Help with Pacer/trotter

[sharonbjorck]

I purchased my first horse Amber 3 months ago with the full knowledge she was a pacer. She is an Arab x and is 5yrs old.

I am trying very hard at working in trying to get her to trot. I have tried poles, which she does trot over but the minute shes over them she starts pacing again. Her balance is not that great either.

I love my girl to bits, shes such an honest wee thing and great in all other ways; great at hacking alone or in company, fab with the kids, spooks at nothing and is really eager to please.

I am really keen to do some jumping with her in the future and possibly some x country.

Please could someone give me some useful advice to help bring my little girl on, I know she is really willing and able with the right advice will be great.

 

[lindsayH]

I have reschooled a pacer with about a 95% success rate in that he still very occassionally does it when stressed. I believe there are some horses that do this naturally and some that are trained to do it which obviously makes a difference. With my boy, I did almost all of it on the lunge. He did offer a normal trot (briefly) which made it easier as I could then praise him like mad. If he paced, I just told him NO very firmly and kept asking for a trot until I got one. To start with, I placed trotting poles on the circle. I also used canter transitions (if you can get them!) as he tended naturally to trot normally coming out of a canter. Remember, every single time they pace uncorrected you are reinforcing it, so try and avoid it. I didn't even get on my boy until he was consistant on the lunge (as he would always pace under saddle) which took about 2 months. I then rode him on the lunge to start with until he got the hang of it.

Google 'reschooling a pacer', I got loads of help/info this way. Good luck.