ILuci
New User
I've been riding western once a week for about 4 years now (and English on-and-off for longer) and for the last year and a bit I've been on this horse which has a tendancy to spook in one corner of the arena where the gate is.
It got to the point where he was spooking (not quite sure if that's the right terminology - his head would shoot up with ears pricked and then go running off away from that corner) every lesson. I've stayed on, and he's good at calming right down soon after, but I'm very shaken about asking him to do things at that corner since I feel like he'll bolt. He's got a pretty slow trot so the disparity between his usual speed and him running away is vast. It's taken me a year to feel comfortable picking up the canter again (which sucks, because it's so fun) and I can't help but feel like I'm doing something wrong, especially since I'm a nervous person and I can't help but feel like he's picking up on that even when I'm more comfortable. It got better over the spring/summer but picked back up again in autumn - I think possibly because the doors on the gate are closed during winter/autumn so my instructor isn't leading him over to them before the lesson so he isn't spooked by the goings-on outside it. He's the third horse I've been on at that stable, but the other two were both older which I think is why they might have been less fussed about my nervousness?
I'm really bad at taking initiative/speaking up and it shows in how I ride - the second horse I was riding on at that stable didn't need a crop at all, this one needs it reguarly since I struggle to make him listen to my leg commands, and I think since I'm bad at showing that I'm in charge he takes the inch and turns it into a mile.
General information is that it's always in the corner where theres a little-used gate to the yard with large doors (it's an indoor arena) and I've been told he's nervous and spooked there before with others (but I feel like maybe every lesson for over a month is a little too much.) It's also only when he's in the walk, never the trot or canter. Theres a fair amount of noise, but he doesn't seem to care about anything thats common around the yard (airplanes, tractors ect.) but even if he pricks up his ears at an unfamilar bad sound he always waits until that corner to bolt. He also tends to rub his teeth on the bars of the stall whenever he's being tacked up and toss his head once the bridles on, but maybe that's normal behavior.
Any advice would be great, I love riding and I'd hate for it to be soured just because of one little stumble.
It got to the point where he was spooking (not quite sure if that's the right terminology - his head would shoot up with ears pricked and then go running off away from that corner) every lesson. I've stayed on, and he's good at calming right down soon after, but I'm very shaken about asking him to do things at that corner since I feel like he'll bolt. He's got a pretty slow trot so the disparity between his usual speed and him running away is vast. It's taken me a year to feel comfortable picking up the canter again (which sucks, because it's so fun) and I can't help but feel like I'm doing something wrong, especially since I'm a nervous person and I can't help but feel like he's picking up on that even when I'm more comfortable. It got better over the spring/summer but picked back up again in autumn - I think possibly because the doors on the gate are closed during winter/autumn so my instructor isn't leading him over to them before the lesson so he isn't spooked by the goings-on outside it. He's the third horse I've been on at that stable, but the other two were both older which I think is why they might have been less fussed about my nervousness?
I'm really bad at taking initiative/speaking up and it shows in how I ride - the second horse I was riding on at that stable didn't need a crop at all, this one needs it reguarly since I struggle to make him listen to my leg commands, and I think since I'm bad at showing that I'm in charge he takes the inch and turns it into a mile.
General information is that it's always in the corner where theres a little-used gate to the yard with large doors (it's an indoor arena) and I've been told he's nervous and spooked there before with others (but I feel like maybe every lesson for over a month is a little too much.) It's also only when he's in the walk, never the trot or canter. Theres a fair amount of noise, but he doesn't seem to care about anything thats common around the yard (airplanes, tractors ect.) but even if he pricks up his ears at an unfamilar bad sound he always waits until that corner to bolt. He also tends to rub his teeth on the bars of the stall whenever he's being tacked up and toss his head once the bridles on, but maybe that's normal behavior.
Any advice would be great, I love riding and I'd hate for it to be soured just because of one little stumble.