Help........ How do I get my pony to trot up in hand

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nikkinoo

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I have a 3 yr old shetland that I want to show in hand, he is very good in always except I can not get him to trot, The only way I have managed to get him going is by using a schooling whip to tap him but I wont be able to use that in show ring, and sometimes he will kick out at it,

He will lunge and trot to command and I have long reined him and he will trot that way aswell, but he point blank refuses when leading,
any help appreciated, im getting frustrated now
 
Know how you feel except my problem is with a 14hh pony :p
Found the best time to try is when they are desperate to come in or going towards someone shaking food and lots of praise when they do trot :)
 
Try asking a friend to lunge him with you leading him on the outside and running next to him as he trots, use the voice aids and make sure he really understands the command and praise him loads when he does it right,
Good luck :)
 
More practise required it sounds like :)

When he is walking, does he slow down and speed up when you do? Once he is doing that he should automatically trot to keep up with you, of course, there is always the exception to the rule.

If he's kicking at the schooling whip (and this sounds like temper the way I read it) then keep at it until he stops kicking, I don't mean belting him or anything, but just get him to realise that it isn't going to go away just because he is being rude, but only when he does as you want him to.
 
I will try the lunging thing, but im ususally on my own, he was in for a few days and I tried trotting him down to the field but nooo little Bu**er just ambled on down till I took his headcollar off and proceded to gallop off up the field,

Def think that the kicking out is temper and to be honest I havent really given him a smack with it maybe he needs one, he usually pics things up soo quickly, something to me that seems so easy is proving the most difficult, so going to try again tomorrow,

I used to show a 16.3 2year old sports horse and he was soo difficult to keep up with so thought a shetland would be a doddle YEAH RIGHT lol,
 
Schooling whip in the left hand, stand at the shoulder and say "walk on", if he refused, tap with stick - keep repeating walk on and tapping until pony walks on, when you have mastered walk on and woah move on to "trot on" - if you are firm enough he will get the message and you won't need the stick, but you need to decide whether you want to show him seriously or keep at a pet. If you want to keep as a pet then don't bother with the training. If you want to do this seriously then you need to treat him seriously. He has 23 hours of the day to graze his field and do pony things - you only want his undevided concentration for one hour - for the food, livery, grooming, petrol, vet fees, farrier bills you pay out ..... you deserve respect for that one hour!

Now go and tell him who is boss!
 
lol mcnaughty, I can just imagine me knealing down to him saying I AM the BOSS and you Will listen to me!!!!!! ................please lol.

He wont be kept as a pet, he has really good bloodlines so would like to show him, I am slowly breaking him to drive (as he is only 3) he will happily trot when im long reining but just not from the shoulder lol, he will be for my son who is 4, to ride and show, as I recently had my old pony put to sleep after tragically breaking her leg in the field,

but obviously I want to master the basics before getting ahead of myself, and its just this one little issue, Im always so full of advice and tricks with other peoples problems, just hoping some things will be suggested on here that I havent thought of may work,

you have really cheered me up and made me feel more positive now that we will master this tomorrow even if I have to end up doing the equivalent of a marathon in practice runs around the menage lol.
watch this space !!!!!!
 
mcnaughty said:
Schooling whip in the left hand, stand at the shoulder and say "walk on", if he refused, tap with stick - keep repeating walk on and tapping until pony walks on, when you have mastered walk on and woah move on to "trot on" - if you are firm enough he will get the message and you won't need the stick, but you need to decide whether you want to show him seriously or keep at a pet. If you want to keep as a pet then don't bother with the training. If you want to do this seriously then you need to treat him seriously. He has 23 hours of the day to graze his field and do pony things - you only want his undevided concentration for one hour - for the food, livery, grooming, petrol, vet fees, farrier bills you pay out ..... you deserve respect for that one hour!

Now go and tell him who is boss!
Click to expand...

Love this!:D:D
I know nothing about showing, but damm it, after reading this I'm gona sort my pony !! :mad::D
 
LOL - I know! It is inspirational! I am trying to attempt posh Leadrein this year (waaaay too much tweed for my liking!) and we have a 4yo welsh A who quite frankly can be a little sh**!! He is super bright and learns the good and bad inqually fast!

I went to a Julie Templeton training day the other day and I know she likes my pony's breed line as she has two of Basil's close relatives on her yard at the moment so she singled us out for individual "treatment" - by golly she is amazing! She was not taking any cra* from him and put right in his place and told me exactly what I wrote down above. Make a decision on what you want to do and be firm - these little ponies are very cute but very bright and dam* well know it!

He kept (on purpose) stepping sideways to stand on her toe - oh yes he did!! So she kicked him in the shin - not a massive RSPCA calling kick but a sharp tap - you should have seen his face! He was so shocked - tried it again - same punishment - did NOT try it again.

I have to admit to being one that says oh he's only a pony and oh he's only a baby but, you know, she is right - we DO invest loads of time and money into these animals and yes they should behave for that one hour we want them to work!

SO LET GO AND GET THOSE PONIES SORTED!! LOL ;-)

We are the pony training posse! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
 
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