bouncy/leapy/bounding horses!!

[clairefeekerry1]

my boy has taken to becoming very leapy/boundy when asking for anything more than walk. he only does it on hacks and when he gets a bit excited. if i ask for trot all he wants to do at the moment is canter. he's not strong as in pull your arms and he'd never take off but he just leaps and bounds about and we settle for some half canter half trot thing. he never fully bucks or rears but kinda leaps and throws himself about, i ride him forwards strongly but he still just wants to canter canter canter!!! used to not really bother me but it annoyed me tonight as it was on the road and i had to trot to get past some cars and ended up cantering past them. he's a lovely cheeky lad, very well schooled, quite young but he knows the score. is there anything i could do differently? not a huge problem most of the time but sometimes when i need just a simple trot it annoys me!!!

 

[debsflo]

i need some advice too.daughters horse is just the same at the moment.think its spring but is proving to be a pain in the bum.same trotting thinks its a race and loses all manners.ive dropped all feed bar hay and increasing work.

 

[No1_in_particular]

My old boy used to do this all the time........ The only way I managed to stop it was by giving him a 'check'. (keeping the usual contact and giving a sharp pull of about an inch backwards on the right rein..)

I know many wont agree with this but it worked for my boy and he always had a mouth like butter - this never changed and I had my controll back.

He was like an elastic band x a coiled spring at times..... and this always worked for me!

Probably a lot of new methods to try though!

Good luck!

 

[rachelha]

have you tried riding him for 10 minutes or giving a quick lunge before you go out for a hack?
i had the same problem with my horse, especially when shes in at nights during winter. i just warmed up in the school and had a canter on both reins before venturing out and she was alot better!

 

[clairefeekerry1]

stupid thing is if i threw the reins at him and said off you go then... he wouldnt! he just seems to enjoy leaping about.
did think about giving him a sharp tug just to say oi! i'm still here you know and ye think i mite lunge him first. its half my fault as we do alot of fast work so i cant blame him but there is a time and a place for it and simply trying to trot past a few cars on the road is not it! did think about bringing him sharply back to a halt and asking again and keep doing this until he trots properly but think i'd be risking him going right up if i did this

 

[siant2]

I have this problem when my mare is very excited,

If i ask for trot and i get bouncy canter then what i do is bring her back to walk if i can - putting the reins in one hand and then patting her gently and talking her back to walk, then ill ask for trot again but differently....before i want trot i start it off by just rising as you would with rising trot and she gets the idea i want trot..... i just dont ask for trot using my leg as i normally would.

But the patting of the neck often chills her out and works

 

[ticketyboo]

I agree with Siant2, you said that you do a lot of fast work, my friend loaned a horse for the summer last year and his owner did a lot of fast work so she had to slow him right down, let him know that there's more than two speeds!!!!
If he has a lot of pent up energy then lunging him first too would be a help.

Good luck