I would avoid anthropomorphizing her like this because I think it does more harm than good. So for this when she speeds up in the beginning of your ride, she’s not doing it to “pick an argument”. She’s probably doing it because she’s just having an off day and she’s a little more anxious than normal due to who knows what. Instead of looking at it as an “argument” think of it if she’s telling you that she’s just not feeling herself today and you should throw whatever plan you had out the window.
If she’s having an off day, just work on basic simple stuff and have your goal be to get her to relax. I find that with these introverted ones, if you go in trying to “win the argument” it just makes them shut down. Some horses do fine and you can have the “suck it up buttercup“ approach but the sensitive introverted ones, really don’t.
You’ve gotten a lot of great advice already, so I will just add my $0.02. My way-too-smart-for-her-own-good mare sounds a lot like yours. She would get anxious and then anticipate what was being asked and then life would be so much harder than needed. I used to joke that she would count how many steps she needed to take for each task and then rush to get them done and be like :"I did my 9,000 steps, that was good right? I can stop and go back to my hay?
For various reasons she got a good bit of time off, when we restarted her this past year we started off very slow and almost had to be strict about being calm and quiet. We started riding her in the spring (April or May) and she didn’t canter until like July. She had to walk and trot quietly. She had to be on light contact, keep her head up (she likes to curl up), not get behind the vertical, and she had to keep an even and quiet pace. If she got too quick at the trot we would either turn a lot, go back to the walk, or fake going back to the walk by asking her to walk almost but really just getting in to a very slow trot. When she started cantering again, it was more of the same and we now have a calm and reliable horse. Now comes the easy part, she has the “chill” button installed, and teaching new stuff is easy. Smart horses can make things way easier or way harder, depending lol.
Every horse has their own way of getting to “relaxed”, but for my smart mare, it was making things easy and when she made things harder (or thought things were harder than they were), we went back to something slower but harder (aka, you can trot quietly or you can do walking serpentines). When she realized that while she EXPECTED the task to take 9,000 steps, if she was patient, she might find out that it really only took 4,000 steps, she decided that things were A-Ok.
Sounds like your mare has a good work ethic, so if you can find a way to tap in to her and get her comfortable and confident with you, you will have a heck of a horse on your side!
You should not be “arguing” with a green horse - I think that this is a misconception that we horse people have been led to believe is part of the normal course of training. Generally, when we are “arguing” with the horse either we have let our emotions get the better of us, or we are asking for something in a way that the horse doesn’t understand or can’t yet give us.
If you are getting resistance, you are either pushing the horse past their mental or physical capacity, or you are not asking them in a way they understand. Often these clever but anxious types are easy to overface as it seems they need more stimulating work in order to engage their brains - however, life experience doesn’t really cross over to ridden/training experience and it is easy to forget that sometimes.
Ultimately, this horse has not mastered true relaxation yet and is simply channeling its anxiety in different ways -either by resisting or requiring so much input from the rider it has no choice but to concentrate/submit. I would work on building confidence through shorter, easier rides. If she speeds up - that’s normal, green horses are unbalanced and speed up when they fall on the forehand. Try not to sweat it, the speed may be a bit erratic but it doesn’t have to be perfect as long as you still have some control - just do a half halt, a big circle, slow your posting, etc. and carry on. If you are a bit of a perfectionist/Type A personality, you will have to switch your brain to learn to work with “good enough” and “in progress” instead of perfect practice makes perfect.
If you don’t have the input of a trainer, I would recommend finding someone that specializes in starting young horses - their input can really help you figure the horse out faster. Even a few rides from one of these types can really help the horse’s confidence and make your job much easier going forward.
My very tense and easily offended ottb needs that reset button of going back to something easy.
It took a very long time and a lot of mistakes on my part for being too greedy (usually without me realizing it until too late).
But once I really stuck to my guns of going back to something he was confident and relaxed doing any time he got tense… he started getting tense less and less often and for a much shorter time.
Now if I overface him or confuse him and he gets a little tension I just throw in a few steps of a stretch trot (which is one of his favorites) and it resets his mind completely.
I also think it’s important to have rides that don’t involve any “training”. For my guy that’s either a bareback walk around the property on a completely loose rein. Or a gallop in the hay field and lots of stretchy trot that HE gets to be in charge of (so maybe a bit strung out but happy).
Yes, I’d agree with this too that you absolutely can do a canter to let off steam early in the ride. And you are right that some exercises need the propulsion of trot, I’d say a 20 meter circle is also harder to walk than trot! It was more a general comment that if your horse is fussy and jigging and anxious at the walk, you likely aren’t going to do any better schooling the trot.
That’s not exactly true with OTTBs. They often throw the rider on and go directly into trot at the training barns. Some times the walking is the hardest gait for these horses to relax in. Especially if you try to enforce a walk straight away.
On the first day back, after a day off, let her have a little trot or even canter straight away. As long as she’s not bolting, giving her something to do straight away may help her relax.
I’ve ridden several OTTBs who were much happier horses after having a minute or two of canter with the rider in a half seat as warm up. Not a gallop, just let them hunt around the ring on a looseish rein in the beginning.
I suggest you check out Warwick Schiller, he has some great exercise for working through anxiety with horses like this. In my opinion this is where you need to start.
It can take some time but having “relaxed” installed makes the rest of the training so much easier and more pleasant for horse and rider.
Lots of great responses here! One of my TBs was similar and what I found was to keep him engaged and happy I needed to switch things up before he got up his pants about whatever we were working on. So, lots of transitions, within and between gaits. Simple to complex to simple lateral work. Throw in some cavaletti or a jump or four, then back to lateral stuff.
If we were struggling with something I would totally change gears and do something I knew he was comfortable with, give him lots of praise for that, and then move on to something else. Maybe we would go back to the struggling thing, maybe we would skip it for that session. The feeling I was after, regardless of what we were doing, was a nice, happy, slowed-down conversation, trying to keep him from ramping up, but still giving him tasks because he had a very busy brain and needed to be focused.
I second the suggestion to go out for hacks, as a change. I think this usually works, but not always! The horse I’m talking about here, unfortunately, was a braindead, semi-dangerous nutter on hacks. I had to ride him out as if he was in the ring (very engaged, working into the bridle), until he relaxed into the work and took a breath, but we never actually got to a place, mentally, where he liked hacking.
Another now-retired TB was one who benefited from cantering (sometimes a gallop, depending on his mood!) at the beginning. He’d been slapped around quite a bit on and then off the track and was very anxious when I got him, so just allowing him to zip around a couple of laps while I perched on top and told him he was a lovely boy tended to work. As time went on we didn’t need to do this anymore and I would warm him up with stretchy walk and trot, nearly on the buckle but with connection. I never got the other one I mention above to this place (I lost him to a tumor fairly young), but that is where I wanted to head with him.
Good luck! She sounds like quite a project; she’s fortunate to have someone willing to invest the time and work into finding a good structure for her.
So many different ideas and suggestions here - which I think reflect that there is no one correct suggestion for every horse, or even for the same horse on any given day I have two OTTBs who I joke are the yin and yang to each other in every single way. Lots of transitions can help one settle while it serves to only wind up the other. Since I don’t have an indoor, the winter is the time when I am kind of forced to take the small victories- and I think it’s a great time to think about that even if you do have an indoor since things slow down in general in the winter. Take the time now to set small “goals” that may FEEL tiny - like when she comes out feeling like what you’re describing as “ready for an argument” and call it a win when you get her to bend and drop her head and relax at the walk after however long it takes. That’s a win - resist the urge to think “she’s so good, let’s just try…” Sure, sometimes you do need to do a bit more or you’ll never be able to do a bit more, but really try to end on those small victories more often than not. Eventually you’ll build to the bigger wins.
I have an anxious overthinker. I learned how to truly just sit on him. Any any any sort of tension or anticipation in my seat makes him bananas. I also learned to spend a good bit of preride time doing T Touch circles on his neck, chest, face and poll. We added in gentle carrot stretches,too. It’s my goal to get him stoned on good ju-ju and aware muscles and get us in sync. It’s remarkable how he evolved from being sort of ‘tight’ about tacking up to approaching it more like sitting down with a friend at the bar, ahhhhhh, so, how’s your day been?
I didn’t realize how much my adjustments bled over into my other horses. My instructor rode my green bean just to putz around while I took a lesson on my tense guy. The entire 45 minutes she sat on him, his walk was lateral and anxious. We swapped horses, I rode him maybe 3 strides and he blew his nose 5-6 times and regained his loose, overtracking walk.
To teach a busy-minded OTTB to settle down really comes down to the riding. They are never going to just pick it up, or even understand that “calm” is what is wanted.
Honestly, relaxed equitation is the only thing I’ve personally found to work. Sit properly, but not stiff. Do not let her make you stiff with her activity - you be the one to decide how you sit, don’t be reactive to the horse’s every fuss. Butt where it belongs, even on both seat bones (don’t let the horse get you sitting off to one side), moving with the horse’s gait (this is crucial, stiff seat means stiff horse). Shoulders square and carry your upper body correctly. Relax arms and elbows. This is not always easy!
Do not let the horse make you reactive in your body position every time they do their 1,000 sudden shifts forward, side, back, wherever. With a correct position and seat, relaxed, you ride through it and they have a place to settle. The more stable and relaxed your position, the less they will shift and fuss.
If you find that every time the horse sucks back a tiny bit, suddenly (it’s what they do), your shoulders tip a bit in front of the motion, correct your position and balance so that doesn’t happen. Shoulders need to be farther back, probably. Nothing the horse does should ever get you in front of the motion. That may mean some more discipline in the rider’s upper body.
Constantly alert, quick, reactive horses tend to discourage the rider from putting the leg on. This will come back to bite hard, later. From day one, work on proper leg position while working on everything else. That might need to be done carefully and judiciously, though! And on some horses it would not be wise until a bit later in their re-training. But sooner rather than later, it has to come to the horse consistently accepting the leg.
You can give your horse a break, but you don’t get one. The horse doesn’t understand why the rider suddenly lost all of their balance and position. Save that for when the horse is more understanding and mature in their education.
Pretend your toughest riding instructor is watching every minute of every ride. Your horse may suddenly become a much better horse.
Our inner dialog with ourselves matters a great deal.
Horses do not “decide to pick an argument”. Their brains are not capable of that line of thought. In fact, I doubt they make many decisions at all - they are a reactive animal.
Your horse is reacting, to something. Our challenge as riders & handlers is understanding how a horse sees things well enough to figure out what that is. It could be lack of focus, distraction on extraneous noises or sights. It could be an oversupply of energy that day. It could be something about the situation that is a trigger.
When her walk suddenly picks up some jet overpower, take a very deep breath, relax, and use turns and other movements to get her back without fighting with her mouth and head. Don’t fight with her over pace. Regulate it through your riding instead. Give her some benefit of the doubt that she is just being a horse, and has no idea that the rider has expectations. She is not trying to make you crazy, even if it feels that way!
She does not have a true ‘opinion’. She needs to work off excess energy that will keep building if it is not expended - that’s a biological process. And working out how to do that without eroding her mental focus - that’s your job.
Riding horses such as this can be an exhausting mental process! But she needs you to teach her to be the kind of horse that riders expect. It’s her greatest security for the rest of her life, as there is no knowing where she may eventually end up. So, this is what we sign up for when we take these horses on!
Excellent advice.
Standing - on the ground and under saddle - is something every horse needs to learn. In the beginning it has to be rewarded and encouraged in micro-increments. If a fresh OTTB will stand with all four feet on the ground for 2 seconds, celebrate, reward and walk away. It will take days, weeks, but gradually work up to 5 seconds. Then 8 seconds, 10 seconds, so on.
Always be the one to decide “now we walk away” before the horse starts moving on their own. Always. If the horse decides when it ends, they always will.
Do. Not. Drill. the standing exercise. Ask (or allow) the horse to stand in that instant when you know you can get it, then ask for the walk, and gush over the horse that she is a certifiable genius for standing still for 5 whole seconds. Then go to something else. And maybe that’s the only time that day to stand, if she’s not ready for more.
Don’t get into a control fight with the horse about standing - that will make so many issues worse. Do what the horse can do on the day, in that instand. Not what they did yesterday, or what they should be ready to do, or what someone else expects them to do. Instead, judge what they can do right now, and go from there.
One of the very best pieces of advice I ever got … this was given specifically for being at a horse show, but it applies to every ride. Especially with greenies!
Ride the horse you have on the day.
Not the horse you thought you had, or thought you bought, or thought you brought to the show, or thought you should have by this point in their training, or thought they would be after yesterday’s ride. If they are acting like they forgot all about this riding thing, start from there. If they are anxious, or overly calm (I refuse to use the word ‘lazy’ with a horse), or ignoring you, or whatever, ride accordingly. Forget who is watching or what the expectations are generally for the level. Just ride the horse you have on the day.
I will throw my two cents in there since I ride a variety of thoroughbreds in training for a new home - they run the gamot of “never ran” to “failed racehorse” to “stakes”. Some of the biggest money winners were the pokiest lesson pony types as soon as they arrived while others are still anxious about life.
As other have said - less is more. Drilling an exercise to much and adding something new when a horse is to mentally or physcially tired generally backfires horribly. I remember being in high school and we got a new jump. The one instructor spent an entire lesson “getting this horse ready” to jump the new, big, solid spread jump (wall and rolltop were about 3’3" and about 2’ wide). By the time the horse and student got to the jump, they were both exhausted and the horse never got over that jump that lesson. My instructor pointed her students to it as the 2nd or 3rd jump directly after warm up and had no issues. They jumped it once or twice the first time and didn’t jump it much ever.
This works for people also and don’t underestimate your mental or physical stopping points. If you are asking something when you are physically more tired, you are not as likely to offer the best aids. When I set up a new and scary looking jump, I jump it early in the ride and generally just once or twice then don’t jump it again - even if I want to after that. I have overjumped myself before and ended up starting to screw up on the 4th attempt then get progressively worse until I finally do it kind of OK on the 8th attempt and have to end there, which is not as positive for either of us had I ended on attempt 2.
When we were learning lead changes, my mare got anxious about them so once we had ONE good one, we would stop and we are at the point now where we do one a ride (not one each way, just one) because to many and she starts to get anxious and rush but if she does one good one, we are done with that exercise.
As far as anxiety goes - remember evolutionarily speaking horses are designed to run from scary things and thoroughbred breeders tapped into this to get them to run fast. I have found with anxious thoroughbreds to let them trot - a few in particular, if I haven’t ridden them in a bit, I will get on and kick them right into a trot. I maintain control both because we are trotting because I asked and also due to the fact that I don’t just trot around but ask for circles, serpentines, figure 8’s, etc. One horse relaxes over ground poles and jumps in general so it is a good distraction. Once they start to settle, we consider what our training session will be that day. With a horse anxious about walking and/or loose rein, I start letting the rein out slowly and use the same refocusing as above - circles, serpentines, etc. This keeps their mind on things other than looking for something to be scared of. One horse that I ride really likes contact. To him, contact means I am in control, hence in charge, hence the one that will defend him from predators. Less contact means HE is in charge and HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!
So, we work in increments on going along nicely in a loose rein, a few minutes at a time. I will loosen rein a bit, do a circle, pick up more contact again, etc. This allows him to get that “break” from having to be his own horse and learn that being his own horse isn’t so bad after all. He gets the contact back before he gets a chance to get anxious so it becomes less of a concern. It is similar to the advice I would give someone who is anxious about trotting/cantering/jumping/etc - do it in increments and stop before you are anxious, then start increasing those increments.
The last thing I will mention is that it cannot be understated how important it is, for BOTH of you, to end on a good note - any good note. When I first started with my mare’s dam, way back in the day, she was a ball of anxiety and we were having some horrid rides to the point where going out to ride was becoming less and less fun. Then I started find something positive to end one - hey, you stood for 2 whole seconds! I would spend the walk back praising her and focusing on that one positive moment, not the entire rest of the ride where she was spooking at everything and having a melt down about the leaves in the breeze. It became more pleasant to ride and there were more positive moments and eventually we became real partners. Had I not switched my thinking, though, I am not sure we could have gotten as far as we did in training and competition.
I have two OTTBs who I joke are the yin and yang to each other in every single way. Lots of transitions can help one settle while it serves to only wind up the other. Since I don’t have an indoor, the winter is the time when I am kind of forced to take the small victories- and I think it’s a great time to think about that even if you do have an indoor since things slow down in general in the winter. Take the time now to set small “goals” that may FEEL tiny - like when she comes out feeling like what you’re describing as “ready for an argument” and call it a win when you get her to bend and drop her head and relax at the walk after however long it takes. That’s a win - resist the urge to think “she’s so good, let’s just try…” Sure, sometimes you do need to do a bit more or you’ll never be able to do a bit more, but really try to end on those small victories more often than not. Eventually you’ll build to the bigger wins.
