Any ideas, pony going 0 to 60mph with daughter

You know I really should have listened to experts like Dressage babe when we were operating all those years, strangely enough the local Pony Club used to hire our horses for the area trials and always came home with rosettes!
Then there were the six years we won the Police Road Safety Comp where you had a tack/turn out/ control test then an hour's riding along busy roads as a team , perhaps we may have won a seventh time instead of second had I had her knowledge available..
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My riding school horses were known for being forward going, well schooled but
safe! I also take great offence that the implication they were abused and wore ill fitting tack. My criteria was always no-one started riding except on private lessons on the lunge, and then progressed when they had a secure seat.
I did however deal in ponies bought in from the sales from different homes and sometimes they were the ones who decided to try their luck and see if they could be in charge.
Dressage-babe you need to realise there is a vast difference in horsecare and handling in this country.
Yes, I was trained in a classical method but years of experience have made me understand that there are thousands of people out there who will not use patience and perseverance to obtain results, and often you have to find an easier solution.
The original poster in this case didn't tell us she had over fed the pony, added spurs etc, just said help, it's tanking off with my nervous child.
Now of course she needs to cut down the food remove the spurs etc, but you are still left with a pony who now "Knows" how to sod off.
For the child's sake it has to be stopped, and although of course I agree they should spend ages doing transitions the minute that child gets nervous the pony will repeat the trick until it realises she has the means to prevent it.
not everyone has the know how to sort a problem when they have inadvertantly caused it, so I also said they need help preferably with an instructor.
Lastly you have given me a laugh.
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One of my former pupils on those hard ridden ill tack fitted ponies turned into a Twice National British dressage Champion, he will have as good a giggle as me I'm sure when I email him this thread...riding all my horses and competing on them when he was horseless didn't appear to have done him any harm...
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Also to add we have regular lessons with instructor and YO and was good as gold on Wednesday for the lesson.

we have NEVER used spurs and he has NO feed at all. Its in his nature to be lazy and feed won't change him, which is why we tried it and didn't continue.
 
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Also to add we have regular lessons with instructor and YO and was good as gold on Wednesday for the lesson.

we have NEVER used spurs and he has NO feed at all. Its in his nature to be lazy and feed won't change him, which is why we tried it and didn't continue.

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But on 21 April you were going to try D&H Performance Mix - you understand why there is some confusion and doubt in my mind?
 
HH- I have said we stopped feeding any energy food over 2 months ago because it had no affect, he is lazy and that his nature. We have NEVER used spurs and have decided not to as daughter is not ready to use them.
What we have been doing is having regular lessons (pony well behaved on Wednesday which the last lesson) from instructor and YO.
Yesterday when pony went 0 to 60 mph he was being lazy and daughter was doing lots of transitions and circles and coming out of a circle decided to whizz up to other end, put head down whilst still cantering, arch his back and off she came.
 
Sadlle was checked and restuffed a month ago and back was checked week ago on Monday, will get debtist to check again, he was done in January.

He is restricted grazing and when in stable only has hay. Also has equibites and has those since we got him.
 
It sounds as if the spring grass may be to blame then if you aren't feeding him.
if you are absolutely sure nothing is hurting like teeth/tack etc then it has to be an excess of energy .
Your instructor should be able to show your daughter a safe method of stopping, it's likely the pony is sticking his shoulder out and then seeing a space running off, if you tell her to keep her outside leg on and a contact witht he outside reain when he feels iffy, she may well be able to stop him doing it.
One of the sad things about H and H is people sometimes make assumptions about previous posts, I do understand that sometimes people just ask questions but don't necessarily act upon the answers!
I hope you get sorted, if not do pm me if you would rather.
 
OK - so if your 21 April post has been superceded by now having a stable then that presumably is the biggest change in his life in the past two and a bit weeks. As his behaviour has changed dramatically in that time might I suggest going back to as near to the routine that he used to be in when he was a good pony, doing what your daughter wanted. If he was out all the time on limited graass and limited hay then put him back on that. Is he on more or less hay now than he was - have you changed hay supplier and he's really sensitive to it perhaps, or are you now using haylage instead?
 
If i went back to what he's used to be on, he would now be in a 20 acre field full of grass as the yard has just changed them from the winter field.

I borrowed a stable last summer and he was fine, he's quite chilled in stable and prefers to be in on hot sunny days as he dark bay and the heat makes him even more lazier. We now have our own stable to use all year round, which means he has moved into the stabled boys field which is has alot less grass.



Same hay and gets two thin slices which isn't the reccomended amount as he would be getting about 4 slices if i did that.
 
Agree that if this behaviour has occurred since he has been stabled that it seems the most obvious cause. Try turning him out full-time but put a muzzle on if you need to restrict his grass intake.

Working on schooling is also a great idea, but if your daughter still experiences problems, don't be afraid to try a slightly stronger bit as a temporary measure to retain her confidence and her safety. The trouble is that if the rider becomes jittery the pony can pick up on it and misbehave - if she feels that the bit allows her to stop him running off she will relax and that will help settle the pony. Once she feels confident that the schooling has worked, you can then return to the snaffle.
 
It sounds as though you are doing everything you can to defuse him! I would pop her back on the lead rope so that you have control of him even if you do this for a week or 2 to regain her confidence, lead her out on a few hacks, sometimes too much schooling can make them stale and pick up a habit to avoid it. I am sure if he has been good up until now he will settle again. If your daughter would rather not go on the lead or Lunge line then have you taught her how to slow him down should he do it again? ie turning him on a circle and decreasing it smaller & smaller until he has to slow down, I don't know her level of riding but she needs to use a strong inside leg quite a way behind the girth when turning him into a circle if he is trying to bolt with her so that she can chase his body around at the same time as turning his neck & shoulders otherwise he will be able to ignore her hands and fix his shoulder to prevent her achieving this.
 
HH, you have taken this personally! I was not stating you used to run a typical riding school as per my description. I too have been involved with horses, studs, yards for many yrs and have gained invaluable experience to back up my advice & comments. I, as a small child went through the same riding schools as described in my previous thread so have good grounds for my comments on the 'typical riding school' good for you on your achievements - I take my hat of to you!!
 
DB your reply with so many ! marks did appear to be a personal comment, but I don't hold grudges
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, I genuinely did laugh about it, anyone who knows me in real life will tell you my riding school was as good as I could make it, having worked in some of the ones you described for years.
The other poster was just having a laugh, knowing I would appreciate her humour.
I reckon the biggest problem on DIY yards today is the lack of a knowledgeable owner, although I sometimes muttered about having my evening meal interrupted at least the DIY'ers always knew they could ask advice. Now look at how many replies anyone gets on here, they have to sift through and work out what is most appropriate for their own question.
My own pet hate is the person you spend ages helping, their pony instantly improves and they say so, then next day they go straight back to their old ways and the problem returns.
It's also compounded by the many new methods around now, they read a book, see a demo and off they go to practice on their long suffering horse.
I think the gap has widened between those with lots of knowledge and those with little, but other than experience I can't see how they can narrow that gap.
Most of us oldies learned the hard way by doing it wrong, so I suppose everyone has to learn too.
I think every post on this forum helps someone, with any luck people will now think about the effect the grass might have on their pony, and take action first.
As an afterthought, I wouldn't want to run a riding school nowadays, H and S is a nightmare, certainly no riding up a line of cavalletti removing your jacket sans reins and stirrups.. I'm surprised they haven't invented safety belts..
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Thank you HH & DB

Have taken on board your advice and will see how we get on. Have spoken to my daughter and persueded her to get on him tonight and we're just going to walk around and see how the pony is and how my daughter is feeling.
Will have a chat with YO tonight and see what she thinks and fire some of the suggestions that have been replied on here.

Have heard since that he was possibly doing this with the last owner but will hear more later. I will be very annoyed if this is the case as it wasn't mentioned and we see the old owners at PC and locally, although their daughter was over horsed with him.
Hopefully we will nip this in the bud.

Will update later to say how we get on.My Daughter is quite positive at the mo but will wait and see how she feels later.
 
Well daughter rode pony tonight and we stayed down one end of the school. We did lots of walk halt transitions and tried to make him work in an outline as he was looking around at everything going on and not concentrating. Moved on to trot, halt and from halt to trot and daughter even decided to have a canter across the width of the school on the straight. He was very well behaved but made sure we were only in the school for 20 mins so he didn't get too bored. We have another girl riding him tomorrow who is bigger and older and she will test him for us. Have decided to keep it short and sweet and carry on as we have tonight but to hack out as much as possible. Don't think he'll do anything on a hack
 
ok this thread is a little confusing with the over fed / not fed spur/no spur hoopla

however one thing that does stick out as TGM says if this behaviour which seems very out of character for your pony has started within a short space of time that you have begun stabling him then that must be the link.

So, as mentioned can you try putting him back out and to control the weight put a muzzle on him - or turn him out in to a bare paddock with hay?

it is quite common that ponies personality can change when they start to be part stabled if they are used to being out 24/7, i know a few people that had to send ponies back which they bought as darlings field kept, got them home and part stabled them and they turned into devils!
 
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