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I need help with some horse questions, can you help me.

Couple of horse questions?

  • I just have a few questions, so bear with me I'll try and keep it brief. 1. I am a horses security blanket at shows. The horse is a three year old paint mare and being shown in walk trot by her 11 year old owner. At the shows i warm help get her unloaded, groomed, saddled, and warmed up. i give her rider a little lesson, i keep her calm between classes, i lead her to the ring and i drink her and take care of her at the end of the day. Yes maybe her owner should do more but shes a kid, goofy and distractable. anyways the horse always stands with her nose resting on me and even with the rider on her back she follows me everywhere, whinnies to me and stays attached to my hip at the shows. How can i wean her off me a little? i know she is young and wants security. I also work with her a lot at home. 2. Me and my new lease have a LOT to work on. Shes an OTTB and is 8 years old. She is a great horse but has had no consistent work in the past year. First things first, i want to get her to relax and soften on the bit and stop being so sensitive to every tiny movement and to anticipate less. I have my own plans and ideas and i know i can do it but i would love some advice or tips from people who have dealt with similar horses. 3. One of the horses i show has a tendency to over collect and get heavy on her forehand. If she gets fast in the canter half halts, give and take dont work, they only make her REALLY tuck her chin (really really, like to her chest) and lean on her forehand. I can fix it by lifting her up and pushing her on, but its hard to do that subtly in the show ring. I would rather have a good ride than win but still. Also she tends to jump flat so i could use some advice on that too. She is a 5 year old QH. 4. Another horse i ride is an 10 year old TB cross who my trainer wants me to get into jumping with again. Before we do that i REALLY need to collect up his stride. He has a very long stride and gets very strung out. I can more or less get his butt underneath him and get him moving well using a whole lot of half halts and leg yeilds. Any advice on this? And dont suggest ties downs, im not cranking his head into a headset i want to teach him to move well with his whole body. 5. Last one i swear! I ride this 4 year old TB all the time to train her, because her owner is only 10 (bad match, but what can you do) Anyways i have taught her to go into a great long and low frame but the girl ( who i give lessons to) just doesn't get it. She has no concept of half halts, moving a horse over by pushing their body not just steering their nose or any of the other things i use to train her horse. Anybody know how i can get this stuff through her head? Thanks so much! Sorry they are long, but any and all advice o any question is greatly appreciated!

  • Answer:

    1. have the owner help you with this stuff.she doesnt have 2 do it all but just help you with things like tacking and untacking and giving her water 2. make bigger turns and circles so she can get used to that. dont fidget as much w/ reins and sturrups. if you make obvious turns and cirlce etc she will get used to that and the anticipating and every little movement thing will stop hopefully 3. i have no advice for this one sorry 4.slow him down and do a bunch of poles so he has to make smaller steps and strides. dont rush him to jumps and dont make them to close cuz he will anticipate them. 5. well shes really young and has a young horse. but you keep working on the horse and have her watch you ride once or twice and show her. work on things one at a time and take it slow. also try having her ride another horse who understands this stuff and responds to it really good. BEST OF LUCK :-)

SportyHo... at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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1. Get the kid to groom her, help tack up, etc. And the horse is so young I wouldn't worry about it. Give her time to gain experience and confidence at shows. 2. I work with a similar arab. First, I'd check for pain anywhere with dental/saddle fit/chiro, etc. I assume she gets plenty of turnout, but if not, make sure to get her some. I'd start with either an extremely mild bit or no bit (less is more) and do more groundwork (like lunging, light roundpenning, in hand work), especially before I get on. Long lining is great to get horses to soften to the bit (lunge or ground drive with 2 lunge lines attached to the halter or bit rings, run through tied stirrups or surcingle). Focus on forward movement and being extremely light with your hands. Other than that, I've found it just takes time and experience to get them to settle down. 3. At home, ride in a halter or keep off her mouth & work on driving her forward like you described. Don't worry about it if she goes too fast, just ride until she settles & realizes it's ok to keep her nose out. You could also try teaching her a "head up" cue for showing. I wouldn't jump her until her canter work is good. 4. Try the long lining I described. 5. I think her owner is just too young & will ruin the training you're doing with her. A 10 year old and a 4 year old TB? If you must, try limiting what you let her do until she does what you ask. Say, take away her reins (on a lunge line or different horse if need be) and make her learn to steer. Don't let her trot until she can get the horse to softly back up, etc. Best wishes.

Lauren S

4: have you tried a crop behind the leg? Or positive reinforcement when he moves well? once you him forward, underneath himself, and carrying himself for a lap, let him do WHATEVER (i know. I'm crazy.) he wants. He'll love it, and he will learn that moving collectively is a GOOD thing! #5: Have you tried telling her the dangerous side of NOT listening? There are some pretty terrifying bad-rider horror stories... Tell her how bad it is for the horse to not ride it properly! If she loves her horse, this will "cure" her.

Britain Kayde

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