Does anyone have any suggestions for making your horse be more relaxed and willing to do pattern classes like horsemanship and equitation?
Life experience, and variety.
If all you do is arena pattern work, then one tiny little change in a pole placement or a standard colour can make them very upset.
OTOH, if they’ve crossed rivers, gone on trail rides, moved cattle, trailed 1000 miles…then a new standard colour doesn’t even register as significant.
I’ve seen plenty of horses be angels at a brand new arena since everything is new and they can’t focus on one little thing, but then freak out at a new pile of gravel at their home arena (changing a familar detail).
Also, don’t drill. Lots of horses HATE doing the same thing day in and day out.
[QUOTE=aktill;8094866]
Also, don’t drill. Lots of horses HATE doing the same thing day in and day out.[/QUOTE]
Super tips above, but I think this one is the more important one.
Keep things interesting for your horse. Never do the same thing twice.
I’d get bored too and start to resent my job if I did the exact same pattern every day. 
I guess just take everything sloooooow and calmly. Work one element at a time and no matter how squirmy they get, don’t react. Even within elements there are places to “breathe” for a second, stop, loose rein, soft voice, maybe a pat. When/(if) they are standing still then on to the next bit. Lots of time to mentally relax. Keep the pattern practice sessions SHORT and simple. No more than 15 minutes, and perhaps only one thing at a time.
The filly I have now, LOVES pattern work. She likes keeping her mind busy and doing different things, but her mother HATED it with a passion. Would simply melt down over the easiest things like “Stop at cone A” She’d never been drilled, but just didn’t have the mentality for ALL THE (self applied) PRESSURE. lol, she was a total drama queen under saddle…
did that help?
Sorry, basic horse training 101 should have taught that you CAN NOT MAKE a horse like anything! Above suggestions are good ones, and if horse is smart, arena practice is BORING pretty quick. Keep the pattern parts practices short, do lots of other things to keep horse awake and attentive to what you ask of him. Doing longer rides away from the arena is a great mind stretcher, horse will probably love seeing all new things every stride down the trail or walking behind cattle if that is possible.
I also have smart horses, they get real tired of arena work, so you have to work at things to keep them alert and improving their skills.
One other idea I’m gonna throw out there into the discussion:
I do reining with my horse Red. Last year when I was trying to teach him flying lead changes, he would get really anxious and antsy about it. He knew what I was asking and he would just get so “overwhelmed” by it. So I tried to do it as little as possible and once I got one good change, then I’d move onto something else.
I do work with a reining trainer and I dropped him off for 3 weeks this spring. One of the times I was out there, the trainer told me something that made a lot of sense.
"If he thinks flying lead changes are a big deal and something to get upset about, we just kept doing them until he realized they AREN’T a big deal. "
Huh. I had never thought of it that way! And that idea actually worked well for Red! My goodness, that trainer had him doing tempi changes back and forth with ease. And it was no longer a big deal.
So for that particular situation, I actually make Red do his flying lead changes MORE so that he figures out they aren’t a big deal and he just needs to relax about it.
Anyway, food for thought.
At home- almost everything I do in the ring has something to do with equitation, whether it’s turning on the forehand when changing directions, making sure my circles are even, or picking out a spot to make a transition at. This is my way of practicing all the elements I might encounter in a pattern. If I’m practicing a specific pattern, I take it piece my piece. When I feel comfortable with each piece, I put it together and go slowly. I might stop and just sit for a minute by a cone. I also change it up if my guy starts anticipating. I find this is what keeps him from overthinking and getting hyped up.
At shows- I set my pattern up, practice each piece, and them put it all together. If he starts anticipating, I change it up a bit. I have found that I need to let my guy just chill before we enter the ring. If I school right before- things don’t go well. Sometimes I have to lunge to get the extra “lookiness” out. Try some different things to see what works!
I’m with beau. That said, if you’re going to practice something a lot, you have to be fairly ho-hum about it and not ask for perfection 100% of the time.
Rewards!
For a while, I would give my horse a treat whenever he did something good after a cue. Eventually I weaned off the treats, and typically just verbally praise him when he does something (I taught him to walk/jog/trot/canter off verbal cues instead of clucking and kissing) this way.
He also always gets a carrot or some type of treat after a ride, so he looks forward to getting out in the arena or doing trails because he gets snacks after.
Switching it up is always nice, maybe one day just do ground work, then the next go on a trail ride, or trail out for team penning/sorting. We only team pen/sort for fun once in a while, but we’ve found the barrel horses and my all-around horse love the switching so they don’t get bored. Plus, you’ll discover things you and your horse might like/dislike more than others, and maybe things you should work on at home in your arena.
