Search results matching tag 'training tips'

Getting him on the Bit?

Eclipse295 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

I am trying to get my Gelding on the bit but all he does is through his head, rear, or yank the reins out of my hands and then buck. Any ideas how I can get him on the bit correctly?

How to fix the 'hand rider' ??

Leita Lawrence — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:00:00 GMT

I have successfully coached hunter \ jumper for 25 years. I have a new student who used to galloped racehorses. He now wants to rider hunter \ jumper and some eventing. However, the way he rides seems to cause his horse to ride behind the bit. His horse pulls down on the flat and now jumps ahead of its shoulders... riding behind the bit to, over and after the fence. It is starting to get very dangerous!! I have tried to research this problem and I think it is caused by the rider balancing off his hands. I believe this may be a result of the riding style the rider used to gallop racehorses. The rider says it is because I want him to shorten his reins. When he rides with a longer rein, he gets left behind over the fence because he will not ride into a forward seat. This is the first time I have had to deal with a problem like this. I've checked the horse's bit and it fits well.

Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this ?

I would love to hear of any exercises that might work !!

Thank you.

Leita :-)

Tips for teaching to lunge???

Dressage Misfit — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT

I had tried a little bit of lungeing with William last year along with all our other ground work before saddling him (he's a 9yr old OTTB, and I had no idea of his post track training) and he had no clue what I was asking him to do. I won't go into all the sorted details of our swamp issues, but what area we had to train we lost and had no where to work/train, so I gave the lungeing a break and focused my attentions elsewhere. Now we have our nice round pen, so I thought I would give it a go again. We have made great progress. He travels both directions without freaking out and trying to run away from me, and he's figured out that the side reins are kind of cool. I start him at the walk, that is fine, I ask him to trot, that is fine, I can even ask for canter (that gets a bit wild and crazy, so we are sticking mostly to walk/trot), but here's where we have trouble............downward transitions from canter to trot, trot to walk, and walk to halt. I am trying to teach him voice commands for these things, but what I end up resorting to is running my hand up the lunge line, rotating my body toward him and giving a big jerk on the line and repeating the command. Of course, it's the big jerk that he responds to and I praise him for responding, but I hate having to jerk on him like that, and inevitably he tosses his head and gets all wide-eyed at me. How can I get these downward transitions without being a "jerk" (LOL, sorry that was cheesy!) :)~

Teaching "Forward!!" in a young horse that only wants to back

dandykrayon — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT

I have been doing ground work training a young TB/Perch cross gelding for a year now (he is almost two now). He started out very dangerous, wanting to rear all the time, running away for hours on end in the pasture (one time it took me over two hours to catch him in a little 3 acre pasture) and scared for anyone or anything to touch him. He has come a long way since then, and now he is generally very calm, easy to catch, and responds very well to pressure, especially laterally and backwards. However, he has what I know to be a dangerous habit of backing up whenever he gets scared, and if restrained, he goes up and strikes out. He has only gotten to the point of rearing when someone else was handling him (trying to help me, but it didn't really work); I don't let him get there. But whenever he feels unsure of something, even if it's not in fright, he just backs up and keeps backing. Also, despite the fact that we pay alot of attention to desensitizing to scary things, he is still very spooky and timid of trying new things; therefore, this backing problem comes up ALOT. I know that I need to find his "forward button" now, and teach him to stand still even when he is scared, instead of backing, so that he does not learn to resort to backing and rearing later on, under saddle.

I have tried just waiting with him when I start to feel him resist, until he relaxes and then asking again, but this rarely results in any progress, and sometimes when I let him think too long he decides he wants to back up anyway.

I have also tried just ignoring that he's backing and going along with him, rewarding him when he finally stops, so that he associates stopping with safety. This hasn't had any negative consequences so far, but doesn't seem to be getting us much closer to finding his "forward button" either.

Of course, he is still very young and awkward (his croup is nearly three inches higher than his withers), so perhaps once he evens out it will be more pleasant to move out? Another point I should mention is that he is very sensitive in that he gets confused and offended if I use too much force from behind (smacking with a crop or the end of the rope) to try to get him to move off. I have dealt with horses like that before, but not quite to his extent.

He is a very sensitive and smart horse, and very strong and well-built (once he catches up to himself of course) which makes me think he would eventually make a great dressage or jumping prospect, but I want to fix this problem now while he is young and get him thinking 'FORWARD!' more than 'backwards!!', and hopefully save myself from the rearing problem later on when I break him to saddle.

Any suggestions/thoughts would be wonderful! I am rather at a loss on what else to try with him.

Re: Flying Lead Changes

AQHAAPHA — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:00:00 GMT

I know a lot of people don't believe in holistic approaches to things, so bear with me, please. I suggest you get your horse checked out by a person who does equine acupressure or chiropratic adjustments. Your horse might have something "out" and be in pain whenever he tries to do a lead change. It might just be a training issue, as he is only five. Have you tried basic, simple lead changes? I am riding and working with an OTTB and I am still only doing simple changes. Granted, he is twelve so his time to learn these things may have been passed up.

How to get a horse to stand still while I mount

kingsenglish — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

The horse I ride has developed an annoying habit of moving when I try to mount. When I first get into the arena, I adjust my stirrups and tighten the girth and then walk over to the mounting block. Once I put the reins over his head, he will move forward or he'll move to the side - anywhere away from the block. I'll move the block and he'll move again. Tonight he even started to move backward to avoid the mounting block. I've tried to position him around the jumping standards so that he can't move away, but he's figured out how to get around them. He's starting to move right after I put the reins over his head. He used to do this last year, but then stopped for awhile. Now he's back to doing it. What can I do to get him to stand still so I can mount him?

Thanks.

Flying Lead Changes

MOC91302 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Hi! Newbie here....

I have a 5 yo OTTB who has been off racing for about a year now. Super nice guy, pretty easy going, fairly light to the aids, no lameness issues, etc., etc., etc. I've been riding for about 5 years now, so I'm a pretty solid intermediate rider.

My trainer and I are working towards Hunters (more likely focusing on Equitation and Medals) and taking things nice and slow, but I am having a bit of a problem, and I'm not sure if I should blame my trainer or my horse.

My horse doesn't do flying lead changes yet - ok, a couple of times he did it by accident going right to left, his preferred lead. My trainer says she has been working with him and she feels he is not ever going to be able to do them. Is this possible? IMHO lead changes are a natural occurance for horses and they simply need to be taught the cues of when and where to execute them, of course considering they are in good form, etc.

I've ridden everywhere, owned some and ridden a lot of school horses. I've never met ANY horse who was unable of doing a flying change. I know this is a question with a lot of variables involved, mainly level of training, but a properly educated and sound horse is capable of flying changes, right!?!?!? So, is it my trainer or my horse???

Thanks for the advice!

Tip for tat - sharing thread

JennyBristol — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 07:00:00 GMT

I thought is might be fun to have a thread where you can post one TOP RIDING TIP that you've discovered and also ask for help on one issue and see if we can't all learn from each other. Here is my starter for 10...

1) TIP: if your horse rushes his fences and if this makes you tense up or get tight, try jumping very small fences without stirrups. By taking your stirrups away, it is much harder to tense up, you will start to sit deeper in the saddle and have better 'feel' and control of your horse's rhythm making it more difficult for him to rush. Try also jumping with the reins in one hand when you get more confident.

2) HELP: years of reschooling naughty horses has taught me to sit well back on the canter transition anticipating a buck (!). However, it has now got to be a bit of a habit and I find it really difficult not to lean back a little as I ask for canter even when I try not to. If I do manage not to sit back, I somehow lose a bit of contact on the horse's mouth which encourages him/her to come above the bit and lose the outline. Any exercises to help?