one rein stop. To the left, to the right, on down the trail. I was happy as a clam. Could have kept doing one-rein stops all day. Horse was not amused, but what could she do? Nothing. After about eight rounds of stopping to the left, stopping to the right, she sighed huffily and quit jigging. After that, for the rest of the trail season I just had to do it once or twice per ride. By the end of the season, i just had to close my fingers on the rein. She’d try it again once or twice every season after that, but, it essentially was cured.

[sdlbredfan]

@Posting Trot

Honestly, you already seem to have tried virtually anything anyone is likely to suggest. He may just be that way, especially given that he’s 20, and this doesn’t seem to be a new behavior.

The only thing I can suggest is, since he’s better when he goes out with another horse, try only going out with another horse for multiple rides in a row, maybe even for several months in a row. See if that makes any long term difference.

Good luck!

If you cannot just enjoy his joie de vivre, get a ‘deadhead’ like a QH. You are obviously not the right owner or rider, if you see this as a ‘problem’ that needs fixing.
Find him a new home with someone WHO WILL APPRECIATE HIM JUST AS HE IS. Sheesh…

[sdlbredfan]

@Melissa.Van Doren

Assuming you are a balanced rider, this is simple to fix IF you are also PATIENT and CONSISTENT.

When your horse jigs, ask for a flat walk with your voice, a momentarily braced body and a restraining rein.
Reward him the moment he takes a flat walk step by lengthening the rein and softening your seat so he can relax his neck and back as he stretches into the 4-beat gait.
Repeat.

You might feel like you have to do it 50 million times in one ride (and you may actually Need to do it 50 million times in one ride), but that’s horse training. He equates the trail with jigging/prancing and your job is to teach him to walk.

If your timing is good, you should see a vast improvement in just a couple rides.
If you get frustrated, lose your temper, aren’t consistent, etc., etc., you’ll just have to be happy with prancing, because there’s no other way to communicate to him what you’d really like to do.

Ask, reward, ask again, reward again.
Repeat.

Exactly. I also have had great results reforming a really hot Anglo-Arab, who (until I worked with him) was not even able to walk, anywhere at any time. Only a really good and consistent rider can succeed in this and I suspect this horse’s so called ‘problem’ is actually the rider. He needs a new owner/different rider.

[sdlbredfan]

@K_Barron

I’m at a loss on what to do to help what I assume is my horse’s anxiety, and make trail rides more enjoyable for the both of us. I have a 20 year old Arab (we’ve had him for several years now) and every time I take him on a trail ride, he prances the entire time. We only use him for trail/pleasure and that’s all he’s ever been used for. Just a few bullet points of things I’ve considered…

• When ridden with another horse, he has way better manners. Which is what primarily lead me to think it’s anxiety about being alone.

• Another thing that lead me to think it’s anxiety is the fact that if we stay on the property and do arena work (or even just walking around the property), he’s fine. So that also tells me it’s not a saddle issue, otherwise he’d be a pill all the time.

• When we start the ride, he’s calm. As soon as we can’t see the house anymore he starts prancing. I don’t think he’s anxious to get back home, because as soon as we can see the house again he doesn’t speed up, he calms down. Or am I thinking of it wrong? Maybe he calms down because he knows we’re going home?? Usually barn sour horses speed up when they know they’re going home, right?

• I’ve had periods of riding him consistently and periods of riding him with longer breaks in-between. There’s no difference in behavior.

• I’ve tried to consistently ride him on the exact same route so everything is familiar, just to calm him down and stop the prancing and then work up to small changes in the route. No change.

• I’ve tried calming supplements and saw absolutely zero difference.

• I have tried walking just off the trail and making him weave around bushes, or making him do circles to give him something to occupy his mind. It works in the moment and as soon as we’re going in a straight line again he prances.

• I have tried letting him run until he stops himself to see if he just needs to get rid of some energy. He only walks for a minute or two before we’re back to prancing.

• I can make him stay at a walk with constant pressure on the bit, but he doesn’t like that (who would) and will periodically pull against it. I’ve ridden him on a curb, and currently have him on a little s hack; he pulls less on the hack.

He’s a super sweet horse. He wants to please and he’s not difficult to direct. When we’re at home, I’ve let the kids ride him and he is great with them. I just would like to stop the prancing… it’s not enjoyable to ride the entire time like that. I’ve had people try to tell me it’s just the way it is because he’s an Arab, I don’t buy it. He is not the first Arab I’ve owned.

Suggestions? Ideas??

If you cannot just enjoy his joie de vivre, get a ‘deadhead’ like a QH. You are obviously not the right owner or rider, if you see this as a ‘problem’ that needs fixing.
Find him a new home with someone WHO WILL APPRECIATE HIM JUST AS HE IS. Sheesh…

[Abbie.S]

@sdlbredfan

If you cannot just enjoy his joie de vivre, get a ‘deadhead’ like a QH. You are obviously not the right owner or rider, if you see this as a ‘problem’ that needs fixing.
Find him a new home with someone WHO WILL APPRECIATE HIM JUST AS HE IS. Sheesh…

Well that was unhelpful.

This isn’t “joie de vivre”. This is a horse who doesn’t know how to settle no matter where he is or what direction he is heading. It’s a very reasonable thing to want to fix, and not difficult to fix, just takes time and patience.

OP, your horse has some mild anxiety about leaving home on his own. The fact that he calms as soon as you turn towards home tells me he isn’t being mentally “pulled” as badly as some horses are when they are ridden away from the barn, but he has some anxiety nonetheless.

What I would do: take him out and go out on an entirely loose rein until he gets like he’s ready to start jigging. When he does, gently turn him back towards the barn. Ride him back, again on an entirely loose rein, until he settles (and you know what this looks like for this horse, but for many horses they might sign, lick and chew a bit, lower their head, etc). When he does, stop him, pet him and then turn him back away from the barn again. Go until he starts to jig and repeat. What you’re doing is mentally “stretching” him: his concern is that he is leaving the barn and thus his safety. When he has a friend riding out with him, that’s like a safety blanket, but alone he feels he has no safety and that causes him some mental stress. When you mentally stretch a horse by riding him in the aformentioned manner, you build his confidence because he learns that YOU recognize when he’s getting concerned and you respond to it. His stress seems mild enough that I’d venture if you commit to doing this a dozen times or so over the course of a few weeks, he’ll get a lot more settled a lot quicker when you leave the barn.

[OzarksRider]

K_Barron, I had a jiggy horse problem that I posted on COTH about a year ago. My problem was different from yours in that my horse had progressed to bolting, and nothing I did could get him to settle. And while your horse seems to be anxious, mine was just disobedient. What finally worked for me was sending him to a trainer for a 2-week tune-up, followed by about 3 months of weekly arena lessons. Then I spent the summer encouraging him to be lazy–walk, stop, eat some grass, trot a little, walk some more. I still get occasional jiggy spells, but so far nothing too bad. If he starts to jig I just say “Walk!” and very often that’s enough to settle him. If not, I bump the reins or do walk/trot transitions and serpentines until he settles. He still has a big power walk, but as long as it’s a flat footed 4-beat walk I don’t mess with him.

Of the things I did, sending him to the trainer was the key to solving the problem. The trainer had the seat and the skills to cowboy through a couple of horse’s tantrums, and that’s really all it took. If you’ve tried everything you can think of and nothing is working, maybe a trainer could help.

Here’s a link to my post: https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/endurance-and-trail-riding/10330483-hot-horse-but-with-a-twist

[anon38350891]

@sdlbredfan

If you cannot just enjoy his joie de vivre, get a ‘deadhead’ like a QH. You are obviously not the right owner or rider, if you see this as a ‘problem’ that needs fixing.
Find him a new home with someone WHO WILL APPRECIATE HIM JUST AS HE IS. Sheesh…

There many things wrong with this post. Partial list:

1. The old worn out cliche born of ignorance about quarter horses
2. The idea that a horse needing help with a bad habit should be sold
3. The idea that nervous jigging is an expression of joy
4. The arrogance of telling a stranger on the internet that she is the wrong owner for a horse she obviously cares about.
5. The exasperated sheesh at the end. You brought yourself to this topic. If it aggravates you that much, a quick step away from the keyboard is easier than you seem to think.