My gelding spooks as well. I never know exactly when it will happen but I do know when it might by watching his ears. We did a trail ride in an area he is familiar with twice this week. Day 1 was around noon so shadows were at a minimum and the wind was calm. We were riding through a creek so there were crunching gravel and leaf sounds as well as water splashing but he was fine with little ear movement. Day 2 was different. We rode later in the day so we cast long shadows which are always scary to

Yesterday, I was able to work with Kid in the round pen for the first time since my post in February. Even though we have made progress, I still went with low expectations. I am proud to say that he surprised me and did exactly what he was supposed to do. It did take several times of stopping and restarting him going around, but finally when I stood still in the middle of the pen, Kid stopped, looked directly at me, lowered his head while licking/chewing, walked toward me and then stopped. I ran

I'm glad to report that Kid's behavior has improved greatly. Likewise, the way I work with Kid has improved. It is hard to admit that most of the problems were created by me. I wanted my horse to love me and therefore let him get away with behaviors like invading my space. It has been just over two weeks since my original post and I feel like we have made great progress.

I'm still new to riding and horse ownership and up until about a month ago, things have been fine. My horse, Kid, is a big 16.3, 1250 pound quarter horse and I am now terrified of him. He is 6 years old and gelded. I never had a problem catching him in the pasture and never had to bring food with me. He would stand when I put his halter on. A few weeks ago, I went out to get him and he was eating grass with horses he had never really spent time with. When I approached him to put his halter on

You can order ownership reports from AQHA for around $10 for non-members.

I'm glad to say this week's lessons have been much better than last week. I'm still on the same horse and on Tuesday (I take lessons twice a week for now) we backed off from trotting and just walked in the round pen in different directions, did circles, and other basics. My instructor wanted me to feel more confident before trotting again. The entire lesson was relaxing and just what I needed. In fact, Wednesday's lesson was much better for it. I am going to preface the next part

Lol - I loved the commentary. It sounds as though the Griswald's Cousin Eddie has moved in.

Thank you both for the advice! Laura, I think you hit the nail on the head - I am tense, but only with trotting. My instructor and I roded (walked) about 45 minutes around his pasture and it was sooo much fun. I am going to ask him about half-halting since I haven't learned it yet. I do know that I will be riding a different horse at my next lesson whose trot is supposidly much smoother. I'll you know how it goes. On a sad note today, a horse in the barn where we keep our horses got colic

I'm new to riding and have been taking lessons for about 4 months now. The main problem I am having is that trotting scares me. My instructor says he doesn't see any problems with what I am doing but I feel like I could bounce right off the horse's back. I can tell when I focus and breathe it does get better but I can't seem to do more than once around the round pen before I feel the need to stop before I lose control. I was just learning to post when I switched from English to Western

We went to watch a pony express event a couple of weekends ago and I fully expected not to see anyone with helmets. I'm pleased to say many of the children and adults were wearing either riding or motorcycle helmets. I've only been riding for about a year and have always been required to wear a helmet during lessons. I don't complain since it makes me feel safer.