Have I really got it that wrong - breaking youngsters

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pixiebee

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I have a new project pony, a lovely little 5 yr old coloured. Ive had horses since I was 9 yrs old (im now 27) and have ridden all sorts and broken in 2 ponies in the past which have turned out well. This pony is quite nervous, he came from a couple that purchased him from a sales when he was 4 and they have done little handling in that time. They had him halter broken/sat on/led down a quiet lane and had tack on him. When I went to see him he was more nervous than the advert had suggested-he was very headshy and was very nervous of you being anywhere past his shoulder. Although he led ok and seemed a little less nervous with the lady. I decided that I wanted to give him a chance as I think under those nerves seemed a sweet sort of pony.He load and travelled quite well and I put him in the stable at our yard to settle. I removed the headcoller as you do and the next day walked into the stable to put his headcoller on and he freaked! Thats when I realised he had rub marks from his headcoller and they had clearly left it on him.

Anyway- I have had him a month now and he has come so far, he is still impossible to catch in the field unfortunately so is staying in at the moment for handling. But he is happy for me to put his headcoller on, brush him, cuddle him, scratch his chest! Ive even bathed him which he seemed to enjoy! I can pick up his front with with little fuss, the back legs are a work in progress though. lol! I can tack him up no problem and I have even got to the point where I can go into the large paddock, and mount him on my own and walk around in circles, walk,stop etc.
My next mission is to get him trotting just a few strides as he seems quite calm and relaxed in walk and is really getting the hang of steering.
He is ridden in a peewee bit as I found he didnt seem to like jointed bits and just pulled against them but the peewee bit he is very ligh and responsive in and steers well too. He mouths gently when I ride (not constantly) just now and then he has a little play with the bit but someone at the yard has said that I should re-mouth him as he isnt mouthing the bit properly (he should have a wet mouth) and that he will likely bolt with someone and you wont be able to stop him as he has a very hard mouth (she longreined him in a jointed bit in which he was very nervous with the reins over his bum and didnt understand to go forward, so basically panicked and tried to run through the bit almost dragging her) Ive tried longreining since but I just didnt feel he was ready for that so went straight to backing and taught him stop, left and right from his side rather than behind, which has worked well. Ive been told to put a mouthing bit in and attach tight sidereins in the stable and leave him to fight the pressure and learn to yield to the bit. isnt this an old fashioned way?
Do you think im nuts riding him in an open field on my own? should I be longreining instead of riding and should I re-mouth him? (im also working on general handling etc aside the above)
 
Someone in the yard knows nothing, , side reins in stable, is this the 19th Century, keep going with what works.
I would do more body work and grid work, he is nervous of long reining because of fear, not being naughty.
 
just to add:
he is rising 6 and people are saying he should be well broken in by now, why isnt he etc etc so partly i feel pressured and also my yard doesnt have a menage only fields to ride in so the winter means basically hacking so i wanted to get him walking, trotting, cantering and small jump by the end of the summer so that i can use the winter to light hack him and bring him back to more advanced schooling in the spring.
 
If you feel he is comfortable with what you are doing then i would continue with that. Everyone has different methods but you sound like you've done really well with him. I would however, have someone with you if you are in an open field trying to ride him especially when starting to move onto trot. He's young and nervous so changing the bit and adding different training methods like long reining may confuse and scare him.
Do whatever works for you and him.
Keep us updated :)
 
Oh yeah and tying him down with side reins- i wouldnt. Imagine being pinned down and left! i would hate it.
And dont worry about him being rising 6, we broke in one who was rising 6 and he is a lovely pony, hasnt done him any harm?
 
TBH you shouldn't be riding this pony yet, until his groundwork is 100%, and it sounds as if this has a long way to go. You are certainly going the right way about it, and what absolute rubbish about the bit - he needs to learn stop aids which can be done without ever having to inflict pain.
If you can possibly get along to one of the following courses http://www.silversand.com.au/index.php/courses/uk-courses you will find them very compatible with your way of thinking, and learn an awful lot from them to help you help your pony.
 
A friend of mine who does a fair amount of breaking, doesnt have a school of any sort, only quiet lanes & a field (if there is nothing in it), she also never uses mouthing bits or side reins, shes broken 2 of mine in in the past & has done a brilliant job, so carry on as you are, you sound like you are doing really well with him, some people just cant help but stick their noses in!!
 
Agree with Kadastorm, keep doing what you're doing & what works for you both.

I broke mine between 3 & 4 on my own, my own way, loose schooling, lunging & long reining then riding 2 or 3 times a week just short & sweet. The amount of know it alls (who I might add all have ready broken trained horses) who kept telling me I was doing it wrong & they knew better were unreal! Best thing is to ignore & do it you're way esp as you've done it before & have the experience. Sure the same will apply for him as the others you've broken just may take longer due to him being nervous.

Good luck keep us posted!
 
Agree with other posters keep doing what your doing. Horses are individuals so what works for one doesn't for another
As for them saying your pony should be more advanced at nearly six I'd tell them to mind there own he's got years
If you and pony are happy with what your doing thats the most important thing.
Good luck with him
 
The next thing is to work on body work, to get him happy in his own space. In hand, lightly stroke all over with a light schooling whip, when working in his stable, handle him all over so that he learns to associate humans and nice feeling. Scratch him in nice places and make sure you can tickle him under the tail and between the legs.
After a while when he is settled in to a routine, you can start on the long reining issue, which is fear again.
Start off at the end of a little riding session, dismount and break the reins, pull one over the withers and walk in hand using the reins, if this goes ok next time try long reins, always work on both sides with any exercise.
Get an assistant to walk at his head, ready to grab him if he shoots off, you should have your boy listening to your voice commands, let him turn his head if he wants to look at you, then straighten him up and say "walk on", then whoaaaa, and so on, if all goes well make a big fuss and pop him back in his stable to think about it.
Don't let the reins go over the top of his bum as this may activate a buck, but he has to get used to long reins on his hocks.
 
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phew- thanks for that, I was beginning to question myself and my sanity!! I will stick with the bit and what I am doing then! Mrs D- thats what I did with the reins before I rode him, I undid them, and walked by his side holding the reinsas if I were riding him and taught left/right/stop. He was comfortable with that and I agree-the longreins over his bum at this stage create a panic response, to be fair to him bless him, instead of runninghe just kept turning him head towards me. So (touch wood) he seems to be the sort of pony that will plant instead of automatically run as when I gave him a little kick and voice commandf to trot, he got confused and just planted!
 
He sounds like he trying hard for you, and you sound like you are doing well with him. I'm no expert, but it sounds like what you are doing is working so keep at it. Maybe do some inhand work to get him used to voice comands for trotetc,so it's less confusing for him.

Also,maybe carry on with the ridden work for now and work on the long reining in the winter as I assume you may have less time to ride and the fields could be quite muddy. Just my thoughts though.
 
Follow your instincts and only seek and listen to advice from those you know and trust. Just don't rush things.
 
How archaic, side reins and a mouthing bit in the stable. I thought that went out with the ark and only dealers do it now. Sweetie do as you are doing and he will be just fine, I agree with having someone with you in the field on foot or another horse to start with. Good Luck and shut your ears to know alls!!
 
The person on your yard is wrong! Putting side reins on in the stable is very old fashioned and it sounds like it would end up scaring your pony and undoing all of your hard work so don't do it!

I found this very interesting to read, as I bought a six year old mare as a project to bring on in January. She was just backed and very nervous and head shy to handle. I had to go right back to basics with her and spent a lot of time just handling her and getting her used to being around people. She still is slightly nervous but a lot better than she was. I also don't have a school to ride in so I started off by riding her up the road and back (we do live in a very small, quiet village) with my mum walking with me. We then added a bit of trot when we felt she was ready and gradually progressed the amount of time she was ridden for as she got used to it and got fitter. We then added short amounts of canter when the ground became ok in the spring. I now take her out without my mum with me and we have been on hacks of up to two hours together. :) All of this was done hacking her out on her own as we keep her at home with our other two ponies who are two small to be ridden! This was in know way a bad thing though as she has got used to going out on her own from the start and doesn't mind at all. I have also ridden her in a school and popped a few fences on her.

I wish you luck with your pony, some ponies just take longer than others and if they are nervous to start with it is a slower process. I will be interested to hear how you get on with him. :)
 
OP, what you are doing sounds very sensible :-)

The only thing I'd say is that if he has been with you a month without turn out because he is hard to catch then I'd worry that he isn't getting enough 'chill out' time to just be a little pony between all the work when he will have to be thinking and dealing with a lot.

Eventually you'll want him to be catchable anyway so maybe work on that next. There are lots of threads on here with good advice about it for nervous horses.

Good luck with the poor little thing, I hope you have a lovely time together.
 
doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong, in fact from you you say you have achieved with an unhandled youngster you are doing everything right!
Age shouldn't come into it in your ponies case, your training should be based on what he's comfortable with rather than what some KIA thinks he should be doing at his age, heck I have a part broken 10 yr old!!! he should be out there jumping and hunting etc etc according to some but i just smile and say never mind, he doesn't know that and i don't care so we're both happy;)
And over the winter with your lad it probably wouldn't do him any harm at all to have plenty of time off to absorb all he has learnt:)
 
Just carry on as you have been, in your own way. Ignore the yard 'experts'. He's been frightened but with time and patience he has learnt to trust you, well done.

My homebred horse was handled from birth and was very confident until he had 2 separate freak rug accidents in the field. From that point he was completely terrified of anything on or behind him (not helped by a friend letting him go whilst leading him with a lunge rein) It took many hours of patience to even put a numnah on his back. He was never long reined or lunged during breaking.

He is the most reliable horse I have ever had.
 
i know someone who put side reins on in the stable as a punishment! they were terrible people though

if you do that to make him mouth, you will have to do it quite tight wouldn't you? he would become very sore in his neck muscles - trying to fight it or giving in to it. he also wouldn't be able to stretch out as they do to pull at his haynet or put his neck down to drink water.

personally, i wouldn't do it. once he is happy, you can start to work him in an outline - which will mouth him. my old horse hardly mouths because he is well schooled and i dont work him too hard - he isnt strong and is ridden in a loose ring snaffle with a losenge
 
I agree that tying a horse in side reins is counter productive and down right cruel, you will end up with a fixed neck and a even harder mouth.
Sound like you are doing a great job. I buy lots of babies usually from people who have bit of all than they can chew. If you can find a buddy to turn him out with that would be best, then you catch the buddy and then you hopefull catch him. Alternatively section a piece off and add an extra feed in the field when you don't do anything with him so he associates you with something good not work.
The hard mouth, can be caused by lack of balance ,too much on the forehand or not really undersatnding what you want. I would use plenty of voice and weight aids.
I this pony has been in for so long he sounds and behaving himself he is a star. You are both very lucky.
 
I may be mistaken but I've only known pee wee bits to be used on older very strong horses.
If he doesn't like jointed bits try a french link/losenge snaffle.

Do NOT tie his head in, that person is mad.
 
Just wanted to say that the wet mouth thing is a load of tosh. Some horses never get a wet mouth. My mare who I competed up to medium dressage and who worked much higher than that, always had a dry mouth. Trainers often commented on it but it never worried me. I could take her cross country and galloping in company in a snaffle.
 
forgot to add, he has been mostly turned out but with a headcollar on, he got caught up so i swopped it for a fieldsafe headcoller with velcro but it was constantly coming undone. if he has a headcollar on, i can quite often take a bucket of feed and grab the headcoller but i he doesnt have a headcoller on, i have to basically herd him with a load of helpers!! he has buddied up with my other pony but he wont follow him or anyone else in for that matter!! i keep him in for up to 5 days at a time and usually turnout for the weekend to chill (with his fieldsafe) headcollar on but normally by monday its off and the nightmare of catching him begins :-( I know that with time once trust has been built he will allow me to catch him and its early days yet but it is disheartening to have so much succes each friday to have the nightmare of catching him by the monday!!!! Im thinking I may need to purchase some electric fencing so he can have a small section rather than the huuuge field he goes out in!
 
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