help!! my horse won't stand still grrr!

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racheljane

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does anybody know anything about horses that won't stand still when mounting?? My horse has all of a sudden become very naughty and am having to get leg ups everytime i want to get on, have tried giving him treats, standing on different things, somebody holding him..... it is driving me mad!
 
Why would you give him treats for bad behaviour?
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Forget about treating for such a simple instruction such as stand still.

If you want to teach him to stand quietly when you mount, you need to be completely unwavering. You ask him to stand, you place your foot in the stirrup, the moment he moves, you take your foot out of the stirrup and you move him back to exactly the spot he was before.

You then repeat this as many times as you need to have him standing completely still. If he moves at ANY point between you placing your foot in the stirrup to you being fully mounted and asking him to walk on - then you dismount immediately, back the horse up to where you were when you started, and begin the whole exercise all over again.

Don't get angry or fraught with the horse, don't shout, don't hit, just be quietly and totally consistent with your moves. Horses aren't that stupid, so generally learn this fairly quickly.
 
Bob does this a lot, keep your outside rein short as usual, shorter if needed, then mount, as mia said if your horse moves, stand them back up, try again! and dont get angry, dont forget horses are animals, they feel fear tension anger and those sorts of emotions! bear with your horse =]
 
thankyou Tia, I stood there with him for a whole hour the other day but everytime i even move to put my foot in the stirrup he swings his back end round and faces me! and then it turns into a game, i don't lose my temper but i think he can detect how annoyed i am getting i will try again tomorrow with more patience!
 
I stopped Star from shuffling by REWARDING the behaviour I wanted.

She had to stand still before I got on, and this bit could take ages, as a previous poster said, but once I was on - I rewarded the time she did stand still with a polo.
She now stands like a statue.
 
no, not in any pain, had the physio out AND the dentist, he is right as rain but once an argument starts he is really stubborn, and he use to be as good as gold, i think when he started doing it it became a race to get on before he moved and that just made it worse, perhaps on saturday i should just prepare myself to stand there all day if i have to!?
 
Tia's advice sounds perfectly sensible to me. As an aside: I see many people in this kind of situation getting cross and tense; I never understand people who start shouting and waving their arms around, I am sure it only makes the horse more jumpy.
 
i know i may sound cross but i promise i never shout or wave my hands around, i try to be as silent as possible but he can feel my tenseness, thanks everybody for advice will keep plugging away!
 
My mare does exactly the same thing however some days she does other days she doesn't. Personally it doesn't bother me as our time starts when I'm in the saddle not on the ground. Tia's point is probably the correct way to go however try exercises with a dooley my horse would never move backwards after a few weeks I could push her backwards with my finger....I think what you put in you get out the other end, good luck
 
LOL!! It's just perseverance, but it will pay off, if you take the time and are always consistent.
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I know it can be irritating but try not to become annoyed with him or he will sense it. Just keep thinking of how nice it will be once he has figured out that it is preferable for him just to stand quietly.
 
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