Advice on a horse who must be 1/2 slug

BlueThePiebald

BlueThePiebald

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HOW in the 🌍 can I get Blue to move without having sore jelly legs at the end of each ride??? I have tried so much: voice encouragement, groundwork, build up of leg pressure, crop, energising feed... Nothing works! Should I invest in a schooling whip so that a tickle on the rump will move him forward? ANY help is appreciated. Bearing in mind he is not my horse, so I can't try anything weird! So, hit me with your advice!
 
Best advice is to use a schooling whip just behind the leg and lots and lots of upward and downward transitions short spells of faster pace with longer slow one to start with building up to longer fast than slow. Thing is you need to ride forward into every transition up and particularly down so he is going forward to slow down so leg on to halt or go from trot to walk. Most lazy horses are just avoiding working by falling off the contact and collapsing to a dawdle at every available chance. so dont let him walk or halt until he is doing the faster pace to slower pace by moving forward into his bridle. Hard to explain much easier to do.
Do make sure all the usuals are done teeth,back tack and health check first
 
@The Tank I use my crop behind my leg
@MissTyc my instructor just asks me to constantly boot him and tbh I don't really think it works but she knows best at the end of the day
@Tiddlypom yes he's perfectly fine! No pain, just recently clipped, he hasn't let a shoe or anything, he's just a slug!
@windand rain thanks! I do that anyway but half the time he ignores me! But we are getting there and has done an accidental walk to canter for me- it's some sort of progress! :)
 
If she says to continually boot him then she doesn't know best! I'd be looking for another instructor. One who could get on first and sharpen him before you got on, then tell you how to maintain it would be really good for you both :)
 
My horse can be a slug too :-(

Totally agree with riding forwards into transitions, up and down.

Totally disagree with continually booting. What you should be doing is asking him to go forwards and then sitting quietly once he is going forwards.

I squeeze first, nudge / kick second and use the schooling whip 3rd. Once my horse is moving forward I don't kick, and only squeeze /kick/ smack as required again once she is losing impulsion.
Also, try not to get frustrated and make sure you keep instructions to him clear.

I too would be doubting an instructor that said keep booting. It's just like a nag nag nag and the horse stops listening.
 
I would first check that tack fit first, then look for pain. If all fine add a glug of corn oil to his diet. Also I would get a new instructor, booting gets you no where. You need to look for one who understands these sorts of horses and has more ideas. A new set of ideas might be better,
 
My horse was like this

I got a good instructor who said, ask once with you leg and if he doesn't response immediately tell him with your whip! and mean it!! I started with small taps on his butt but meant that I was doing about 10 before he responded!! one big one is the way forward!

with my horse seems to respond more to the noise, so I use a normal whip with a big leather bit on the end as it make more noise than anything!

Once he realised it was easier to listen to my leg he was really responsive!! this took him 20 mins to get the idea!! and to be fair it wasn't a fun 20 mins, he reared, he kicked out but eventually he gave in and went really nicely!
 
Mine starts in the school begrudgingly and goes along with what I can only describe as the handbrake on. But what I found works with him is to do a bit of jumping first. For him it's poles, then cross poles then "proper" jumps - nothing major, just 2ft 6 ish, for but a couple of those gets him very forward and keen. It only takes about 15 mins but then I have a forward-going, very sparky horse. It might be for yours that he likes doing something different before you get schooling proper - maybe try lunging, jumping or even hacking before you get in the school. Otherwise, don't be afraid to use a schooling whip (the clue's in the title) or spurs or try a different route. I didn't want to be seen by others on the yard as just booting him along (and turning a remarkable shade of pink in the process !) so a few minutes jumping worked for us.
 
I like the reply above mine, because I tried hacking my boy for 10 minutes, just hillwork, then came back down into the yard, but as it was dark, I didn't school him, but he was far more responsive after that little bit of fun before hand.
 
If all health checks have been done and he's just lazy (I have had one of those for years!) instead of using one schooling whips, use two. If he doesn't respond to leg aids flick with both whips, my instructor had me doing this with my boy and it made a difference.

Oh, and yes, a bit of fun thrown into schooling helped mine too. Put him over a fence a few times and we had movement. :)
 
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