He is very young. Lunging is really hard work for a horse and puts tremendous pressure on limbs. You don’t say how often you work your horse, or if you are mainly/only in the arena, but schooling can become monotonous particularly if you are seeking perfection and he just hasn’t got the strength or balance. WBs take time to mature, physically and mentally. Perhaps just give him some time off with turn out, to chill. Horses do not forget their training and often benefit from a short break.Or go trail riding and find some varied terrain for him to experience as this will teach him to use his body, find his feet, and gain balance.
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Are you lunging correctly and working him on the lunge?
If you are lunging incorrectly there is no point.
If you are lunging him correctly you should have him forward and working on the lunge.
10 minutes of this is equal to an hour of riding. That is too much for a young horse for joints and for them mentally.
Yes hack him out and the one thing my instructor said to me was that he now had the confidence to go forward. Think about it from that perspective.
How long has he been on that amount of work? How often a week? Was he worked up to it? He could be starting a splint or have shin soreness.
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He’s been on a short break and back on again, he is lunged one/twice a week and ridden once/twice a week. So in total he works 4 times a week not more than 35mins riding and not more than 20mins lunging. Just recently I started trail rides and he seems to love them, so maybe during summer I do more trail rides with him. My only problem is that he has no turnout a stable and a small outside paddock so he needs to go out and when he is turned out it’s for 30mins to stretch his legs.
Your whip should lie against/across your thigh at a 45 degree angle. The more expensive ones are very flexible and are activated by a quick wrist turn.
The fact that he sees it and reacts could indicate that your hands are far more unstill than they should be.
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I have a lazy young horse. We spent 3-4 months of just squeeze, bump, whip over and over until he was prompt to the leg. It took forever. I thought he would be a push ride his entire life and I would die. Guess what?? Being consistent with those leg aids (and not into contact in the beginning) and he’s now a yes man. Unless it is VERY hot/humid or he’s very tired he goes at the first squeeze. Do nothing else until he gets this!
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Update: the past couple of days I’ve been worked to make him more reactive and awake on the lunge and then rode for 10mins in the arena and he was much much better, did loads of walk to trot transitions, then hacked him out and was quite nice and forward.
I might hop on again today and see how it goes.
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If the horse is moving away from your whip, your job is to close your leg, and move the horse back. Your legs are responsible for riding straight.
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OP,
In addition to what others have said, I’ll say this:
I’d change to a dressage whip. You can train your horse in hand that the dressage tap to the hind end means activate that leg! Your other aids keep your horse straight.
I did clinics with Carla Smyader from Germany and she was all into FORWARD FORWARD FORWARD. Running? who cares, get your horse moving off your aids and moving forward regularly, then your correct use of half-halts sits the horse back correctly. Horse isn’t forward in the canter? GALLOP. Every horse can do this, most don’t feel like they want to/can when ridden. Her approach made huge differences in horses.
Even when walking on a loose rein, walk FORWARD. Slows when turning, nope. Slows when coming into contact? Nope. All horses can be forward when walking. Walk trot responsiveness really helps wake up a horse to your aids and don’t expect less. Any sound horse can walk and trot on your aids if you are kind and ask first, enforce second.
I feel your pain! My horse can be explosive or laaaaaazzzzzyyy. I work on "sorry, dude, you’re working. You can handle a forward walk, trot and canter and being on the aids for less than an hour on average in addition to your 23 hours lounging in your personal pasture a day. The more transitions and work I ask for, the more electric he gets. I also have recently added small colored cones to the work, and this gives him something to focus on (things we circle or serpentine around, etc). My horse really enjoys the visual cues, more than other horses I’ve ridden.
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Love this piece of advise!! thank you… I can put my mindset into FORWARD FORWARD now and not feel like a bully when I push him to go off my aids. That’s the thing with me I am too soft on him, and this is the time to tackle this issue before it gets worse.
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All of us ammies are. And our horses have a way of wrapping us around their little hooves! I think if we are fair in our aids/training and then reinforcement, we’re good for setting the tone that they have a job to do. I think if we fail to do this, most horses will take advantage and be really lazy in the work (lazy meaning they aren’t trying to work or listen, which can manifest in all sorts of ways). I call my horse “His Lordship” because he’d prefer I groom him all day and feed him carrot bon-bons. I convince him that he has a job, he has to listen to me when working, and actively participate in the work for what - 4 hours per week? I expect that. I want a job like that! :lol:
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This is horrible for a horses long term soundness. Find a new place for him to live where he gets half day at minimum turnout.
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You’ve gotten good advice on how to get a young horse thinking forward. And yes, evasions like this are not uncommon in young WB dressage horses (been there, done that myself!)
But one little thing jumped out to me in your OP. Did you say the saddle fitter was out there the weekend before all this started? Did they tweak anything on your saddle? If anything changed on your saddle within a week of this behavior starting I would absolutely get the saddle fitter back out to recheck! Everyone’s human and can make mistakes, or sometimes what you think will work best for a horse the horse has a different opinion of. One of the worst cases of behind-the-leg-itis I’ve dealt with came started with a saddle that was pinching - even after it was fixed, we had to go do several of the above suggestions to re-establish forward! That case was also a sudden onset change in behavior.
Nobody needs to force a horse to do anything. All you have to do is be a little smarter than he is, and make what you want the easiest thing for him to do. When your youngster is capable of W/T/C turn R and L you get him out trail riding. You get a group of sensible friends/horses together and you go enjoy the countryside. He will want to go along with the group. He will also see stuff. and do stuff in a relaxed manner and learn to go forward. You can also school your horse outside of the sandbox.
That is after checking your saddle fit.
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Is this the same horse that you were having problems with here? https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/off-course/10288493-breaking-in-issues
Update: Horse has been going forward nicely and been going really well off the leg 
Loads of hacking and started taking lessons more frequently and all is heading to the right direction!
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