Since this seems to be a big topic on other blogs. I want to talk about horses that are master evaders, mainly because I ride one. That mare is not one of my horses, but is a horse that I ride weekly for exercise.
She's a horse that gets hot, won't stop or stand still cannot walk, has to trot.
Usually, this mare is not so bad. Yesterday I took her out on a ride. We rode for about an hour in hilly terrain. As we were leaving the trainer was coming back with a freshly broke 4 year old. When my mare, lets call her Gwen, saw that the other horse was going back to the barn, she vowed to run the trails as fast as possible to return to the barn faster.
I am used to her attitude and do not usually allow any of it. I couldn't stop her! I litteraly sat there with reins as tight as it took. As soon as I let a little bit of slack on her reins, she took it up to a trot, faster and faster. She already jogged the whole trail, which is comfortable, but that's not what I was asking of her. I've tried many stops and stand on the trail and all yielded poor results. At one point, I had to check her in the mouth, made her stop, she basically had a meltdown right there, threw herself in a ditch mini-rearing and bolting sideways. I thought about bailing off, but I needed to teach her something. Whipped her butt, made her do circles and thought we were good to go and the same story plays over again!
So once we were done trail riding, we stayed in the fields to school a bit, so we did trots and canters. I never felt in control. This horse was pointing her shoulder, running through me, never keeping a straight line, leaning on the turns... It was a nightmare! I was holding her back from running and she went into a full galop, ran right through my hands! I had no control over her at all. I tryed a small canter in the field but she pointed her shoulder towards the barn running sideways, then I corrected her to put her in a straight line and she leaned in so hard it nearly unseated me.
I am not usually hard handed, but with this mare, you can only think about not being hard before getting on her back, then the necessity imposes itself and you are found pulling as hard as it would usually take to stop a horse dead ALL THE TIME! She wont back up, she throws herself sideways, spins, throws her head, puts her chin to her breast and runs right through, points her shoulder, etc. There's probably more stuff that just doesn't come to mind right now. So what do you do with such a barn sour, cue evading horse????? I've tried making her work in canter but she is unbalanced and canters in all directions, plus I have no control to tell her where to go, if she feels like going someplace, you can pull all you want but she'll go anyways.
How do I get her back on track!? Have you ever had one of these horses?? What worked?
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Just keep in mind that this is not my horse, so I don't want to take too much of a drastic measure.
ReplyDeleteWell first you need to get to the root of the problem…what is causing her to be such a brat? Is she aggressive or scared? Is she testing you or is she actually distressed about something?
ReplyDeleteEither way I would strongly encourage a heavy lunging session in a fenced area before every ride, this will help her blow out her frustrations before you get on her, and she won't have the stamina and energy to run right through your hands
If she is not listening to you at all when you ride, after lunging, I would concentrate on a single task (like moving in a straight line)
Be fair and consistent, but insist that she does it, and as soon as you get what you want, release all pressure from her head and sides, even quit the lesson if you feel confident enough. If she doesn't listen, keep her butt moving and working until she complies. Eventually she'll learn that listening to you = rest and fighting you = work.
She sounds like quite the handful!